New Gear 2010
September 2, 2010
This is an update to an earlier 2008 post about my previous SD equipment setup.
Stepping up to HD
So finally I took the step up to HD video equipment with the Sony PMW EX1, Gates EX1 housing with 2 x 250W Green Force Squid HID lighting rig. Oh yeah, and I just had to go for the Fathom SWP44C Super Wide Port to top it off.
Having spent two years picking up some basic skills with the Panasonic AG-DVX100 and Equinox housing, it wasn’t until I got in the water with the new EX1 rig that I realised just how little about underwater videography I really knew… but also just what can be achieved when you step up the scale with your equipment.
The entire setup set me back around $23,000 which is well-below market value as I managed to get a great deal on some mint-condition used equipment from a great guy called Joe Holley (@ Marine Visions). For me that’s a great deal of cash but then again, now I have the type of rig that documentary professionals use when their main equipment fails…
Key Advantages
- Larger format with greater detail (obviously!) – larger market for selling online clips
- Better all-round vision with external HD monitor – beats squinting one-eyed through the housing
- Fantastic manual control positioning and operation – those Gates engineers are incredible
- Up to 60 frames-per-second for slower playback speed (only available with 720 HD format) – for that NatGeo look, well almost
- Record directly to SxS solid-state memory cards – no tape capturing needed!
- Far better low-light sensitivity reducing video noise and giving sharper footage
- Zoom through capability from 120 degree wide angle to full zoom with Fathom SWP44C port
- A LOT! of light with the Green Force 250 HIDs
And that’s just a small sample of the main benefits I’ve found so far – given the EX1’s capability for firmware and software upgrades, the menu feature options just keep expanding with every update.
The down-sides
- Damn its heavy! about 35lbs (16Kg) in total – try freediving with that and not get the jitters before you jump in
- Extra baggage costs – one-way long-haul extra is generally around $400 extra – almost worth flying business class for the extra baggage allowance, almost…
- Limited recording time on expensive SxS cards – about 2hr of footage on $1000 32GB card
- No focus depth bar indicator on external housing monitor – or at least I’m still trying to work it out (let me know if you have!)
- Customs… I’m now starting to attract the attention of customs officers at destination airports…
Footage samples
So far I’ve only an opportunity to get the equipment wet once during a trip to Turks & Caicos. You can see some low-res sample clips here:
www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=11856910
www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=11874918
www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=11886834
www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=11905586
www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=11908754
www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=11957744
Actually to be truthful, I did get the gear in the water during a trip to South Africa for the Sardine run (you can read more about that disaster here: The Truth about the Sardine Run) but only manage to get some semi-decent dry-land nature shoots:
www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&lightboxID=6760126
www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&lightboxID=6760107
Future gear thoughts
I’m pretty sure that what I’ve got now is going to keep me busy and satisfied for the next few years but if I was to be keeping an eye on developments for the future for my next kit upgrade, I’d be watching these two:
Red Epic: if Gates decide to do a housing for it that is
Canon EOS 5D Mk11: with Full HD video capabilities I think that digital still cameras are going to start getting interesting for underwater video work. It opens an interesting possibility of being able to do video and still with the same kit – if they can work out how to integrate flash strobe and video lighting in one unit. Certainly the lower weight and size looks attractive compared to schlepping my existing gear round the planet…
Deep Sea Cucumber: “jettisons internal organs from anus”
September 2, 2010
Unbelievable – nature’s defense strategies never cease to amaze…
Photo by INDEX-SATAL/NOAA
“A free-swimming sea cucumber moves through the freezing waters of a 10,515-foot (3,205-meter) abyss.
The 1,250 known species of sea cucumbers—named for their distinctive shapes—live on or near deep ocean floors or dwell in the shallows. (Watch a video of a “hairy” sea cucumber.)
When threatened, some sea cucumbers can mutilate their own bodies as a defense mechanism: The animals violently contract their muscles and jettison some of their internal organs out of their anuses.”
From National Geographic New Deep Sea picture gallery
Indonesia mimic octopus imitates toxic flatfish for defense
August 30, 2010
How about this for an impersonation… Watch video of the Indonesian Mimic Octopus impersonating a toxic flatfish – sometimes the best form of defense really is to attack!
The Indonesian mimic octopus has the extraordinary ability to pass itself off as many of the toxic fishes or sea snakes that share its habitat.
Instead of blending into the background, the animal impersonator often uses a daredevil strategy of making itself more conspicuous to predators. Scientists believe the behaviour evolved to scare other animals.
By flattening its head and arms, using a bold brown and white colour display and adopting an undulating swimming technique T. mimicus can fool predators that it is, in fact, a poisonous flatfish rather than a tasty meal.
From the BBC. Watch full video HERE.
BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill effects
August 25, 2010
Now that the media hype surrounding the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill has largely died down, we think it would be of interest to track news & findings about the effects of this environmental disaster that might not make it into mainstream consciousness.
The lasting impression we had from the last batch of news released was that, as big as the disaster was (some 5 million barrels of crude oil leaked), there remained hope, even some considerable confidence, that naturally occurring microbes were busy seeing-off much of the oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.
It would now appear that previous US government reports on which this “news” was based have to be reconsidered in light of a 22-mile (35-kilometer) long oil-plume that has been discovered:
from National Geographic:
A giant plume from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been confirmed deep in the ocean—and there are signs that it may stick around, a new study says.
Many scientists had predicted that oil-eating bacteria—already common in the Gulf due to natural oil seeps—would process much of the crude leaked from BP’s Deepwater Horizon wellhead, which was capped July 15.
But new evidence shows that a 22-mile-long (35-kilometer-long), 650-foot-high (200-meter-high) pocket of oil has persisted for months at depths of 3,600 feet (1,100 meters), according to a team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts.
Read full article HERE
Returning to the Abyss
January 25, 2010
Ocean ‘X Factor’ to reach deepest point will net £6m.
Fifty years ago today two men sealed themselves inside a tiny steel sphere and were lowered over the side of a ship in the Western Pacific. For the next four hours they dropped steadily down through the ocean depths. A porthole cracked, shaking the craft, but they continued. Within another hour they reached the deepest point in the ocean, 11 kilometres down.
No human has returned since then, prevented by the high cost and technological challenges of withstanding the crushing pressures in the deep. But later this year the X Prize foundation will offer at least $10 million (£6 million) for the first privately funded craft to make two repeat visits to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.
According to Francis Beland, a senior adviser for the Ocean X Prize, among the likely contenders are Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, and James Cameron, the director of Titanic, The Abyss and Avatar. Both men are passionate about ocean exploration.
BB-Films comment: Coming soon via live feed to an Imax theatre near you!
From Times online: Full Article
