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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

Just saw John E's Nikonos RS rig at DEMA, very pretty piece of kit, his new lights are looking good too, caught up with Johnny F and a few other folks, Kip Evans just returned from an Easter Island shoot, really cool stuff, and Jeff Whitehurst is doing some fantastic work as PADI's new u/w production guy. They scored big by hiring Jeff, congrats to you mate. Really glad to see everyone is doing well.


Rouge is going forward with an upgrade to internally house the new 7" LCD, a couple of other groovy things in the skunk works, so all in all, a successful visit to this year's DEMA.


Now off to my niece's wedding at a venue that overlooks the Bellagio fountains, should be a rockin' party.


Cheers to all,


Tom
 
Yeah, for what Michael describes, that is the only way, or not the only but the best, in which you could use the RS lenses. Then again, easier said than done. During my tinkering with the original Nikonos' mount for RED, I had come to the same conclusion of aligning lens and camera without locking them, that eliminates the issue of twisting the units to achieve lock. So kudos to John. Now, in my humble but not unqualified opinion (is that still humble? :-) the RS lenses are really great, derived from a much newer generation of glass than the original Nikonos were and capable of quite nice pictures. The 13mm is probably my favorite fisheye as its curvature, which I hate in fisheyes, is quite bearable. Having said all that, in terms of contrast, color rendition, sharpness, lack of aberrations and yes, the straight lines, no RS lenses can quite compare to the original 15mm rectilinear Nikonos. The quality of that lens, both technically and aesthetically is simply unsurpassed. Truly. As for fear on water intrusion, yes, quite a few Nikonos RS flooded, mine included, but for each of those mishaps, thousands of dives were made without incident, so probably as good a track record as fully housed systems if not better. Nikon had an issue with o-ring materials more than actual system's efficiency, and once that issue got solved, the system was as bulletproof as ever. Now, with Gates involved, I wouldn't even worry about flooding. If there's one thing those guys got right is hermeticity. Alas, the housings still look quite big :-(
 
Wondering about the two choices for OLPFs and UW work...

I've shot with both above water and find the LowLight version my goto option. With a custom UW shooting OLPF due in the future, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

It seems like a long time ago now, when Pawel was still trolling around, that the excitement for Epic UW shooting was high. Since the Dragon release and the "unsolved?" magenta issue, this forum has become very quiet. Have our UW shooters moved on, away from shooting RED?

For those already heavily invested, are you happy? Is there a part of you just making the best out of what you have and hoping for future advancements? What other UW Housing/Camera options are replacing REDs?
 
I have the LLO in my hand and the fixed highlight in the camera. Can't wait to try the LLO for some of the deeper stuff we do, but no time to send the camera in at the moment.

As for RED UW, I'd say we qualify as heavily invested. The Epic MX and now the Dragon have been great tools to tell a story both above and below water. Of course there are times when I wish for this feature or that feature but I have said that about every camera I have ever owned or used. There is no perfect solution. But if I step back for a moment and think about where we were 15 years ago and where we are now, we are doing things that we only dreamed of before and we are able to focus more on the story and not so much the tool. Maybe there are better cameras, I don't know (I get a little tired of riding the technology roller coaster and trying to figure out which is best), but I do know that for our budget and small team the Epic is providing us with great images UW.

If there are other opinions and options I would love to hear them too, but I am certainly happy with where we are now.
 
We look forward to receiving our first Gates RS unit shortly. Any UK camera people please let us know if you want to see it.
 
Hey Mark. I had a similar problem with some RED housing I rented and had trouble with the unit and case being so borderline 32KG that nothing else could fit in on a self funded trip... So I built my own housing. I am up to Mark 3 and building a 4th version just for Z-SP lenses. I could not find a housing that suited my needs with enough options for my budget. I have now adapted the front plate to take all the Aquatica ports and just today shot a TVC with 8 lens/port changes (Going back and forth from Tokina 10-17/Mega-Dome 9.25 - Tokina 10-17/Mini Done for WACU - 50mm Macro and 100mm Macro/flat macro port and Tokina 11-16/Mega-Dome 9.25 surface shot). Kept my 1st AC very busy.

On a self funded trip I can pack Housing, Suit, Fins, mask in one case and usually a light and some clothes and I carry on the RED and lenses.

I have modified and adjusted the housings along with my needs, I have found that not anodizing the aluminum gives me about 30% more cooling in tropical water. Sure it looks a little raw and not as pretty but I have had much less heat issues.

A used helium tank is better quality alloy than I have found anywhere, even the front plate billet from Thyssen Krup aerospace alloy at $350 each is a lesser grade. I will be using the base of a helium tank for the next front plate.

So if you cannot find what you want, build it.

I keep saying I will buy a Gates, I have had 3 other Gates/camera combos in the past and think they are the best around... but I think i will build another housing, this time Ultralite and use my $$$ for the Dragon upgrade.

Good Luck!

I have some images of one of the housings here - www.facebook.com/accessallangles.com

785680558149241
834793909904572
 
Dean, can't access the Facebook page, can you post some pics here? Interested to see how much surface area you have available for heat transference.

Thanks
 
Selling my Amphibico Rouge. Asking $14500 for the whole kit, price is negotiable. If anyone is interested PM me and I can answer questions and send pics.
 
Thanks Mauricio.

Interesting housing Dean, thanks for the heat info. ( worked with your father a few years ago at the GBR btw)

If you haven't already done so, installing some zinc sacrificial anodes should mitigate corrosion on your housing.
 
Thanks Mauricio... Yes, my mistake. It was late at night and I was processing R3D's on REDcineX on one monitor and obviously not paying attention.

I have put some more photos up of some of my housings on my FB page https://www.facebook.com/accessallangles
For some reason I cannot post images directly into a post, ill work on that though. I have a shot of my MK 1 housing that had Bright Red Anodizing and I had to slot the outside and inside of it to increase cooling surface area even though it is bigger in size (and only running a Scarlet at the time). Like the FB page and you will be alerted to any more images I put up. I will make an album with build shots of my housings if anyone is interested?

Yes Tom, I did have small zink anodes on the housing for a while but i did not like the active electrolysis, I think it may have even spooked GNS I was trying to creep up on! So I have the anodes in the case and just attach them to the lighting bar when I am in the water multiple times over many days.

Yes my Dad (Ben Cropp) built some of his very first housings, they where pretty crude in today's standards but they did win him some awards!

More images and fun times to come!
Doplphin-RED 3.jpg
 
Homemade Housings

Homemade Housings

Kudos to you Dean. I applaud anyone that tackles the daunting task of submerging their camera. Looks great, well done.



Dean Cropp said:
Thanks Mauricio... Yes, my mistake. It was late at night and I was processing R3D's on REDcineX on one monitor and obviously not paying attention.

I have put some more photos up of some of my housings on my FB page https://www.facebook.com/accessallangles
For some reason I cannot post images directly into a post, ill work on that though. I have a shot of my MK 1 housing that had Bright Red Anodizing and I had to slot the outside and inside of it to increase cooling surface area even though it is bigger in size (and only running a Scarlet at the time). Like the FB page and you will be alerted to any more images I put up. I will make an album with build shots of my housings if anyone is interested?

Yes Tom, I did have small zink anodes on the housing for a while but i did not like the active electrolysis, I think it may have even spooked GNS I was trying to creep up on! So I have the anodes in the case and just attach them to the lighting bar when I am in the water multiple times over many days.

Yes my Dad (Ben Cropp) built some of his very first housings, they where pretty crude in today's standards but they did win him some awards!

More images and fun times to come!
Click to expand...
 
Nikonos RS Adapter Kit

Nikonos RS Adapter Kit

Johnny Friday spent a few days at Catalina this past week to testing the GT14 prototypes and Nikonos RS kit. Despite really poor conditions, he still managed to send over this cut -- a testament to Johnny's expertise.


 
Ok, I know I'm looking at it on my iMac and not full res but that looked freakin' awesome! Nice job John on the gear and Johnny on the shots!

Johnny, what stop(s) were you at mostly?
 
Matt,
It is hard to say exactly since the lens has manual iris and although you can map it since it has hard stops....I did not have time to do that. But based on where i was above the open (end) at 2.8 I would say daylight shots (although raining and overcast) were at 5.6 to 8 and most of the night shots F4 range.

Both the iris and focus have hard stops on the RS lens system via the custom Nikonos mount that Gates has made and both can be mapped out for accuracy. This lens system produces some very pleasing results.
 
Wow, those images look phenomenal! Great work Johnny in what I can imagine had to be tough conditions to get usable shots, in the conditions we've been having. The vegetation flowing with the surge in the sides and corners of frame really help to tell the story of how sharp those edges are with the Gates RS system. That 13mm looks amazing! And I feel like it's no surprise but holy hell the new Gates lights throw an amazing amount of beautiful luminance. So dang exciting!!!

Amazing work John and Company!
 
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