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The Gentleman's Underwater Bubble Blower Thread

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My first impression of the Dragon underwater, so far, is very positive. Once I get back to Dubai I will go through the files on my PC and compare to F55, and also post some R3Ds here. The resolution and dynamic range, obviously, are amazing on the camera.
 
Shot looks good to me. In motion probably even better. Can you post a small clip Tom?

Tom Lowe said:
2dqvtz6.jpg


My first impression of the Dragon underwater, so far, is very positive. Once I get back to Dubai I will go through the files on my PC and compare to F55, and also post some R3Ds here. The resolution and dynamic range, obviously, are amazing on the camera.
Click to expand...
 
You know I see a film like this and the message is clear about the level of waste we are putting out there. I get a sense that someone is trying to make me aware of what I'm doing, or to feel bad for what we do to this planet as human beings.

These birds are getting screwed by us and their own choice to eat rubbish. I recycle and we do a good job at lowering our waste output, but there are a lot of lies we are fed.

Confirm this one if you will:

I always thought my recycling goes to a recycling plant somewhere in America but in fact, most of our recycling is shipped to other countries, Japan is a big importer of American recycling. And recycling is a business, lots of bullshit out there. I still recycle... Is there a better way?

When I'm on set, I take my own water bottle or 64oz. glass jar. It's amazing how many plastic bottles a small short film needs to hydrate it's cast and crew, then there are features... Some bullshit there that needs to be changed.

I feel good about myself, what I'm doing in my small ways with my practices and my families. I'm not really interested in this film, just like I didn't enjoy March of the Penguins, but that's my opinion and who really cares? :)

Just a couple thoughts.


paulherrin said:
Click to expand...
 
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Permission to enter without certification... Yet... ;)

Ok, here we go... AGAIN... This time... Just doing it, I am at last going for my Padi "Advanced Open Water Certification"... Prepping to shoot and deliver some 4k imagery to some special clients and for my own joy... ;)

We'll be using the new Aquatica Amphibico Rouge, proudly also about to officially become one of my Corporate Sponsors...

My question here is about lighting...

Whom of you have used the Light and Motion "Sola" 2100 Flood 60º/Spot 12º & 2500 Flood 90º LED Dive lights?

My shoots will range from Macro, with Telephoto but nothing over 135mm, to wide shots but not too wide, probably nothing below 24mm MAX 18mm.

Subjects besides the usual underwater suspects, will also be of Human nature, and yes almost entirely made up of Ladies, and some thin fabrics twirling and floating about.

My interest in the UW LED lights is of having enough power yet maintaining the same lighting spectrums and perspectives as well as fill as I do above water, which is never to be too hard on the subjects, and for this I have my eyes on the Sola 2500 & 4000 Flood LED fixtures.

Of course it is nice to also have the Spot and narrower Angle of lighting with stronger harder or concentrated output in some instances especially for spoke type of Macro and to brake thru some not so clear waters.
 
We think the Leading LED UW lights are Keldan luna 8 CRI and Orca Light's depending on what you want to achieve of course, the Keldan is good for a small to mid lamp and the Orca largest unit available 23,000 Lux 90 plus CRI. There is also a small Inon torch which is very useful for macro as its got an almost pencil like beam.

We have some spectrographs of all available light or at least all thats in our inventory which we hope to make available soon.
 
As Dave said the Keldan CRI are amazing! Better than the Solas, though way bigger.
an advantage they have is replacable batteries, something the Solas don't have.
Their light is very warm and has a high 95% color rendering index.
the Orcas are phenomenal: 22,000 lumen, 45, 60 and 90 degrees beams.
but they come with a large cannister each.
Mind you: we're dotting the i's here, all three brands are the top u/w lights.
 
Keldan also has two types of "domes": wide (90) and narrow (I believe 60). So you're covered for WA and Macro. The second dome is however an option, so are spare batteries. Not cheap Keldan but I love the light!
 
Thanks Michael.

Well reading on the Keldan Luna 8 CRI could indeed be the better fit for me... Having no experience underwater, I dimly took the first suggestion by a friend diver and enquired on the Sola, obviously He is happy but also wanted to stay within budget which is not my priority, light quality and output is together with fidelity of the light and the capacity to render out beautifully... ;)

However even a 60º is not narrow enough of an angle trow for Macro, I would prefer less then 30º.
 
Ketch,

30 degrees is actually pretty narrow, given that underwater you need diffusion even at highly localized levels, otherwise you run the risk of just burning out your subject. A dimmable light is a way to compensate for this but a somewhat more diffused angle than you need is the best way to both soften the light while keeping it strong enough AND not to have any undesired light cutoff edges here and there. with anything narrower than 30 degrees, you really run the risk of having your subject move in and out of lit area with even minute movements.
 
I just wanted to reply that, maybe for narrow macro, you should get one Sola 1200.
they are great, can go narrow (spot) and, for most macro, you don't need more than the 1200 lumens.
Well, not in tropical water anyway :-)
The Keldans have a 50 degree diffusor.
Pretty impressive light!
Sola is colder.
but, ultimately, it's all about taste huh :-)
One again: Sola IS great (but more prone to break down).
Cheers!
 
Michael Maes said:
I just wanted to reply that, maybe for narrow macro, you should get one Sola 1200.
they are great, can go narrow (spot) and, for most macro, you don't need more than the 1200 lumens.
Well, not in tropical water anyway :-)
The Keldans have a 50 degree diffusor.
Pretty impressive light!
Sola is colder.
but, ultimately, it's all about taste huh :-)
One again: Sola IS great (but more prone to break down).
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks again Michael,

I will continue researching and try to see if I can test the Keldans, definitely don't want to go with a product known to brake down... Especially when traveling to remote locations sand need to depend on the lights to capture great imagery.

50º is actually not bad, if the light output is as strong as it shows on paper then a pair of the Keldan will do nicely for most shooting, ands I'll make an X configuration with 4 if need too... ;)
 
Gates Lights

Gates Lights

Since the topic has turned to lighting, I'll mention the next generation of Gates Lights announced at DEMA, and due out this spring.

* Small, self contained. No tethers to big battery canisters.
* Neutral buoyancy option. Anyone that that owns or tested our last version of lights knows the importance of this feature.
* 8000 *actual* lumen output. Not paper specs. Real, usable light.
* 100 WHr Lithium Ion battery. This is the max capacity for air travel.
* The battery is small, removable, replaceable, and inexpensive.

This light will have other practical features that I cannot mention right now.

If you're interested to be a field tester, contact me by PM or email. No commitment to support any particular production. There is alot of demand for these lights, and we will prioritize testing.

J-
 
Ketch, where are you testing and shooting this project? LA area?
 
Will Keir said:
Ketch, where are you testing and shooting this project? LA area?
Click to expand...

I am now located in Barcelona, and will be shooting all over this side of Europe, as for the Underwater Material most likely we'll start with Majorca.

Then we'll move to other locations such as New Zealand Australia and Asia, not planning to return to LA till NAB.
 
Will Keir said:
You know I see a film like this and the message is clear about the level of waste we are putting out there. I get a sense that someone is trying to make me aware of what I'm doing, or to feel bad for what we do to this planet as human beings.

These birds are getting screwed by us and their own choice to eat rubbish. I recycle and we do a good job at lowering our waste output, but there are a lot of lies we are fed.
Click to expand...

i can't confirm anything as to what happens to your own recycling... there are plenty of resources out there and if it's something you wanted to investigate i'm sure you could. generally i think a good bit of recycling does get recycled, but who am i to know that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch

it's totally okay if you're not interested in the movie or if you didn't like a penguin movie (i didn't see that one so honestly i don't know what that has to do with anything), but don't misunderstand the message... i don't think anyone is implying that one single person is at fault, especially not someone who recycles and limits their waste or disposes of it properly. what we're talking about here is pollution and litter. what we're talking about is a major problem that just needs to be payed attention to, and needs a lot of effort to clean up, and figure out how to reduce the thing and what to do about it. it's just another one of those things 'out there' far removed from our daily life that we don't really care about. we (our society, not necessarily me or you specifically) are much more apt to be concerned about something we see all the time, or something closeby - like a poor little stray cat - than we are about something far removed from us that isn't cute and fuzzy - like a buncha shit floating around in the ocean or some shark populations being decimated or something that actually manifests itself in an enormously negative ecological impact on a global level.

as for your comment about birds making choices to eat plastics... i mean, c'mon man. it goes all the way through the food chain as particulates in the water all the way through intact pieces. don't you think you're expecting a little much of a bird-brain, here? they have had no reason up until recently to evolve or adapt in any way to this kind of thing, it is entirely human created and we may be the only ones who can clean up our own mess. most of this stuff is from a long, long time ago and practices have gotten better since then and because of the discovery of the gyre. but the stuff's still there. it was hypothesized before i was even born and observed/confirmed almost 20 years ago, it's still there... it's not just about the albatross - he serves as a very real metaphor depicting the damage to the earth we are causing. it is not a good thing. we all have to pick and choose causes to pay attention to or support. this is one that i'm concerned with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW9F-c0kIQ
 
Sorry for the delay in posting images from Maldives. I will try to post more over the coming days when I have time.

My general impression of Dragon UW is very good. It's much sharper and has better DR than Sony F55, but in terms of color, I am still trying to get up to speed with post-processing underwater footage, especially F55, so I can see an apples-to-apples comparison. I might be able to post some Tiffs or something from F55 for comparison soon.

We did not use artificial lights at all on this shoot, for either camera.


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Here is the R3D: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jemr5aiyz1fsg0d/A006_C019_0110RD.0004768F.R3D
 
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