Best quality video camera setup for a new diver on a budget?

[thorschosen]

I am fairly new to diving, having been diving a few times a year on vacation for the past 4 years. I also enjoy snorkeling often and live on a river where I enjoy viewing the local fish during the summer. I like taking underwater video and am hoping to get a new camera/video camera in the next few months before I go on vacation to Cancun in July. I have budget limitations and would need to stay to something around $1,000.00 USD. I was looking at the sea life DC1400 pro set with the LED light but I'm not sure if this is the best quality for my money. Any suggestions on what set up would give me the best quality video and lighting for around $1,000.00? Thanks

 

[teknofly]

I'm on a similar hunt at the moment too.

So far I'm leaning towards a GoPro Hero2 setup with either the Backscatter Custom GoPro Housing or a BlurFix. There's plenty of demo videos of the BlurFix setups around the place and the quality looks great especially with the colour correction filter. I'm still on the lookout for a few more demo videos of the Backscatter housing to show up around the place and hopefully a couple of side by side comparisons. You can pull together a decent kit for under US$1000 and its a pretty travel friendly kit.

Still... eager to get any other feedback on the topic.

 

[thorschosen]

I had kind of written off the GoPro based on some blurry videos I had seen but after looking at a video with the eyeofmine flatlense housing it looked like great quality. The only otherthing I would want to add would be a light of some sort to help bring out the color when I am diving. Have you heard of a set up with a light that would work well with the GoPro?

 

[Dr Dog]

I am fairly new to diving, having been diving a few times a year on vacation for the past 4 years. I also enjoy snorkeling often and live on a river where I enjoy viewing the local fish during the summer. I like taking underwater video and am hoping to get a new camera/video camera in the next few months before I go on vacation to Cancun in July. I have budget limitations and would need to stay to something around $1,000.00 USD. I was looking at the sea life DC1400 pro set with the LED light but I'm not sure if this is the best quality for my money. Any suggestions on what set up would give me the best quality video and lighting for around $1,000.00? Thanks

If you look in my gallery, all those images were taken with a sealife1400, with a strobe and flash. My buddy picked it up at a local LDS for everything 900 dollars with taxes.
It does take ok video too, it is hard to keep a properly focused video when you are drift diving, so I really do not have any examples on here.

 

[Wolvan]

Eye of Mine is one aftermarket fix for the GoPro Hero 2. One of the most popular is the Blurfix (their are threads just about that in this forum) and their is a new one from Backscatter, and several other manufactures. The Blurfix is a proven solution that many people here use (I just ordered mine, waiting on delivery now). With the flat lens and color correction the GoPro Hero 2 takes very nice underwater video. Check out some of Marty Cevarn's video's.

Alternatively, GoPro is suppose to be releasing their own Flat Lens modified case "soon". Pictures have floated around, supposedly around $50 bucks, but no details yet.

Aqua Pro HD (vendor) who posts here says they are working on a low cost lighting system too. Check out the last couple of pages in this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/underwater-videography/329476-gopro-hd-underwater-blur-fix-38.html

 

[thorschosen]

Thanks for the input guys. Dr Dog, those images in your gallery look pretty good. I remember seeing a lot of the same corals on my honeymoon in Belize. But my main interest is video and after looking at a lot of the options for the GoPro I think it really would be a good choice for me. I think I am going to go with the Backscatter set up because it dosen't require installment like the blurfix and has easy change out for the lenses above or below water. Buying a package from Backscatter that includes the camera, the housing, a lense cover for travel, a polarized lense for shooting from above water on the boat, and the red filter for better color under water is only like $550.00 with tax. Then I'll probably get an extra battery and a 32GB SD card. Sine I will have the red filter I will probably just use that for now and hold off on a light set up. I'll try this idea out in Can****his summer and then I can decide if I want a light and test that when I go to Hawaii this next winter.

 

[pepaaw]

I have the Blurfix for the GoPro because it has no vignetting in all but the 960p mode and it has the least of any aftermarket in that mode. Also you can get an Ikelite lowprofile filter that can be taken on and off underwater in the 2.2 size which should fit over the blurfix. Not sure how that one will effect the vignetting.

 

[DaMaDo]

I'm also between the Blurfix and the Backscatter.

The Blurfix is $79 but it's only the replacement cover. The filters (I want a red one) are $76! Blurfix also has anti-fog pellet things.

The Backscatter is $119 but comes with the whole case. The filters are only $39.

I plan on having two separate uses for it so it might be best to get a full second case for diving so the Backscatter is ahead at the moment. I just want to see more videos of the two.

I looked at the eyeofmine but it doesn't seem easy to put on filters, for the extra money, the Backscatter seems a better value.

I also looked at some other flat lens replacements but on the hero2 there appears to be an issue with cracking when pressure underwater pushes the modified flat lens against the hero2 lens.

 

[thorschosen]

DaMaDo, I felt the same way about the case but someone pointed out to me recently that you can buy a whole replacement case from blurfix that is pre-assembled and pressure tested. I think it's about $139 so a little more expensice and the menses are definitely more expensive. But from looking at videos the Blurfix is definitely very clear and from what owners say it is also very sturdy and reliable so I may be going that way.

 

[ScubaERDoc]

My setup is a Kodak Playsport for $140 which is water resistant to 3 meters without housing (useful for flooding) and a Ikelite housing for $220. Pretty inexpensive and easy setup for entry level vacation videos