Underwater Bubble Blowers User Group Thread NEW

[Vince Doran]

Here's a frame grab from red one: giant group of mobulas (type of ray) schooling on the pacific ocean. I was shooting in shallow water something completely unrelated when these were spotted and we then chased them for hours.

Very nice, it was a similar scene I witnessed that got me into underwater film making.. found a tight ball of about 40 Eagle Rays about 3mtrs in circumference rolling along the bottom...maybe a mating thing? Anyway bought a camera soon after seeing that... 15yrs of diving with a camera still havn't seen it happen again.
Keep up the good work :thumbup1:

 

[jim kozmik]

saw this in one of 4 trips to Cocos..

saw this in one of 4 trips to Cocos..

also anyone tried using a old nikon 16mm fisheye lense on red underwater..kozzzzz

 

[jim kozmik]

HAY MIKE,Jim KOZMIK here.....have you ever used old nikon 55macro and 16mm fisheye on red underwater on Aquavideo housings or no of anyone who has

 

[Amund Lie]

Does anyone have some input on the use of optical glass dome ports like the ones offered by Gates and others?
I.e which lenses they are suited for, how much extra resolution is achieved over acrylic ports, zooming, weight issues, sturdiness/scratches etc etc

 

[Tom Hamilton]

I have an Amphibico Fathom 110 aspheric wide angle adapter. It's not being used much, but it is a very nice piece of glass, I was thinking of attaching it to a housing containing a small Sony HD consumer camcorder with an Exmor 1/3" CMOS chip. It was originally designed for the Sony VX1000, a 3CCD chip camera. I seem to recall there might be issues there, can anyone help out with this one?

 

[Michael Hastings]

Tom:

Things have to line up and distances correct but I don't think there is anything inherent in going from the singlechip to 3 chip. Lenses do have to accommodate the prism in a 3 chip camera but on fixed lens cameras that is already handled.

 

[Tom Hamilton]

Thanks very much Mike.

 

[Johnny Friday]

Underwater frame grabs - R3D RED ONE

Underwater frame grabs - R3D RED ONE

Few more frame grabs underwater from Mag Bay area in Baja, Mexico:

....yes, the mobula rays are quite extraordinary. I've found them only a handful of times in schooling groups, but when you do find them and if you can find a way to get near them for pics, it is a rewarding experience.

...pics below are frame grabs and taken into photoshop and i just selected auto tone, so colors are a bit out of proportion, especially with the low light mobula pic.

 

[Johnny Friday]

more frame grabs from RED ONE

more frame grabs from RED ONE

Here are a few more frame grabs from the RED ONE, but this time these are topside using NIKON lenses and the Pro-Lok mount--an EXCEPTIONAL mount by the way. I can add the 80-200; 80-400 or 600 prime all WITHOUT the lens/rail mount and it's held tight to the camera mount.

**I have to say the new Nikon mount from Optitek is exceptional! I think it is a KILLER of PL lenses for those on a budget or if you just want to pick up an entire fleet of Nikon lenses for the cost of one PL prime.

.....i use both PL and Nikon, but that is only because PL was the only option at the beginning of this red revolution, but if was starting out now, i'd probably keep it all Nikon mount and Nikon lenses---me personally that is.

first photo: wide shot is 18-200 Nikon at wide end
second photo is 80-400 Nikon at long end
third photo is Nikon 80-200 and long end

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Great testimonial-thanks!!!!

Great testimonial-thanks!!!!

Here are a few more frame grabs from the RED ONE, but this time these are topside using NIKON lenses and the Pro-Lok mount--an EXCEPTIONAL mount by the way. I can add the 80-200; 80-400 or 600 prime all WITHOUT the lens/rail mount and it's held tight to the camera mount.

**I have to say the new Nikon mount from Optitek is exceptional! I think it is a KILLER of PL lenses for those on a budget or if you just want to pick up an entire fleet of Nikon lenses for the cost of one PL prime.

Thank you Johnny,
Can I quote your testimonial on my web site?:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Johnny Friday]

RED ONE underwater frame grab - night

RED ONE underwater frame grab - night

Here's a night/dark shot frame grab shot with Red ONE
settings: 4k 16:9
redcode: 28
ISO: 320
24p

using green force lights at 3800k
can't recall white balance, but exceptional quality for setup shots underwater. Vivid colors and tack sharp.

 

[Jason Sturgis]

Johnny,

Great stuff. Looks like you are getting some nice footage on your baja shoot. Thanks for posting the frame grabs- always appreciated by the bubble blowers.

 

[Amund Lie]

LED vs HID?

LED vs HID?

LED vs HID?

What are your opions about LED vs HID?
I am consciously omitting halogens here, as their burn time and light output is too low compared to the former types (at least for my needs).

I am concerned about the quality of the light, and have gut feeling that HID still holds the edge over LED in naturalness. My choice at the moment is between Green Force or TillyTec, which both offer LED or HID configurations with diffused light for video use.

TillyTec is dropping HID this year and going all-LED, so my question is if LED today has the full spectrum light that halogen and HID offer? Should I choose burn time over perceived quality of light? Or is this not an issue anymore with LEDs?

 

[Ross Isaacs]

green force

green force

I use the Greenforce Squid HIDs and I find the light is even and a nice colour temp. The batteries are crap and I am having problems with them holding a charge...I am getting the new ISC Pathfinder ECCR and have to work out where to mount the battery in case of an emergency. In the past I mounted the battery on the side of my evolution CCR.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I am consciously omitting halogens here, as their burn time and light output is too low compared to the former types (at least for my needs).

hehehe, I am consciously omitting LEDs and HIDs for their low light output in the red spectrum compared to tungsten/halogen (at least for my needs). LOL :biggrin:

 

[Pawel Achtel]

...can't recall white balance, but exceptional quality for setup shots underwater. Vivid colors and tack sharp.

Hey, Jonny, would you have another frame that would show the sharpness at full glory? Maybe a crop? The picture you attached is a tad soft, even downscaled to 900 pixels wide. Perhaps something with a lot of detail across the frame. :biggrin:

 

[Ross Isaacs]

BIG RIG

BIG RIG

hehehe, I am consciously omitting LEDs and HIDs for their low light output in the red spectrum compared to tungsten/halogen (at least for my needs). LOL :biggrin:

Hey Pawel doesn't that BIG RIG give you a hernia hahaha!

 

[Amund Lie]

hehehe, I am consciously omitting LEDs and HIDs for their low light output in the red spectrum compared to tungsten/halogen (at least for my needs). LOL :biggrin:

Pawel,

You have of course a point there regarding tungsten/halogen and full spectrum light, which I was why I was asking the question in the first place. But augumenting daytime shots with halogen lamps at 3600K plus a colour correction filter isn't very practical, no? Never mind the hernia? :undecided:

Does HID not offer the same spectrum? Would you not recommend using HID for say macro to capture all the red nuances? I guess no one has a definite answer on LEDs yet, since they keep changing.
For me at least, being able to light something during daytime at 5600K and have a burn time of 120 mins or more with low weight is very important, yet I don't want to sacrifice light quality.

What is the best compromise in your opinion?

 

[Bo Randers]

Lights

Lights

Hi Amund.

I have worked with LED´s,HMI´s and tungsten. I build my own LED rig a few years ago. Over 4000 leds. A lot of soldering. What i learned was that is it very hard to control green and Magenta in led´s. So i then got a few 150 watt hmi. Great light. I never had any problems with the red nuances.
When using tungsted you get nice colors rendering in the area you lighting. And the rest gets to be very blue. I think it limits the grading in post.



Bo
www.underwaterdop.com

Pawel,

You have of course a point there regarding tungsten/halogen and full spectrum light, which I was why I was asking the question in the first place. But augumenting daytime shots with halogen lamps at 3600K plus a colour correction filter isn't very practical, no? Never mind the hernia? :undecided:

Does HID not offer the same spectrum? Would you not recommend using HID for say macro to capture all the red nuances? I guess no one has a definite answer on LEDs yet, since they keep changing.
For me at least, being able to light something during daytime at 5600K and have a burn time of 120 mins or more with low weight is very important, yet I don't want to sacrifice light quality.

What is the best compromise in your opinion?

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Hey Pawel doesn't that BIG RIG give you a hernia hahaha!

hahaha, How do you know? :rofl: