Film underwater | Time lapse with the GoPro – Tutorial
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Port of Dubrovnik – a different kind of beach
I didn’t use much to film in the Port of Dubrovnik . I have my GoPro camera for underwater filming simply on an extension rod. I simply attached this between a few stones. Just make sure that a swimmer with glasses doesn’t snorkel past and collect the GoPro camera first. The variety of fish in the port of Dubrovnik was great. Within an hour I managed to capture more than 10 species with the camera.
Heider Bergsee – Animal World Underwater
The Heider Bergsee is a lake that was created as part of lignite mining around Cologne. After the extraction stopped, the remaining pits were flooded and the huge Villeseen nature reserve was created. Over the decades, animals such as otters and pond turtles have settled there again and countless fish species cavort in the lake landscape. With the help of a grab tripod, I attached the camera to a tree and was overwhelmed by the results myself.
GoPro camera – filming time-lapse – equipment
The principle of how to create a time lapse with the GoPro camera is simple. You fix the camera in a good place with the help of diving goggles. Alignment is particularly important here. Make sure that the camera is pointed at an interesting place. An overhanging branch, rock cave, algae strands or stone collections are ideal here. With a 32 gigabyte chip you should be able to film for a good hour. Activate the camera and leave the location. It is important that you do not keep looking and not swim near the camera. This scares the animals off much faster than you think. The best thing to do is to set up the camera and just wait an hour from a good 100 meters. At the end you collect the (mostly empty) camera again and then it gets exciting.
I do the analysis with a simple video program, simply accelerate the video and look through once to see if there are any interesting spots on the film. Then you can edit the film again and cut out the interesting parts. Windows Movie Maker or the Mac’s editing program are a good alternative to expensive editing programs. I use Hitfilm Express myself.
GoPro camera
I myself use the GoPro Hero Silver 4. This has the advantage for me that I can also film at greater depths. The newer GoPros (from generation 5) are often only waterproof up to 10 meters GoPro water depth . This is just not enough for a lot of my recordings. The GoPro Hero 4 generation is watertight up to 40 meters deep, better still a little safety distance from your own diving depth. Therefore this camera is the right choice for me and the price and recording quality are simply captivating. Whether you film in HD or 4K is of course a matter of taste.
GoPro accessories Equipment – Camera mounts
I myself use an accessory set from Amazon, this has an incredible number of brackets to attach the GoPro to anything you can think of. What is crazy about it is that this set is also simply unbeatably cheap. I’ve never been disappointed with the set and the bag that goes with it.
GoPro chip for time-lapse recording
The first thing I did was buy a 32 GB chip. This lasted for a year. Then I bought a 64 GB chip. It was good and lasted 2 years. In the meantime the chip prices had fallen so bad and I got myself a 128 GB chip. That was the best decision. For a GoPro camera time lapse you simply need a large chip. So after the vacation I can decide what I want to delete and what not. Go Big or Go Home.
