Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to play with some GoPro cameras, with some cool toys added to them. Specifically, a Backscatter Macromate and Flip Filters mounted on a 3.1 Flip frame, on a Backscatter tray with a Light and Motion Sola wide angle light. I’m going to end up writing more about them, because honestly, it’s just a darn cool system, and I can't put it down!
For the past few years, I’ve been enjoying life as a photographer, but I’m not a professional—not going to quit my day job, it’s just a hobby. I use a bulky DSLR rig. I say bulky, but it’s really par for the course for still cameras, and I’ve carried it around so often, the size and weight don’t phase me.
Have you ever had that moment where you go to pick up the orange juice, and pick it up with a lot of force, thinking it’s full and thus heavy, but it’s not, and you nearly throw the container across the room on accident? Or you go to close a door, and it’s a lot lighter than you imagined, and you end up slamming it? Well, that’s what it was like to first put my DSLR on the boat, then go back for the GoPro. This thing is tiny and lightweight! The bug had already bitten me and the housing wasn’t even wet!
But lets not get ahead of ourselves. The fun actually started a little earlier, when I unpacked the system and assembled it. Just to be clear, I completely disregarded the manual. I didn’t even read up on how to operate these things. I wanted to see how easy it was. I did the same with a Shearwater Petrel recently, and found that it was intuitive enough I didn’t need the manual, and wanted to see if the same thing was true with aGoPro.
Well, after pressing the power button a few times, I realized maybe the battery was dead, and had to figure out how to open the battery door. It’s not hard, but I can already tell, I’m going to lose the battery door. It’s just a matter of time. And the stock batteries seem nicely put together, with the pull tab to remove them, but the Wasabi brand aftermarket batteries I got to use for spares? The adhesive is not as strong and I think it’s only a matter of time before I have to fix them.
With a new battery installed, it’s time to put on the LCD Bacpac. I have some criticisms here. First of all, I’m no electrical engineer, so I don’t know what all is crammed in here, but it seems thick for just being a screen. Given my later notes on battery life, I’d really like to see an LCD BacPac with an indentation in the back to allow for a larger capacity battery. Additionally, when you go to switch the battery, you have to remove first the LCD back, then the battery door. With the LCD back on, I’m wondering if you can take the battery door off, but that remains to be seen. It’s just one more step you might have to do on a rocking boat between dives and I try to limit those when I can.
Secondly, it seems that the backs included in the LCD BacPac kit are for the older 3 housing. Sidenote here, the 3 housing is nice. Rater to slightly deeper than the 3+ housing and with a slick locking latch, unlike the non locking latch on the 3+, I really like the older housing. But, lets say you go to a dive shop and pick up a 3+ (never seen a 3 for sale at a dive shop now that the 3+ is out), and decide to also get the LCD screen. Very handy for both to be available at your dive shop, all ready to go, just grab and get on the boat to go have some fun. But, there is no back in the LCD kit that will work, you have to order that separately. To me, that makes as much sense as Apple switching to the new Lightning connector, which has many advantages over the older 30 min connector, but then only including accessories that use the 30 pin with your purchase.
Speaking of Apple, I think GoPro should follow in their footsteps and only update the housing every two model years.
When it came to switching the backdoor to install the LCD back, I was a little surprised to see that you just pull the door down to pop it out of the hinge. I was worried I was going to break something and had to try twice to get it popped out, but nothing broke and after doing one, it was easy to switch others.
Finally, time to turn the camera on. Mind you, I didn’t bother to read the manual. More fun to try it first without, and see how easy it is. And honestly, it’s pretty easy. I did find myself sometimes going through a menu twice though as I hit the wrong button the first time. Not a big deal.
The LCD bacpac has a power button on the side, and you can set the amount of time the LCD stays on. It seems that once it turns off, then even if you start filming again, you have to press the power button on the LCD separately to reactivate it. I kind of wish there was a way to have that done automatically.
There is also a button for wifi, letting you select between the remote, the app, or off. I managed to hit this button a few times on the dive, probably when I was trying to turn on the LCD screen, which is totally user error and it won’t take long to overcome that and form muscle memory. But, speaking of the remote vs. app, there is a clear difference. The app requires you to switch to your settings screen and switch to be only connected to the camera. It will prompt you for a password and camera name. Easy enough, but the switching in your wifi settings is something that will get old fast. But, it lets you easily see all of the settings, and set up the shot if you don’t have a LCD bacpac and the camera is going to be stationary. It’s pretty cool. One thing that would be nice is a disconnect option that turns off the wifi as well, to reduce camera battery consumption after you get it in place and start recording, but then you would have to go back and re turn on the wifi and reconnect, so that’s not a mode that would work for everyone.
The remote is a totally different story. It took me two days to get it to connect, it was kind of a pain. But, it was perfect for letting me take some shots with the camera on top of a pole, so I was glad I did get it to work.
It only took a few minutes of playing around to get ready to jump in for a dive, and the system is just as easy to handle underwater as it is on the surface. Battery life is not that good compared to DSLR land, where I have only managed to run out of power once after hundreds of dives with the camera, but I think it is manageable. For the diver doing 1 hour dives, just carry a spare on the boat. If you plan a longer dive, you’ll have to get really good at turning things off. Wifi should be off permanently, LCD brightness on low (which is hard to do in shallow water on a sunny day, it becomes hard to see), LCD set to turn off when not in use, and you should turn the entire camera off if you think it will be a while before you use it again. Wifi mode really drains the power, leave it off anytime you aren't using the camera, or only put in the battery when you are ready to dive.
You basically need some way to hold the camera while you shoot. There are two main options, a double handled tray or a monopod/pole. A long pole is great for divers who aren’t used to the wide angle lens and how close it requires you to be to your subject, but a double handled tray will help minimize camera shake. Your first dive will probably be pretty bad, but it’s not too hard to get great results if you pay attention to your shooting angle and minimize movement.
GoPro has made editing easy. Their software installs quickly and includes a tutorial on how to import that is quite well done. Usually, I skip tutorials because they take too long, but this was so simple, and it told me exactly what to do and let me figure out the minor details myself. Now, I’m used to shooting in RAW, and use NAS drives to store older shots to keep space on the harddrive open, but I was shocked at how much space footage from just one drive took up. I couldn’t import and edit on my internal SSD, but the process was still pretty quick using an older USB2.0 harddrive. But, it’s not safe to keep anything you really want to have around on just one drive, and not all online backup services will backup from attached or NAS drives. Be prepared to lose all of your footage, or invest in multiple backup drives and an online backup solution that works with them.
Now it is time to dive deeper into the world of GoPros! Next I’ll write about the Backscatter Macromate Mini and Flip 3.1 system, which is just darn cool. And because you can’t stay submerged all the time, Amazon Prime has been delivering a steady stream of little packages containing additional mounts. There isn’t much you can’t do with a GoPro!
Blue Heron Wreck and Marine Life - YouTube
For the past few years, I’ve been enjoying life as a photographer, but I’m not a professional—not going to quit my day job, it’s just a hobby. I use a bulky DSLR rig. I say bulky, but it’s really par for the course for still cameras, and I’ve carried it around so often, the size and weight don’t phase me.
Have you ever had that moment where you go to pick up the orange juice, and pick it up with a lot of force, thinking it’s full and thus heavy, but it’s not, and you nearly throw the container across the room on accident? Or you go to close a door, and it’s a lot lighter than you imagined, and you end up slamming it? Well, that’s what it was like to first put my DSLR on the boat, then go back for the GoPro. This thing is tiny and lightweight! The bug had already bitten me and the housing wasn’t even wet!
But lets not get ahead of ourselves. The fun actually started a little earlier, when I unpacked the system and assembled it. Just to be clear, I completely disregarded the manual. I didn’t even read up on how to operate these things. I wanted to see how easy it was. I did the same with a Shearwater Petrel recently, and found that it was intuitive enough I didn’t need the manual, and wanted to see if the same thing was true with aGoPro.
Well, after pressing the power button a few times, I realized maybe the battery was dead, and had to figure out how to open the battery door. It’s not hard, but I can already tell, I’m going to lose the battery door. It’s just a matter of time. And the stock batteries seem nicely put together, with the pull tab to remove them, but the Wasabi brand aftermarket batteries I got to use for spares? The adhesive is not as strong and I think it’s only a matter of time before I have to fix them.
With a new battery installed, it’s time to put on the LCD Bacpac. I have some criticisms here. First of all, I’m no electrical engineer, so I don’t know what all is crammed in here, but it seems thick for just being a screen. Given my later notes on battery life, I’d really like to see an LCD BacPac with an indentation in the back to allow for a larger capacity battery. Additionally, when you go to switch the battery, you have to remove first the LCD back, then the battery door. With the LCD back on, I’m wondering if you can take the battery door off, but that remains to be seen. It’s just one more step you might have to do on a rocking boat between dives and I try to limit those when I can.
Secondly, it seems that the backs included in the LCD BacPac kit are for the older 3 housing. Sidenote here, the 3 housing is nice. Rater to slightly deeper than the 3+ housing and with a slick locking latch, unlike the non locking latch on the 3+, I really like the older housing. But, lets say you go to a dive shop and pick up a 3+ (never seen a 3 for sale at a dive shop now that the 3+ is out), and decide to also get the LCD screen. Very handy for both to be available at your dive shop, all ready to go, just grab and get on the boat to go have some fun. But, there is no back in the LCD kit that will work, you have to order that separately. To me, that makes as much sense as Apple switching to the new Lightning connector, which has many advantages over the older 30 min connector, but then only including accessories that use the 30 pin with your purchase.
Speaking of Apple, I think GoPro should follow in their footsteps and only update the housing every two model years.
When it came to switching the backdoor to install the LCD back, I was a little surprised to see that you just pull the door down to pop it out of the hinge. I was worried I was going to break something and had to try twice to get it popped out, but nothing broke and after doing one, it was easy to switch others.
Finally, time to turn the camera on. Mind you, I didn’t bother to read the manual. More fun to try it first without, and see how easy it is. And honestly, it’s pretty easy. I did find myself sometimes going through a menu twice though as I hit the wrong button the first time. Not a big deal.
The LCD bacpac has a power button on the side, and you can set the amount of time the LCD stays on. It seems that once it turns off, then even if you start filming again, you have to press the power button on the LCD separately to reactivate it. I kind of wish there was a way to have that done automatically.
There is also a button for wifi, letting you select between the remote, the app, or off. I managed to hit this button a few times on the dive, probably when I was trying to turn on the LCD screen, which is totally user error and it won’t take long to overcome that and form muscle memory. But, speaking of the remote vs. app, there is a clear difference. The app requires you to switch to your settings screen and switch to be only connected to the camera. It will prompt you for a password and camera name. Easy enough, but the switching in your wifi settings is something that will get old fast. But, it lets you easily see all of the settings, and set up the shot if you don’t have a LCD bacpac and the camera is going to be stationary. It’s pretty cool. One thing that would be nice is a disconnect option that turns off the wifi as well, to reduce camera battery consumption after you get it in place and start recording, but then you would have to go back and re turn on the wifi and reconnect, so that’s not a mode that would work for everyone.
The remote is a totally different story. It took me two days to get it to connect, it was kind of a pain. But, it was perfect for letting me take some shots with the camera on top of a pole, so I was glad I did get it to work.
It only took a few minutes of playing around to get ready to jump in for a dive, and the system is just as easy to handle underwater as it is on the surface. Battery life is not that good compared to DSLR land, where I have only managed to run out of power once after hundreds of dives with the camera, but I think it is manageable. For the diver doing 1 hour dives, just carry a spare on the boat. If you plan a longer dive, you’ll have to get really good at turning things off. Wifi should be off permanently, LCD brightness on low (which is hard to do in shallow water on a sunny day, it becomes hard to see), LCD set to turn off when not in use, and you should turn the entire camera off if you think it will be a while before you use it again. Wifi mode really drains the power, leave it off anytime you aren't using the camera, or only put in the battery when you are ready to dive.
You basically need some way to hold the camera while you shoot. There are two main options, a double handled tray or a monopod/pole. A long pole is great for divers who aren’t used to the wide angle lens and how close it requires you to be to your subject, but a double handled tray will help minimize camera shake. Your first dive will probably be pretty bad, but it’s not too hard to get great results if you pay attention to your shooting angle and minimize movement.
GoPro has made editing easy. Their software installs quickly and includes a tutorial on how to import that is quite well done. Usually, I skip tutorials because they take too long, but this was so simple, and it told me exactly what to do and let me figure out the minor details myself. Now, I’m used to shooting in RAW, and use NAS drives to store older shots to keep space on the harddrive open, but I was shocked at how much space footage from just one drive took up. I couldn’t import and edit on my internal SSD, but the process was still pretty quick using an older USB2.0 harddrive. But, it’s not safe to keep anything you really want to have around on just one drive, and not all online backup services will backup from attached or NAS drives. Be prepared to lose all of your footage, or invest in multiple backup drives and an online backup solution that works with them.
Now it is time to dive deeper into the world of GoPros! Next I’ll write about the Backscatter Macromate Mini and Flip 3.1 system, which is just darn cool. And because you can’t stay submerged all the time, Amazon Prime has been delivering a steady stream of little packages containing additional mounts. There isn’t much you can’t do with a GoPro!
Blue Heron Wreck and Marine Life - YouTube
Last edited:
