This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

Besides the fact that Jorg was on a roll yesterday during training, we tested my new gadget; the Go Pro Helmet Hero Wide-angle camera . This all started with a nice video (click here) we’d seen from our fellow dutch freedivers from OVH. The video images looked so super cool, I just couldn’t resist to get one myself…

Not only does it feature possibilities to mount it on multiple stands and thus on almost any location, but even better it features a small underwatercasing with a specification to a depth of 30 meters. One might think that such a camera must be quite big, but I was very surprised how small this camera is, even within it’s casing.

I ordered the Helmet version from their website, which comes included with a wide variety of mount-stands and straps/bands to wear the camera on a helmet or directly on your head. The only thing I did not order from America were the batteries and the 2GB SD card. As these are also easily bought here in the Netherlands conforming my own battery charger.

The test
While Jorg was doing his static schedule I just mounted the Go Pro Hero camera on the head-band and adjusted it to where I thought it would focus on about 2 meter in front of me. I went down to the 5m deep bottom in the Tongelreep along side Jorg a few times to test a few different techniques. As the outcome isn’t reviewable instantly I did not vary the parameters too much.

After the depth stuff, I did some filming of Jorg’s dynamics with and without fins. Seeing in a result that my arms stroke is getting in the picture like a first person shooter kind of perspective. So adjusting this parameter by freediving with my legs kick only proved to be giving the desired result. Then it was my turn to do some freediving training and Jorg proposed to me that I wear the camera head-band backwards to be filming my leg stroke. Adjusting the camera angle turned out to be tricky and needs some testing to find the proper angle to make a good shot for filming the leg stroke.

I compiled a video clip, featuring the different stuff we recorded during our freediving session last night.

And Saturday we’re going for the Bosmolenplas in Panheel again and I’ll certainly take the camera with me to see how it works in the outdoor environment.

Concluding
This is a great camera which will certainly bring you some fantastic wide-angle shots of anything you want to film. The picture quality is somewhat lower then the standards these days, but then again what more do you expect from a camera that size and all it’s capabilities. The 2 GB SD, which is the maximum size it will allow, is more than enough to do your filming. In our way of using the camera, we’re unlikely to get the SD card full, as that is good for 56 minutes of filming. I didn’t even mention the other capabilities, but read the specs on the website and you’ll know this is a camera you want to add to your inventory, as the price is good compared to all it’s possibilities.