bghazzal

Here’s a little clip I shot this week on Okinawa Main Island’s Pacific coast (Kin Red Beach) — a classic but colourful commensal / symbiotic combo: Emperor shrimps (Zenopontonia rex) riding their lofty nudibranch palace (?Ceratosoma trilobatum?). Edited to “Raindrop” by Tomotsugu Nakamura (sound on if possible) This was shot on my old Lumix LX10 compact in 4K/30fps, using either the Nauticam CMC-1 alone or stacked with a UCL-165 close-up lens. Lighting was from two Kraken Hydra 8000 V2 lights and one Backscatter MW4300. There was a bit of water movement and suspended silt, so I'll need to be more careful with light placement next time using the triple-light setup... Cheers and happy bubbles, Ben

Wow, that looks very nice! I'm really curious as to how it will handle, especially with the photo-style flexitray handles close to port. Do you mind linking to the material you've used, and the weight system that plan on using for trim? cheers

It's a little better in youtube, at least the vertical format fits... Yes, not super sharp indeed... otherwise on YT I get a garbled image up to 0:19 seconds or so - thought it was my connection but it seems to be in the clip compression / player / cache, as it's systematically on the same point. this is what is looks like: and it clears up here 0:19 I think strange beast, these youtube shorts... cheers

as a sidenote this YouTube Short format you posted in is unreadable on my laptop (Firefox) - I get this massive long display which takes ages to load and can't display properly even zooming out. This is what it looks like zoomed out fully: Wonder if other non-phonies are in the same boat? Can't therefore comment on the vid/camera results, though I would have liked to see what it looked like! cheers

IIRC you're allowed one personal camera, so you would most likely be taxed on the lens and lights... Maybe keep the lights in your jacket pockets?

I'm a little lost - is the discussion mostly centered on macro/supermacro stills or video? Video tracking AF and photo AF are quite different animals, and for very few lenses support the super fast advanced AF offered by Sonys when shooting video (mostly G-Master series lenses, like the Sony 90mm). As a rule, lenses need to be somewhat optimised for video use to be fast enough to AF track efficiently when shooting video - especially at higher framerates. In general, macro video is mostly shot in manual, unless dealing with a fast moving small critter, where shallow DOF and fast movement mean it becomes very difficult to follow (small critters in blackwater or worse, predatory action fueled bonfire dives for instance). The critter swings in an out of the shallow focal plane, which is more of a problem when shooting a sequence than when freezing an image. This is where fast video tracking AF could really come into play. Videos of fast moving tiny critters are very rare though, and most out there is super slowed down high-frame rate (120fps) footage, to extend the short moment when the animal or an aesthetically acceptable section of the animal was in focus.

I saw it over here in Japan - one of the really interesting features is that it has 4K 60 fps, but with 1.4x crop. This would be really useful for underwater imaging on a compact.

Really nice, great shots and lovely naturalistic colours, lighting, contrast - Nikons are less common for video, so it's really interesting to see what is possible to do with one! Did you manually white balance regularly or just set it to something? I really like the turtle sequence. Some of the hammerhead shots are a little too far and deep and really contrasts with the lovely closeup encounter you have 50 seconds in - it's good to have some wider shots but maybe a few have been left out in the edit (though I totally understand the desire to include more of this trip highlight), same goes for a couple of the slightly more shaky shots around 1:30. Otherwise same remark as Davide on the music - this is highly subjective of course but the're a bit too much of a manic crescendo for the images in my opinion. For a first vid, it's really great and I look forward to seeing future ones! cheers

Looking very good!! I'm still trying to figure out the best magnification on these. I have multiple strength readers, but as with closeup diopters, it's a trade-off between, errr, minimal focus distance and magnification. The stronger ones will have more magnification but this also means one's face will need to be closer to the screen, weaker ones will have a longer MFD, but less magnification. I guestimate my eyes are usually around 30cm from the screen, and I think something like +3 seems to hit the sweetspot for me - issue is I've only compared them on land, and water does affect things already.

Interesting thanks - the UCL-05N looks identical to the AOI Fantasea UCL-05LF +6 Comparing the specs the lens, are similar but the new one is lighter This is the former AOI Fantasea UCL-05LF https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/fantasea-aio-ucl-macro-lens-review and the new AOI UCL-05 https://www.aoi-uw.com/products/wet-lenses/aoi-ucl-05n.html Here is a review comparing the Inon UCL165 to the old AOI Fantasea UCL-05LF https://simonmustoe.blog/review-of-fantasea-ucl-05lf-6-macro-lens/ I have the UCL-09 which I like, but it's a +12.5, and I just use the CMC1 +15 instead now. The Pro series is very nice, but I think the first one is +12.5, so not what I'm after. Kraken and Weefine used to share factories, but have split and developed their own product lines, lights for example. Design is still similar, but specs vary. Thanks Chris, I'll look into it!

Hello all, Not quite sure where to post this as I shoot video on a compact, but I guess it doesn't really matter. For macro / supermacro, I currently use the following diopters: Inon UCL-165 (+6) and Nauticam CMC1 - I also have an AOI UCL-09 (+12.5) but leave it home since I got the CMC-1 However, I'm starting to get a little frustrated with the contrast/image quality on the Inon - focusing with the CMC-1 is night-and-day, much more light/contrast, sensor is happy and my focus peaking points are happy. The Inon is also quite soft in the wider range, very soft corners. Would you have recommendation on +6 to +10 diopters offering a better image quality than the Inon, especially more light/contrast. I'm also interested in a good MOD and depth of field (crucial for video, as smaller subjects swing in and out of focus). The +6 was very flexible for this. I've found the old AOI Fantasea UCL-05LF +6 which is supposed to be quite good (the design is identical to the UCL-09), and the Kraken KRL08S (+6, but more rare, bulkier and more expensive) Another option is the CMC2, which I've tested before and loved, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to go up to +10. Any suggestions? Thanks a bunch!

PM and email sent Thank you.

For macro I'm in full artificial light and just set the kelvin value to the lights', so it's true that it's not much of an issue other than for ambient light / mixed lighting / wide angle. For sure there must be a reason why the RX100vii, a macro-beast according to specs, doesn't seem to translate to actual footage online. Something is off. I've seen some good footage from the RX100V and VA though. Yes, that crop on the a6400 sounds really tricky - but it would be great if you could test things out on a compact - coming from the 90mm macro to a compact's zoom lens could take a bit of time to adjust to, and potentially lead to some regrets I think I was actually planning on upgrading my compact rig to a Sony a6700, but having moved to Japan postponed this project indefinitely for financial reasons. Look into it, it's an APS-C, great for video and, if lightning fast video AF isn't a requirement, it should work great with the new 16-50mm kit lens, which is a zoom lens and optimised for video, or the Zeiss Touit macro 60mm (which doesn't support fast video AF unfortunately). AF is actually outstanding on this camera, but video-AF supporting lens options are scarce, especially for macro, unfortunately. It would also solve port removal issues and should be fantastic to work with for macro video (and you also would gain 4K 60fps, which none of the compacts have, and can be very useful for small fast moving critters / working with shallow DOF)

Hi - yes, I shoot video exclusively, but have never tried the G7xIII - if I remember correctly, its greatest flaw for video was the manual white-balancing process, which implied working from a still shot, rather than simply using the white-balance button. These kinds of ergonomic issues were the main reason it wasn't on my list when I was deciding which compact to get for video (even though I love Canon colour balance in ambient light) If you're shooting macro exclusively, the LX10 works well, but for macro in artificial light the Sony RX100 series, especially the latest in the series, have humongous zooms which sound really good on paper - they will, however, lock you into a macro-centric port configuration, and I say on paper because other than specs, good macro footage shot on these is not that easily found for some reason... Also while a compact's zoom lens is fine for macro, especially coupled with a +6 to +15 diopter on a compact and the 1" sensor helps in this regard, (you can see some of my macro video on the LX10 here ) , it will still have more limitations than a true macro lens. cheers!

Yes, please do tell - very interested in how people are organising this in different places. We actually have a little thread up on the subject here: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/1671-bonfire-dives-light-trap-dives cheers! ben

Dome is found, thanks 😊

I purchased an Inon Dome Unit type II from @shokwaav All good, easy transaction, fast well packed shipping from HK to Japan, and dome is in great shape, as described - highly recommended seller. Thanks! 🙏

Hello all, This is a shot in the dark, but I'm interested in sourcing an Inon Dome Lens Unit II for use with my UWL-H100 lens. http://www.inon.jp/customer/discontinued/lens/domelensunit2_uwl100/top.html If anyone has one lying around gathering dust, please get in touch! Cheers! Ben

I do too, and generally use the custom equalizer to cut off high-frequencies (which don't usually fare too well under recompression) - also make sure nothing in the red, and adjust volume accordingly (unless you're going for a take-it-to-11 heavymetal indiecore edit)

Very interesting, thanks. the Inon lens is a little different from the AOI/Backscatter models, if I'm not mistaken? I recently shot something with the GoPro7 and AOI lens and really happy with the corners. I'd say the background starts losing focus about 5m in rather murky conditions in Okinawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cXdJGjeMKw But if I compare this to an vid without the lens, there's not much difference in this regard: https://youtu.be/OMFi4DTTuCA (this is also in one of Palau's murkier sites, Grassland/Sandy Paradise) However, corners/sharpness are really night and day with the lens. Issue is this is not not a true comparison - despite being on the same camera with the same settings, the Palau clip was shot in 2.7K linear and the more recent one with the AOI lens is in 4K Wide (my old laptop cannot handle GoPro 4K's HEVC codecs, so I need to work in proxies in FCPX to edit - time consuming, so when I was working in diving I just shot in 2.7K to avoid the issue). Regarding the fov, without the lens, I prefered linear to wide - the wide lens changed thant of course, as it both corrects the corners and improves the general forground sharpness, with a low MFD. Anyway, this is really interesting. I really look forward to seeing some more GoPro11 + AOI footage, as well as other combinations, especially the DJI models. p.s. that's the resident school of jacks at Blue Corner, right?

Tricky question as I have astigmatism on land (which is mitigated underwater, not sure what mecanism is at play), but lately I've been using the strongest I could find, which for a while was +3.5, but I recently found and bought some +5 for testing. I think +5 is the limit for plastic glass lenses, and it might be a little too much. I started with +2, but overall I would recommend to get a stronger strength than what you would use on land. It's really helpful for seeing the camera screen more clearly and also spotting macro critters. I'd say the stronger you go, them closer it is to using a magnifying glass (which is great for spotting), so it's a slightly different experience. What I really like about this system compared to more fixed option is that you can adjust the position of the readers. I put take them out of a pocket (important have a way to clip them to you when not in use, I use a light plastic clip so there's no weight when wearing them) and place them at them bottom of the mask when I'm swimming around or spotting, so I can just switch between regular "wide angle" vision and the magnified one. However when I'm actually shooting a subject and staying focused on that, I move them up to the middle of the mask, right in front of my eyes. cheers

I saw / posted these above last January when they showed up - There's no real reason they shouldn't work. However, there's no real reason to not DIY them either, especially if you have access to cheap, powerful plastic readers. They just work great, and it will be a more flexible solution. I happen to be in the wonderful land of Daiso 100-yen stores, so can pick up readers up to +5 for 100 yen (+10 yen tax). I then DIY it (remove the temples, attach landyard), and no real reason to do otherwise. My current homegrown model looks like this these days: cheers!

Thanks so much for the kind words, Maria! It was such a lovely encounter — really enjoyed it 😊 As for the GoPro: I’ve been rowing,against the no-filter-needed tide since the GoPro4 days... Personally, I find that pairing a well-designed filter — like the late, great UR-Pro SW Cyan — with a locked white balance (WB "native," which locks it and offers a wider spectrum than Rec.709 used in other modes) and the “flat” color profile (minimal camera adjustments) yields the best results in ambient light, if you’re planning to do post-production work. The thinking is: while you can't white balance manually at depth on these cameras, you can still re-balance the footage afterward by setting the white point in post — and that’s when the image really comes to life. Sure, you lose about 1.5 stops of light with the filter, but it still helps a lot, as having a filtered, warmer base-image (and this is also where the filter's design / curve is important) reduces how much you have to stretch the color channels to restore colour balance in editing, making for a more natural, balanced and pleasing final result in most cases. In my experience, it beats letting the camera struggle to figure things out on its own underwater at typical diving depths. I actually expanded on this in a thread here: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/1380-shooting-action-cams-with-a-red-filter-in-flat-profile-and-manually-white-balancing-in-post-production/ It’s definitely more hands-on, and not in line with the current auto-everything trend — but for those willing to put in the extra bit of work, I think the payoff is worth it, to get the best these cameras have to offer! Cheers!

As a follow-up, here is the fluorofilter in the water, on the GoPro7: Frankly, conditions were really not ideal to test the filter gel, with cloudy murky (but still slightly blueish) water and a depth ranging between 2 to 5 meters... So yes, this was clearly in the no-filter zone, but the "deeper" shots, on the sand, didn't require as much as a stretch to re-white balance in post (which does affect the highlights when working in post), and show the filter's potential a little better. Yest despite all this, end results are quite ok. This clip was shot in 4K 60fps, wide fov, with the AOI UWL-03 wide lens, which corrects corner deformation, and also does seem to increase sharpness on close up shots. So yes, promising - I need to confirm these observations on a ̶n̶o̶r̶m̶a̶l̶ ̶ deeper dive, and also with a side to side UR-Pro + Fluoro test, but the Rosco seems to be the one I was looking for. It would also be great to test this on one of the more recent camera models, see what we can get out 10bit colour ( 🤩 ) in post, but on the right track, I'd say. cheers ben