Underwater Bubble Blowin' Users Group

[Michael Hastings]

I am going to NAB and my brother lives in Manhattan Beach so maybe I can take an extra few days and come see it - flights get a little wierd with 2 stops. any chance they would bring it over to NAB?

By the way - forget Cameron - let's do it ourselves! I'd like to see IMAX size on that baitball of Mark's.

Will you be in LA anytime, like around NAB, to come see the interoccular 3-D rig based on F900's that I can't wait to adapt to redones making it maybe 1/3 the size, and then put it in a housing made by you and pass it to mark on the bait ball.

[Ken Corben]

Mike,

You'll REALLY want to see our recent digital 3-D underwater tests in our 3-D screening room and meet the 3-D gurus. The future is now and your housings for our 3-D rigs will be a significant part of the revolution.

Check your pm/email

[Mark Thorpe]

Awww, C'mon Ken.......share and share alike! I'll need to see what I'm gonna be taking with me to the (bait) ball.

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S Check out the blog for a piccie of Rod Fox diving in Palau. He's a hoot.....

[Ken Corben]

Mark,

You are included in the loop when next you make it to LA OR when I show up in Palau with the rig. Is jellyfish lake still alive?

[Joel Kaye]

Mark,

You are included in the loop when next you make it to LA OR when I show up in Palau with the rig. Is jellyfish lake still alive?

I was there a couple years ago and Jellyfish lake was a fun day. Snorkeling only - but dive down and shoot back up through the jellyfish and sunbeams... very cool stuff.

My friends did a dive on the U.S.S Perry when we were there. Too deep for me though - I stayed on the boat. They had a fairly rough dive... not an easy one.

[Mark Thorpe]

No worries Ken. I've only ever flown through LA on a stopover from Europe to Fiji. Maybe make a stop there someday. Guess that means you'll have to come back to Palau!! Jellyfish Lake is still alive and well. Last census was done in 2006 with an estimate of 16.6 million Mastiga Jellyfish inhabiting the lake (+ - 3 million). Don't worry folks, they don't sting.

joelnet - who did your friends dive with? I was part of a team that dove the Perry in 2005. I was contracted to do all the deco stop filming and three team members took PD150's in Amphibico housings to the wreck. In all that expedition made 24 CCR dives on the U.S.S Perry over 5 days without major incidents. The USS Perry lies in 240ft off the southern tip of the southernmost landmass in Palau known as Angauar Island. It was sunk by a Japanese mine toward the end of WWII.

Cheers,
Mark.

[Joel Kaye]

joelnet - who did your friends dive with? I was part of a team that dove the Perry in 2005. I was contracted to do all the deco stop filming and three team members took PD150's in Amphibico housings to the wreck.

I was with a group led by a guy named Jeff Gourley. I just checked the date - it was summer 2003. I'm pretty sure they were one of the first groups on the wreck after it was discovered.

In a tragic twist of fate 'Deep Sea Detectives' contacted Jeff about his footage but wouldn't pay him (or pay him enough) and dove the wreck themselves. The host of the show died sadly. http://www.cdnn.info/safety/s031211/s031211.html

[Ken Corben]

From Jim:
Drives are cheaper... Flash is better.
If you ask any questions about shock ratings, weather resistance or security, skip right to Flash and do not use Drives. If you are CAREFUL and on a budget, Drives can serve you well.

So, who's gonna' risk drives in their underwater housing? As we all know, it's getting to and from the underwater locations per Jim's statement above that could create heartache in the field.

RED DRIVE 320GB $900

FLASH Options:

RED RAM 64GB $4,500

RED 1.8" SATA Flash 32GB Media approx $1,500

[Steve Gibby]

No doubt...I think for adventure travel and sports shooting of any kind, especially hand held, Flash is the answer. If it's just a B camera on sticks picking up b-roll, then a drive is fine.

[Michael Hastings]

I wouldn't worry to much about the hard drives. I have the Ikegami Editcams which have used the same laptop drives since 1999. The drive case has little rubber shockmounts in it (and I would assume the REDDRIVE does too). When powered down during transport it would be almost impossible to damage. Even when operating it would take a severe shock to cause a skip - maybe a really nasty wave pounding ride on the boat - but I doubt if anything you can do underwater would be enough.

By the way - comparing to other technologies - HDV is very G sensitive. We shot a show for Discovery HD called "Crash Test Human" where we simulated driving into a canal, where he has to escape underwater. At the end we wanted a POV simulated shot of the car going into the canal. I did a fast walk with the Sony Z1 and as I got to edge of the canal rotated the camera downward. The picture froze for a frame every time (remember HDV is a long GOP MPEG format), so just the minimal G force of my arm movement caused it to burp in a way that never would have happened on intraframe DV or on my hard drive camera.

Further, we have people using Citidisk and Firestore drives in their housings for both HDV and HVX200. We have one customer using a Citidisk HDV and an HDR-HC3 in a housing that gets dragged a couple miles through a pipe at 200 psi for about 3 hours.

From Jim:
Drives are cheaper... Flash is better.
If you ask any questions about shock ratings, weather resistance or security, skip right to Flash and do not use Drives. If you are CAREFUL and on a budget, Drives can serve you well.

So, who's gonna' risk drives in their underwater housing? As we all know, it's getting to and from the underwater locations per Jim's statement above that could create heartache in the field.

RED DRIVE 320GB $900

FLASH Options:

RED RAM 64GB $4,500

RED 1.8" SATA Flash 32GB Media approx $1,500