Gopro Blurfix 55mm adapter Macro lens/filters questions

[ermaclob]

-Macro Lens?

So lately ive been going crazy with my Gopro camera, but unfortunately have started to see some of its limitations. Primarily its inability to focus on really small objects

for example the green star polyps in my fish tank look like this in a close up.

thats pretty blurry...

id really like find a way to get in closer with out getting blured up. Currently the closest i can gt to small objects is about this far without significant blur.

setting up the camera in narrow mode does not help, it more of a digital zoom thing it does

i was looking around and found out they make 55mm macro lenses like this one

Macro lens (x10)

Has anyone tried this? will the camera still focus properly with 2 convex lenses back to back of each other? the web site advertises it as compatible with blurfix but im not sure...


-Proper Color Filters

I also got a red color filter for the camera, i haven't tried it yet but am sure it will work very nicely in deep water. My only concern is that it is not a filter sold by SRP and im unsure if the amount of red tint the filter adds is to much for shallower depths. it seems alot reder on the surface then some of the images i see of the CY filter SRP sells

can someone tell me how to tell the filters intensity before i get them?? the one i got is a
Tiffen 55mm 25 Filter (Red)

they sell another one thats a

Tiffen 55mm 29 Filter (Red)

what do the difference in the 25 ad 29 mean? The 29 is darker but how do i know the right amount?
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I also require a filter for green water..... what color do i need? i need to make this look better.

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-Random

What do other filter colors do underwater? any cool effects to be had by using something abnormal?

Any other type of lenses that can mod the Gropro's performance?

i really want to maximize what the Gopro can do with this adapter.

---------- Post added at 04:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:59 AM ----------

as an added note it seems from what is shown in this video that close up lenses work with a flat lens behind it. and a flooded close up lens....

[video=youtube;zRyIP9-75Ik]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRyIP9-75Ik[/video]

 

[Marty Cerven]

The macro filter may help but you will just have to try it. I assume it will vignette in wide mode but 1080p medium will be the best setting for this anyhow. I had thought of using one a while back but never got around to it yet, I dont know if it will work as a focus fix too or if you'd need a flat lens and then the macro on top but I havent seen anyone try this yet so it will come down to your tests if you do it. I will be interested in seeing your results if and when you try this out.

With red filters, The filters designed specifically for underwater use like the URPro and Magic filters aren't just a basic red filter but a specific colour that is designed to work best at filtering out the dominant cyan colour you get at depth. They don't do this by adding red specifically but by filtering out the blues in the water or greens for the GR filters.

The images in that video with the filter looked a little washed out colour wise but I have seen other occulus red filter videos that haven't looked too bad apart from the bad reflection that comes off the internal flat lens when shooting with the sun in-front of the camera. I think best results will always be achieved by the specific underwater filters designed only for this purpose by filtering out the dominant colours whilst letting in as much of the other colours to come through this is why they dont actually call them red filters but cyan or other names to try and show they are more then just a basic red coloured filter.

Its cool to experimant with other cheaper options and you may end up finding one that works, you just have to realise that vignetting will occur on any filter who's filter ring extends out too far beyond the glass or that doesn't have a low profile filter ring. I will also be doing a filter comparison test soon as Im trying to get my hands on as many of the current UW filters, I have the full URPro range and am getting the Backscatter magic filter. I will have the oculus red filter and some lee filter gels as suggest by another board member, most likely I will just take them all down with me and simply place them over a Blurfix with clear filter. I will have a second camera with the URPro cyan filter there for comparison against each option.

Here is a pic showing basically the limitations of the GoPro camera design which forces the issue with all the flat lenses available atm. This is showing a Blurfix with a clear filter modified by SRP by grinding down the outer edge to minimize the distance it extends out into the GoPro's 170 fov.

Any filter which has the inside edge of the filter extending beyond this red line (not drawn to scale just as a basic example) will vignette more then this filter.

The reason this is a GoPro camera design issue is that the location of the power button limits the size of filter that can be used, 55mm is as large as you can get away with allowing for some margin between the GoPro camera lens and power button. The GoPro cameras have fairly loose manufacturing tolerances so a greater margin off error needs to be given so that a commercial adapter will fit all GoPro housings and cameras without issue. The next size up in standard filter sizes is 58mm and these wont fit inside the power button so a 55mm filter is the max standard size available for use on the current GoPro camera.

If the power button wasnt on the fron of the camera then there would be no physical size limit for the adapter and companies like SRP could make a much larger adapter and basic wet filter option that could take any filter vignette free in all modes. Unfortunately the power button is the biggest issue here and I suspect this is causing the delay with the OEM GoPro fix.

They want a zero vignette flat lens and with the slack tolerances in GoPro camera and housing manufacturers I don't think they have enough room to guarantee vignette free in wide photo and 960p for all housing and camera combinations. Even with the square design which cuts slightly around the power button to gain an extra mm or 2 beyond what any round flat lens can provide.

 

[ermaclob]

im going to buy a cheap set of close up lenses from amazon and test them out along with the filters. im not to worried about vignetting. im only going to use the camera underwater so i have the added bonus of the zoom in effect of the water to help take out some vignette.

at 1080 wide 170 out side of water you get a noticeible amount of vignette when i stack 2 filters ontop of each other.

at the same setting underwater the vignette is almost completely gone.

setting the medium and narrow setting on 1080 will completely remove the vignette of what i suspect to be 3 or 4 stacked lenses.

ill bump up the the thread once i test it out,

but in the mean time everyone can feel free to add to the thread and answer my questions

 

[beleebala]

hi there, I just bought a Backscatter Blurfix with the custom Magic Filter. I tried using a close up filter. However, it did not work. I figured out that it was because the refractive indexes of glass and water are about the same. Thus, it was like having not filter at all. Knowing that I built my own two lens macro filter. I seal up the space between the two lenses and keeping it dry. This way, the magnification of the lens is maintained underwater, as the glass / air interface is there. I tried it in the bath tub and it helped decrease the minimum focus distance to 4 inches and reduced the FOV. I will test it in my diving trip at the Maldives next week. I am not sure if it can take the pressure. Wish me good luck.

BTW, the red filter used in B&W photography does not work as it is too strong, filtering most spectrum, except red. I will try using both the Magic Filter and an orange filter next week. Here is a good article on color filter: http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/filters-and-ambient-light-photography/

 

[ermaclob]

BTW, the red filter used in B&W photography does not work as it is too strong, filtering most spectrum, except red.

sooo... the filter i have is no good...at all?

Then what is the proper color code for the filter i need??

 

[ronscuba]

sooo... the filter i have is no good...at all?

Then what is the proper color code for the filter i need??

Since you already have the filter, give it a try before buying something new. You could also try a cheap (under $10) drop in filter as long as you don't have a need to remove the filter UW. They work very well in my opinion.

 

[ermaclob]

Since you already have the filter, give it a try before buying something new. You could also try a cheap (under $10) drop in filter as long as you don't have a need to remove the filter UW. They work very well in my opinion.

ill give it a go, but from the tests ive been doing on it, as well as the conparisons ive been making to other filters. the one i have is SUUUUPER strong. maybe it'll work in deeper water.

i want a screw on one so i can take it on or off underwater.

 

[ermaclob]

!!!~update~!!!

BOOM!!! Clear close up.

So i spent the half the day testing out macro lenses on the GoPro in and out of water. With overall success.

i ordered a 7 peace set of lenses from amazon for about $17 in it came a ****ty polorized lens, a plastic FLD, and a clear glass uv lens. As well as the macro lenses +10, +4, +2, +1. i also picked up a FLB to correct my mistake of getting a RED B&W filter.

i set up a general way to test the lenses in and out of water. i set up the chart below to get see how small of object the camera will be about o focus on and from what distance. the chart is just red green blue AAA with the size font of the letters,

if you guys want a better idea of how small the camera can focus, Heres View attachment MACRO TEST.doc the chart in word document, print it out and reference the results. In almost all tests the best results come when the camera is held about 5-8 inches away from subject.

All of the test where done with the camera in 1080p, and i went through all the lenses in wide, medium, and narrow. Outside and in water vignetting starts to happen adding more then one lens on wide mode. on medium vignetting happens only a little bit when u stack all 4 macro lenses. on narrow mode vignetting is not a problem and is the mode that gives the best results.

the camera lens gains alot of extra front length... putting 1 lens on at a time outside does give decent results, underwater not so much. the most zoom is gained when all 4 lenses are stacked (and the flat lens of course)

One lens (+ Flat FLB)

4 Lenses: (Flat FLB, +10+4+2+1)

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Results

In water Control (No marco lenses)

Wide

Medium

Narrow

In water (All Macros)
Wide

Medium

Narrow

Outside of water Control (No Macro)
Wide

Medium

Narrow

Outside of water (All Macros)
Wide

Medium (could have gone a little closer)

Narrow

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Conclusion
Clearly the lenses work, however... it can be seen when comparing "Out of Water Narrow" and "In Water Narrow " that the magnification is being lost in side the water to some degree. The 3 font is very clear out side the water and u can almost read the impossibru at the very top of the page. In water font five is the clearest it gets.

the reason i think this happens is because the macro lenses in the water are flooded with water due to the lake of O rings, this makes the lenses under perform. i tried putting the 2 extra O-rings hat blurfix cam with in between 2 lenses the zoom was better but, the image was blurry, i think i need to put another flat lens in front.

i dont like the O-ring idea though, with out them i can transition between normal and marco inside the water, sacrificing some zoom. With O-rings, only macro.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Interesting stuff there, does the macro lenses effect distant focus at all? or does this just zoom in the image without effecting the focus in any way.

The 4 filters stacked looks funky lol, using macro your not going to be using wide mode anyway as it kind of defeats the purpose so the vignetting shouldnt be much of an issue.

Thing you need to remember about narrow mode is that it uses a sensor crop and so it will be the worst performer in lower light levels. This is pretty much using the central part of the frames 1920x1080 pixels out of the full frame 3880x2440 sensor. Less sensor surface area used means less light hitting the sensor which is what causes the issues.

The wide modes from my tests works best in lower light so if your going to use narrow mode you may also need to use some lights for decent results at depth.

Medium is still a sensor crop but it doesn't get effected as badly as the narrow mode so its a good compromise for your tests.

 

[ermaclob]

Interesting stuff there, does the macro lenses effect distant focus at all? or does this just zoom in the image without effecting the focus in any way.

The 4 filters stacked looks funky lol, using macro your not going to be using wide mode anyway as it kind of defeats the purpose so the vignetting shouldnt be much of an issue.

Thing you need to remember about narrow mode is that it uses a sensor crop and so it will be the worst performer in lower light levels. This is pretty much using the central part of the frames 1920x1080 pixels out of the full frame 3880x2440 sensor. Less sensor surface area used means less light hitting the sensor which is what causes the issues.

The wide modes from my tests works best in lower light so if your going to use narrow mode you may also need to use some lights for decent results at depth.

Medium is still a sensor crop but it doesn't get effected as badly as the narrow mode so its a good compromise for your tests.

focus is effected distance wise with 4 filters more outside the water then inside, i need to test it out more in a bigger underwater environment. my fence was 15 feet from the chart out side, but in the pool the wall was right aganst the chart so theres no real distance there. generally it just gets kinda fuzzy. id say in the water stuff 5 - 6 feet from you are more or less in focus not great. 4 - 3 feet ok focus and 2ft - 5in good focus. the water is doing something funky im loseing like 30% zoom/ focus. but gaining some focusing distance compared to out of water.

about 8 feet from subject (medium mode)

About 6 feet from subject (medium mode)

to get the letters to focus like it does underwater u need to be about a foot or 2 from the chart outside the water.

thanks for the tip about the narrow mode i did not know the sensor did that. medium seems like the way to go then. im going to go crazy the next few dive playing with this hopefully the results are out standing now all i need to do is to find a way to conveniently store the lenses underwater.