The Gentleman's Underwater Bubble Blower Thread

[Rudi Herbert]

I've reached 600 ft three times, took 275 lbs of gear and deco times in excess of 10 hours for 2 minutes of bottom time. Proud accomplishment? Nah, just glad to have survived it. I was in the best shape of my life and those were the most excruciatingly stressful dives of my life. Could I have operated a camera properly, focus, compose, shoot? No way.

There is a certain depth cut-off where using divers as operators is a proposition whose risks and cons far exceed the undeniable, but minimal advantages. Depending on conditions, I consider that cut-off to be about 200 ft, many a time shallower, some times under excellent conditions certainly deeper, but that's about where things become impractical and potentially dangerous. So yes, an ROV is the way to go, especially if one is exploring and looking around for things that may take a long while to reveal themselves. If you don't have to battle currents and can operate from a fixed land position, then a cheaper/smaller ROV might do the job, but these things are not all that cheap and usually require skilled operators to get the best from them.

FWIW

 

[Will Keir]

Thanks for steering me in the right direction. I envisioned this part of this project last night as I was finishing my festival submission. I'll included the idea in the proposal.

Anyone out there with ROV capabilities on their Epic? I'd consider operator dives for the parts of the flooded river to 200 feet. By old topo maps and Google Earth imagery I can roughly estimate that to be 2/3 of the river, 1/3 and the old dam abutments is 400-600'. This is a jump back into the history books. I have to go see a 95 year old man today to learn where the old river spots might be. You don't call him, write him, e-mail. You just drop by. I liked those days.

If anyone is interested in the ROV part of diving with an Epic housing please send an e-mail. I know there are several good guys here for the maned dives as well. Johnny?

production [at] theridgeboys.com

The visibility in the water is so cloudy, I'm not even sure if we'll be able to see what I am looking for. Which is the skeleton of the old river, rocks, cliffs, the sediment bottom.

Thanks for you interest and advice.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

A few pictures from yesterday's workshop for ACS members.

 

[James Killion]

I'd like to be a part of this group of underwater knuckleheads in hopes of not having to deal with the politics of salesmanship or should I say oneupmanship!

anyhow glad to see the UW stuff going on here.

 

[James Killion]

The Amphibicam was like buying the lamborgini of underwater housings....very expensive and I know of at least one owner who has had handle break downs many times on his Amphibicam. My own experience with those electronic handles was not positive. I am also in the market for a housing for my Epic X and I can say with 100% certainty I will be getting a housing without electronic handles.

Ross,
i have the gates and it is a pleasure to use, I highly recommend it. I'm sure you know the quality as you own the mac daddy!!!

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I'd like to be a part of this group of underwater knuckleheads in hopes of not having to deal with the politics of salesmanship...

a group of knuckleheads: certainly yes, I'm not so sure about not having to deal with the politics of salesmanship...

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Shooting with 3Deep using some custom optics (integrating colour science, micro-contrast and sharpness improvements). We had seasonal algal bloom, so viz is down to about 3m with green muck. The attached frame grab had only S curve applied, but colours are as they come out of the oven...magic

 

[C.H.Haskell]

Greetings gentlemen,

shooting with my EPIC + Aquavideo housing down here in Mexico, more on that later when I write up a review. I am testing for my next film and doing some experimental stuff on the side. Cheers.
I would like to thank Tom who started this thread for his assistance, i had a lot of questions and he came though. Next beer is on me mate, back to the Red Sea anytime?

 

[david cheung]

Seacam 3D rig

Seacam 3D rig

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

 

[Tom Hamilton]

A pleasure Clay, glad it all worked out.

Next Red Sea gig is shaping up for February, but this time on the Saudi side, where beer is tough to come by

 

[Rudi Herbert]

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,

 

[Pawel Achtel]

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

Interesting, but I can't see how this can possibly work. A dome port + terrestial lens combination struggles to deliver decent results even if the entrance pupil of the lens is perfectly aligned with the cetre of the dome, but any offset will create severe distortions and aberrations which are impossible to fix in post.

In 3D this is the critical part because those defects will make it much harder for the brain to fuse the images and will cause considerable eye strain. This would not be much improvement, if any, over a flat port.

Close to perfect solutions already exist and are available for the Epic: using (possibly the world's first) wet beam splitter or side-by-side configurations. The resulting footage is an order of a magnitude sharper than ever captured underwater in any format (including IMAX), with no distortions and no aberrations.

Rudi, It happens that the 5.6" LCD is also the one that fits in specially machined slots (which are larger than the internal diameter) of the DeepX housing. It just needs +1 Monitor Adapter Module, which has not yet been released by RED. I have a couple of those monitors, so if you don't have luck finding one elsewhere, you can contact me and I will see if I can offer you a "special" price you cannot refuse :devil:

 

[Will Keir]

Nice Haskell, love the framing of the underwater "bush" and the angle looking up at the bottom of the sea top.

Greetings gentlemen,

shooting with my EPIC + Aquavideo housing down here in Mexico, more on that later when I write up a review. I am testing for my next film and doing some experimental stuff on the side. Cheers.
I would like to thank Tom who started this thread for his assistance, i had a lot of questions and he came though. Next beer is on me mate, back to the Red Sea anytime?

 

[david cheung]

Seacam Dome mirror rig:
Yes that setup is near impossible to avoid distortion. I was not able to see inside but I was told it is all mechanical so no servo or micro adjustment for fine calibration. I wonder if it really produces good 3D or just "good"enough just for the laptop computer screen. It appears the designer swears it provides great 3D I mean they used two Canon C300s. I will try and find out more.


UW mirror rig has been done before for digital still maybe. Be good to see if a larger version for video.

Here is a Wet Mirror rig by a friend and 3D enthusiast. It need quite a few spare mirrors as they get tarnish by saltwater fairly quickly. Works fairly well. The problem again is to make fine micro-adjustment and materials to resist corrosion.

Cheers
David

 

[Frazier Nivens]

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,

Rudi,

Didn't see this till just now. I just posted one on REDUSER For Sale. It's in great condition, with cable and arm from my RED One. But bids on it have already gone to $750, I haven't sold it as of yet.

Frazier


Off to Bahamas again next week, if you need to borrow it I can let you if you are in a pinch.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Seacam Dome mirror rig:
Yes that setup is near impossible to avoid distortion. I was not able to see inside but I was told it is all mechanical so no servo or micro adjustment for fine calibration. I wonder if it really produces good 3D or just "good"enough just for the laptop computer screen. It appears the designer swears it provides great 3D I mean they used two Canon C300s. I will try and find out more.


UW mirror rig has been done before for digital still maybe. Be good to see if a larger version for video.

Here is a Wet Mirror rig by a friend and 3D enthusiast. It need quite a few spare mirrors as they get tarnish by saltwater fairly quickly. Works fairly well. The problem again is to make fine micro-adjustment and materials to resist corrosion.

Cheers
David

If it is for a laptop or a computer screen, then it needs very large IA or there will be no stereoscopic effect. If it has large IA, then the distortions caused by the offset between the entry pupil of the lens and geometrical centre of the dome will be huge and will cause even bigger distortions and aberrations. I know Harald from Seacam and it would be worth while talking to him because there may be more to this invention than meets the eye. I don't know. It's intriguing.

Thanks for posting the pictures of the wet mirrors. Good to see people experimenting. It's always educational and exciting.

Yes, indeed. It is very difficult to come up with a mirror formulation that would evenly split highly polarised light that we have underwater and, at the same time, be corrosion and scratch resistant. We have developed one. Our beam splitter rig is very similar to the one used in the Amazing Spiderman - fully featured with all fine adjustments and tollerances required from a professional beam splitter.

 

[Frazier Nivens]

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,

Nice to see you here in the Keys today Rudi. Glad I saw your post, haven't been back here to UW BB thread in a while. Glad I was able to help. Thanks for your kind words about my tweaks on my Tiger Shark footage. Shooting the EPIC with looks applied to the camera has helped me to get nice looking images into my monitor UW, easier to see in the touchscreen from the default settings. Plays back well also for showing to clients afterward.

Let me know how the LCD works for you. I will be leaving on Sunday for the Bahamas for a week.


Best,
Frazier

 

[Rudi Herbert]

Pleasure seeing you Frazier,

I wonder how many RED ONE users will have the same kind of problem I did, only being able to use the original 5.6" LCD now that there are thousands of new owners looking for accessories? Anyway, glad I was able to solve my issue, thanks.

And yes, after seeing so much Epic footage from different shooters lately exhibiting lots of problems, one of the "solutions" I had pinpointed was confirmed by Frazier, whose footage does indeed look great. Epic needs black shading calibration (BSC) before every dive, this is a MUST! If you keep getting blues heavily tinted towards magenta, yellows that shift towards green at the mere mention of color correction, and weird looking highlights, chances are you need to BSC your camera properly. The RED ONE used to keep the settings much longer, but Epic needs daily BSC, no two ways about it. I will finish an article for UnderwaterCinema.com with all of my findings and suggestions for grading Epic footage, but for now, suffice it to say that BSC is probably the most important step you can take to guarantee your camera will give you accurate colors. Remember, on land, an improperly calibrated camera may not look all that bad since the color spectrum is very balanced and you may not need to push the images too far in any one direction, but underwater, where things go pear shape very soon, it is essential to start with a camera recording colors accurately.

Look forward to do some diving together once this bad weather subsides Frazier,

 

[Frazier Nivens]

Just curious how many of you UW shooters are shooting 48 fps.

Best,
Frazier

 

[Pawel Achtel]

...The RED ONE used to keep the settings much longer, but Epic needs daily BSC, no two ways about it. I will finish an article for UnderwaterCinema.com with all of my findings and suggestions for grading Epic footage, but for now, suffice it to say that BSC is probably the most important step you can take to guarantee your camera will give you accurate colors....

My only explanation is that perhaps your camera is faulty. Your suggestions make absolutely no sense to me.