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Best video camera to mount on speargun

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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GreenSpanner

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Jun 1, 2011
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What is the best video camera available for mounting on a speargun? The two that I know of are the Go Pro HD (assuming the use of a flat lens for improved focus), and the Contour GPS camera.

Any advice would be most appreciated.
 
I remember when i bought my first digital camera and housing package back in 2003, the camera alone cost me around $400 and the housing somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. back then this camera was the ***** shooting at 5mp for still and some god awfull rate for video.

It was big, clumsy, and back then gun-camera mounts were a pain to find and you ended up DIY-ing it. Which was fun and you got to know the gun better. It also lead to a multitude of headaches, a few cuts and scratches, and hours of research.

sometime in 2008 i got myself another camera. this one was slimer, shot stills at 12mps and video at "hd-ish capabilities". however, shooting hd video drains the battery in less than 45 minutes of continuous use (spearfishing).
this camera and housing combo only set me back $400

cue the GoPro HD. apparently this little beast shoots full HD for a staggering 2.5 hours in FULL HD!!!

my next camera is going to be a go pro. you can either go pro, or go home
 
Thanks For the advice!

I found a store with both the GoPro & Contour - compared the two & bought the GoPro - now for the mounting. Options as far as I can tell:

Do you find mounting on the gun better, if so, where on the gun? (On the top above the trigger mechanism? On the side of the trigger mechanism? Other places?)

Wrist mount?

Head mount?
 
your mounting options are limited by the type of gun you use. if you are using a railgun, try the one available at Mako
 
I recommend not mounting the camera to the gun, it will likely have an effect on your shooting and make the gun out of balance.
Check out the Liquid Image HD video/still camera face masks. I just purshased one and have not tried it yet. The HD camera shoots 5 MP quality, has light mounts and can be switched from still pic to HD video while in the water. It seems very simple and uses 4 AAA Lithium batteries. The camera uses mini SD and can handle up to a 32 gig card. I will post more once I try it out. I have an Oregon Scintific camera mounted on my 416 remington mag that I use for hunting in Alaska, the camera is the size of a salt shaker and has a viewing screen on the rear plus a remote control.

Cheers, Alaskaseahunter
 
Thanks for the advice Alaska! I have not tried the gun mount, but agree it will definitely affect the aim, and if I loose the gun for what ever reason, it becomes a much more expensive day. Also not cool to film yor buddies with the gun pointed at them.

I have spent the last few days experimenting with the camera mounted on my forehead over my wetsuit, but under the mask strap. Works ok but the aim angle is tricky, very sudden movements pop the elastic strap and you can't switch it on & off easily. Worse, you don't know if it is filming or not. Another challenge is that I seem to move my head around too quickly, creating "jerky" video footage.

Once I have worked the above out, the head mount seems like it will work well. Just needs some practice.
 
Sounds like you are making progress. I will test my new HD camer mask tomorrow. I made up a temporary light mount system and will purchase the 320 luman lights when I return home.

My son was successful is filming some footage of my Mahi Mahi kill from the boat by holding his camera over the side. I saw some footage from a spearo that had a pole mount system that allowed the boat tender to film from the deck of the boat. I will test some idea in Alaska and see how it works.

I can't wait to return home and do some salmon spearing!!!

Cheers, Alaskaseahunter
 

So how did you get on this past year with your camera?
 
Very well thanks. See some footage on YouTube under John Greenland. Most shot on 980 so Solomon quite good.
 
GreenSpanner said:
Very well thanks. See some footage on YouTube under John Greenland. Most shot on 980 so Solomon quite good.
Click to expand...

Some really outstanding spearo movies there John, well played, very, very impressed. Only trouble is Spearfishing in Southern Africa is a very different animal to spearing in the UK and your videos make me feel like a child amongst men. To hear your dive buddy saying "watch out for sharks eh" makes me laugh... very nervously?
Last year I came across a large Porbeagle Shark in Pembrokeshire in Wales, they are well known for being extremely shy of humans and yet I was out of that water quicker than a snot dragon. I haven't moved quicker in 20 years, although in my defence it does look a lot like a Great White especially in our murky waters.
Anyway you really should post your videos on Deeper Blue by just cutting and pasting the address in the post. I did it below for your wicked dolphins and whale shark vid so everyone else can have a look. Brilliant stuff John keep them coming.
 
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A porbeagle! Not many people can say they have had a close encouter with one of those rare creatures! One of those experiences that is great, in hindsight.

We have to be very careful of large sharks when diving in the warm waters of our east coast, especially the bull sharks. Our dive group's policy is to exit the water when ever the sharks become threatening. (It is their domain after all.)

We had an encouter with some humpback whales in Mozambique recently. I was on my way down when they appeared out of nowhere. It was a great experience but to be surprised by the pod like that was rather un-nerving.

Two of our group were under them when they came through and their float line got caught in one of the whale's pectoral fins. Luckily a barnacle cut the line.

[ame=http://youtu.be/NZ2YC3qwVH4]Humpback Whale encounter ExFL - YouTube[/ame]
 

To be honest I just caught sight of a very large whitish/light grey shark beneath me. More of an assumption but I really can't think it could be anything other than a Porbeagle which are becoming more common in Northern waters now and the main reason I bought a cheap underwater HD camera... so that I can actually back up my 'tall stories'.
No problem for you though... yet another amazing video John. Thanks for sharing.
 
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hyeparis said:
I use Mako's mount - works well.
Click to expand...


Glad you like it.

Our mount has two different types of mounting bases. One is for "pipe" guns like the MAKO and the other should fit about any wood gun. An important benefit of our mount is that the mounting arm can quickly and easily be removed while diving and this then serves as a handle for hand-held filming.

There's no need to ever consider pointing a gun mounted camera at another diver.

MAKO Speargun (Rapid On/Off) Camera Mounting System (for railguns and pipe guns)




[ame=http://youtu.be/ufcRfVtd9sI]Rapid On/Off Camera Mounting System - Switch from Gun Mount to Hand Held and back to Gun Mount - YouTube[/ame]
 
To others considering buying UW cams right now, I'd say perhaps wait a bit...
Sony will soon put out a Sony Action Cam with a Zeiss lens and I suspect better low light capabilities. But more importantly, it has a much better shape than the GoPro for UW uses. Well, actually for a lot of uses. I just have one issue with it for now: It is not out yet...
Well, actually, I have a more important one. It seems like it has a curved front lens on the casing and as such would have focus issues like the non-dive, flat-glass casings for GoPros. Hope they fix that before they ship them.
Not much online yet, but here are a few links:
Sony Action Cam HDR-AS10 - Digital Camcorders - CNET Reviews

Sony's tiny ruggedized Action Cam gets official with 16MP Exmor R, WiFi, $199+ price tag (hands-on) -- Engadget

Oh, also they seem to be less money than GoPro.
 
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Agree with many of your comments here Gecko.
Lovely little Sony camera but it still seems a bit big for attaching to your gun with mounts and casings etc. I get the feeling that these sized/shaped cameras are probably more suited for head, arm or body mounting and clearly produce some outstanding results. I'm now pretty convinced after buying and using one that small bullet style camera's are the way to go when/if attaching to spearguns. Most, if not all guns are not designed to have a camera attached (or anything else for that matter) which clearly increases drag, impedes aim or affects UW balance.
Another advantage of the bullet style UW cameras (High Definition) are that they range in price from comfortably affordable for spearo's who are not that into videography, (like me) to very expensive examples with high spec for videographers who like spearfishing. The 2 bullet cam examples below are also a bit on the big side still...but there are some even smaller examples already out there (far right below)... I just couldn't find a size comparison photo.
 
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Damn that is som nice recorded encounters in the vids...

To make a video called dolphins AND whaleshark in one shot is insane...
 
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