GoPro Hero3+ Black underwater filter recommendations

[ParanoidAndroid]

Hi guys,

Off to the Maldives shortly and wife bought me a GoPro for my birthday which I wanted to take to do some underwater filming. No dives, just snorkeling so nothing too deep. Just wondered if anyone has used their GoPro for this and can recommend a Red correction filter? Doing a bit of googling, it seems most of the available filters are sold in the US, can't seem to find much in the UK except cheaper stuff on Amazon (may be ok?). Anyone have any recommendations?

Cheers
Graham

[Campo]

The Polar Pro ones seem pretty good although I haven't used one myself. They do however suggest the filtration isn't needed for depths of less than 10ft so I suppose it depends on how deep you intend to dive down if you're just snorkelling.

Might be worth a read up on underwater filming before you splash out unnecessarily

http://youtu.be/AvNge787XoE?t=5m34s

http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/New/Polar-Pro-Magenta-Fi...

[sc0tt]

The missus bought a red correction filter for snorkelling around 5m and everything was red.

Don't bother is my advice.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Excellent thanks guys, I'll not bother in that case!

[dtiom]

I would suggest if you are diving beyond 10m you will need filters. I tried my Hero3+ out a few weeks ago and things started to look very green from 10m. Video below shows the colour changes (no filters) the range was 6m to 8m and then from 11:30 down to 12m. Quite a bit of plankton in the Irish sea at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqgvN5-wGSQ

ETA: Re-read the original post - you won't need filters but please post the video when you get back!

[Boro]

You definitely don't need any filters for snorkelling.

SRP (Snake River Prototyping) stuff is good quality and we've sold loads without an issue.

[Rgee]

I used a GoPro Hero 3+ Black for snorkelling on a couple trips to the Maldives last December and a couple of weeks ago and you don't need a filter. The movies come out fine. Just make sure not to have it set on 4k resolution else it will fill up your memory card pretty quick.

This was 'grabbed' from VLC player from a film of a passing reef shark.



Oh a get one of those floaty grip things, makes it a lot easier to hold underwater.

Edited by Rgee on Monday 14th July 22:23

Edited by Rgee on Monday 14th July 22:47

[Boro]

Rgee said:

Oh a get one of those floaty grip things, makes it a lot easier to hold underwater.

SP do a great floating handgrip which you can unscrew the end cap and store small items or fill it with water for ballast, great for getting the buoyancy right.

[Rgee]

That's the one I have acquired from your good self but I never knew you could unscrew it.

[Boro]

Rgee said:

That's the one I have acquired from your good self but I never knew you could unscrew it.

There are two similar items, so if you got the DIVE Buoy it will unscrew ;-)

[ParanoidAndroid]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm a real novice at all of this so will be learning whilst I'm there unfortunately. Hopefully some of the footage will be useable! In terms of resolution what is recommended then? Just assumed I'd be shooting at 1080p 60fps. Have a couple of 32gb cards to take with me so hopefully that will be enough.

Also have a gopole which I plan to use underwater, seems ok and fairly sturdy with benefit that it extends.

Edited by ParanoidAndroid on Tuesday 15th July 21:03

[Rgee]

ParanoidAndroid said:

Also have a gopole which I plan to use underwater, seems ok and fairly sturdy with benefit that it extends.

Edited by ParanoidAndroid on Tuesday 15th July 21:03

But does it float if slips from your hand??

[Boro]

ParanoidAndroid said:

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm a real novice at all of this so will be learning whilst I'm there unfortunately. Hopefully some of the footage will be useable! In terms of resolution what is recommended then? Just assumed I'd be shooting at 1080p 60fps. Have a couple of 32gb cards to take with me so hopefully that will be enough.

Also have a gopole which I plan to use underwater, seems ok and fairly sturdy with benefit that it extends.

Edited by ParanoidAndroid on Tuesday 15th July 21:03

Try and keep the frame rate down if there is poor light. 60fps might be too high for underwater. Try it but if you do find it's too dark, try a lower frame rate until you're happy with the results.

The GoPole Reach doesn't float but it is great for getting closer to the action without getting too close yourself. The only downside is you can get hydraulic lock with telescopic poles so you'll need to drain the water out before you can collapse it.

The GoPole Evo floats but isn't telescopic...

[ParanoidAndroid]

Hi guys, in need of some help before I throw this fg Gopro into the sea!!! The unit was working fine in the uk (although I had limited time to test it). Now out in the Maldives and it's totally useless. Constantly crashing, freezing, restarting but none of the buttons working. I think I've managed a max of about 2 mins footage before it becomes useless again. Driving me nuts and considering I purchased it to bring here I'm not particularly pleased.

I'm using approved Sandisk and Lexar Sd cards and I have tried manually installing lastest firmware which seemed to work according to the LCD display on the camera. Anything else anyone can suggest? The fish and sharks here are wonderful and I will be absolutely gutted if I can't film anything.

[Boro]

ParanoidAndroid said:

Hi guys, in need of some help before I throw this fg Gopro into the sea!!! The unit was working fine in the uk (although I had limited time to test it). Now out in the Maldives and it's totally useless. Constantly crashing, freezing, restarting but none of the buttons working. I think I've managed a max of about 2 mins footage before it becomes useless again. Driving me nuts and considering I purchased it to bring here I'm not particularly pleased.

I'm using approved Sandisk and Lexar Sd cards and I have tried manually installing lastest firmware which seemed to work according to the LCD display on the camera. Anything else anyone can suggest? The fish and sharks here are wonderful and I will be absolutely gutted if I can't film anything.

Have you formatted the memory card in the GoPro?

Have you tried a hard reset?

Are the memory cards 100% genuine?

Does it do the same in the lowest quality resolution/frame rate combo?

Edited by Boro on Friday 25th July 12:03

[ParanoidAndroid]

Hi Boro, thanks for the response. I'm not even getting to film anything now as it either hangs after switch on or constantly restarts then none of the buttons work . Pulling the battery sometimes works but then it will either freeze or restart again. I've tried the pull battery, remove Sd card, hold shutter, put battery in etc method of resetting which I think is a hard reset but still no joy.

Spoke with Gopro today and they are going to email me some things to try but I suspect I've done them all. Fingers crossed they can suggest something new to try.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Gopro have emailed asking me to format Sd card on a computer. I've done via camera previously not via a PC so will give that a bash.

[Boro]

Are they 64GB cards?

Fingers crossed for you.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Both 32gb (Sandisk) and 64gb Lexar, symptoms the same with both cards. GoPro support have been fairly useless so I am giving up with it now and will be returning it when I get back to the UK. Such a shame as it's not often I'll get another opportunity like this, the water is so clear and the fish are amazing!

Cheers for your help.

[Rgee]

What island are you on?