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Yes, I was also wondering about that - need to compare results with Wags' test on the DJI4 - I can't remember if there were lens/fov changes between the two cameras. I'll also check on my AOI lens on GoPro7 test see if it's similar, as water clarity was pretty bad when I tested it as well. Regarding the file itself, it seems DJI's dlog M is not a real log profile - you can see the color space (farbraum) is listed as bt709, so it's some form of Rec709. Looking into it, I found this: Dlog-M is like a wanabee dlog. It has more contrast and more color baked in. Great for those who want a little more latitude than the "normal" color profile produces while not as difficult to grade as dlog. I also downloaded DJI's dlog to vivid 709 lut and tried in FCPX, but the results were not as nice as a simple re-WB and quick grade- bit too contrasty and flashy for my tastes (prefer more desaturated / pastel colours, which is why I don't like most auto SOOC results I see coming from which usually pump up the saturation and sharpness, which is, I'm guessing, for phones and instagramable flash-bang purposes😁) That said maybe the DJI lut is not for dlog-m, but actual dlog? Probably better not to use a lut for 709? There was a bit of a pink/magenta hue on my files which I noticed on the bubbles, but nothing massive - I think this is due to my default presets I normally use on the LX10. I spent less than 3 minutes on it, and it's very easy to go for a cooler profile, so this isn't an issue. Anyhoo, I don't have a paid version of dropbox, so limited to the 1080 dlogm file, but it's nice material to work with, clearly - however the background blurryness mentioned by Dreifish should be looked into further. cheers ben

Interesting - I only get HD download options on dropbox, wonder if it's because I'm not logged in... edit - it's the same logged in - can only download 480p, 720p or 1080p interface is a little odd, it gives me options to edit, change format etc... I found a 1440p option in there as well, but no 4K - anyway no biggie, there's definitely enough colour info to work with in the log file. Nice one!

Cheers for that Bio - I downloaded the file on drop box (max was 1080p?) and did the same quick white balance + quick CC in FCPX, really nice and lots of data to work with - exported it to 1080p 60fps with an old YT setting I had, no further stabilisation applied so as not to alter the fov

Great, that's exactly it. So all you need to do is get your subject in the center of the focus box and press once to lock onto it and start tracking, hurray 🍾🥳 I'm looking into the a6700 manual to see if it also has tracking on toggle EDIT - it seems there is also tracking off on toggle - so I imagine there is a tracking on as well - that's a relief, thanks a lot for clearing that up!!!

Great, thanks! So basically you set the tracking point on the corner with a single button press (no need to hold it down), and you can cancel (unlock) with the same button, right? Phew, this is a relief - it's such an obvious application I was really afraid they had killed it by setting it to touch screen only!

Thanks but it's still unclear - the "tracking on toggle" seems the closest, but it's not quite clear. Basically can you do this in video mode: - press a button once (not hold down as described) to lock tracking onto a subject I know this is possible with the touch screen for stills and video, and also with half-shutter press for stills. But can a button be assigned to this - not to turn on tracking but to manually lock onto the tracking target? Can you lock the tracking AF with a single button press onto your finger, and the camera keeps tracking it as move your finger around? thanks

Unfortunately it's the same for the FX30 - tracking lock only via touch screen.... 😥

Wow, thank - yes that would be fantastic - does it also lock the tracking on a subject, so that pressing the button sets the target the autofocus is to follow (like you can do with the touch screen, and also, for stills, with a half-shutter press?) When I played with the camera in the store, I found that pressing the button assigned to back-button focus in video mode (the name escapes me) enabled focus tracking on a subject, but only as long as the button was depressed. Is it possible to lock a target for video with assigning a button to Tracking on? Thanks! (this here is a painful example of an old Lumix AF tracking the subject it is locked onto but totally failing to maintain focus)

yes, and thanks for that! In a world where most test clips poste use autosettings, it's very interesting to finally have an example of what the camera is capable of recording out flat. I'm quite impressed by the data still left on your clip after being mashed-up by multiple compressions in this little experience, and imagine original files will be a real pleasure to work with in post. cheers

Thanks for these @Bio, corners look quite alright in these, and it's really interesting to see this camera and lens combo in action. Your clips also looked quite flat, so I tried a little experience - sorry for the copyright infringement 😁 I downloaded the 1080p clip from youtube, converted it, then dropped in finalcut pro X. I then manually adjusted the white balance (using the diver's tank as the WB reference) then applied a basic grade - all this took me less than 3 minutes. Here is your clip white balanced in post (exported to 1080p 60fps with massive compression loss due to the fact that this done with a 3x compressed source) Despite the obvious compression-loss, I'm quite impressed by the data left to work with in post, and look forward to working with original clips, if I ever get this camera, which was the plan until the corner/external lens issue was flagged. It will also be interesting to combine this with a good filter, which could give even more balanced results between background and foreground. cheers and thanks again!

Thanks for confirming, it's what I feared - I saw the stickiness and AF speed settings which are great, but not being able to manually lock AF tracking point for underwater video is an issue. I shoot video in MF, which is fine for wide angle or standard macro, but becomes a problem for blackwater / bonfire type macro video. The main issue is that the subjects are quite small, which means magnification and a small depth of field. This isn't a problem for standard, ground based macro, but in blackwater the subjects are also moving fast, and the shots handheld. They move in and out all the time, which is why most blackwater video you'll see are super slow-motion extensions of tiny in-focus clips. Based on my tests, I think is something else to explore, a combination of operator following ("manual tracking") and a fast AF tracking, which would allow for longer in-focus sequences. I've managed to get shots in MF (at 30fps) by following as much as possible (using focus peaking, which on the a6700 is also available in AF, great), but since I'm shooting handheld in the water column at high magnification, there is no way to refocus manually in time using backbutton focus or a focus knob -action is just too fast and induces camera shake or loss of the animal. This is why and where I would need a fast AF, to work with me to track the subject along a shallow focal plane - I would lock the AF on the subject, and physically follow as much as possible to keep in focus - the AF would complement this by making small adjustements to keep the subject in focus. All this is certainly possible with this camera - however, I would definitely need to be able to lock focus on the suject to be tracked. Bonfire type scenarios are chaotic, with lots of moving subjects - think of a lightbulb with swarming insects on a summer night - I don't think the AF will be able to stay locked onto one subject in such conditions. With AF tracking lock, however it would work - unfortunately, as you have just confirmed, tracking lock is done through the touch screen only in video mode (stills has half-shutter or touch screen for AF tracking lock). All this means there is no way for me to lock AF onto a subject to be tracked underwater in video mode, which was the plan... It's a shame because this possible on Lumix cameras which have a much weaker AF and, I believe on Canon cameras as well. Unfortunately, touch screen based functionalities are a curse for underwater applications...

as a side note to your setting questions (which I am also interested in as I might be buying an a6700 in the future - but too much life to deal with at the moment), I've been looking into the a6700's AF video settings. I recently spent a bit of time playing with one here in a store in Japan and it seems that it's not possible to lock AF tracking on a subject in video mode - or more precisely, the only way to do this is through the touch screen, which kills the option for underwater use. In the a6700's stills mode you can lock tracking with a half-shutter press or with the touch screen, but for video it's touch screen only. This is a big letdown for me as I was planning to use focus tracking for shooting fast moving macro (black water / bonfire type stuff, basically locking onto a subject so the camera can work with me to keep it in focus), but apparently it's a no-go. I was planning on assigning AF tracking lock to the backbutton focus button (C2? if I'm not mistaken), but nope - even more frustrating is that in default setting the video AF tracking works as long as you press the button, but unlocks on release... Of course the standard AF is very good, but difficult to know how it will react in a busy setting like the ones we get on bonfire dives. I've played with tracking on the LX10, and it's certainly possible to lock onto a subject (on Lumix, the main issue is that the lens AF doesn't keep up, too slow to maintain focus - it tracks efficiently, but doesn't maintain focus). Basically in the a67000's video mode it's either manual or AF-C, and video AF tracking lock is possible through the touch screen. For AF questions, I would recommend watching this video as well: Now this is a rather specific issue for a rather specific use, but still a letdown for manual control-freaks like myself 😁 If you ever look into it, do let me know if it's confirmed! cheers ben

Marelux plans to develop an A6700 housing next year, but final release date not set yet.

IIRC Ecuador also doubled their Galápagos National Park Entrance fee on in August 2024 ($100 to $200 USD) might have been an inspiration.... But on a daily levy like the Revillagigedo NP's, this really stings...

Very valuable feedback, which I hope will one day make its way back to Japanese operators aiming to expand to what they call the "inbound" market (translation = foreign visitors). For diving, the ministry of tourism mostly has eyes on the North-American market because of the number of divers in the US (but in this, they do not really take into consideration factors such as access to international travel and ease to do so, length and availability of holiday, general travel practices, diving culture etc), the rest of the project being mostly introductory diving experiences aimed at the greater Asian market. People stuck in their ways (which can be for multiple reasons) is definitely an issue here, and can also cause issues for local foreign operators willing to offer more customised, high-end services in line with what commonly offered in this big world of ours. The Chiba shark-scramble you mention (which is also quite something from an ecological point of view...), is a good example, as here the time-limit cannot really be justified by safety protocols as it is the case in Mikomoto. From what I understood it is mostly linked to the frequency of the chumming dives... To give another example, on Okinawa main island where I am now, especially in the north, it's very difficult to organise boat diving, because the rule/tradition is to go through local boat operators which are all fishermen / ex-fishermen. They boat operators set the rules, and 45 minute dives is all they have the patience for... Luckily there is good shore diving where operators do not face these constraints. Yes, it is definitely not the most flexible country ( let's keep in mind Japanese administration still uses faxes in some cases... 😅) and customer-service generally oscillates between great /over-the-top to... dreadful. And then there's the rest, the very same operator portrayed in the doc also offers / was recently offering this kind of aquarium diving experience with captive dolphins for instance, which I leave you to ponder: It's not exclusively Japan of course - land-based diving in Palau, for instance, is also somewhat old-school, favouring large groups as opposed to smaller ones (this is changing slowly with smaller operators like PDA), and actually not the most eco-conscious I've encountered despite the country's official positioning and the Palau Pledge, and there's of course much to be said about the practices of some operators in places like Egypt, Thailand or Mexico, just to name a few. But a major difference is that the Japanese economy is not as reliant on tourism and even less so on dive tourism (being built around a strong domestic customer base), and many Japanese divers stay on the "Japanese circuit" abroad, and are thus not really exposed to international diving practices (which are often seen as sub-par, something which transpires a little in this doc). And all of this tends to deepen the gap... This is a little sad because the diving here in Japan is actually excellent, but a little difficult to access because of cultural codes and something of a lack of communication (interest?) with the rest of the world up to now. Autarcy might be the key word here. Hopefully this will evolve with the new generation, but until now I can't help noticing we don't have many Japanese participants here on open discussion spaces like this forum, for instance, and I'm not convinced this is purely a language issue... But Japan is changing fast, for better or for worse, time will tell.