Imitation GoPro Cameras from China. Any Good?

[JamesBon92007]

I know that the go-pro clone I have only creates Apple quicktime MOV files. Premier Elements (any version) cannot import the video from those MOV files directly because Adobe didn't license the codec. You have two options - transcode the video; i.e.. use a program like Handbrake to convert the MOV to MP4 which will load into Premier. Alternately, you can install the latest Apple Quicktime and then Premier will load the MOV video perfectly. Of course, an Apple computer probably has Quicktime included so this is not an issue if using a Mac, only on a PC.

My SJ7000 records the videos as QuickTime Movies and my Win 7 computer plays them back without asking me to update or download or any such thing so now I'm wondering how that is. I recall having played QuickTime movies many Windows versions ago without any memorable hitches or having needed to specifically download the player. Is that just dumb luck on my part or does it come with Windows?

 

[JamesBon92007]

The problem with filters is they are subtractive - they cut down on the light getting to the camera. In low light I find it's hard enough getting good resolution so adding a filter would just make the video worse, IMO.

I have not tried altering the color in editing, which Premier Elements can do. Neither have I tried (on this camera) taking my white card underwater to allow later adjustment of the white balance. Last time I checked (Elements 13) you couldn't change video white balance in edit. Maybe 15 allows this but I have not checked.

In the case of this video, the camera is mounted to my scooter, so it's more difficult to add a video light with the single go-pro mount. When I'm swimming I have a separate home made tray to hold a light (my Sola 1200) and the camera. I know that works well for true color at any depth because I do that all the time with my G16. I'm not even sure the Sola 1200 would illuminate the area well enough when scootering.

In order of preference I guess I'd want to adjust the white balance first, and if I could not do that then adjust the color; both done in editing. It would be nice to have a super video light on the scooter, but that won't happen any time soon.

So far I've mainly used the filter in clear water on a sunny day and it actually seemed to 'brighten things up' a bit compared to the same scene without the filter. I'm still playing around with the settings but had it on Auto White Balance and the colors were good (past 35 feet with deep red). My camera does have have a manual white balance so my choices seem to be either Auto or Daylight. Daylight was way too orange/brown. On a night dive from Kona the available light was probably 100% LED flashlights and the color balance looked pretty good on Auto without any filter. In the distant past I recall reading something from one guy who wore white fins so he could use them instead of a white card As for lighting, at this point in my life I'm just looking at video lights what will work up to a few feet away so I can get a shot of a moray under a ledge etc. My camera will capture images under such circumstances as long as it is also in shadow but it does lose resolution in low light.

 

[CT-Rich]

My SJ7000 records the videos as QuickTime Movies and my Win 7 computer plays them back without asking me to update or download or any such thing so now I'm wondering how that is. I recall having played QuickTime movies many Windows versions ago without any memorable hitches or having needed to specifically download the player. Is that just dumb luck on my part or does it come with Windows?

The different viewers need to have the compression algorithm to play back the video. Some viewers will have QuickTime in their codex, some won't. I have not had any problems viewing the raw video from sjcams. The challenge will be, does your editor know what to do with the data.

 

[sunnyboy]

Playback was never the problem. Vimeo works just fine on everything I've thrown at it. The problem was loading the MOV video files into Adobe Premier Elements on a Win 7 PC for editing. Adobe didn't include the Apple Quicktime codec so all you get is audio.

To load both audio and video you can either use a program like Handbrake to transcode the MOV into an MP4 file which will load into Premier, or else install Quicktime. I tried both methods and they both work, but I also found Handbrake created files larger than the original if the MOV was larger than 1gig. So I much prefer to install Quicktime and just edit the MOV files directly in Premier Elements.

 

[gcarter]

Playback was never the problem. Vimeo works just fine on everything I've thrown at it. The problem was loading the MOV video files into Adobe Premier Elements on a Win 7 PC for editing. Adobe didn't include the Apple Quicktime codec so all you get is audio.

To load both audio and video you can either use a program like Handbrake to transcode the MOV into an MP4 file which will load into Premier, or else install Quicktime. I tried both methods and they both work, but I also found Handbrake created files larger than the original if the MOV was larger than 1gig. So I much prefer to install Quicktime and just edit the MOV files directly in Premier Elements.

MOV, like MPG, AVI and others, are container file formats, not codecs. You may be able to play one MOV and not another, since despite them using the same container format, they may not use the same encoding.

 

[rmssetc]

Just got back from a great week in Cozumel.

I used my SJCam Elite 5000x (terrible name), shooting at 1920x1080 @ 60FPS, with motion stabiliztion, underwater enhancement, and wide dynamic range "on".

No problems with the camera, except the poor battery life...but that's what surface intervals are for, right?

Some of my videos/photos from the trip can be found on my Flickr page. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmsppu/sets/72157677946682882/with/32697176042/)

The videos have minor post-production edits (color balancing, some were slightly sharpened).

 

[JamesBon92007]

Just got back from a great week in Cozumel.

I used my SJCam Elite 5000x (terrible name), shooting at 1920x1080 @ 60FPS, with motion stabiliztion, underwater enhancement, and wide dynamic range "on".

No problems with the camera, except the poor battery life...but that's what surface intervals are for, right?

Some of my videos/photos from the trip can be found on my Flickr page. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmsppu/sets/72157677946682882/with/32697176042/)

The videos have minor post-production edits (color balancing, some were slightly sharpened).

Nice videos. And such cooperation from the eagle rays! Were there only the two of you there?

On the "motion stabilization" are you referring to what's built into the camera, or editing software? On high resolution my camera's videos are too jumpy from camera movement so I've been using 720 dpi @ 60 fps.

What kind of video light were you using on the langosta etc?

I'm still experimenting with red and light red filters. The problem is that Cozumel is 3000 miles away so I can't just jump in the water to try stuff out.

 

[rmssetc]

Nice videos. And such cooperation from the eagle rays! Were there only the two of you there?

Thanks. There were 6 of us on that dive. I happened to be in the right spot, but everyone got good views of that ray. 4 people had cameras, but everyone was really good about not crowding too much. At the beginning of the video, everyone else was out-of-frame above me or to the right. When the ray swam a bit and started feeding again, the other folks were to my left.

On the "motion stabilization" are you referring to what's built into the camera, or editing software? On high resolution my camera's videos are too jumpy from camera movement so I've been using 720 dpi @ 60 fps.

The image stabilization built into the camera.

I find that the 2K videos look better than 4K, perhaps that's related to the stabilization (or crappy up-sampling in software).

What kind of video light were you using on the langosta etc?

I'm still experimenting with red and light red filters. The problem is that Cozumel is 3000 miles away so I can't just jump in the water to try stuff out.

I've got a DIY tray with an Orcatorch D810v light (supposedly 1000 lumens, very wide & even beam). Beyond about 1m, the light doesn't seem to make much difference.

No color filters on the camera or light, but I was using the electronic "underwater" mode.

 

[wildjetskier]

I have the SJ4000 and have come back from diving in Tenerife with loads of video and have a few questions. All the video looks like it was shot in green mist, would a red eel filter compensate a little ? Has anyone definitive settings for the 4000 that they use, would love some advice as im off to Thailand in April and would love to rectify my issues. Many thanks guys an gals in advance

 

[JamesBon92007]

I have the SJ4000 and have come back from diving in Tenerife with loads of video and have a few questions. All the video looks like it was shot in green mist, would a red eel filter compensate a little ? Has anyone definitive settings for the 4000 that they use, would love some advice as im off to Thailand in April and would love to rectify my issues. Many thanks guys an gals in advance

I think it depends on the water which color of filter works best but I've mainly only tried them in the Caribbean so far. A standard red filter worked great for me below 35' but was a bit too red in 25-30 feet. I tried a deep red filter past 50 feet and everything was deep red--total failure. I also tried an orange filter and everything was green--total failure. I acquired a pink (light red) filter and just saw a video at Catalina Island (California) and the colors on the video my son-in-law shot looked great but that was snorkeling (but with a 3' selfie stick). From the pictures I've seen underwater at Tenerife I would think a red filter would work past 30-35 feet. I've also read that for "green" water a purple filter is supposed to give good results but I would not recommend keeping it on the camera for the entire dive, judging from my poor results with other filters.

My avatar photo (to the left) was taken with a GoPro Hero 3 with a red filter.

If you are lucky you can find a set of different filters for your SJ4000. I got a set for another camera that came with pink, red, orange, yellow, ND, and purple. The pink worked great for snorkeling and the red worked great past 35 feet in the Pacific in Costa Rica. These were "snap-on" filters and I tethered three different colors so I could switch them underwater. I came back with two. I think I paid about $7 US for the set on eBay.

Example: 6Pcs Colorful Underwater Diving Camera Case Lens Filter for Gopro SJ4000 Hero 3 | eBay

It might be possible to reduce some of the green with editing software but I'm not the one to answer that question.