Posted: 2/15/2024 6:31:04 PM EDT
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Curious what thoughts are using something like this for recreational diving? The depth is well within the range I would go. Like the idea it uses my iPhone for easy sharing of pics and videos. https://www.sealife-cameras.com/sportdiver-underwater-smartphone-housing/ |
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@talontsi_95 Having used more than a dozen underwater housings for various cameras and associated lights, I offer this: DON'T use it. It WILL flood eventually and there goes your phone. Buy a cheap UW camera- hell, they even make disposable digital ones now. |
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Originally Posted By FB41: @talontsi_95 Having used more than a dozen underwater housings for various cameras and associated lights, I offer this: DON'T use it. It WILL flood eventually and there goes your phone. Buy a cheap UW camera- hell, they even make disposable digital ones now. Any suggestions on what cameras to look at? I would like video and good stills are important too. |
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IF you use a phone housing, I’d only use it with an OLDER phone that’s not your current one. Get a GoPro. Take video and pull stills off the video. |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Any suggestions on what cameras to look at? I would like video and good stills are important too. @talontsi_95 Kodak and Fujifilm are the only 2 that I have experience with; both are waterproof to about 40'. Any deeper and you will need strobes along flash to get colors to come out. As far as housings go, in my opinion, Ikelight housing are the gold standard. Regardless which you choose, like @Marie said, DON'T use your regular phone! Edit- Check this site for some camera tips. |
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: So Im thinking a GoPro 12 with their underwater case? What are the thoughts on that? I guess it gives me an excuse to finally get a GoPro. Much better choice. I know divers using GoPros on deep trimix divers and doing excellent photogrammetry with them. |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
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Originally Posted By Marie: Much better choice. I know divers using GoPros on deep trimix divers and doing excellent photogrammetry with them. Good to know. I appreciate it. Do you recommend getting a red filter for the GoPro? Im curious if one is needed for 20-30ft deep. I want to be prepared. |
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Good to know. I appreciate it. Do you recommend getting a red filter for the GoPro? Im curious if one is needed for 20-30ft deep. I want to be prepared. Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Originally Posted By Marie: Much better choice. I know divers using GoPros on deep trimix divers and doing excellent photogrammetry with them. Good to know. I appreciate it. Do you recommend getting a red filter for the GoPro? Im curious if one is needed for 20-30ft deep. I want to be prepared. I wouldn’t know! I dive fresh water that tends towards green so friends often use magenta filters |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Good to know. I appreciate it. Do you recommend getting a red filter for the GoPro? Im curious if one is needed for 20-30ft deep. I want to be prepared. @talontsi_95 The red spectrum is the first to "vanish" at the depth you're looking at. A red filter wouldn't do much good, unless it puts the color back in. Carry a dive light and shine it on any subject you're interested in to make the colors "come back". |
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Originally Posted By FB41: @talontsi_95 The red spectrum is the first to "vanish" at the depth you're looking at. A red filter wouldn't do much good, unless it puts the color back in. Carry a dive light and shine it on any subject you're interested in to make the colors "come back". Maybe filter is the wrong word. Its a red flap that flips down to add the red back in. |
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Maybe filter is the wrong word. Its a red flap that flips down to add the red back in. Warming/cooling Gel filters, to filter out blue light a yellow-orange filter is used a lot. I don’t dive so I can’t speak to what actually works underwater, but it’s pretty much a necessity for reef aquarium photography with small sensor cameras No filter  Orange filter on camera 
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I'd get a Backscatter flip filter set, it'll attach to your GoPro housing itself and works pretty well. You'll also want some type of flood (not spot) pattern light (120* beam or so) for underwater photo/video. |
"They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
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Originally Posted By floridahunter07: I'd get a Backscatter flip filter set, it'll attach to your GoPro housing itself and works pretty well. You'll also want some type of flood (not spot) pattern light (120* beam or so) for underwater photo/video. That's a nice looking piece. One of them comes with a macro lens. Its funny because the attachment is almost the cost of a brand new GoPro12. |
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Picked up the GoPro12 today. Excited to try it out. Got the bundle with extra battery, case, head mount and floating selfi stick thing. Bought the water resistant case too. I picked up a 512GB memory card. What are your guys thoughts on memory size while shooting 4k @120? Havent found a definitive answer on roughly how many minutes of video 512GB will do. |
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Originally Posted By FB41: Easy to figure out. Take a 1 minute video and see how big the file is. Won't matter if it's underwater or not, just make sure it has some motion in the video and not just static images. Didnt think of that. Ill try it out tonight when I setup the camera. |
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Originally Posted By floridahunter07: I'd get a Backscatter flip filter set, it'll attach to your GoPro housing itself and works pretty well. You'll also want some type of flood (not spot) pattern light (120* beam or so) for underwater photo/video. Just bought the filter set last night. The backscatter crew are top notch. The gentleman on the phone was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Can wait to mount this up to the GoPro. |
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I have a different opinion... have a Sealife i bought for my daughter for our trip to Bonaire. Used it there, and again off the coast of SC and in the Channel Islands for a cold water dive. Never an issue. The photos are pretty good for a "cheap" camera, and it is nice that if you are used to iPhone photo management it's literally seamless. The guy i bought it from at my local dive shop has taken his down to 220 feet since they gave him one to test. It worked fine if you had enough light, which he had from his hand held torch and the upgraded two light system. He's had one problem with one camera that he sold, and they replaced it (which sucks because the person lost a whole dive trip without a housing to get photos) but over all he says they have a good reputation among the people he knows. Most of the problems he's heard about are people who open them when they shouldn't and the phone gets wet, but the newer phones are much more resilient. It is NOT a high end camera, and it gets expensive when you get a good lighting system. Mine was $750 for the single light, housing, and a few other items... for $1050 you can get the dual lights, or a brighter single light... and i think for $1450 or so you can get the dual lights that are brighter. You will get some awesome close us shots, longer shots depend on the lighting. My biggest complaint compared to a GoPro is that it's kind of bulky. But my GoPro didn't have lights, so not really apples to apples. The best picture i have from Bonaire is a guy who took our picture with his 30+ year old camera that looked like it weighed 40 pounds and had spotlights the size of saucers on it. It was also a $12k setup, 30+ years ago. He was nice enough to email me a picture he took of us. I used my iPhone 14, and my daughter her 13, and we got some nice pictures, and it packs into a reasonable space and weight. My experience with a GoPro was i hated their software... it seemed like i needed a high end computer to deal with the editing of video i got, and the photos all had to be converted. This was a LONG time ago, like 8 years or so, perhaps their software/process is improved. Also, a gopro without lighting won't get you great video/pictures. In very clear nice water, it's probably OK down a few meters, but then will get worse. Adding lights to a GoPro likely gets as expensive as with the Sea Life housing. |
The chickens are more concerned...
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Just bought the filter set last night. The backscatter crew are top notch. The gentleman on the phone was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Can wait to mount this up to the GoPro. I bought one of their dome port setups for my GoPro setup after getting a new camera tray and float arms. The package wasn't going to be here in time for my trip so I called them and the guy at customer service was top-notch. Did a second order for me, shipped it Priority (at no extra cost to me) and it arrived one day prior to leaving on my trip to South Florida. Works fantastic, too! They refunded me the cost of the original package minus shipping that I paid for since it was my mistake. |
"They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
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Originally Posted By talontsi_95: Curious what thoughts are using something like this for recreational diving? The depth is well within the range I would go. Like the idea it uses my iPhone for easy sharing of pics and videos. https://www.sealife-cameras.com/sportdiver-underwater-smartphone-housing/ Use this with an old phone. You don’t want to destroy your current phone with all your stuff while you’re on vacation. They WILL leak eventually. Just get a GoPro. |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
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Originally Posted By right_rudder: $350?? get da fuck outta here Can tell you’re not a diver! |
"They know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851, on the Great Lakes
