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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 :)

Underwater Bubble Blowin' Users Group

sharkguy said:
Ya, that's me the third Dugong. But at least I wore a different suit for you and Johnny this time :-)

Camdiver is pulling out his hair now I'm sure :-)
Click to expand...

hehehehe, good to hear that Ken, about the suit that is. I'll save the last strands of hair for the coming adventures down here and elsewhere on this continent.

Best,
Mark.

P.S Johnny, thats a serious lens the R8. Maybe a predecessor to the 8R. Let me know if you find out more. Plus its PL mounted. great Price too. I've just forked out for my Canon EF-S10-22mm and a Canon EF-S18-55mm too. At that price though the R8 it would be a great lens for specific shoots.
 
BajaProductions said:
any comments on this fisheye? it was on another thread......
http://www.longvalleyequip.com/lens.php
Click to expand...

Two major points: no ND filtration and does not cover full 35mm frame (circular). Lens clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx-GTXQLF6A

Uhry and others own and/or have tested the Peleng 8mm here: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7871

Could be cool for certain apps UW but will require geared controls for the lens and a custom port. Mike may have some ideas as well. Given the cost to benefit ratio if one own a Birger lens control based housing then there is a Canon mount R8 mm version. http://www.rugift.com/photocameras/peleng_fisheye_lens_for_canon_eos.htm

The challenge is of course ND filtration on a fisheye
 
check out sigma 8mm F3.5 Circular Fisheye and 15mm 2.8 diag fisheye

check out sigma 8mm F3.5 Circular Fisheye and 15mm 2.8 diag fisheye

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3319&navigator=4

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3279&navigator=4

sigma makes some pretty high quality lenses. Unconfirmed but fairly well substantiated rumors are that red 18-50 is rehoused sigma:

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3279&navigator=4



sharkguy said:
Two major points: no ND filtration and does not cover full 35mm frame (circular). Lens clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx-GTXQLF6A

Uhry and others own and/or have tested the Peleng 8mm here: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7871

Could be cool for certain apps UW but will require geared controls for the lens and a custom port. Mike may have some ideas as well. Given the cost to benefit ratio if one own a Birger lens control based housing then there is a Canon mount R8 mm version. http://www.rugift.com/photocameras/peleng_fisheye_lens_for_canon_eos.htm

The challenge is of course ND filtration on a fisheye
Click to expand...
 
Birger 'bare' control for u/w housing ?

Birger 'bare' control for u/w housing ?

Mike/Aquavideo (& others),

Regarding the 'pots' that control the Birger mount ... are these available as 'naked pots' (not sure what to call them / describe them as) so that the focus/aperture controls can be 'built' into the u/w housing ?

Any of you contacted Erik to ascertain if these are available ? If so, what are they called ;-)

Cheers,

EDIT : BTW, has anybody tried using a good quality x0.7 or x0.5 wide angle adapter on the RED 18-50 on land or u/w behind a dome port ?
 
Pots and wide converters

Pots and wide converters

h2opixels said:
Mike/Aquavideo (& others),

Regarding the 'pots' that control the Birger mount ... are these available as 'naked pots' (not sure what to call them / describe them as) so that the focus/aperture controls can be 'built' into the u/w housing ?

Any of you contacted Erik to ascertain if these are available ? If so, what are they called ;-)

Cheers,

EDIT : BTW, has anybody tried using a good quality x0.7 or x0.5 wide angle adapter on the RED 18-50 on land or u/w behind a dome port ?
Click to expand...

Erik is working on a solution for the internal "naked pots" encoders.

I think Ken may have tried that with a wide on the 18-50 but since the 18-50 - while it has tested very well - is probably based on a sigma 18-50 it is hard to see how it would be as good as the 10-22 canon, but if you are stuck with PL it may be a solution. The optic on the front of the 18-50 isn't that big so it may be possible to screw in a wide converter without it vignetting. The wide would have to fit inside the metal shade that is part of the 18-50.
 
RED 18-50 shade & 72mm thread ... ?

RED 18-50 shade & 72mm thread ... ?

AquaVideoRed206 said:
Erik is working on a solution for the internal "naked pots" encoders.

I think Ken may have tried that with a wide on the 18-50 but since the 18-50 - while it has tested very well - is probably based on a sigma 18-50 it is hard to see how it would be as good as the 10-22 canon, but if you are stuck with PL it may be a solution. The optic on the front of the 18-50 isn't that big so it may be possible to screw in a wide converter without it vignetting. The wide would have to fit inside the metal shade that is part of the 18-50.
Click to expand...

Good news about the 'naked pots encoders' ...

Indeed ... the RED 18-50 + 0.7 adapter is my current plan-C (plan-B was the dumb Nikkor mount, but also that mount has no ETA !).

I am 100% in line with you, I also view the Canon 10-22 as THE standard lens for u/w wide work (ie : birger = plan-A !).

I was under the impression that the RED 18-50 hood can be unscrewed, leaving a standard 72mm thread. Is this NOT THE CASE ???

Cheers,
 
Get sharky to comment on 18-50

Get sharky to comment on 18-50

h2opixels said:
Good news about the 'naked pots encoders' ...

Indeed ... the RED 18-50 + 0.7 adapter is my current plan-C (plan-B was the dumb Nikkor mount, but also that mount has no ETA !).

I am 100% in line with you, I also view the Canon 10-22 as THE standard lens for u/w wide work (ie : birger = plan-A !).

I was under the impression that the RED 18-50 hood can be unscrewed, leaving a standard 72mm thread. Is this NOT THE CASE ???

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I didn't look at it that close when I had Gibby's - it looked like a really smooth transition to the hood but it would make sense that it was removable so we need some input from somebody that has one. I put all my eggs into the Birger basket so far.

BTW I've mentioned it elsewhere but when I had the RED 18-50 - which pretty solid speculation has it that it is a Sigma 18-50 rehoused (check the sigma website - specs are identical and given the close focus specs it would be really unusual to just coincidentally come up with those specs) - I was at the Arri place here in Ft. Lauderdale and they put it on to their superduper projector and were quite impressed with the optics, and this is guys who look at Zeiss cines all day long. That tells me 2 things - 1) the RED 18-50 is a good deal for a pl zoom, and 2) There is no reason the still lenses shouldn't perform extremely well. Canon L series are likely to push the Cine zeiss for optical quality on equivalent zooms. The Sigmas too, but they aren't officially supported on Birger.
 
Quick question about "field back-up"
What is the most efficient, safe and economical way to back up footage while in field on a remote location?
I would Primarily like to use Red Drives for underwater footage over a 2-3 week period without studio access.
Is this the best way to go? What would be the workflow here to make sure I have 2-3 back ups of originals in the field?
Coming from the digital still world,
I have never had to back up such massive amount of material.

Thanks for your help.
 
Drive backup

Drive backup

Handlerphoto said:
Quick question about "field back-up"
What is the most efficient, safe and economical way to back up footage while in field on a remote location?
I would Primarily like to use Red Drives for underwater footage over a 2-3 week period without studio access.
Is this the best way to go? What would be the workflow here to make sure I have 2-3 back ups of originals in the field?
Coming from the digital still world,
I have never had to back up such massive amount of material.

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Is that Mauricio? Welcome to the board.

Basically it will probably be one of two things, either a small 2 or 4 bay raid setup with removable drives or you could just get 4 or 5 of the 500 gig or 750 gig usb/firewire external drives and make backups to those.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/West...96092/catOid/-12961/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/West...93196/catOid/-12961/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

One is $179 for 750 gb but only USB the other is $249 for 750 gb and has firewire as well. 750 would hold two and a half REDDRIVES worth or about 6 hours of 4K. For comparison 750 gb is about 70 DV/HDV tapes of data (HDV is 11gb per 64 minute tape)
 
In the field backups

In the field backups

It is me...I have been following the threads with detailed analysis.
Good to see all your invaluable input.
Your thoughts mirror what I have been thinking.
How about the new Drobo? Reliable and fast enough?
two of them side by side in the field?

Looking ahead to placing my order. Saving my pennies and cleaning out all my old cameras for e-bay!

Thansk for your feedback.

MH
 
field backup

field backup

I know that many might not approve. But for a while now i've just been using small 250gig and 300 gig USB 2 drives---the small ones that you can pick up at Fry's and others for $89 bucks on sale or $129 depending on the day and the sale.

I have used them on Pangas, live-aboards and out in the sand and NOT ONCE have I encountered a failure. I like the idea of a raid and other faster and larger devices, but sometimes....well most times in my case i just don't have the space to carry all that stuff. I have about a dozen of these small USB 2 drives and they are light weight, small and easy to store. Once back at home, transfer them to larger drives and wipe the small portables clean so they can be used again.

that's my plan and it has been working great with P2 footage.
 
I approve, I think hard drive problems are overblown.

I approve, I think hard drive problems are overblown.

BajaProductions said:
I know that many might not approve. But for a while now i've just been using small 250gig and 300 gig USB 2 drives---the small ones that you can pick up at Fry's and others for $89 bucks on sale or $129 depending on the day and the sale.

I have used them on Pangas, live-aboards and out in the sand and NOT ONCE have I encountered a failure. I like the idea of a raid and other faster and larger devices, but sometimes....well most times in my case i just don't have the space to carry all that stuff. I have about a dozen of these small USB 2 drives and they are light weight, small and easy to store. Once back at home, transfer them to larger drives and wipe the small portables clean so they can be used again.

that's my plan and it has been working great with P2 footage.
Click to expand...

Actually, I agree with you. I think hard drive problems are overblown.I had three Ikegami editcamIIs which are harddrive based. The original editcams started in the mid90s with a 4 gig array (2 2gigs) just like the reddrives - which are now 320gigs. Ikegami went to single 2.5" drives in 1999 and these are the models I used, and proved very reliable.

I think if you use a laptop for a year with constant use, power ups and downs, etc. you may have more potential for trouble, but using these drives occasionally for backup and transfer I think statistically it would be very rare to have problems. If you do two separate backups of your critical footage I think the potential for a problem is statistically astronomical. I think you are more likely to leave your backpack in the airport lounge than you are to have two separate harddrive failures.
 
Any thoughts of what a RED package with all the necessary batteries, Drives and one wide -angle lens with housing will rent for?
Thanks
 
Camera/Housing rental

Camera/Housing rental

Handlerphoto said:
Any thoughts of what a RED package with all the necessary batteries, Drives and one wide -angle lens with housing will rent for?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Housing rental is currently $550/day and camera about $1000/day - we are usually 4 day week for housings - on cameras, some people are 3 days others 4 for a week. Longer term is usually highly negotiable.
 
Update on housings

Update on housings

Been getting a few requests for an update on housings prices. We are finishing up a series of six of the aluminum housings for orders and have a couple PVC orders lined up for next month. Now is probably a good time to get in line if you are coming up on RED delivery.

Base price for:
PVC is $3999.00
Aluminum $6200.00

Currently the base housing is:

housing setup for the Aquatica dome ports: six inch included, 8" acrylic available (and glass soon).

Power, trigger, white balance, focus assist, simple manual iris and zoom control for Arri 8R*. We expect most people to use Birger Canon EOS mount (or possibly Nikon) but see note below about the 8R.

Slide-in Mounting plate that holds camera; Red battery plate (supplied by customer or extra through us - I think it is $175), Holder for RED drive and LCD monitor if you are using it internally.

Housings have typical AquaVideo style "wings" (about 2.5" wide a foot long) which provides mounting for the handles (upward or downward) and adjustable forward and back by six inches or so. The wings also have numerous tapped holes (kind of a "cheeseplate) for mounting lights, meters, LCD and other accessories).

There is an aluminum channel on the bottom which serves as a base as well as holding a weight which can be slid forward and aft to adjust balance. It also has tapped holes for tripod mounting and to allow use of ball arms to create its own tripod. (quadropod?)

As far as extensive camera control, since we are shooting raw it isn't all that necessary and much better if done through the USB remote port - and that capability will be offered as soon as RED implements it.

The depth rating is dependent on the front and back plates and will be the same for either PVC or Aluminum housing depending on the front and back plates. The standard acrylic front plate version is rated to 175ft. If you go to the aluminum front plate but keep the 1" backplate it would go to 225 and if you go to 1.25" back plate it would be 250ft - and possibly 300 feet after I check on the port ratings. The housing itself would be capable of greater depths so if necessary we just need to evaluate the endplate/port options.

So it breaks down like this

Base price for:
PVC is $3999.00
Aluminum $6200.00

You should also budget $250-375 each for cables/encoder knobs for the Birger mount (Erik hasn't given us those final parameters yet) (Note: Birger mount is $1450 from Birger Engineering.

Add $1500 for external LCD option (LCD housing and cable/connector only -doesn't include the RED LCD. RED LCD is easily removable for normal use.)


For optional frontplates at time of order (i.e. instead of the standard)

Add $900 for aluminum frontplate for deeper rating.
Add $125 for 1.25" backplate for even deeper rating

I should have a glass dome option available in a month or two - probably built on an aluminum front plate - price estimate $1500 to $2000.

24V-250 watt underwater lighting system $1499. Compact SuperNova lamphead and Special thin style battery case for RED housing. can use 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250 watt bulbs

You can upgrade to the other backplates or even from the PVC to aluminum later on:

Add $1200 for aluminum frontplate for deeper rating - purchased after original.
Add $ 325 for 1.25" backplate for even deeper rating - purchased after original.

For early adopters:

I will allow early adopters to exchange from PVC to aluminum for the price difference (for now $2200) + $900 exchange fee. I am offering this because I think people have a wrong impression about how good and tough the PVC construction is, and in many ways it is simpler for us in manufacturing since we don't have to go outside for Welding, wait 2 days to 2 weeks for Hardcoat anodizing etc., There is not a problem with getting aluminum - the first five housings ordered have been aluminum so we are well into that manufacturing - I just wanted to give people a chance to think seriously about the PVC option and have a relatively painless way to switch if they ultimately feel it would be better.

*(The Arri Ultraprime 8R is $30K but is readily available for rent and is probably the ultimate underwater lens so may be a desirable option for really high end productio. As far the controls for the 8R, the assumption is that most people will use the Birger mount for Canon EOS or Nikon but I am providing two manual controls so that you could use the Arri 8R for special jobs without having to return the housing to us - it is two pretty simple controls, which I think normally you would just leave the holes plugged and put the controls in - a five minute job - if they were needed. These controls may also work for the RED 18-50 but I need to check that again with my friend's 18-50.)
 
Dive Time, Just to brighten things up.......

Dive Time, Just to brighten things up.......

From a few days ago.........need a break from the info overload.

55_1202988113.jpg


The guy with the camera (Sony V1) is a friend from the UK, Simon Spear, who recently came out to dive the Tiger Sharks of Aliwal Shoals. Luckily on his dive we were accompanied by four Tigers and about 60 Blacktips. Great fun for all the family.

Cheers,
Mark.
 
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