GoPro?

Any body use a GoPro for under water photography?

I feel like I'm a low budget guy among professionals... so please don't mind me if this is an outrageous question.

GoPro works awesome for underwater shooting and video. Just remember you have limited choices to settings and it won't match the quality of a DSLR and housing...but it will be $3000+ cheaper.

I wouldn't use it if I wanted high quality pics of coral or close ups of fish. If you want to follow sharks around or go cave diving it would be an excellent choice.

Thank you!

They are very popular with divers in Cozumel. The smart ones use a red filter & get some great videos. Check YouTube & I'm sure you will find 1000's of underwater videos shot with them. Here's a link to someones first try.

http://www.scubaboard.​com …o-video-january-trip.html

Thank you!

Disclaimer: I have never used a gopro before so everything I am about to write is purely opinion that has no base on my own experience.


If you were using it solely for photography I would go with a decent compact and housing instead (although that will still be a lot more expensive I think)

As others have said; they are great for video. I know lots of people who have them mounted on top of their photo rigs to video.

Also because they are small, and you wanted be playing with settings underwater, they would require a lot less thought when diving, so ideally you shouldn't be too task loaded.

I mount a GoPro to the top of my housing with a three way ball clamp. The other slot holds a focus light. The red filter is money. Backscatter makes a really cool one but I have cheapy Polar on mine. Here is a cheesy video I put together a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=qgzedtPYYzU

The wife shoots one atop her 5d rig for constant footage. But for solely shooting with they are very shaky. The larger the rig the more stable the video.

Chris

GoPro and for that matter, several other (Some Much cheaper) action cams that are offered widely in these days, are excellent choice for enthusiastic underwater shooter even for professional footage. Sony action cameras in particular are excellent substitute for GoPro at half the price, with similar features and a slight better picture color saturation and dark filed coverage, but then GoPro is the gold standard and the one who start it all.

If on extreme budged, have a look at this solution for DSLR or smaller PnS cameras too. I have no personal experience so don't blame me if it sank!

LINK

The problem with the bag style is (aside from the fact that I would be terrified they would flood) that I'm pretty sure the buttons would freeze pretty shallow due to the pressure.

Jeevz wrote in post #17426974
The problem with the bag style is (aside from the fact that I would be terrified they would flood) that I'm pretty sure the buttons would freeze pretty shallow due to the pressure.

Yes Sanjeev. I haven't used it myself but can see exactly what you mean.
May be good for general rain/ bad wheatear or a very shallow UW shooting.