The Gentleman's Underwater Bubble Blower Thread

[Mark van Coller]

Very tempting Ryan. :thumbup1: They certainly made it small which is what I was after.

 

[Simon Buxton]

I've tested 11-24 f/4 in a Nauticam 230mm Dome:

http://www.nauticamusa.com/news/2015/5/29/canon-11-24-4l-usm-lens-support-testing

We have a 250mm optic that is used on the PL systems that don't focus as close, and I feared it would have to be employed here. It is a bit better than 230, but the results from 230 are pretty great, and the form factor is substantially better, making this the direction I'm recommending.

Crap, that's going to cost me some more money!

 

[Simon Buxton]

Nice gear Simon. We have been seriously considering the LT housing it looks absolutely amazing. What are your dates for the Sardine Run and where are you staying. Morne will be there from the 27th and I am still undecided as to whether I am going to come up. Good luck

Cheers. Hitting Aliwal for a few days from the 16th, then down to PSJ on the 19th I think. Will definietely have a few beers with Morne if I can get past all his German Groupies!

 

[Tom Hamilton]

Very tempting Ryan. :thumbup1: They certainly made it small which is what I was after.

Seconded here Ryan, looking for a back-up rapid deployment rig that is carry-on friendly, pm sent.

 

[John Marchant]

You wouldn't happen to have a spectrum shot on an Epic M-X by any chance?

http://kippertie.com/red/spectrum/

Bear in mind this is a 3200k source, but still...

 

[Michael Hastings]

Seconded here Ryan, looking for a back-up rapid deployment rig that is carry-on friendly, pm sent.

On that note:I have done carryon even with our full size housing but we have also been making shorter versions of our housing for epic that are just as small if not smaller than that Nauticam for quite awhile. And if you want extra lightweight we can make it out of PVC - the same type that out of which we have made literally thousands of housings. You can routinely see AquaVideo PVC housings on ebay (and even some that are still in use today) from the late 80s and 90s and still in excellent shape. The PVC is impervious to salt water corrosion and with even the most basic maintenance/cleaning of the clamps and controls they look almost new.

WE make both aluminum and PVC versions of these housings that are nearly identical except for the body material and there are some severe misimpressions about the PVC housings. Generally there is no difference in depth rating since that is usually dependent on the endplates and ports - we don't even think about the depth rating of the PVC body unless we are considering depths of 500 to 1000 feet. The 8" diameter pipe we use on the epic housings is rated for 235 psi (about 500 feet sea water) over its lifetime (30 years?) and is pressure tested at 500 psi for 1000 hours. It is also quite robust - we've had them fall off of the back of moving jeeps, dropped, etc. and with something like 5000 of them in use over the years no one had ever actually broken the main body of the housing (a few have broken off the plastic side wings but that is an easy repair - simply welded back on - good as new. One person about 4 years ago managed to break the main body of one our thinner wall housings by shipping it in a plastic shipping box whose inside diameter was less than the diameter of the housing - it appeared that it must have had a pallet or something dropped on it - and it produced a hairline crack. However, I would bet that any of the other aluminum housings for epic would have suffered substantial damage as well if shipped the same way.


My point is that the way we make these housings - we can semi-customize them very easily and provide whatever ideal length the owner prefers. The original length was setup to allow use of either the quad battery module (as supplied with the epic-x trade in kit) or brick batteries as well as the larger pl mount lenses. But if you use the newer redvolt XL rear module and Canon/Nikon lenses it can be very short - like the nauticam shown there - in either aluminum or PVC. And the PVC version is 5 or 6 pounds lighter than the aluminum for even easier travel or surf zone, wet weather etc. and you simply add a six pound weight for true underwater work. And unlike most aluminum housings that are either very close to neutral or negatively buoyant - it is easy to adjust the buoyancy of the PVC housing when using lights (which are usually negative) by simply using a smaller (or no) weight. For that reason, I actually prefer the PVC version - even though I always have access to either one.

As Pawel used to tease - yes, it's made of "sewer pipe" (actually it's freshwater pipe) - but there's nothing wrong with that - it's a great material and actually much more "modern" than aluminum.

 

[Michael Maes]

Hi Michael
are you back from the Artic. Did you get to use the UW OLPF. I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts

Hi Mark,

Yes, back from the attic of the blue planet
Not much comment on the OLPF as there was A) a serious lack of encounters (basically water, ice and some jellies) and B) I had issues with my housing (I won't name brands ;-) ) due to the cold.
Here's a shot to tell you something. Not much but something.
I hope to (finally) dive H2O in my infested Cayman waters anytime soon.
Wished a day had 48 hours.... sigh!

 

[Beth Davidow]

Hey there - I'm not sure how to put a new post into this group (as I finally just joined - sheesh, took me long enough!!) I've posted it in the 3rd party marketplace, but thought I'd share it here:

Cinematographer Tom Campbell & I are selling our Nauticam Rossa housings...not because we've anything against them (on the contrary!!) but because Nauticam is custom creating two housings specifically for our needs. So, we have two very well maintained housings that need homes!


HOUSING #1:

$ 10,900.00 Housing
$ 1000.00 Zen Dome 7''
$ 280.00 Vacuum valve & pump - used is a very cool way of getting pressure check
$ 180.00 Handle

We paid: $12,360.00 (Plus tax)

SELLING : $ 9,360,00 Plus shipping cost

We also have two complete sets of XIT404 tripod legs & hardware for these housings (3 legs per housing):
http://www.xit404.com/collections/tripod-legs/products/tripod-leg-w-twist-clamp-kit-1-leg


HOUSING #2 does not have the dome nor the handle.

I am on location, and virtually out of touch, up in the high arctic for the next 5 weeks. PLEASE contact TOM CAMPBELL with SERIOUS INQUIRIES at his email: onscuba@gmail.com

(Tom does not use reduser.net so please do email him and make the subject line something he won't accidentally send to spam!)

These housings are exceptionally well designed, all manual, and very easy to use. They work flawlessly!

Thanks!
Beth

 

[John J Ellerbrock]

Water Sheeting Coatings

Water Sheeting Coatings

Anyone have a good solution for sheeting water off an acrylic dome for split shots?

J-

 

[Mauricio Handler]

HI John

Use SIMI-CHROME polish (get at Harley Davidson ) bike shops. Clears polishes all scratches and makes dome smooth..
Its a paste - use with cloth or lens tissue and wax on and wax off...
Also two part Marine Plexi Cleaner (RAIN X) its called. Find at general Marine supply store.

best- MH

 

[Frazier Nivens]

I wouldn't use regular RAINX on a plastic port. There is a specific plastic RAINX product, not sure how it works, but don't put regular RAINX on a plastic dome. They don't recommend it at all.

https://www.rainx.com/product/plastic-water-repellent/rain-x-plastic-water-repellent/#.VYiKAetTC7k

 

[Jon Shaw]

Anyone have a good solution for sheeting water off an acrylic dome for split shots?

J-

Best thing I have found is good old fashioned spit and if you want it to work better eat something starchy like potato chips beforehand. I actually just shot a piece for Discovery on an Aussie guy that has made a 18" dome just for split shots and he has tried everything and he swears by spit.

 

[Michael Hastings]

Anyone have a good solution for sheeting water off an acrylic dome for split shots?

J-

I think you already know this one, but for critical applications they shoot compressed air at the port - often from above - sometimes from a ring like those used on a CNC machine for coolant.

 

[John J Ellerbrock]

I checked on RAIN-X for plastic. The mfr says *do not* use it for acrylic.

I wouldn't use regular RAINX on a plastic port. There is a specific plastic RAINX product, not sure how it works, but don't put regular RAINX on a plastic dome. They don't recommend it at all.

https://www.rainx.com/product/plastic-water-repellent/rain-x-plastic-water-repellent/#.VYiKAetTC7k

 

[John J Ellerbrock]

Yeah, that's always worked great in my mask for anti-fog, too. I'll pass it on. Thx.

Best thing I have found is good old fashioned spit and if you want it to work better eat something starchy like potato chips beforehand. I actually just shot a piece for Discovery on an Aussie guy that has made a 18" dome just for split shots and he has tried everything and he swears by spit.

 

[John J Ellerbrock]

Good suggestion Mike, but it's impractical for this situation.

I think you already know this one, but for critical applications they shoot compressed air at the port - often from above - sometimes from a ring like those used on a CNC machine for coolant.

 

[Michael Hastings]

Somewhere - way back in this thread - there was mention of a product that the military uses on jet canopies. My CRS syndrome is preventing me from remembering the name. Maybe another bubble blower can remember.

 

[Jeff Whitehurst]

Hey John,
Check out RainCoat Spray:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/rainc.php

FAQs say it's safe for acrylic:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/rainc.php

I've used it on flat acrylic ports shooting from a jetski or swimming, bigger water drops fall right off. Tiny droplets of spray sometimes don't have enough weight to break the surface tension, this can usually be overcome if the surface can be dunked to sheet off the water right before the shot.
Hope it helps!
Jeff

 

[Ron Lagerlof]

H2O OLPF / DRAGONcolor2 / REDgamma4

H2O OLPF / DRAGONcolor2 / REDgamma4

Hey friends, I've been silently watching from the sidelines for a bit and working on some new things of my own. Last week I was in Roatan, Honduras, shooting up the place. I've pulled a couple of frames that are a pretty good example of what I think are giant strides in the world of underwater motion imagery. I'm not just talking about RED, but even with the likes of 1DCs or 1DXs, and some amazing new things from Sony's A7 series (4K with Shogun recorder). Graeme and his team have really done their homework on this - to the point where even some of my died-in-the-wool Canon shooting friends are taking notice and making noises about moving to RED! The first major improvement has been DRAGONcolor2/REDgamma4. It really changed the way all my footage looked right out of the gate (so to speak) and even improved some of the older MX footage. Much less pushing things around to get them the way I want them to look. Then, on this trip, I took out the H2O OLPF. I had planned to shoot a bit with it and the LLO, which has been great in cold/greener water, but I put it on for the first dive and never took it off. I was very happy with what I was getting and didn't feel like changing (still haven't taken it off - sorry bud...)

In any case, have a look. I've included frame grabs that were TIFFs from RCX, brought into Photoshop only to resize and output as JPEG, as well as the RCX screen grabs. Not much more than a white balance and curves contrast applied. You be the judge, but I'm sold. This is really working well, and those of you who know my work also know that I haven't been so challenged in making the Epic look great underwater already, but this here is some major fucking effort by the RED guys... Thanks Graeme, Jarred, Sean and everyone else who have helped engineer this little beauty of a camera!

Peace - Ron

 

[Jon Shaw]

Good to hear from you Ron, so you shot everything with LLO or the H2O? Nice images