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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 :)

Best Underwater Rig

It depends on what you are doing. The Gates is a very nice rig - we are friendly competitors. We make a nice unit that is about a third to half of the price depending on configuration. Gates is a little slicker for certain styles of shooting, ours is a little slimmer so sometimes easier to move through the water. We have both an aluminum and PVC version, both fine for serious underwater but the PVC is much lighter so lends itself well to surf and wet weather types of shooting also.

We were the first to produce a housing for the REDONE with Gibby's number 8 back in November 2007, and have dozens working in the field.

http://www.aquavideo.com/pdfs/RED1HousingBrochure309.pdf
 

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Van Din said:
Anything less expensive?
Click to expand...

A plastic bag?

sorry, couldn't resist :)

I think the aquavideo housing is as inexpensive as you are going to get.
 
I have been using an AquaVideo housing(s) for the past 24 months with great success!!! Very basic controls but extremely functional!!! I have shot several open water gigs and countless pool based commercial gigs with the last one on the NCL Epic ship. Michael is now modifying his design and building me a new unit with a couple of changes I have requested which is to eliminate the drive and accommodate my 18-50mm zoom. I have opted for the PVC because i prefer a lighter package for my primary applications which is shallow water. However, I am comfortable using the PVC in 80+ ft. In addition, he is making me brackets for my jib & underwater tripod.

Brothers, I have been a career Gates consumer but I cannot justify the expense on a Red housing.
 
I also have the PVC AquaVideo housing and actually spent 6 hours in the pool with it last night on ABCs "The Gates". It's simplicity is it's best feature, it's light (for a housing) and really well balanced, I've used it on cranes, in the open ocean and even under a waterfall.

Here's an iPone BTS pic from last nights shoot...
GettingWet.jpg
 
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thanks guys!

- can you use the RED LCD with it, and are you limited to it being at the rear of the housing? I'd like to use the RED LCD on the side like I usually do with it on dry land.

- can you change project resolutions, varispeed, and shutterspeed without taking it out of the water?

- is there a slick way of adjusting buoyancy or do you have to attach weights to it somehow
 
01. yeah lcd is on the rear only for now... i just asked about a window on the side of the tube (main body) for a second lcd so that someone could pull focus. jury still out on that one.

02. yes you can do some (most) of that... on the new housing I have taken out allot of that... for my application I am keeping simple.

03. external and internal weights... as you know, all housings require some trimming and adjusting and I tell everybody- you really need to work it out beforehand and test, test, test before doing any water based gig.
 
I second that! If you are setting up shots in a commercial/film/show environment with support... then simple is the way to go!!! If you are in an Ocean environment shooting a doc then you need extensive controls that allow you to adapt & adjust to any situation.



P


Evin Grant said:
I also have the PVC AquaVideo housing and actually spent 6 hours in the pool with it last night on ABCs "The Gates". It's simplicity is it's best feature, it's light (for a housing) and really well balanced, I've used it on cranes, in the open ocean and even under a waterfall.

Here's an iPone BTS pic from last nights shoot...
GettingWet.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Michael Hastings said:
We were the first to produce a housing for the REDONE with Gibby's number 8 back in November 2007, and have dozens working in the field.
Click to expand...

Actually that first PVC housing you made from my Red 0008 was even earlier than November 2007. I received Red 0008 on August 30, 2007, and after using it a few days later for the world's first Red 3D production (along with Billy Summer's Red 0013), I sent the camera off to you to have the housing made. When the housing came back to California we shot the world's first underwater Red footage with Red 0008 in that housing at Catalina Island in late September 2007. The housing performed great!

In early December 2007 we used that same housing to shoot the in the surf zone, water surface footage for the 3-Red camera production of the Pipeline Masters ASP World Contest Tour surfing contest on Oahu - with my three Red cameras - one in a helicopter, one in the water, and one on land. On that production I was field producer, director, and the land based cinematographer.

Shortly after that you made us a custom aluminum housing for Red using my Red 0008. That housing has performed great, being used in many areas of the world (Alaska, South Pacific, etc.).

You make good housings Mike!
 
call the guys at Equinox Video Housings.... they do a great job and the price is great! they are making a housing for me.... as soon as i can get them my cam because they are doing some custom stuff for me on mine!!!!!
 
zak forrest said:
thanks guys!

- can you use the RED LCD with it, and are you limited to it being at the rear of the housing? I'd like to use the RED LCD on the side like I usually do with it on dry land.
Click to expand...

Zak (and Carlos): The standard is to have the LCD at the back of the housing. We also have an external LCD case with cable so you can mount it anywhere on the housing. standard cable length is six feet (with about a foot inside) - you can also use a 10 foot cable if that is critical. I believe we are the only company that has also made an external case for the 7" pro LCD - not much bigger and the LCD is much better particularly when viewed a little off axis.

Jarred initially told me we would void warranty if we used another or modified cable (and from what I understand it is a DVI type signal so a bit fussy - not really designed for longer cables.) So we, and AFAIK Gates, both use the same type of penetrator seal on the cable to housing. For longer cable viewing options you use the SDI out. Peppermill has been running 220 feet of cable with both SDI and control for the Birger mount and Canon lenses - VERY SLICK!!!

zak forrest said:
thanks guys!

- can you change project resolutions, varispeed, and shutterspeed without taking it out of the water?
Click to expand...

You can access some functions through the programmable buttons on the LCD and side buttons. But generally no, you need to take it out of the water to access all of the joystick stuff. I'm not sure how often you really need that stuff underwater, and if you do IMHO most of that stuff is better handled on the surface. However, that is the biggest difference in capability between ours and Gates - John at Gates designed a very slick waterproof joystick actuator. I have repeatedly asked RED for camera control through the USB or RS232 but to no avail - which is a little bothersome since R1 is about the only $15K+ video camera I have ever owned (and I've had about 15 different ones over the years) that didn't have a handheld remote available. But I havegiven up on that and figure we already know Epic will have it with the standard REDMOTE.

The other big difference is that Gates has a nice adjustable gear system for manual lenses. We have done some of the gearing on a few of our housings, but (besides using Birger - which is really the sh..) I think it is better and more economically practical to use motors as Evin and several of our other customers have done. I also made a bunch of the low cost lens motors that Pawel designed using modern digital RC servos and they actually work pretty well for this application. (Pawel, I made over 100 sets months ago, just haven't gotten around to promoting them. Will put something up here soon.)

Photos show standard lcd in back of housing (I think that was the 3rd or 4th built in 2008) Second is the 7" External LCD housings (1st one made - only a few have been made)
 

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