GoPro Upgrade Mod

[peternap]

I love these little cameras. True 1080P (and 720, 960, etc) They do excellent timelapse a,d timed stills, are waterproof to 180feet, cases are replaceable and interchangeable, extremely wide angle, sharp...on and on. I have 3 of them and am thinking about another.
They are the sports action camera to have.
http://vimeo.com/20823210

They have drawbacks though. One is filters are hard to attach and the ones you can use are small gel disks you insert between the lens and case.

I wanted to change that on one case. I epoxied a 40.5 to 58mm upsize ring tho the Bezel of a case. I added a 58mm spacer to clear the bubble shaped lens.
Most of my expensive lenses including my ND Fader are 77 mm so I can adapt them to all my lenses.

I added a 58 to 77 mm upsize ring and voila. A big improvment.

[toddtar]

My son loves his GoPro!  Uses for his kayaking videos.

http://vimeo.com/20970790

I'm going to show him your mod.

[peternap]

My son loves his GoPro!  Uses for his kayaking videos.

http://vimeo.com/20970790

I'm going to show him your mod.

That was a great video Toddtar!

I did a quick timelapse test with the filter over the weekend:
http://vimeo.com/21262278

[John Raabe]

Peter - that is one cool video! Does the ND filter pop out the clouds? I have a polarizing filter that has a similar rotating handle for adjustments to the darkness of the sky. That one fit my old Spotmatic SLR.

[peternap]

Thanks John!

The filter with the handle (77mm) is an ND (Neutral Density) filter. I didn't post a video of that. What it does is restrict the amount of light coming to the camera. Since video is shot in a predetermined shutter speed you have limited options to control exposure (ISO and F Stop) the Fstops are used to control the DOF (Dept of Field) so the only exposure option left is the ISO. Using the ND Filter gives you back some control.

The circular Polarizer delays the exposure to certain wavelengths and allows deeper more 3D colors. That's what I used in the video. That is the smaller filter (58mm) in the pictures. I really don't like to shoot anything outside that doesn't involve face detail, without a polarizer either circular (adjustable) or linear (fixed).

Probably more detail than you want but, you can stack polarizers, linear first than circular, and they will have the same effect as an ND Fader.

[John Raabe]

It's probably a circular polarizer I have for the old film camera. I would rotate the ring to darken the sky.

Most small digital cameras are not setup for filters at all, but that GoPro is a very clever camera and your mod makes it even more dramatic.

It is interesting seeing these special use digital cameras pop up - critter cams, garden cams, and sports cams.