GoPro Flat Port
I few years ago I bought a GoPro HD Hero and thought that using it under water while diving would be nice. My first dive was a disappointment because of the focus-problem. It the time, all solutions was flawed in some way, most often black corners but also poor quality and made of plastic witch was easily scratched while diving and if the camera was hanging on you dive equipment or in a bag.
I decided to make one my self.
After many prototypes with everything from a vacuum formed dome to a flat polycarbonate disc and finally to a hardened glass disc mounted on a anodized port I finally got something that works very well. When I first started there was almost no other third party ports available, but now there are many to choose from including GoPro's own.
I think mine are the better than other flat ports on the market including the original GoPro because...
- it's made of anodized aluminum with stainless steel screws
- it uses a 3 mm hardened glass
- it has virtually no dark corners (varies with build quality from GoPro) even in full frame photo
- it's possible to add a thin gel filter on the inside of the glass
- of it's removable and non destructive mounting using o-rings instead of glue and silicone
- the improved image quality from the removal of the original dome
- less display coverage
If the GoPro housing would take the pressure, my port will work to about 150 meters depth, after that (at about 200 m) the glass will shatter. It would be possible to put on a glass with unlimited thickness if that is what you need. Some dark corners will appear if going too thick...
Because of the glass port it will not scratch if you leave it hanging from you BCD and it bumps in to your other equipment. It's also easy to take it apart and clean.
This is the result. This is a picture of a prototype with not so good anodizing. All the good ones have been sold... More on the way...
Here are two videos filmed with a GoPro Hero 2 HD using my flat port: