GoPro Unveils Dive Camera Housing

Dive photographers face a dilemma when weighing the cost-benefit of protecting expensive cameras. Do you pony up more than the price of your DSLR for a housing that will let you take better photos, or do you settle on a more affordable but lower quality camera?

GoPro recently released its GoPro Dive Housing, which aims to be an affordable alternative to its competitors and is priced at $50. Dive Housing works with GoPro’s HERO actioncams, up to a depth of 197 feet, and is designed to improve the quality of the footage.

Although the GoPro HERO actioncams work underwater, they weren’t designed for crystal-clear underwater shooting. Footage appears grainy and images are roughly 33 percent larger, due to the effects of refraction and planar-water-interface which is found when shooting through liquid. GoPro’s Dive Housing, however, does a decent job in correcting this effect with its domed lens.

GoPro’s Dive Housing isn’t going to shoot as well as a DSLR, but given the $50 price tag and footage quality it’s a happy medium. Also, if something goes wrong underwater, you are risking $300 worth of GoPro, as opposed to a couple thousand dollars worth of Canon or Nikon.