Originally Posted by
zkzkz
The headstrap comes with the Outdoor Edition package or I think you can buy it separately. I don't think it comes in the grab-bag of mounts but I could be wrong.
Fwiw I found the headstrap kind of annoying to use with a facemask and it made me worry it would be hard to clear my mask if I needed to. YMMV. I'm thinking of epoxying one of the small mount things to the top of the facemask directly. There are some videos of people doing this using a bolt but my mask doesn't have anywhere I could bolt onto easily.
Changing modes reliably requires being able to look at the screen. But just starting and stopping the video if you're in video mode or taking photographs if you're in photo mode can be done without looking at it. There are distinctive beep patterns specifically so you can use it without looking at it.
That said it's a perfectly viable option, and perhaps safer, to just start videoing at the surface and stop when you're done. A 32MB card can store 4h of video and one battery lasts > 2h so you could probably get two dives on a single battery or you could change batteries between dives.
There's even a mode you can turn on that makes it start as soon as you turn it on. That way you can leave it off until you're ready and press a single button to start and never touch it again until the surface.
I don't think the gopro dive housing takes filters. IIRC Eyeofmine mod takes filters but none of the others do. I don't imagine it would be terribly hard to add but I wouldn't know.
Once you get past a certain amount of dives, your buoyancy becomes second nature-ish, and you will find that it really isn't too difficult to shoot video or take pictures underwater while maintaining directional control. The only ones that I see drifting are either novices, or are trying way too hard to compose a shot.
I actually prefer my GoPro HD without the LCD backpack because it forces me to just lay back and enjoy my dive, as opposed to trying to be a master photographer, constantly making a conscious effort to take pictures. I just carry my GoPro in hand (I have a simple retainer strap attached to my BCD just in case, but have rolled naked before and also have the $20 floaty red backdoor foam from the manufacturer attached to the backdoor) and point it in the general direction that I would like to shoot and sort it out later. I usually return to the boat pleasantly surprised (I carry my iPad and the Apple SD Card adapter to import and review my work.)
I typically roll around with it in continuous shot mode, that way I don't have to fiddle around with the shutter as I swim. If I see something really interesting, I have remembered all the button sequences, and can quickly switch to 720p 60 fps mode (all buttons are pressable underwater) without looking. Sometimes you can even hear the beep for confirmation, but sometimes I do tilt the front towards my face to double check that the red LED is blinking. I also tend to program it for instant on recording to save time as well. I typically get around a day's worth of diving (3-5 dives) off a charge, depending on how many times I use video recording. Picture-only mode lasts for what seems forever.
I have 2 spare batteries, but the only time that I needed those was on the liveaboard boat off the coast of Thailand. Also, 32 GB on a GoPro HD will outlast your battery.
This will fit inside any housing: (I have the Eye Of Mine)
http://www.makospearguns.com/product-p/mccf.htm You have to stick it in the lens portion of the housing, and you may have to slightly trim it to fit, but a filter like this is a necessity from around 5 feet to 80 feet depth. They are cheap enough to buy several and play with until you get it right.