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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

This has actually been a slow Nauticam design project, we have had Forged Carbon Weapon #26 since August. This has given us lots of time to refine, field test, and improve the housing. This is a camera specific design, which allowed us to further reduce size and weight (to 5.5kg) from our Epic LT housing, and improve ergonomics. We believe that a dedicated, camera specific underwater housing design offers the ultimate user experience and ergonomics.

Just before NAB we finished the monitor back for DSMC2 REDTOUCH 4.7, which I expect will be a popular configuration. The form factor is perfect for surface swimming, free diving, and other situations where low drag is important. Even if a primary top mounted monitor is used, redundancy is a good thing, and these four assignable keys come in really handy.

RPV_6597.jpg


This was made possible by the Wooden Camera Pogo cables, as the DSMC2 LEMO adaptors add extra profile that causes the housing to be bigger than it needs to be.

RPV_6007.jpg


RPV_6112.jpg


And this is how the system goes together...

 
Hey Gents,
Need your well tempered recommendations when shooting 8bit for UW lighting? I currently have the Kelden series of lights (Luna 4 and 8) and was looking at the Cyan light engine:
http://www.backscatter.com/sku/na-kel-691.lasso?s1op=cn&s1=Keldan&sop=AND

Thoughts on this or lens filtering a Sony A7RII for UW video in the Caribbean environment? Any other tips related to a A7sII and A7RII in a Nauticam housing is appreciated. Going to be shooting stills as well with Sea & Sea strobes from a separate camera set-up.

Would love to haul a RED down there but have a 100lb total limit into this remote area we're shooting for a client.
 
Keldan are releasing a series of "Spectrum" filters, which are a custom cocktail actually created to bring the black body back to daylight at various depths. They cut a TON of light, but this is the most true correction available for a color backed video style.

There is a (long) video here that introduces the concept - https://vimeo.com/165461780. I think these results can actually be improved with some WB Fine Tune in camera to kill the purple water in the intro, and there are better color examples later in the video.

I like the technique... Most of what I have shot uses the Kodak Wratten CC30 - 50M filter on camera, and the Keldan cyan modules led modules to pop in fill. I hope the new Keldan filters, based on real measurement of actual available light at depth instead of wild ass guessing, provide better results.
 
Ryan Canon said:
Keldan are releasing a series of "Spectrum" filters, which are a custom cocktail actually created to bring the black body back to daylight at various depths. They cut a TON of light, but this is the most true correction available for a color backed video style.

There is a (long) video here that introduces the concept - https://vimeo.com/165461780. I think these results can actually be improved with some WB Fine Tune in camera to kill the purple water in the intro, and there are better color examples later in the video.

I like the technique... Most of what I have shot uses the Kodak Wratten CC30 - 50M filter on camera, and the Keldan cyan modules led modules to pop in fill. I hope the new Keldan filters, based on real measurement of actual available light at depth instead of wild ass guessing, provide better results.
Click to expand...

That looks very promising. Wonder why it took so long to come up with this? Power of the LED light engines perhaps.
 
GT14 Flip Filter

GT14 Flip Filter

Zeb -- if you want flexibility in color, here's another option. It's a flip-in filter for the GT14 lights. Accepts any standard 52mm filter, diffuser or whatever.

These are in production now, to be released in June.

GT14 Filter Proto -1.jpg GT14 Filter Proto -2.jpg GT14 Filter Proto -3.jpg
 
Hey Gents,
All good but the solutions seem so basic. Why is there not an AutoAdjust LED light for diving yet?!?
https://www.videolights.com/
Click to expand...

Something like that could certainly be done, but it wouldn't fit well in your 100lb total limit. The surface area of a panel style light allows a lot mixed led config possibilities that aren't practical in a hand held dive light.

It isn't really accurate to assign a CT value to the old Keldan LUNA 8 / Video 8M cyan modules, but it would be something like 40,000 Kelvin. This product would have a lot of ground to cover...
 
Mark van Coller said:
Wow Ryan
There is no secret that I am a huge Nauticam fan. What does that rig all in weigh with camera, batteries, lens, small dome, etc.
Click to expand...

We probably would have never done the Epic LT housing if it wasn't for you, and are grateful for your pushing us to do better.

Embarrassingly I didn't think to weigh the back when we had it assembled... Adding up the total weight of camera, Canon 8-15 lens, 140mm glass dome and 30mm extension ring, paglink pl96 battery, and housing front shell I'm guessing it comes in under 11kg total. I shipped this back, but will have more later in the month and will confirm at that time.
 
You guys don't want much, eh? It all sounds so simple when you put it that way.

This would be an interesting project in many ways. Not the least of which is applying the technology to our color-challenged environment and vast diversity of situations.

And if it were done, then what skill is required to properly light an underwater scene? It's like flying drones now. Anyone can do it.


Zeb B said:
Hey Gents,
All good but the solutions seem so basic. Why is there not an AutoAdjust LED light for diving yet?!?
https://www.videolights.com/
Click to expand...
Tom Hamilton said:
Miniaturize it. House it. Boom.
Click to expand...
 
John J Ellerbrock said:
You guys don't want much, eh? It all sounds so simple when you put it that way.

This would be an interesting project in many ways. Not the least of which is applying the technology to our color-challenged environment and vast diversity of situations.

And if it were done, then what skill is required to properly light an underwater scene? It's like flying drones now. Anyone can do it.
Click to expand...

IMHO, The skill should be in capturing the magic, and therefore raising public awareness, of natural underwater animal behavior and our interconnected biodiversity. Not screwing with the gack and gizmos. How we are still where we are with underwater WB / lighting, while thinking we're Billy Badass, is laughable.
 
In my experience when using lights in our green and somewhat darker water than in the tropics most animals shy away from the video lights making the capturing of that magic so much more difficult. Infact my dive buddies liken my video rig to being rundown by a truck with its headlights on bright.
 
How we are still where we are with underwater WB / lighting, while thinking we're Billy Badass, is laughable.
Click to expand...


Well Zeb my friend, although I like your fightin' attitude, and we always need more of that, you may want to wind your extended neck in just a skosh here. This thread is inhabited by some of the most accomplished UW shooters on the planet, everything from BBC Blue Chip, to award-winning talent from Oz, Cousteau shooters, plus a host of Emmy folks that shoot for NG, Discovery, etc etc. They know who they are, no names need mentioning.

This, plus the very involved manufacturers of UW gear and optics that make all of this possible. I am personally humbled to be in the midst of such an august group of professional people, and impassioned by their profound dedication to the art, and the science, of that most difficult of imaging challenges, the underwater shot. That the Red Team has undertaken to design OLPF's just for our group should tell you something you may, I suspect, be currently overlooking.

As John E said, and I quote, "applying the technology to our color-challenged environment and vast diversity of situations", is an ever evolving challenge. If you have the answers handy, by all means, let us know.
 
Tom Hamilton said:


Well Zeb my friend, although I like your fightin' attitude, and we always need more of that, you may want to wind your extended neck in just a skosh here. This thread is inhabited by some of the most accomplished UW shooters on the planet, everything from BBC Blue Chip, to award-winning talent from Oz, Cousteau shooters, plus a host of Emmy folks that shoot for NG, Discovery, etc etc. They know who they are, no names need mentioning.

This, plus the very involved manufacturers of UW gear and optics that make all of this possible. I am personally humbled to be in the midst of such an august group of professional people, and impassioned by their profound dedication to the art, and the science, of that most difficult of imaging challenges, the underwater shot. That the Red Team has undertaken to design OLPF's just for our group should tell you something you may, I suspect, be currently overlooking.

As John E said, and I quote, "applying the technology to our color-challenged environment and vast diversity of situations", is an ever evolving challenge. If you have the answers handy, by all means, let us know.
Click to expand...

Funny . . . insert Jim J's name at NAB 2006 and you have a match for your "know your place and don't upset the elders" vibe ;-)

Other than being a punkass loudmouth . . . I hold like 20 patents in light related applications and know a thing or two about product design. Start with a LED flashlight that can color match the ambient with a single button White Balance read. Simple: have a color temp reader sensor in the head that reads ambient (with lights off) then color mix (via the Color Kinetics patents) a RGBW+ array of LED's that perfectly matches your scene.

How many blue/greens are there underwater? Infinite. So it's laughable that we are using shitty red lens filters and fixed color LED lights. I know that Keldan struggles to deliver an LED flashlight for the $2K they charge (cough cough) . . . but maybe if we are not so content with the status quo and velocity of innovation, the establishment manufacturers will deliver better.

Parting shot: are you amazed that we can keep a camera dry at 90' in 2016?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe_Trieste

Built in 1953 brah!!

CK:
http://www.colorkinetics.com/ls/
 
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