While I mentally had already prepared for a footage desaster ... I was immediately astonished staring at the little LCD screens of the cams during the first dive.
Some weeks ago the current boss René of the Diver's indoor dive center in Aufkirchen replaced the old hall lighting with new lighting panels based on LED technology. Unfortunately, brightness levels have decreased compared to the old big burners, thus lighting conditions have become more difficult for the cams.
Configuration:
- GoPro HD Hero2: GoPro dive housing, no color filter, cam settings 1080p/25fps/wide angle.
- GoPro HD Hero: Wiessmeyer dive housing, 0% (no) color filter, cam settings 1080p/25fps/medium angle. Due to the special construction of the Wiessmeyer dive housing optics filming is only possible in medium and small angles, otherwise vignetting takes place.
Example 1
Let us start right with a difficult example: filming in the direction of the badly lighted area below the restaurant. The result is clear: my trusty old GoPro HD Hero looses very clearly compared to its younger sister. The footage drowns in dark regions and the color noise is clearly visible.
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| Vis-à-vis: GoPro HD Hero2 and Hero. |
Example 2
Another example of the differences between the GoPro Hero2 and Hero models. This time I chose a somehow cruel situation where the LED hall lighting is in view from under water. Also here the differences between the Hero2 and Hero are clearly visible. Again, in terms of brightness, sharpness, and color noise the Hero2 is clearly better. However, you can also cleary see its weak spot: the bad white balance which likes to go green under water.
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| Vis-à-vis: GoPro HD Hero2 and Hero. |
