It’s taken me a while to warm to the GoPro Lens Mod. You see I just wasn’t sure if it were any use to me seeing the stuff I do and film.
Having a boat has changed all of that. As did a little lateral thinking.
Why so? Because the main selling points of the Lens Mod when attached to a Hero 9 Black or Hero 10 Black are stabilisation and field of view.
Yes, yes, I know these cameras already have lots of built in stables but adding the Lens Mod upgrades the camera with Max HyperSmooth plus it will let you shoot at 2.7K / 60 frames a second AND at an ultrawide 155° field of view.
Cop that every other GoPro!
Up until now when fishing from a boat, to get as much action as possible I have used a 360° camera such as the Kandao QooCam or more lately the GoPro Max, and have the 9 or 10 on standby for candid stuff.
With the Lens Mod, I get the best of both worlds.
And there is an added bonus in that the horizon lock facility is simply brilliant. As you’d imagine, a boat on the briny is not the most stable platform, especially when cruising along or when stationary in any sort of swell, so having this facility makes the footage so much better without any roll and yaw to make the viewer a bit queasy. It’s also a boon for any more motor sport stuff I do in the future for the same reason.
It doesn’t matter how much you twist and turn the camera. As yet I have not been able to beat it.
Surfers and jet skiers will love it! Oh and with the Lens Mod, you still get 5 metre depth water proofing although as a SCUBA diver, I don’t recommend underwater shooting with the Lens Mod as light refraction under water plays havoc.
(I don’t surf but here is some footage I found on YouTube showing the effect)
Finally, you also get MAX Timewarp which is also super smooth.
Changing from the standard to the Lens Mod is simple; just twist and turn the original and it pops out. Reverse the process with the Lens Mod attached. You will need to go into the camera’s menu system to activate it though so don’t forget that bit.
The Lens Mod costs A$159.95 and IF you have a use for it, is worth coughing up the dollars for. If you cannot see a use, then my advice is not to bother. Oh and if you have any other model GoPro with the removable lens (its not really the lens but you know what I mean), don’t bother as it won’t fit.
There’s more info on the Lens Mod at the GoPro website.