I got a GoPro Hero 8 recently, and have now had it on several dives. I'm having a few issues and wondered if anyone with more gopro experience, especially with the hero8 could comment or offer some suggestions.
First, I have the offical gopro housing for the hero 8, so that's all good. I built a tray to carry the gopro 'as a video camera' but only used it once because mostly the gopro is attached to my scooter (Piranna 1).
One thing to note; the magnets on the bottom of the hero8 that hold the little tabs are strong enough to interfere with my scooter compass (big kayak compass I use) if the gopro is mounted within 6in of the compass. Mounting the gopro on the handle using the gopro clip mount works just fine and does not bother the compass.
Now for the issues:
1. I dive PNW (near Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Candada) so the water is pretty murky all the time. Visibility ranges from inches in the summer to dozens of feet in the winter, but never that great. Even if you get the amazing day with 50 ft. vis, there's always particles in the water to scatter light.
I've been using 2.7K 60fps but I am really wondering if that's overkill for PNW water. I have a memory card sufficient to last any length of dive I do (all over 1 hour) but the battery dies before I run out of memory.
So would 1080p 60fps be all I really need? The size of the video files on my computer is really why I am asking - those 2.7K files are really big!.
2. Has anyone had battery issues with the hero8? I have two brand new GoPro brand batteries, and the official GoPro charger. Battery always fully charged just prior to the dive. Last week I took 30min video, then stopped the video (all using the TOP button). When I went to turn it on again 10min later, it would not turn on at all. I never did get it to turn back on, even on land. Finally at home it still would not turn on even with USB connected. I noticed then that I could push the battery in and it 'seated'. Immediately I had a working camera with 70% battery life. So it seems the battery wiggled loose during the dive or was not properly seated before my dive. Has this happened to anyone else? Is there some trick to getting the battery properly seated?
3. Yesterday I took it again. This time I turned the video on recording in the water just before I descended, then let it run the entire dive. The battery finally ran out at 1hour 6 minutes and some seconds. I did have the screensaver set on 'never', and saw it was running the entire dive. I could see it clearly any time I looked. If I ran the screensaver ON, would I get more than an hour battery life? Again note, our diving right now is 47F water, so not warm.
4. I do need to be able to see the back screen to set up shots, but not always. If I turn on screen saver, is there a way I can leave the video running, let the saver blank the screen, then get the screen back on without stopping the video? Knowing you can't use the touchscreen underwater, does just pushing something like the left button work? I would really hate to have to stop and start video just to get the back screen on so I could set up a shot.
Thanks in advance. That's all for now.
-R
First, I have the offical gopro housing for the hero 8, so that's all good. I built a tray to carry the gopro 'as a video camera' but only used it once because mostly the gopro is attached to my scooter (Piranna 1).
One thing to note; the magnets on the bottom of the hero8 that hold the little tabs are strong enough to interfere with my scooter compass (big kayak compass I use) if the gopro is mounted within 6in of the compass. Mounting the gopro on the handle using the gopro clip mount works just fine and does not bother the compass.
Now for the issues:
1. I dive PNW (near Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Candada) so the water is pretty murky all the time. Visibility ranges from inches in the summer to dozens of feet in the winter, but never that great. Even if you get the amazing day with 50 ft. vis, there's always particles in the water to scatter light.
I've been using 2.7K 60fps but I am really wondering if that's overkill for PNW water. I have a memory card sufficient to last any length of dive I do (all over 1 hour) but the battery dies before I run out of memory.
So would 1080p 60fps be all I really need? The size of the video files on my computer is really why I am asking - those 2.7K files are really big!.
2. Has anyone had battery issues with the hero8? I have two brand new GoPro brand batteries, and the official GoPro charger. Battery always fully charged just prior to the dive. Last week I took 30min video, then stopped the video (all using the TOP button). When I went to turn it on again 10min later, it would not turn on at all. I never did get it to turn back on, even on land. Finally at home it still would not turn on even with USB connected. I noticed then that I could push the battery in and it 'seated'. Immediately I had a working camera with 70% battery life. So it seems the battery wiggled loose during the dive or was not properly seated before my dive. Has this happened to anyone else? Is there some trick to getting the battery properly seated?
3. Yesterday I took it again. This time I turned the video on recording in the water just before I descended, then let it run the entire dive. The battery finally ran out at 1hour 6 minutes and some seconds. I did have the screensaver set on 'never', and saw it was running the entire dive. I could see it clearly any time I looked. If I ran the screensaver ON, would I get more than an hour battery life? Again note, our diving right now is 47F water, so not warm.
4. I do need to be able to see the back screen to set up shots, but not always. If I turn on screen saver, is there a way I can leave the video running, let the saver blank the screen, then get the screen back on without stopping the video? Knowing you can't use the touchscreen underwater, does just pushing something like the left button work? I would really hate to have to stop and start video just to get the back screen on so I could set up a shot.
Thanks in advance. That's all for now.
-R