GoPro HD underwater blur fix

[sharksdelight]

Yes, the Eye of Mine housing is created in the manufacturers garage, however, it does work better underwater than the Go Pro Housing. If you want a more Manufactured housing, buy the Sartek housing for the GoPro. Excellent for what it is.
Steve

 

[underwaterhero]

Hi,

I do agree to what Firefishvideo is saying. The eyeofmine and goforfocus solutions are plastic lenses. But I actually do not agree to his opinion that this is a problem. Yes, the exeofmine version looks a bit odd.

As I´m the one who is selling the goforfocus lens let me explain a few things. On the one hand the lens is made from makrolon, a high tech material which is very strong and solid. And even if there are scratches on the lens, the will not be visible in the picture as the lens is not in the focus area. And the lens is also so cheap that you could easily buy a new one if it got scratched to bad. Also I did see some bad scratches on glas lenses.

And you need to be fair to Gopro and the replacement lenses. We are talking about a underwater video camera with full hd resolution for a total of less than 400 USD. And this includes the replacement lens already. There are other solutions in the world, like custom build housings. But on these the housing will cost much more. And it will also be bigger and heavier than the GoPro one.

For my opinion the Go Pro Hero is a nice little camera for a very good price to shoot easy and simple underwater footage. If we are talking about high end professional filming I would go to a different system. But that way the entry lever price will be 4.000 instead of 400 USD. So why not using a little small budget camera with a plastic lens if it does the job?

best regards

Patrick

 

[fl-diver]

I've had my gopro for several weeks now and I am enjoying it quite a bit. I use it on land and underwater and just had a great time taking video in and around the water on a recent canoeing/camping trip with my family.
I think it is a great compact and durable camera and lets me video when everybody has their cameras packed away to stay dry.
I just took some video Saturday using my new "homemade" flat port. I basically used a UV SLR filter and glued in front of the factory lens. Kind of like eyeofmine. It really does work and the image is much sharper. If and when gopro comes out with a corrected housing I will probably buy it.
The UV filter I now have mounted is the same that many people use to protect their expensive SLR lenses and seems to work fine on land as well. The nice thing about this addition was the fact that the modification does not jeopardize the stock housing.
In my video on the first page of this thread, with the stock housing you can easily see how blurry everything is but I think the composition is pretty good. In the video from Saturday (link below) it is clearly much sharper but I was using the head strap mount and it is way too shaky. Video was taken @ about 100 fsw in good viz.

YouTube - PB Lobster 11/4/2010

I think I either need to come up with a better mount or be a little more careful to not look around so much. I do need to have my hands free though.

I just realized I put the wrong date in my youtube video. This was taken Saturday 12/4.

 

[Firefishvideo]

Hi,

I do agree to what Firefishvideo is saying. The eyeofmine and goforfocus solutions are plastic lenses. But I actually do not agree to his opinion that this is a problem. Yes, the exeofmine version looks a bit odd.

As I´m the one who is selling the goforfocus lens let me explain a few things. On the one hand the lens is made from makrolon, a high tech material which is very strong and solid. And even if there are scratches on the lens, the will not be visible in the picture as the lens is not in the focus area. And the lens is also so cheap that you could easily buy a new one if it got scratched to bad. Also I did see some bad scratches on glas lenses.

And you need to be fair to Gopro and the replacement lenses. We are talking about a underwater video camera with full hd resolution for a total of less than 400 USD. And this includes the replacement lens already. There are other solutions in the world, like custom build housings. But on these the housing will cost much more. And it will also be bigger and heavier than the GoPro one.

For my opinion the Go Pro Hero is a nice little camera for a very good price to shoot easy and simple underwater footage. If we are talking about high end professional filming I would go to a different system. But that way the entry lever price will be 4.000 instead of 400 USD. So why not using a little small budget camera with a plastic lens if it does the job?

best regards

Patrick

No offense intended Patrick. I tend to ask more from my gear than it's intended design and price point dictates. I should have pointed out that many Larger domes for SLR cameras are plastic, yield great shots. From looking at your product pics, it looks like there is a step in the lens....If so , then I can see why it would be a problem to manufacture a glass lens of that design. It all goes back to the origional housing design.
Of Course It is still a $30 housing, and What can you expect....I just hate to see potential wasted when It could shine with a few little design tweeks. Also I should be so lucky to have a product that is solving such a problem as your does....

 

[Reef_Haven]

I just took some video Saturday using my new "homemade" flat port. I basically used a UV SLR filter and glued in front of the factory lens. Kind of like eyeofmine. It really does work and the image is much sharper. If and when gopro comes out with a corrected housing I will probably buy it.
The UV filter I now have mounted is the same that many people use to protect their expensive SLR lenses and seems to work fine on land as well. The nice thing about this addition was the fact that the modification does not jeopardize the stock housing.

How did you attach the UV filter to the housing? Any photos of your housing now?

 

[gucmen]

Hi there,

I am calling from Turkey.
Before my first ever trip to Red Sea, last Sept., I invested into a Sartek housing for my GoPro HD. I used the headband and for the entire time of my 13 dives, I had the camera on my head. I intended to make a home made movie, out of my two camera shootings; GoPro on my head and Canon HF M31 in its original Canon housing, in my hands.

However, I couldn't use the GoPro shootings, as much as I thought. Becasue;

• my quick and too frequent head movements, made the majority of the shootage unuseable..
• there was a remarkable "color difference" between the two camera shootings...

But, with regards to the picture quality with the Sartek housing (google for Sartek; I am still not allowed to post URL's)
I am fully satisfied... At the highest resolution, the image quality of GoPro is crisp clear; from edge to the edge, underwater.

Regarding the filter element; as there is no thread on the outside, we can only put the color filter element into the housing, in front of the lens... I will try the Magic Filter, on my next dive trip... The Auto_magic filter seems to be very suitable.

I will post some of the "useable" GoPro shootings into youtube soon and give the link here, for your reference.

Regards and greetings from Istanbul
Kaya

 

[fl-diver]

How did you attach the UV filter to the housing? Any photos of your housing now?

I can probably upload some pics of the finish product but I basically did what these guys did.
GoPro underwater focus fix | Jazz & Fly Fishing
I used epoxy to attach the filter to the ring but I used silicon to attach the assembled ring and filter to the gopro housing. If the system failed I can probably remove the silicon and make repairs. I didn't bother to replace the UV filter ring around the outside surface. UV filters are designed to protect expensive slr lenses so I think it should hold up well. (I think I got the UV filters on amazon for $3.00 each.)
It has been banged around recently on a canoe/camping trip and a couple lobstering dives to just over 100ft and is still scratch free.

 

[gumbo717]

I picked up the HD Hero 960 about a couple of weeks ago and just recorded my second video with it. So for so good, I really like this small camera. I have it mounted to a climbing helmet that I use for scuba and it works great. I do get bubble from time to time but for what I want this for it works great. I didn't care for silicone rubber head strap the helmet is a bit more comfortable and easy on and off.

Here are the links to the videos if you want a look. Thanks!

YouTube - BSC Dive 11-28-2010

YouTube - BSC Dive 12-12-10

 

[TSwain]

Here are the links to the videos if you want a look. Thanks!

YouTube - BSC Dive 11-28-2010

YouTube - BSC Dive 12-12-10

Great videos! I was at BSC on the 11th and vis was great! Here is a link to the video I shot. It doesnt do it justice on here!

Diving BSC 12-11-2010

 

[Down2bizDiver]

I've ordered the eyeofmine case, hope to have in time for Grand Cayman dive trip early January. In the meantime, here is 3 min. of video from my GoPro shot last week 35 - 40' underwater at night, Hawaii.

YouTube - Hawaii -- Manta Rays at Night SCUBA Dive