Good Spearo HD Camera (UK)

[artiz]

Hmmm, picture quality looks pretty good, certainly better than I'd have expected given the low light conditions. I think I'd be tempted to stand the camera off the gun a little as to avoid the gun intrusion. Keep the info coming, I may be tempted to purchase.

What was the charging issue, did you resolve it?

Cheers

Good idea about moving the camera out. I reckon making a small home made bracket would be easy enough for most people on a budget. On my Arka I have a screw hole for a left handed user (string retainer) which could be used to make it nice and secure, some kind of small aquadynamic fin type bracket may even help stability when firing.
The charging issue is fully understanding the little led's which indicate when charging etc. The manual is not very comprehensive so I will post it up for perusal.

 

[artiz]

Good idea about moving the camera out. I reckon making a small home made bracket would be easy enough for most people on a budget. On my Arka I have a screw hole for a left handed user (string retainer) which could be used to make it nice and secure, some kind of small aquadynamic fin type bracket may even help stability when firing.
The charging issue is fully understanding the little led's which indicate when charging etc. The manual is not very comprehensive so I will post it up for perusal.

As Promised;
View attachment DogCam Bullet HD Manual.pdf

 

[Broseidon]

I've just got a Nikon AW100:

Pretty small and light and waterproof to 10m - really pleased with it so far although it hasn't seen the sea yet

 

[winky]

I've just got a Nikon AW100:

Pretty small and light and waterproof to 10m - really pleased with it so far although it hasn't seen the sea yet

Looks good - its all about the camo (apparently!!!)

It sure is less cumbersome than mine - Canon G12. Bought for me n the missus (professional photographer) so wasn't allowed anything smaller in case she wanted to use it!!!! Had a great time with it in St Lucia while on our honeymoon.

This is one of my favorite ones!

 

[Robbo66]

I would go for a 'bullet' style cam, rather than the bulky standard 35mm compact that I Had before (below).Will affect balance of the gun, and inhibit sideways motion, as it did on mine.
You'll also need to offset the mount as will be a pain when loading if mounted too close to gun. Simply angle the camera in a few degrees and you're away.

 

[Chris_C_NZ]

Just as an aside, have they fixed the issue about the wide angle fish eye lense on the gopro messing the imagery up underwater, or is it still an aftermarket fix to make things focus correctly?

 

[artiz]

I would go for a 'bullet' style cam, rather than the bulky standard 35mm compact that I Had before (below).Will affect balance of the gun, and inhibit sideways motion, as it did on mine.
You'll also need to offset the mount as will be a pain when loading if mounted too close to gun. Simply angle the camera in a few degrees and you're away.

Thanks for this Robbo66, it brings me onto a bracket recommended by Manalive.
After looking around the net I decided to save myself some money and make a bracket myself. It seems most guns have a hole through the handle which is used for most commercial brackets/housings. My Arka has a 4mm screw hole so I bought a meter length of 4mm screw and managed to find a meter length of aluminum tube which fitted snugly around the screw. Together with 4mm nuts and washers it shouldn't be any more than £5 from your local hardware store or online.

I then cut screw and tube as required and mounted to the gun using nuts and washers. I'm not going to go into too much detail here because lengths, guns and fitting will all be subject to your own preference but it didn't take any longer than 30 mins to complete and I have plenty bits left to make a couple more.
Once I had tightened everything securely I slightly bent the bracket to suit the angle required.

The result is the darkened room video below which shows very little gun intrusion compared to when attached directly to the gun.

 

[artiz]

Just as an aside, have they fixed the issue about the wide angle fish eye lense on the gopro messing the imagery up underwater, or is it still an aftermarket fix to make things focus correctly?

Glad you pointed that out Chris, you spend £2-300 on your new superduper GoPro and its useless underwater????
I didn't think that they had sorted that out so maybe you still need to spend even more to fix - plus a bracket? Surely that can't be right?

 

[manalive!]

Artiz,

Looking pretty good, I'm still tempted. Have you done any tests to find the battery life in?

Any plans to get in the water in the near future and run a real life test?

 

[artiz]

Artiz,

Looking pretty good, I'm still tempted. Have you done any tests to find the battery life in?

Any plans to get in the water in the near future and run a real life test?

Funny you should mention that, tomorrow (last day of hols) midday is looking good, light winds on the South Coast for the last few days & a bit of sun over my favourite bay....but don't hold your breath!
I did do a battery test by leaving it filming until it stopped which was 1hr 55mins but the manual says to charge for 12hrs for first 3 charges, so it may get better. I also wondered how submersion in cold water would effect its battery life though?

P.S. I also tried out the button with 5mm gloves and you can still feel the click through the neoprene

 

[manalive!]

How can you tell if the camera is recording, does the LED flash continuously when it is?

I'll look forward to your full action video. Yes, I'd expect that the drop in temperature will impact the battery's performance.

Thanks

 

[artiz]

How can you tell if the camera is recording, does the LED flash continuously when it is?

I'll look forward to your full action video. Yes, I'd expect that the drop in temperature will impact the battery's performance.

Thanks

The LED's flash green and blue when recording but they are small & kind of difficult to see unless looking down the lens to check. I was hoping the button click was enough confirmation. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow?

 

[manalive!]

I have a pretty large U/W video camera at the moment and I'm a master of accidentally setting it off recording and then switching it off when I mean to start filming. So flashing LEDs should be enough

 

[artiz]

I have a pretty large U/W video camera at the moment and I'm a master of accidentally setting it off recording and then switching it off when I mean to start filming. So flashing LEDs should be enough

When the camera is turned button facing down and mounted on my (transparent) mask the LED flashes through the side so I know if its recording or not. When its on the gun mount I think I may need to keep checking too?
I get the feeling that smallish movies may be the secret to this cameras success which will depend on how easy it is to turn on and off underwater - so I think you have 'hit the nail on the head'. I must admit that I still like the idea of the camera mounted straight to the gun and looking down the barrel. Its out of the way and not to be worried about but if the target is obscured too much then its pointless. I also noticed that when I mounted it on the mask it seemed a little high so I will need to watch out for that too. So far, all things considered, the mask mount seems the best option.

 

[artiz]

How can you tell if the camera is recording, does the LED flash continuously when it is?

I'll look forward to your full action video. Yes, I'd expect that the drop in temperature will impact the battery's performance.

Thanks

Tried out the bullet camera underwater yesterday. Amazing day, warm, blue sky, no wind, millpond sea etc. Usual problem though, visibility was probably less than a meter and at times I couldn't even see my hands. I limited the test to the attachment on the mask, which was a little disappointing because you tend to move your head a lot when scanning the sea bed. The operation of the cam was easy enough though, the click of the button was good but I couldn't see the LED's & because the cam was attached to my mask checking to see if I was filming was problematic. Relied on button click which worked out OK. I was out for 3 hours and the 2GB card supplied with camera is insufficient but I still managed 10 separate movies & battery life was not a problem. Sorry it wasn't much of a test but video below was the best viz of 3 hours and at least shows a little of the cameras potential. I'm in Cornwall next week so will try again with gun mounts.
At least the dive wasn't a complete waste of time. On the way back in I found a small scallop bed very close to the beach taking enough for dinner (fried in bacon and garlic ) and leaving plenty more for another time. Wherever you find scallop dredgers its always worth checking their home bays/harbours where they throw away their waste which must include some eggs and catches which are undersize.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzDhSxVkQ-I"]video[/ame]

 

[pembroke]

on price alone i'm going for the dogcam bullit wide angle

 

[artiz]

on price alone i'm going for the dogcam bullit wide angle

I think the wide angle might have a better set up regarding the LED's so let us know how you get on with it underwater, can you also let us know how you attach it to your gun please.

 

[pembroke]

yes wide angle will be better, you can fit the camera above the trigger it's nice and flat on my gun, the camera comes with a holder for that reason. soon as i get use of it ( dogcam wa ) i will post the details on this site

 

[artiz]

yes wide angle will be better, you can fit the camera above the trigger it's nice and flat on my gun, the camera comes with a holder for that reason. soon as i get use of it ( dogcam wa ) i will post the details on this site

-Pembroke
I also ran through the cost of the wide angle which is £116.95 using the promo code I supplied and for the quality of the picture underwater I think its very hard to beat. Its suitability, (size) for spearfishing is also excellent. One point for care is the seal, you really need to take care that you only have one o-ring in place, mine came with two attached, which really confused me. Its a good idea to test in the sink before taking out on a dive. Any bubbles and you know you have a problem!
The one thing I'm still a bit unsure of is how the long bracket will get in the way when hunting in stringweed or weeds in general. I have made a third bracket now which is a 100mm long with a 4mm screw, it fits through an ally tube into the retaining bolt on the guns string holder (Beuchat Arka). Its very easy to get on and off with one screw and is particularly solid when fully tightened. It also sticks out only 90mm or so and gun obscurity is not that intrusive. It would be nice to see how mounting on the top of the gun will work though. I was wondering if that would get in the way of your aim?

 

[pembroke]

i can't really say what will happen until i get out there, i ordered mine today and won't get a chance to use it until april when the vis should be clearer. i will fiddle with it in the mean time