GoPro or Go Home

[mishu1984]

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!!!

ok so here is the part where you guys come in:
with all the different gopro options out there, which one would you get??
ok i read all the forums posts about the lens that needs to be corrected, and thats more of an afterthought.

so would you GoPro or go home?

 

[Jonny250]

Do you want to buy a camera specifically for video or do you like decent stills as well?
that might be the biggest factor in the decision making process?

 

[mishu1984]

video. specifically i like the option of slow-mo. i wana see as many fish get some cold hard steel in slow-mo as possible

 

[Padaxes]

The Go Pro HD is excellent I can highly recommend it. But bare in mind to get sharp footage underwater you will need to buy and fit a third party flat lens to replace the dome on the housing.

I can recommend this one

http://www.aquapixs.com/aquapixs/aquapixs.html

 

[Don Paul]

Here is another great flat lens.Gopro underwater blurry fix 2: Glass flat lens - Freedive Spearfishing Forum

I will have a Gopro system with this lens soon and will be happy to post a few
clips on DB when I update my editing system.

Cheers, Don Paul

 

[Padaxes]

Here are two vids I shot to show the comparison. If you watch them both in full-screen 720 you will see how much difference it makes. Also on the dolphin footage you will see when the camera breaks the surface the difference in clarity.

Dolphins without flat lens

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZTJ7KAfok]YouTube - ‪Dolphins Cornwall‬‏[/ame]

And Basking sharks with the flat lens

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trDYQBuSVZY]YouTube - ‪Basking Sharks Cornwall‬‏[/ame]

 

[mishu1984]

Here are two vids I shot to show the comparison. If you watch them both in full-screen 720 you will see how much difference it makes. Also on the dolphin footage you will see when the camera breaks the surface the difference in clarity.

Dolphins without flat lens

YouTube - ‪Dolphins Cornwall‬‏

And Basking sharks with the flat lens

YouTube - ‪Basking Sharks Cornwall‬‏

quick question, did you go with the plastic or the glass lense?

 

[Padaxes]

I was an early adopter, only the plastic lens was available