Crazy - 1080p cam + 180' housing for $270?

[phillybob]

Thanks for the post. It's still not enough footage for me to make a decision. I'm still leaning towards the JVC/Ike set-up. The Flip got knocked out of the running early. I'll be keeping an eye out for more footage for comparison.

 

[Gombessa]

Thanks for the post. It's still not enough footage for me to make a decision. I'm still leaning towards the JVC/Ike set-up. The Flip got knocked out of the running early. I'll be keeping an eye out for more footage for comparison.

Don't know if you've seen this yet from the FM1, it was just posted by Ikelite yesterday. I don't know why it's 4:3 or why the quality is so low:

[youtubehq]CkthOHLSyPg[/youtubehq]

 

[phillybob]

HOLY **** !! That's almost unwatchable !!! My P/S Nikon takes better video than that. It looked a hair better in the small form on Ikes web site but still... Something has to be wrong there. I can't imagine putting out a camera where that was the intended quality. They can't possibly be 'bragging' about that clip. I'm glad I have some time to sort all this crap out. Thanks for the 'heads up'.

 

[Gombessa]

HOLY **** !! That's almost unwatchable !!! Something has to be wrong there. I can't imagine putting out a camera where that was the intended quality. They can't possibly be 'bragging' about that clip. I'm glad I have some time to sort all this crap out. Thanks for the 'heads up'.

Don't be disappointed just yet, it's pretty clear there's something wrong with the clip. For one, it wasn't uploaded in standard HD format (it's 4:3) so youtube didn't process it as HD. That's still pretty horrible for downsampled SD too, so there must be more going on. I've left them a comment, hopefully they'll re-upload the vid.

 

[idocsteve]

Low quality?

Video looks pretty good to me!

 

[phillybob]

... I've left them a comment, hopefully they'll re-upload the vid.

Cool. I was going to do the same. I'm still waiting for a reply from Ike to see if my Inon UWL 105 AD is compatible with that housing and camera.

 

[ae3753]

Erik,

Thanks for sharing the video.

We all need to dive together and get similar videos for comparison purposes.

You - GoPro
Gombessa - Flip Ultra HD
Me - Canon SD980

Anyone else want to contribute to Gombessa's (not my) idea?

 

[Gombessa]

Low quality?

Video looks pretty good to me!

It's not too bad on its own, but compare it to Ikelite's footage of the comparable Flip Ultra HD. Here are a couple of underwater and above-water screen grabs, you can see that there is a huge sharpness deficit in the Picsio image (top image on both):

It looks like the Picsio has a dome port on, maybe that's screwing with the sharpness. Not having an HD/HQ setting in youtube doesn't help either. I'm sure Ikelite will clear it up.

Cool. I was going to do the same. I'm still waiting for a reply from Ike to see if my Inon UWL 105 AD is compatible with that housing and camera.

I think you want to ask them if the #9306.79 bayonet mount will work. I'm still confused between what the .78 and .81 threaded mounts are, but was told the .81 doesn't work with the Flip housing (even though it says it's for "Ultracompact housings" so I'd want to get specific word about the .79 bayonet too.

 

[BigHarryDiver]

I jury rigged up the helmet strap to work as a soft goodman handle and held it on top of my right hand, it worked pretty well. With the camera in the case and a bolt snap on the helmet strap it was probably pretty close to neutral or negative although I didn't let it go out on the dive so I'm not entirely sure. Its not too big though so if it is positive theres not a whole lot of lift. Its fairly easy to frame a shot.



If it is the case's lens that's causing the blurriness I don't imagine it would be too tough (for GoPro) to design a slightly different shaped lens (lens is user replaceable in case of damage) to compensate for the effect of the water. But I' not sure of the actual cause.

Above water its pretty awesome though. In addition to video, the 2sec interval camera takes pretty decent still pictures as well.

I have the earlier version from GOPro and the under water videos are all a tad blurry while the land videos are crystal clear. I used the helmet cam mount hardware that came with the camera and attached it to the top of my pistol grip underwater light. It makes for a very stable and easy to point mount for the little guy.

Harry

 

[phillybob]

...I think you want to ask them if the #9306.79 bayonet mount will work. I'm still confused between what the .78 and .81 threaded mounts are, but was told the .81 doesn't work with the Flip housing (even though it says it's for "Ultracompact housings" so I'd want to get specific word about the .79 bayonet too.

I use the 9306.80 with the Inon UWL 105 AD on my 'compact housing' for my Nikon 7900. Why it's not considered an 'ultra compact', I don't know. There aren't too many cameras smaller than the 7900. I think the adapter will fit, but it's a matter if the lens is compatible with the camera. From what I've gleened off of Ikes site, it's the distance between the camera lens and the first element in the w/a lens that matters. A c-hair off and you're screwed.