5 Ways to Prevent Water Drops on GoPro Lens (Best Hydrophobic Repellents)

What is the best way to prevent water drops on the GoPro lens? It might not sound like it at first, but a water drop will ruin your footage – especially photographs.

In this post, you’ll learn five ways to repel water from your GoPro lens so your footage comes out amazing and shareable every time.

With photos like this, you’re going to want to try something. Not only do they look bizarre – they also represent a lost opportunity. Funny to share on Instagram, but not much for putting on the wall…

5 Ways to Prevent Water Drops on GoPro Lens

Water drops will cling to the lens after the GoPro has been splashed or put underwater.

When you bring it up out of the water, you may just assume the GoPro is good to go. If that happens, your video/photos may be messed-up by water drop distortion on the lens.

To help prevent this from happening to you (and us), we’ve done the research and come up with five options.

This list is about preventing water drops on the outside of your GoPro. Eliminating fog on the inside of your GoPro requires something different.

All of these ideas are applied to the outside of the waterproof housing, on the lens area.

The lens area on the GoPro waterproof housing is made of glass. Keep that in mind as you read instructions for applying products.

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1. Lick the Lens

This is popular and works well, although it has to be repeated frequently. It looks super funny when you see someone doing it – and when you see the playback.

It’s recommended to wipe down across the lens with your finger or thumb after licking and then again after splashes.

In the following video, you’ll see a demonstration. Anthony Walsh demonstrates the GoPro lens lick:

This next video shows the only type of lens lick that you probably wouldn’t want to edit out. 🙂 

Baby Thijn shows us the GoPro lens lick trick

Licking the lens works great if you’re holding the GoPro in your hand.

But when it’s mounted out of reach, you’ll need to try something else.

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2. Use Rain-X Glass Treatment

This is a product used on the outside of car windshields to increase visibility in wet weather.

Apply it according to the instructions on the packaging. Be careful only to apply it to the glass lens area, it may damage the plastic.

One application will last for many uses; just keep checking how well it’s working and apply again as needed. For a 7 oz bottle, you’ll pay around $8.00.

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3. Spit On The Lens

This sounds gross. But if you’ve done any snorkeling or diving, you’ve probably already done this.

Put a little spit on the inside of your mask, rub it around, and then give it a dunk before putting it on. I know I have, and it helps.

Well, spitting on the outside of the waterproof housing lens works similarly. It gives you a slimy layer that helps the water drops roll off.

Just like licking the lens, you would need to keep spitting on it every few minutes and wiping it down with your finger or thumb after splashes.

Licking it is weird but a little less gross than spitting on it all the time – or at least I think it is. 😉

Don’t forget to edit the spitting parts out… after you’ve had a good laugh at yourself.

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4. Apply Hydrophobic Lens Protectors

Available for all GoPro cameras sinc the Hero5, these are little clear protectors applied to the lens area of the waterproof housing.

They can last between 4-6 months and also protect against scratches. They apply to both the front lens and the back screen.

How to Apply Clearex Hydrophobic Lens Protectors

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5. Use JetDry

This is the same stuff you use in your dishwasher. For a 32 oz bottle, you’ll pay around $12.00.

It seems logical that Jet-Dry would work to prevent water drops on GoPro lenses. And it’s at least a little better than spitting or licking.

It keeps glasses streak-free out of the dishwasher, so why not your GoPro waterproof housing lens?

I assume (I haven’t tried this yet) it would need to be reapplied often, so just keep an eye on how well those drops are rolling off.

Learn more about the capability of your camera in our GoPro Waterproof Guide for all models.

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We’ve also tried blowing the drops off.

While this is just a temporary fix, we’ve had good success with it, and it makes some hilarious blooper-type shots…

A Couple of My Favorite Water-Drop Blowing Blooper Shots…

More reading: How to use GoPro underwater and how to dry a wet GoPro

Your Turn

Do you have any tips to prevent water drops on GoPro lenses? Please share by commenting on this post.