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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 :)

Underwater Bubble Blowin' Users Group

Mark Thorpe said:
Hey Mike,
As promised here are the images of the MPE65mm Macro Lens. The first image shows the focal working distances for each selected ratio.

When you look at it though you could probably get away with using one port when shooting 2:1 or 1:1. The results I get at those ratios are some of the most pleasing. After that one tends to require a flat subject to get any decent sense of what the image is, not just the eyeball for example.

Cheers,
Mark.
Click to expand...

Mark: I can see that the MP-E 65 is the bomb for surface macro, but in looking at the distances at just seems like we would be normally better of to keep it simple by using the 100 macro, or as alternatives the 65 EF-s or EF180

Here are the lens to subject distances at closest focus.

100mm 5.5" at 1:1 fullframe 1.6x on red

60mm 3.27" at 1:1 1:1 also on red

180mm 10.1" at 1:1 fullframe 1.6x on red

The 100 and 180 are full frame lenses so we would get approx 1.6x on the RED at the same close focus distance since you are cropping out the center. I've posted a quick shot I took of a dime (shutter 125 @ 5.6 on the Canon 40D) at roughly the closest focusing distance. Don't judge the quality, I just ran out and stuck a dime on the porch step to show the size. The 16x9 is virtually exactly what you would get on RED, the the other is the full shot on the 40D (just a bit more top and bottom).

Seems to me this is probably pretty close to the practical limit for shooting something small in open water. Also, if you were using the 100 or 180mm you could get double the magnification to 3.2x by using a decent achromatic +2 diopter with very little degradation. The 100mm is only a 58mm thread so wouldn't be that expensive.

Because focus and iris can be controlled by birger, all you would do to change from one lens to the other is unscrew the dome port and put on the macro port.

It would also be pretty easy if I can figure the LED stuff to make a port with the ring light built into it and I think that might be a more beneficial use of the time rather than trying to make an adjustable port for the 65.

If you were okay with a limited range on the 65 it wouldn't be much more complicated - just a matter of gearing for the focus.

PS I'll post the photo later REDUSER seems to be cranky right now and won't take them even though within the limits. PPs got it by doing one at a time - 2 edits???
 
are said:
I've thought about rebreather and that may be a good solution in some situations. But I really do think I will get better undisturbed pictures by not diving into the water. Killer Whales for instance will either keep distance to human divers or there might be some curious individuals that will check you out. In other words not representative for theier normal behaviour. I think the mini submarin may be one of the best alternative to capture undisturbed natural behaviour.

Are
Click to expand...

The problem with an ROV is that it is costly and does not react quickly to point the camera where the action is. You should try rebreather first as it is easier and cheaper. With fish, rebreather does work wonders. You can get as close as you like to the shiest fish, no problem. You can rub noses with sharks that would normally go away from 30m away. With mamals, it greatly depends. Whales tend to avoid sounds and bubbles often make them go away where as rebreather would not bother them any more than an ROV. Seals do not care whether you are on scuba or rebreather and will do whatever they think of you.
 
are said:
I've thought about rebreather and that may be a good solution in some situations. But I really do think I will get better undisturbed pictures by not diving into the water. Killer Whales for instance will either keep distance to human divers or there might be some curious individuals that will check you out. In other words not representative for theier normal behaviour. I think the mini submarin may be one of the best alternative to capture undisturbed natural behaviour.

Are
Click to expand...
So is an ROV suspended by umbilical control and command cables, with its props and whining engines going to be less intrusive than a no noise emission diver on CCR systems?? I think Rebreather is the best way to go.

All the best with whatever you go with. Nice web site by the way.
Cheers,
Mark.
 
Thank you Pawel and Mark for the tips/advices. I have no experiences with rebreathers, but that might be a good and of course cheaper alternative. I wil look into it.

I will at this point, however, not abandon the ROV. I think the herring and the mammals I am going to film are used to mecanical motors etc from fishing boats, safaries etc. A human diver will be something different and new in the water, compared to a ROV. This is at least what I have imagined, but I might be wrong. I am of course interested in listening to experienced people, and I am therefore indeed considering the rebreather :)

I am also considering ROV for filming at about 50 meter. Here I need to shoot for many ours at this depth and a diver will not be able to go that deep for so long. The ROV will not cost me anything as I am doing this together with science institutions. My concern is, however, the cost and functionality of remotely using a RED atached to the ROV.

Do you guys have any experiences with seabirds and rebreather?

Are
 
are said:
Do you guys have any experiences with seabirds and rebreather?
Click to expand...

Penguins avoid just about anything underwater, but you are unlikely to find one on Northern hemisphere. :sarcasm:

Birds diving and feeding on bait balls could not care less.

are said:
I am also considering ROV for filming at about 50 meter. Here I need to shoot for many ours at this depth and a diver will not be able to go that deep for so long.
Click to expand...

The beauty of a rebreather is that you can dive to 100m and stay underwater for 5-6 hours...if you want to. 50m is a perfect depth for a trimix rebreather dive. You will need good dry suit :cold:
 
I have "inherited" 3 custom underwater S16mm cameras, with switchable flat ports, dome ports, and a set of Zeiss Super Speed Primes (9.5, 12, 16, 25). The dome ports are custom 3/8" white water glass 8" dome from Harrold Johnson (do any of you know him?) and one panspheron wide converter used to convert the 12mm to a 6.6mm. Are these domes worth incorporating into a red housing, like the Aquavideo?
 
manfishmatt said:
I have "inherited" 3 custom underwater S16mm cameras, with switchable flat ports, dome ports, and a set of Zeiss Super Speed Primes (9.5, 12, 16, 25). The dome ports are custom 3/8" white water glass 8" dome from Harrold Johnson (do any of you know him?) and one panspheron wide converter used to convert the 12mm to a 6.6mm. Are these domes worth incorporating into a red housing, like the Aquavideo?
Click to expand...

We'd have to take a look to see how easy it would be to incorporate (i.e. is it easier/cheaper to do than the standard way), but the way we do the frontplate is pretty flexible so probably could be done.

what do you mean "white water" glass.

Why don't you post some pictures to start.
 
AquaVideoRed206 said:
We'd have to take a look to see how easy it would be to incorporate (i.e. is it easier/cheaper to do than the standard way), but the way we do the frontplate is pretty flexible so probably could be done.

what do you mean "white water" glass.

Why don't you post some pictures to start.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Currently I am out of town and I dont have any pics with me. I'll see if I cant get someone back home to take a few and email them to me today. What I know about the dome I put in my last post and I got from the spec sheet for the housing. The spec sheet also said the domes are seated on a 45 degree flange with clear silicon caulk.
I mistyped, it is "water white" glass. All I know is that it has the same name as the glass that is used in my 4x5 Tiffen polarizer. I found a site called waterwhiteglass.com and it says: "Water white, low iron, ultra clear glass transmits 98% to 99% of light, and is anti-glare and anti-reflective coated. This glass is becoming very important to the movie theater industry, as the industry turns to digital equipment. Used as a theater glass, our water white glass outperforms other ultra clear products."
Thanks,
Matt

PS- Here are the only pics I have of the housing now. Unfortunately they are not very helpful as far as the dome goes.
 
We wide angle and macro capability underwater.

We wide angle and macro capability underwater.

Ocean Imaging said:
Hi All,

I have a Nik 15mm lens that I can take up to Mike when he's got the time to work with it. With work may not get to come up till 2nd week of Dec. I'll leave it with you if need be.

I also would be interested in the Canon MP-E65 Macro lens setup. Fully extended at 5X it's quite the long lens. I'm sure Mike can figure out a way to house it, but then we'd need a tripod for sure at this extreme. Any movement would be challenging I believe. But it would make for some outstanding imaging.
Click to expand...

Hey Frazier saw your post. I just finished my first prototype housing for my Red and did some tests yesterday with the guys at Ocean Divers in Key Largo. I am using the Red 18-50mm lens which I find to be an extraordinary general purpose lens for underwater wide angle and macro shooting. With one lens you can go from a 75 degree wide angle shot at 18mm to filling the frame with an Neon Gobey at 50mm.

As you may know I haven't been building since the old Betacam days but with so few affordable options out there I decided to put my 25 years+ experience to the challenge. I came up with a 7.5" cylindrical aluminum design with only two mechanical controls in the rear of the housing. Each however has three different functions. The left control does Start/Stop, Roll/Pause and Power on/off. The right control is a sliding arm that does Focus, Iris and Zoom. There are NO penetrations through the aluminum tube. I am using old customized Oceanic Ports (since I couldn't find any 35mm still ports with a 4.5" diameter lens opening required for the Red lens. It still needs a little tweaking but if you want to see some wide angle still frames from my shoot yesterday you can find them at the links below. They were all shot at 4K 30FPS with a 360 Degree shutter, natural light and a UR Pro on the Red 18-50 lens at 18mm. I tweaked them a little in Red Cine.

Let's get together some time. I am working on an indie feature which hopefully will get me out of the editing room and back in the water for a while.

George

www.sea-cam.com/red/1.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/2.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/3.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/4.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/5.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/6.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/7.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/8.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/9.jpg
www.sea-cam.com/red/10.jpg
 
Heard you were in town

Heard you were in town

Hi George,

Would love to get together with you and say hi again, it's been years. Went through all your photos,looks great, where were you diving? Moe? I was over at Stephen Frinks the other day and he told me you were in town with your camera. UR Pro Filter 72mm. You gotta keep my phone handy if you need something here and come by for a visit. Would love to work with you if you need multiple cameras.

The UW Bubble Blowers group hopefully with enough planning are going to get together either here in the Keys or over at Stuarts in Nassau. You're so close we've all got to get together for sure, trying to get as many to come as possible. Slates going to do a shark, barracuda, moray eel and goliath grouper Creature Feature for us during the meet. Probably be next year, winter is tough to call here, could be rough or could be flat calm, never know. It's absolutely beautiful here today, cool but FLAT CALM out on the water. How many RED cameras can we get UW at one time?? We gotta get some kind of date to see if we can all get together for a Bubble Blowers Dive get together. Suggestions anyone??

I came across a old Oceanic Hydro 35 Housing in PERFECT condition the other day, with Flat port/Extension ring/and Dome port/ all glass. I have it now and I'm wondering if Mike can adapt the ports to my housing. I have to take it up to him soon and see if they can be used.

Also came across a LARGE UW Lighting kit, 2 Light Housings, reminded me of the Birns and Sawyer heads I used once in the RED SEA with John Stoneman. I'm hoping that these I can adapt and build into a great set of generator surface powered lights. But it'll take some work. There was an old 16mm UW film housing there also with camera also but didn't have time to check it all out, will get it today out of storage, It's a antique for sure.

What are you doing Dec. 13th?? I've got a music concert, Supermodel fashion show in Miami then. Gotta get Mike to come for this also.

Email me at:

frazier@oceanimaging.com

with your email address to chat further.

Good to hear from you.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving Day, for those that are eating Turkey.

Frazier, Ocean Imaging
 
Got a buddy that has UW LED Lighting Kits

Got a buddy that has UW LED Lighting Kits

Mark Thorpe said:
Talking of LED Ringlights? Something like this........

http://www.compumodules.com/image-p...lumination/LED-illumination-ring-lights.shtml

Cheers,
Mark.
Click to expand...

This friend of mine is currently building these LED lights into a housing and could probably help with a configuration for this application. He has already built LED lights for UW use and is currently building a set for video use that are reasonably priced. I'd ask him if he could build us a RingLIGHT for this Lens. But the LED Ringlights would be great for Macro.

Frazier
 
Ocean Imaging said:
This friend of mine is currently building these LED lights into a housing and could probably help with a configuration for this application. He has already built LED lights for UW use and is currently building a set for video use that are reasonably priced. I'd ask him if he could build us a RingLIGHT for this Lens. But the LED Ringlights would be great for Macro.

Frazier
Click to expand...
Frazier,
That would be great if you could ask your buddy regarding construction and fees etc. I will see if I can get the internal diameter measurement required for the curvature of the ringlight from the dimensions of the new Aquatica flat ports as these are the ones I will be using on my housing. Having done tests on land I will only look to work at 2:1 with this underwater. One port will then serve for both 2:1 and life size, sweet deal.

Moving on. Will be in Lembeh on Saturday for a couple of days to sort some items out. No time for diving but am certainly chomping at the bit to test this lens out sometime down the road.

Cheers,
Mark.
 
quick question... after reading this ... I have to export about an hours worth of footage that is red 4k and export it on a dvd... what is the easiest way to do that??? i use final cut and have little knowledge of this red technology... It's already all on an external hd I just need to bring in all the files into final cut, but wondering what the best settings are and how to minimize the file size so that it could all fit in a dvd...
anyone have time to help a newbie out?!
 
Ocean Imaging said:
This friend of mine is currently building these LED lights into a housing and could probably help with a configuration for this application. He has already built LED lights for UW use and is currently building a set for video use that are reasonably priced. I'd ask him if he could build us a RingLIGHT for this Lens. But the LED Ringlights would be great for Macro.

Frazier
Click to expand...

Frazier, how many watts are the individual LEDs and how many lumens for the individual LEDs? I was going to talk to one of my taiwanese suppliers but if your friend has something worked out here it might be just as well. I think we would want the 3 or 5 watt LEDs in say a 16 or 24 LED ring around an approximate 7" circle.
 
Ocean Imaging said:
Hi George,


Also came across a LARGE UW Lighting kit, 2 Light Housings, reminded me of the Birns and Sawyer heads I used once in the RED SEA with John Stoneman. I'm hoping that these I can adapt and build into a great set of generator surface powered lights. But it'll take some work. There was an old 16mm UW film housing there also with camera also but didn't have time to check it all out, will get it today out of storage, It's a antique for sure.
Click to expand...


Interesting about the LED lights. I have about 4 Par 36 Housings for 650 Watt Surface supplied lights which I think I used the last time we worked together. But I thinbk LED's are the way to go Low power consumption high output and daylight balanced. There are a lot of Chinese suppliers of these for pools and fountains etc. but you have to buy them in quantity and no way to test them in advance. There is a company in Fort Lauderdale that builds them for yachts which I am going to check out. I'll let you know what I find out.
 
Red 4k Aquavideo Underwater Camera Housing For Sale

Red 4k Aquavideo Underwater Camera Housing For Sale

Hi Guys,

We have an Aquavideo Housing for sale. Used 2 days on a feature in October and will be used again one day for a commercial on Wednesday.

After this, it's all yours to have for only $7.000,00 including a bunch of cool extras and accessories.

Although it may allow simple iris and focus operation for a variety of optics, it was designed to work with our custom Zeiss Contax lenses and the popular Red Zoom. It will be shipped back to factory for some upgrades and at the same time you will be able to arrange further control shafts for other desired lenses.

After being upgraded, Mike in Aquavideo has generously agreed to give a full one-year warranty to the new owner.

This is a unique opportunity to save some bucks and own a "three-day-old" housing, with plenty of extras and a full warranty.

We found Aquavideo's housing to have a very simple and clever design, with low water resistance yet very stable, fully customizable and offering excellent optical results. Although I was not allowed to publish any of the work we have done so far, I will try to get some samples of the dome's performance.

Images of the actual housing can be found below. I'll try to get some better ones on Wednesday!

If you are interested, feel free to email: daniel :biggrin: cinedigitalcanarias.com
 
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