GoPros are great action cameras for snagging photos and videos places where you can’t normally bring real camera gear. The problem is, even with the waterproof GoPro case for the Hero 2 — the underwater videos tend to be blurry and out of focus. Unsatisfied with his videos, [Mitchell] decided to make his own lens for the case!
The waterproof case has a removable concave lens, but for whatever reason it’s not very good underwater. Lucky for [Mitchell], it’s quite easily removed with 6 screws, revealing a nice thick gasket and the lens. Instead of trying to go fancy with some glass element from a broken camera, he’s just taken some 1/4″ plexiglass and cut out a piece to fit the case. It was a bit too thick for the original configuration, so he’s actually flipped the retaining ring upside down to space the lens away from the actual camera. A bunch of silicone later and the case is waterproof again with a new lens!
The resulting footage with the new lens looks awesome underwater — take a peek after the break.
I’ve never had great luck with silicone waterproofing anything. 3M marine adhesive sealant is another story though. It ain’t cheap, but man the stuff works for me.
And never use plumbing silicone with anything electronic, It uses acetic acid for reticulation, which can corrode PCB and component when released (which happens way after reticulation btw).
There is electronic grade RTVs, which are not based on acetic acid.
If it works, awesome- though I’m not sure that exactly qualifies as making a new lens.
The concave lens would be to correct for the magnification effect of the water. Unfortunately GoPro seems to have chosen the wrong lens.
Most of us just buy the inexpensive flat port case for underwater work. You can even get cases with various filters and flip down macro lenses for added flexibility.
http youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDsEoPOeNw8
I’d be curious to see how the field tested version works (pressure changes and all) – I’ve seen similar mods on YouTube and they’re all pretty fugly. @pcf11 has it – 3M 5200 rather than silicone will hold a submarine together. Ebay has scads of cases with flat glass plates in place of the usual lens, but no idea about their quality.
Picture pretty, camera ugly.