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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Gentleman's Underwater Bubble Blower Thread

Jon Shaw said:
Going out tomorrow, fingers crossed
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The whites should be fixated on the food source so you could probably get in the water with them.
 
david cheung said:
Hi All

I came across this Seacam 3D housing for two Canon C300. It was display in a Dive Equipment show. Its a beamsplitter and a single DOME ! I've been scatching my head over this combination since. anyone have any idea how is this possible? I will inquire on lens and other specifications but it would be wonderful if somehow this is true. I would love to try it out with two epics :)

regards
David
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I just returned from a dive trip where i met a gentleman from Italy who's name is Aldo....He showed me side by side shots from this housing that looked beautiful and were shot at over 300ft. I have to say i was very impressed.
 
Johnny Friday said:
waiting for that report.....!!!! :emote_popcorn:
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I believe he is still trying to access the SSD...:)

greatwhiteeatscamera.jpg
 
Bugger all, we were too late the carcas had washed a shore and there is a really nasty red algal bloom in patches all over Sydney. I am out again this afternoon on another job so will keep my eyes peeled
 
I'm in the process of trying to evaluate where to place my bets for a scuba film/stills rig. I own an Epic and a Canon 1Dx and am looking very closely at the 1Dc. Do I double down on the RED with a $20K+ housing or go with a Seacam system complete with strobes, continuous lights and a variety of ports for what an Epic size housing alone costs? If final delivery is for 2K stock and will never be shown beyond a 60" home tv - 4K is not a deal breaker - good color and lighting is.

I'm trying to understand the trade off between having a comprehensive light weight lighting set up vs shooting Raw and trying to dig out color balance in post. Putting a full lighting rig on a 320ISO camera (Epic) vs the 2500ISO 1Dx is a very large cost and bulk. Also, there is no flash function using an Epic which requires me to bring along a stills camera anyway.

Also, worried about stability of platform in extreme environments - I have never had a Canon product lock up or fail to shoot. Epic and my PhaseOne not so much.

Your thoughts Gents? If RED then what housing and lights where a crew of ONE can manage the package and travel under 70lbs in a single case?

BTW: just got back from a family scuba trip to Palau - amazing. Shot a bunch on the GoPro Hero3 - why the fuck do they not have a dive WB setting on that product? Any thoughts on color grading GoPro footage? Divinci Resolve no doubt.
 
Rudi Herbert said:
NEED A RED 5.6" LCD!

Gentlemen,

I'm in a bind, I need a RED 5.6" LCD as it is the only one that will fit in my Gates Deep Red housing. My LCD got damaged, so I sent to RED for repair, they couldn't fix it, I tried outside sources, nothing. And with the influx of new R1 owners, the marketplace seems to have quickly run out of those monitors. So,

If anybody here has a spare one they want to sell, or would prefer not to sell but might be convinced for the right price, PLEASE, I'm desperate and I need to buy, so go ahead and rip me off. I can trade for scuba gear, anything you can think of, try me. But as it is, my whole R1 setup is basically worthless, and I need to use it.

Thanks,
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Rudi,

I have one I can sell, let me check it out today, I have two but I have seen them or used them in a few weeks, I need to dig them up to make sure they both work, I need to keep one. I'm not sure what to charge for a used working monitor, I hate ripping people off, so I'm thinking probably 60% of retail. PM me for further details.
 
Josh Beadle said:
I'm in the process of trying to evaluate where to place my bets for a scuba film/stills rig. I own an Epic and a Canon 1Dx and am looking very closely at the 1Dc. Do I double down on the RED with a $20K+ housing or go with a Seacam system complete with strobes, continuous lights and a variety of ports for what an Epic size housing alone costs? If final delivery is for 2K stock and will never be shown beyond a 60" home tv - 4K is not a deal breaker - good color and lighting is.

I'm trying to understand the trade off between having a comprehensive light weight lighting set up vs shooting Raw and trying to dig out color balance in post. Putting a full lighting rig on a 320ISO camera (Epic) vs the 2500ISO 1Dx is a very large cost and bulk. Also, there is no flash function using an Epic which requires me to bring along a stills camera anyway.

Also, worried about stability of platform in extreme environments - I have never had a Canon product lock up or fail to shoot. Epic and my PhaseOne not so much.

Your thoughts Gents? If RED then what housing and lights where a crew of ONE can manage the package and travel under 70lbs in a single case?.
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Josh,

I can strongly recommend our DeepX: the only housing so small that it meets carry on luggage restrictions fully configured with camera, battery and monitor on an airplane. No need to check in. It is also the only housing that uses optics allowing you to fully resolve the Epic sensor corner to corner with wide range of inexpensive, high quality lenses. It is also the only solution that offers non-distorting wide angle rectilinear lens for large sensor underwater. Neither still picture DSLR nor any other housing for Epic can offer such glass - glass that allows you to shoot at f/2.8 and produce sharp images. When using dome ports, you need to stop down to about f/8-f/16 in order to obtain half-decent images due to image plane curvature. Otherwise, no terrestial rectilinear wide angle lens (say, Master Prime) behind a dome port can produce pictures even of standard definition quality at wide apertures. And, if you stop down to f/11, you need in excess of 5kW of light....and you can understand why I was not happy with anything else.

In terms of lighting, I can recommend a couple of Keldans for travel or preferably something in exces of 25,000 lm for best results.

DeepX + two Keldan lights is easily mamagable in one hand above water. No other Epic housing is.

BTW, I used Seacam domes and flat ports prior to development of DeepX. I still have many ports, some of which I've never used. I have CinePort mounted in Seacam compatible bayonet, if you are interested. But, none of housed lens solutions (be it for DSLR or Epic) could get anywhere close to the optical quality, convinience, size and weight, reliability and cost savings of using submerisible lenses.
 
Pawel, I must disagree on several points... But I'll leave it at that. Since this is not supposed to be a selling forum. I would hope we can leave that to direct emails. This type conversation you posted always comes back to more remarks from others that would like to keep this new thread clean of which manufacturer is best.....All have great points. Maybe the big sales push could be left to private emails.....since my first reaction is to post a contrary reply.
best....
 
Any one have experience with the Gates Deep Epic used with a Arri 8R? Pros and cons from those who own or have used professionally the Gates product
 
Any one have experience with the Gates Deep Epic used with an Arri 8R lens? Pros and cons from those who own or have used professionally the Gates product. Manufacturer reps please sit this one out.
 
Johnny Friday said:
Pawel, I must disagree on several points... But I'll leave it at that. Since this is not supposed to be a selling forum. I would hope we can leave that to direct emails. This type conversation you posted always comes back to more remarks from others that would like to keep this new thread clean of which manufacturer is best.....All have great points. Maybe the big sales push could be left to private emails.....since my first reaction is to post a contrary reply.
best....
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Johnny, it is unfortunate that I offer the same solution that I use myself. And it may often be seen as a sales push. But, on the other hand, if we can't discuss different solutions, there will be little to discuss and the value of the thread will diminish. I think there is nothing wrong in debating different rigs as long as it remains factual and focused on the housings, not the posters. It can work. Look at CML, for example.

I will be be pleased to hear your opinion and encourage you to share it. We will never agree on everything, but that doesn't mean we should not engage in an orderly discussion, answer questions, and compare ideas and solutions. I respectfully look forward to your opposing view. :beer:
 
I have two Deep Epic/Scarlet housings. I am a DP and also rent out UW housings. I work with a bunch of companies who makes a living shooting for commercials , factual documentary and wild life footage in the field. I strongly vouch for Gates's reliably and rock solid design and construction. Arri 8R is possible with the Deep Epic as the front port arrangement uses extenders and interchangeable ports. The gearing offers focus, Iris and zoom control. Gates could custom make for most lenses and even servo motor control from the surface. I personally have used Arri Ultra Primes for commercial shoots. For wildlife canon EF with auto focus is in my opinion preferred. In fact whatever lens the Director wants but within reason. Not all are suitable for underwater but for tight shots several Ultra Primes would be used with just the flat port without having to adjust the gearing. Making it very easy to change. As for wider lens like the R8 the wideangle dome by Gates has is pretty good. Don't expect perfect corner to corner though. To have sharper corners the dome would have to be very big (36 plus inches) as oppose to 8 inch dome. The Arri R8 is a land lens so no matter what kind of dome there will be a mismatch in optical fidelity. Only lens designed from the ground up for UW use is the Nikonos lenses. The 15mm Nikonos is great. I have used it with DSLR housing for the D800 (36 mega pixel still) with an adapter. Resolves every pixel. However there is no auto-focus. Also not wide enough really. There is another solution in the form of a customised Nikonos RS lens. I have used my own customized Nikonos RS 20-35mm and the 28mm. Working on the RS 13mm FE. The electronics inside is customized to work with new Nikon digital DSLRs. Once I have the new Red Nikon mount I may test it for AF. It will resolve 35mm DSLR and will do well for the Dragon sensor. It has AF. I think in the field chasing marine animals AF is a must. A lot depends on the type of shoot of course. The pool or the sea?

Anyway josh. I have a spare Deep Epic housing to sell. I could discuss more on my own customization side of things by PM if your are interested. email: info@scubacam.com.sg

Cheers
David
 
The 15mm Nikonos is great. I have used it with DSLR housing for the D800 (36 mega pixel still) with an adapter. Resolves every pixel. However there is no auto-focus. Also not wide enough really
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Interested in hearing how you pulled that off... Every time I ask someone to let me rip out the mirror assembly they get squeamish.
 
Also, there is no flash function using an Epic which requires me to bring along a stills camera anyway.
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I have waterproof manual releases that have been used in the past to trigger cameras, but have been thinking about using them to trigger flashes while recording... Picking out individual stills would be a pain, but probably less so than carrying two cameras.

A preproduction 1D C was tested last weekend in Key Largo in a Nauticam NA-1DX housing, and there were no heat issues.
 
Hi Ryan

Trade secret mate. I would not rip out the mirror myself. Work on an older D700 first until it works then with the D800. With the sensor filter off the D800 it is incredible. There are many more things in my workshop just for fun - you have no idea. ;) I even have an UW corrected port for the 14-24 Nikkor F2.8 once I have all the testing done I will let people know.

Cheers
David
 
Thanks David for the info. What is the link for your company / workshops?
 
I'm pleased to confirm that we are offering Nikonos RS lens adapter for DeepX. All Nikonos RS lenses will be supported including 13mm, 20 - 35mm zoom, 28mm and 50mm. The adapter will allow focus and aperture control. For more information and pre-orders please contact us by email: pawel.achtel (at) 24x7.com.au
 
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