bghazzal

Wow - impressive - 6 knots+ !!! Biggest I've seen are the tidal whirlpools in the Naruto Strait between the Shikoku (Tokushima) and Awaji island in Japan... But diving there would be a death sentence... Here are some hair raising Japanese whirlpool clips 😵 Back to BBC Earth Asia, here's a review I find a little bland but which ends on this rather pertinent observation: "It is notable that, in this first episode at least, Asia has toned down the rhetoric that permeated Planet Earth III, for example, of the Anthropocene and human-induced destruction. Here, the rampant industrialisation of the planet has tweaked delicate ecosystems, rather than ravaged them: see an Israeli power station that pumps out water that is 10C warmer than the surrounding seas. While there is little mention of what those heated waters have done on a larger scale, it does point out that it has accidentally benefited the pregnant female dusky sharks that now gather in the area. It mentions busy shipping routes and polluted seas but, largely, this is more gentle, less urgent, than some of its preceding series. I just wonder if a lack of urgency is really what the natural world needs now." Source: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/nov/03/asia-review-another-david-attenborough-masterclass-in-beautiful-tv

Well, it's out and pretty stunning as expected 🤩 Unfortunately, as far as I can see the BTS footage is focused on the whirlpools in Komodo, with no Palau sequence behind the scenes making-of... Hopefully on another BTS sequence, then 😶🤞 As I was writing above, other than the mantas footage shot at Karang/Taka Makassar (another central Komodo classic - though I do wonder why they didn't go for mantas at Mawan or even at Cauldron / Shotgun, where they're regularly spotted in nicer settings than cleaning stations in reef rubble...) - they did go shoot the whirlpool sequence at central Komodo National Park's Batu Bolong, which is also shown in the BTS sequence. It's a little confusing because the aerial shots used also jump to North Komodo (Gili Lawa Laut, Golden Passage) but the exciting whirlpool surface scene was shot at Batu Bolong, in the center of the park. Batu Bolong (which means "pierced rock", due to the hole/arch seen on the surface of the islet) is a world famous site, footage of which you've probably seen if you've ever watched a video / seen pictures shot in the park (iconic shots of anthias shooting out of a stunning hard coral garden in the shallows...). And it's actually a relatively easy dive site where simply you zigzag up a slope from 25meters-ish to the surface. The main issue with this dive site is that a powerful current directly hits the rock - and while you're always diving the lee side / protected area, this direct hit creates powerful down-currents whirlpools on the sides of the protected area, sucking down to a depth of 80m+... As a guide, your role is to make sure the site is safely diveable (which it isn't always...) and, underwater, to know when to stop your group and make the turn to head towards the other side. This is done by reading the site: watching current lines on the surface, reading fish behaviour - GTs and other large fish swimming in the current for instance - as well as fixed elements like seafans, drifting particules, and just generally feeling / conservatively estimating the pull of the current... But if the tide switches (in central Komodo NP, the main current flows north to south on a falling tide, and from south to north on a rising tide) - which it can sometimes do very quickly in the area - you can end up in pretty nighmarish situations underwater, as the protected area shrinks (the rock isn't really round, but actually oval...), which is why timing is very important. On a good day, however, when it's not too crazy, you can actually follow the tide change, making careful progress on the tip of your fins - and go all the way around the rock at slack tide... Here are some maps I drew back in the day - not really works of arts I know, but they might help will make more sense of the above: On wild and crazy days, it's like a river and the site is undiveable (strong currents bounce around on the islands in Komodo like on a pinball deck, so when it's strong, it can get a little crazy, no real protected area, back headings, bubbles pulled down etc....) And on the surface, strong currents also creates issues for entries (which need to be efficient) and especially upon surfacing, as divers can get pulled to the side current lines, where less powerful boats will struggle to manoeuvre safely. So checking the site from the surface if the current looks a little iffy is also a major responsability. This is phone clip I took of Batu Bolong a few years back (when I didn't know how to lock focus on a phone apparently...), showing the site in generally undiveable conditions, the current lines looking like white water rapids.... 😅 Now what the BBC crew did in this series - and that's pretty brave - is to film on the surface, right in the current lines and whirlpools that form on both sides on the rock... Keep in mind that while the dive site itself is not particularly difficult, there have been quite a few underwater accidents / fatalities at Batu Bolong, with divers going too far towards the sides and getting pulled down - there was also a rumour that someone had voluntarily gone in the whirlpools with a tech setup, basically to see what happens... I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it would be very dangerous as the washing machine could certainly be life threatening, redundancy and depth-compliant setup or not. These whirlpools are also infamous in Komodo National Park for the issues they create on the surface, and everyone working there has seen divers surface a little too close to the sides when the flow is picking up, and get pulled into the current, towards the whirlpools... The whirlpools can certainly suck a diver down when it's really strong, something I haven't seen luckily, but I've seen people having issues with the traction while climbing the ladder and needing an extra pair of arms to be pulled out of it, and also slow boats struggling to manoeuvre and push out of the current after a late pick up... Not great, so this is generally something we try to avoid by surfacing in the center of the protected area, especially when current is strong or picking up. And for this sequence, what the BBC crew actually go for it, with a life-jacket reinforced flotation rig, and head straight towards the whirlpool and film it, which is pretty gnarly! Capture from the BBC Earth Asia 1 behind-the-scene sequence, heading for the whirlpools of Batu Bolong with the rig... Nice one 🤙 - Next step would be actually diving the washing machine downcurrent to wherever it takes you I guess? Underwater drone or GoPros on stick perhaps? cheers ben

Yes, the copyrighting thing is a little weird. Not sure what the story/timeline is behind this - he's been experimenting with this type of diving for 20+ years, and not sure who actually first came up with the name blackwater diving. From what I gathered BW first started with the tethered dives in Hawaii (perhaps you have more local background info?), not sure if there was a connection with Japan, spreading to Florida and then Mexico (Cozumel), where it is going strong. Drifting blackwater diving mostly started with Mike Bartick's untethered tests in Anilao, first using attaching the bait light lines to the boat then finally to an indepentend floating line ("pumpkin" shown above), since the boat would drift faster than the divers. From there, more recenty it spread to Indonesia (Lembeh, Tulamben for land based resorts, and on various liveaboards for more punctual/exploratory dives, eg. in Raja Ampat or Komodo), and also to Thailand (through WaP member Alex Tyrrell, first diving in Koh Tao then on Thailand's Andaman sea and up to Myanmar on Smiling Seahorse cruises) and elsewhere (Hong Kong with Simon Lorenz for instance.) Some liveaboards (like the Siren in Palau) also offer regular BW dives on trips. Bonfire-style diving itself is strongly linked to Ram Yoro's experimentation in the Philippines, and also regularly held in Lembeh, not sure about other places at the moment, but given how flexible the setup is it could spread. There is a strong connection with Japanese planktonic diving, and maybe with Kona's bonfire-style light-baited manta dives? That said, Japan is a bit of a mystery (as always 😉). Other than Ryo Minemizu, photographers like Kazushige Hiroguchi (who recently did a talk on the subject at Japan ADEX) have been exploring planktonic diving for quite a while now, and there's a lot of "light trap" diving going on across the archipelago (Toyama Bay, Okinawa, Kume Island, Hachijo Island, Izu and Osezaki or Ainan just to name a few hotspots I've seen popup recently). Flyer for a Hori Night bonfire/BW dive organized by Kazushige Horiguchi in Ainan (Shikoku Island/Pref.) And the actual term "Black Water Dive" is under Japanese copyright... 😅 Not really sure how Japan fits in on the BW/bonfire timeline, but my strong inkling is that Japanese photographers might actually have been pioneers of planktonic diving - even though the now almost standard Mike Bartick-style drifting downline used for deep blackwater doesn't seem to be the most common form (which seem to revolve around weaker lights, often in bonfire-type configurations). *** Regarding the lights themselves, based on discussions with Ram Yoro, here Ryo Shinemizu is refering both to CRI and temp. The general idea is that the closer the light spectrum is to the sun's, the better, meaning ideally you would want a CRI above 90, and a colour temperature equal or warmer than 5,600 K. Reason for this is that such a light would attract more phytoplankton, thus recreating the food chain by attracting zooplankton feeding on the phytoplankton, and then critters feeding on the zooplankton itself. Deep drifiting blackwater focuses on the vertical migration of critters, whereas in bonfire type diving, the base of the buildup / attraction is actually phytoplankton, which actually doesn't take part in this vertical migration process, actually following the sun, which it needs for photosynthesis. And as Ryo Shinemizu mentioned, critters phototaxis, relationship to the light, is quite complex, and many of the amazing larval forms seen in blackwater are also spotted on shallower bonfire-type dives because most of these will be returning to the shallows at some point in their life cycle... Based on all this, we could add that one of the main differences between deep blackwater diving and shallow bonfire-style light-baited planktonic diving are as follows: - plankton is generally defined by its inability to resist current - in deep blackwater you actually drift with the planktonic critters, whereas static bonfire diving (unless it is itself organized as a shallow drift) implies near currentless conditions, allowing for a buildup of the foodchain (slack high tide being ideal) and predation. - deep blackwater diving focuses on attracting critters during some phase of their vertical migration of critters from the deep, whereas the basis of shallow bonfire diving is predation, building the phytoplanton/zooplankton/larval critter food chain. There is a similar idea in deep blackwater as well (the vertical migration also has a predatory aspect to it), but encounters will tend to be more random (and surprising) - shallow bonfire-style light-baited diving has a baseline of critters , which Ram Yoro calls "coastal plankton". This is a good term to describe the "regulars" which almost always show up on bonfires, marine worms, various gastropods and pteropods, different types of larvae of crustaceans like mantis shrimps, eels and flounders and various types of fish - these larval forms also overlap with some of the critters seen in deep water, spotted at a different time-period in their evolutionary process. cheers ben

The amazing footage Moorish idol spawning and grey reef shark chase was filmed in Palau (Blue Corner and Siaes' Corner) in January 2023. The spawning itself is a yearly event, but the actual chase is very difficult to catch as the Moorish idols (which congregate on the reefs for a few days in the Ngemelis area) dash from the reef into the blue when conditions are right. It's hardly a secret (nice footage on Youtube as well) but capturing the chase in this way is a really fantastic! I'm really happy to see this footage made it into the series! Other than a standard cinecam in a Gates housing, they used a floating pole with GoPros (in flat profiles, I'm sure 😁), as well a special boat mounted camera rig for the chase. I really hope there will be BTS footage, as I saw the rig being setup on one of our boats when I was working there, but not the actual finished product. Heré's some additional info from the BBC site: Filming feats The extraordinary behaviour of the Moorish Idols being chased by grey reef sharks was captured using a range of highly specialised cameras, including one developed specifically for this type of event that can be anchored to the side of a moving vessel and controlled from the deck, rather than having to be in the water, allowing an insight into the behaviour of the fish not possible any other way. The team achieved a ground-breaking feat by filming inside the intense whirlpools of Komodo National Park, capturing unprecedented footage for the sequence on the Indonesian Throughflow. What was the most difficult sequence to capture? The sharks hunting the Moorish idols. It's never been filmed before. During our research phase we discovered that Planet Earth III had tried to film the event and not managed it. So yes, the odds were stacked against us. The timing of the event is critical. It only happens once a year, and no one really knows what the exact triggers for it are. But in the run up to it you have these incredible few days where the numbers of sharks just build and build off the edge of the reef, and the numbers of the Moorish idols, which are the little reef fish that are waiting to spawn, build and build as well. And there's this kind of cat and mouse game going on as both drift up and down the reef. How did you actually film it? It was incredibly complex. As filmmakers, you need to cover it from every angle. To follow the main chase, you have to have drones in the air, so you can get that aerial view. You've also got to have multiple boats in the water because when it does kick off, a lot of the action happens at the surface. We had a specially rigged “pole-cam” camera system, which was attached to the side of the boat to actually capture the running event. Did you use divers as well? Yes. You've got to have divers in the water waiting for it to happen, spending as much time underwater as they possibly can. But as soon as the chase starts, you haul them out of the water very quickly. There is no way you could film it as a diver. One reason is that the event is running at about 4 or 5 knots, which is far too fast for even an Olympic swimmer, let alone a diver with a great big underwater camera in front of him. The other reason is obviously the sharks. There were 200 or more grey reef sharks, and they were hitting everything, even the side of the boat. If anything got in their way, they would try and take a chunk out of it. It's an impossible thing to cover from a dive perspective. So you need to put your eggs in lots of different baskets and film it in as many ways as you can. How did you marry your different filming devices? The game really is combining aerial drone shots with footage from the boat. We always had a drone in the air. We would bring one in to change the battery, and in the time we were doing that, we sent another one up, so we kept swapping them out. Not only were the drones filming, but they were giving us really accurate locations as well. If the boat drifts off, or the Moorish idols leave the side of the boat and you can't see them very well, then you just go to the drone find out where they are. The boat had a top deck, and the action at the surface to start with was so profuse – you had splashing and sharks leaping out the water – that it was quite easy to spot and follow them. It's when the numbers of the Moorish idols dwindle significantly that you really need the drones to stick on top of them so that you don't lose them. What were the biggest challenges of the shoot? The sharks kept changing direction. They often came straight at the boat. A number of times the Moorish idols used the shadow of the hull of the boat as shelter, so all the sharks would then pile into the side of the boat. We'd have to turn all the engines off and sit there until the idols went again. Finally, returning to the incredible sequence of the grey reef sharks hunting the Moorish idols, how do you reflect on that now? Going for that sequence at all was a really big punt. But on a mega-landmark series, you need to be very ambitious. It's a pretty nerve-wracking process doing that. But you have an enormous sense of relief when it turns out well. You get a huge glow of pride that you actually did it. The team pulled it off. Everybody did such a good job that it was an incredible success. It’s now the opening sequence of the whole series. In years to come, when I look back over my career, that's something that's going to go down as one of the really big moments. Beyond Palau, I'm really looking forward to the Komodo NP sequences, where they apparently filmed inside whirlpools. I wonder where - There can be massive whirlpools just off the sides of Batu Bolong in central Komodo, but otherwise north of the park can be really intense (Golden Passage, etc) Here's the technical description: To film the intense whirlpools of Komodo National Park, the team used a specially constructed floating camera rig, operated by cinematographer David Reichert, who was dressed in multiple life jackets, as well as additional safety equipment and a support team nearby with throw-ropes in case of need. The team also operated a pole-cam from the main vessel to capture additional shots. These innovative approaches provided a unique perspective and also resulted in split-shots showing these whirlpools in action, offering viewers a rare and thrilling glimpse into these dynamic underwater phenomena. But the Komodo sequence seems to also focus on reef manta rays, so for the mantas that would mostly be central, Karang Makassar and Mawan, and maybe Cauldron up north? Other goodies to look out for include firefly squid footage from Toyama bay, which has some of the best black water diving in Japan, and sea krait footage from the Banda Sea which is most likely from the Gili Manuk area... Really looking forward to this one (and BTS footage...) I must say!

This really beggars belief... Not having a paid account, I'm not an active Vimeo user, but do have a lurking account and often watch videos on the platform (through a VPN in Indonesia, as Vimeo is blocked). I created the account when I was working in Mexico, so unaffected for now, or maybe it's because I log in through a VPN, not sure. This is really up there with other odd management decisions virtually killing off a platfrom - similarly, Flickr also went through some pretty intense changes if I remember correctly. Wonder if there will be actual communication from Vimeo on the subject, or if they're just planning on letting the platform rot away. Reminds me of the evolution in video consumption habits discussed in "popularity of video vs photography" thread. In a time were online video is dominated by reels and shorts, often superslomo clips aimed to be watched (dare I say consumed?) in vertical format on phones, maybe high quality video hosting platforms such as this, now mostly a video linked in aimed at professionals and high-end users willing to pay to host their footage, are bound to drift into oblivion... 😞

For those of you with Facebook, here is a clip from an Al-Jazeera feature on... 🔥 bonfire diving in the Philippines 🔥 presented as a new dive-tourism opportunity (though I do have my doubts regarding its appeal for beginner divers, given the imaging focus and buoyancy control needed to enjoy diving with small critters, regardless of depth) This is time-related, but in certain fruitful locales, people holding regular bonfire sessions have mentioned over 80% of species observed in deep blackwater have also been spotted in bonfire-style shallow light-baited dives (which, on the other hand, have more predation focused outlook, so quite a different feel for baited open-ocean drift dives). The chances of seeing pelagic, deep water species are naturally higher on a BW dive, but the relation to depth seems quite complex, and also linked to life cycle considerations and environmental factors. On a related note, speaking of deep vs. shallow water, here are some pretty amazing planktonic photographs mostly shot while... snorkeling https://www.instagram.com/gilkoplovitz/ all this makes one wonder, when it comes to planktonic diving, are shallows the new deep? Lastly, Japanese photographer Ryo Minemizu copyrighted the term "Black Water Dive", but apparently in reference to an actual bonfire-style setup, described as follows: Black Water Dive® is a kind of night diving. We are setting up underwater lights of high-color rendering on the sea bottom of night that while considering tides, times, places. The creature which appears is mainly juveniles and larvae. All is fascinating, and it's not to be seen at daytime or regular night diving. It will be your first experience. "BWD" uses a lot of underwater lights, but its purpose is not to illuminate the underwater brightly without limit. The brightness of each light is limited to a maximum of 1500 lumen, which is about the same brightness as a commonly used underwater light. Then why use lots of underwater lights? It's for create a space of suitable light. Creature's phototaxis has nothing to do with light intensity. That is, even if it is not a strong light, Creature will gather sufficiently. Of course, if you are going to put together squid of pelagic, light needs to be strong. Creatures have finished floating stage period and are coming to the area to approaching to shore. We only need the minimum brightness to make it easy to find it. In fact, they are coming there even without that light. The important elements are thoroughly the tide, time, and place. *"BWD" stands for Black Water Dive®. *Black Water Dive® is a registered trademark of Ryo Minemizu. Source: https://www.blackwaterdive.net/ Here is a clip presenting his current setup: Here is additional information on bonfire history, light power and setup, and also environmental concerns from Ryo Minemizu's site - pretty fascinating stuff! History It was around 1990 that I was interested in these unknown creatures. Christopher Newbert's photo book "Within a Rainbowed Sea", which I purchased for the first time as an underwater photograph photo book, it was introduced a lot of beautiful coral reef landscapes and creatures, but the most interested thing among them the golden shining octopus and Blenniidae with red pectoral fin. All, most of the body is skeleton creatures. Since all were black backgrounds, I understood what was filmed in the sea at night. I was doing diving guide at the Izu peninsula in Japan at the time, so when I dive in the ocean of the night, I tried to see skeleton creatures like that in the photo book. In those days, when speaking of underwater lights it was a time when there were only Toshiba halogen lights that to put four D batterys. A lot of elongated larvae of the mantis shrimp was crowded before the lights when I was trying several times only a Toshiba-light put upward from the bottom of ocean. In those days it was still film camera era and I was not able to take larvae of the unpredictable moving the mantis shrimp as a decent photographs, but I was very excited about the creature I saw for the first time. I tried secretly on several times, and I could also find Tholichthys stage of the Butterflyfish and juveniles of the Pearlfishe (at the time, I was thinking the larva is Congridae's). Yes, even Toshiba-light, which isn't bright, there was enough fish-gathering effect. T he an era has changed, gradually a new type of underwater light come out. The groundbreaking was Apollo Sports made a lead battery type underwater light (still halogen). It was much brighter than Toshiba-light, and the battery was large capacity, so I could keep a long lighting time. And underwater lights using the HID bulb appeared, I purchased the CANNON 100 light made by Underwater Kinetics and tried it. This was a light of 12.5 watt HID bulb / 450 lumens, it was a well bright epoch-making at that time, and from now on I thought that the age of HID will come even to the world of underwater lights. With HID light, the amount of plankton gathered increased, but the ignition lighting was unstable and it was a weak point of HID. After that some new HID lights were released, but none of them was satisfactory. Soon the age of LED underwater lights came. It's much smaller than HID light, and stable lighting, but the brightness is no way inferior. Immediately I bought FIX LED 1000 DX which FISHEYE released, after that changed to FIX LED 1500 DX later, I bought the FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 too. Because I was thinking to take effect that brighter is better. The AQUAVOLT 7000 boasted the largest brightness of 7000 lumen at that time, and stable lighting for more than 2 hours was possible at 4900 lumen when reduced the brightness to 70%. Of course there were big effects. I saw the first time Abralia andamanica and school of Todarodes pacificus, various Crustacea larvae, I continued new encounters keep every dive. But after that I come across RGBlue lights I am using now. Phototaxis and favorite color One day, I got the opportunity to try RGBlue LED light. RGBlue is an underwater LED light made by specialty to high color rendering to faithfully reproduce the original color of the object. Initially I was thinking of using it as a light for video shooting. But before that, I decided to compare three lights evenly put on the sea bottom. Lit each light of FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 (6,500 - 8,000 K) and RGBlue System 02 (5000 K / Ra 80) and RGBlue System 02 Premium Color (4200 K / Ra 95) on in the sea of night. FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 lighted at 70% 4900 lumen. RGBlue System 02 lighted at 1000 lumen of the second brightest from the bottom. RGBlue System 02 Premium Color lighted at 900 lumen of the second brightest from the bottom. Two types of RGBlue are much darker than AQUAVOLT 7000. However, the difference appeared relatively quickly. What! Clearly the RGBlue light that should be darker than AQUAVOLT 7000 had more creatures gathered. And the creatures that came to AQUAVOLT 7000 was immediately to attract toward the RGBlue light. As a result, we reveal that the belief that "the brighter the light is, the more creatures gather" was wrong. It was same result any time when changed the day and try it many times. Even among RGBlue, there was a subtle difference in the tendency of creatures to gather, which obvious related to was configured color. As a result the creatures like gathering to more natural light than artificial light. Even in that sense, RGBlue is an excellent light for creatures. Environmental considerations In Black Water Dive ®, I'm trying to keep mind the brightness of the light to 1500 lumen or less at the maximum and to use the high color rendering lights. Apart from that, we have established rules in our own that not to doing in the same place in daily. Specifically, for example, when doing four days of consecutive Black Water Dive ®, it is necessary to prepare four dive points. This is essential to avoid doing it consecutive in the same place. Also, if you do it in the same place as before, you can go only after at least one week. Also, if you went to the same place for two consecutive weeks like this, you can do it in the same place in the next eight weeks later. In other words, if the last was May, the next is July after eight weeks. In addition, we are deciding that it will be a total of seven days with do in the same place all year round. This is a consideration for avoiding "fixation of predator fish" that can occur by placing the light in the same place. All of these are own rules set based on experiences and examples of the past 20 years. SOURCE: https://www.ryo-minemizu.com/Blackwaterdive

oooooh wowzers 🤩 Now who will be the first Waterpixels wizard to replicate this mind-blowing demonstration to 12m with a colour checker / Macbeth?

Whales ‘relentlessly pestered’: tourism boom sparks new rules in French Polynesia Caps on the number of boats allowed to approach whales among measures to be introduced while experts say restrictions don’t go far enough Extract: Whale-watching tourism generates over $2bn in revenue, according to the International Whaling Commission – and the Pacific industry is growing. In French Polynesia, the number of certified whale-based tourism operators rose from 60 in 2023, to 90 in 2024, according to Tahiti Tourism. But their growth has raised concerns over the potential harm to the animals. In April, a report by French Polynesia’s government said “increasing pressure on whales from human activities poses a considerable risk to these fragile animals.” It said due to the rising number of whale-based tourism operators, “cetaceans can be relentlessly pestered throughout the day.” In response, French Polynesia plans to introduce new rules to reduce risks to whales, but some in the industry say they don’t go far enough. (...) In 2025, French Polynesia will tighten some regulations for whale-based tourism. It will introduce a quota, with only three boats permitted to approach a whale at the same time. It will restrict whale-watching operators to one boat for each company, and private boats will have to stay at least 300m away. But in a move that seems at odds with improving protections, divers will be able to swim closer to whales from next year, when the current limit of 30m from the mammals will be dropped to 15m. The government says the new limit still means swimmers will be a “safe distance” away. “The reality on the ground shows that at 30m you can’t see much, and the animal often approaches out of curiosity anyway. But it’s still important to keep a safe distance, which we’ve set at 15m,” says Fanny Martre, spokesperson for the environment department. Dr Mark Orams specialises in marine tourism and studied whale-based tourism in Tonga. He says allowing swimmers to get within 15m of a humpback whale is “dangerous.” “These whales are 15 metres in length. You get within 15 metres and you are in immediate proximity of their biggest weapon which is their tail … I would be really concerned if there were approaches at that sort of length,” says Dr Orams. He adds that we probably shouldn’t be swimming with whales – especially not with mothers and their calves. In a study he co-authored, researchers found that swimming with whales had a negative effect on the behaviour of mothers and calves in Tonga. Full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/29/french-polynesia-whale-tours-changes-tourism

It's the same here in Bali's Tulamben / Amed area - it's seasonal and moves around, most likely linked to reproduction booms and importantly environmental conditions, which not only allow these reproduction cycles to happen, but also affect survival rates and food sources, which need to be abundant enough to sustain populations. Same goes for quite a few seasonal critters, but for bigger, more environmentally aware ones (cephalopods, macro highlights like frogfish, rhinopias) it's also linked to reproduction / activity cycles, bringing them to shallower areas etc...

As a follow-up, I've been experimenting further with blackwater type video on bonfire dives. Lighting Light positioning is still a challenge, as it's difficult to get visual feedback on the spot - results can be better or worse than expected 😅 still figuring it out, as always... What is clear is that video-light positions shown above all work, but while having the lights facing forward as in the last two diagrams give cleaner results (less backscatter), in my short experience they also have two major downside for video - light power needs to be set higher, which excites the critters, leading them to a plaknton feeding frenzy (moving faster), and attracts the swarm - forward facing constant lights will definitely be a nuisance to other divers / image-makers who happen to be facing in the same direction Ear-muff style side-lighting is not as clean in terms of backscatter, but has the advantage of allowing us to lower light intensity, which seems to better for the critters and fellow divers. It also works better with translucent critters. Focusing The other main challenge for video is, of course focusing. I don't have access to a fast autofocus on my camera, but frankly, I have my doubts as to how efficient a fast autofocus would really work *for video* in this case (but maybe I'm wrong and tracking would be seamless, just difficult to image this speed while recording) Issue, of course, is that critters are small and are feeding, so move fast and often erratically, and while managing to lock-in and track a critter for a split-second strobe firing, for a minimum of 10 seconds of video, it's another story (which is why so much BW type video is slowed down 50% or more... which is fine and even great when it shows things impossible to make out otherwise, but also loses natural movement..). And yet it is possible - difficult, frustrating, but possible - it really depends on the critter's behaviour and size of course. One way to approach this is through manual focus, with peaking. Lock the focus within the lit area, spot the critter and move in. Peaking lets you know how the focus is going, adjust with camera movements. The problem is the critter moving along the focus plane - which they do - coming closer to the lens then moving away, in and out... This is where I'm at at the moment, trying to figure out what would work best in terms of magnification, working distance, and depth of field. Life being what it is, I can't change lenses on my small-sensor compact, so I'm stuck with the lens I have, which in 4K starts at 36mm After initial tests, what seemed the most flexible was working with the lens zoomed to a 50mm equivalent. In terms of aperture, f/8 to f/11 - which is the smallest I can go - works fine for me - based on normal supermacro shots (this for instance, all shot at f/11) diffraction and resolution loss doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as it would be on bigger rigs, and this is video, so pixel peeping is less of an issue. Zoomed out to 50mm or so, on my camera adding a +6 diopter (the Inon UCL-165) gives that extra magnification and drops working distance to the glass, which is appreciable (see below) However, yesterday I also tested the AOI UCL-09 +12.5, which is tricky of course, but very nice and detailled when finally managing to nail the @!$#%@#%@ focus. These are rough screen captures (screenshots from as my computer's preview) of clips shot with the AOI +12.5 at roughly 50mm (the lens vignettes under 46mm), f/11, giving an idea of the range I'm getting with this diopter Other than getting a new camera (with 4k 60fps, a fast tracking autofocus and the battery life to support it for video, interchangeable lenses and my name on it in big phosphorescent letters) - which isn't in the books for anytime soon - making do with what we have, means finding the focal / aperture / dof / working distance combo which is the most practical for video shooting. One interesting aspect of shooting video with a small (1") sensor camera with a set lens, is that diopters behave a little differently than with a larger sensor, especially in terms of range. This is Lumix LX10 / compact specific info, but just to give an idea, land tests give me the following working distance / focus ranges at 36mm (which is widest I can go shooting in 4K) and 52mm (which is comfortable for BW style critters) (as a reminder, the Lumix LX10 has a 1"sensor, and 24m -72mm equivalent zoom lens, f1.4 to f2.8 In 4K, it is 36mm to 72mm) These tests were done on land at f/8 NO DIOPTER 36mm min: glass / 5mm max: 220mm + / infinity 52mm min: 90mm max: 260mm + / infinity INON UCL165 +6 36mm min: glass / 5mm max: 220mm 52mm min: 30mm max: 210mm AOI UCL 09 +12.5 45mm min (vignetting) min: glass max: 110mm 52mm min: glass max: 120mm I also tested my beloved Nauticam CMC-1, but it is less flexible than the AOI UCL09 for this application, so it stays home. As you can see, the Inon UCL165 and AOI UCL09 diopters are interesting tools, allowing me to focus to the glass but also almost 10cm out. But for video, more than working distance / minimal focus distance, the crucial issue here is depth of field, and efficient ways of maintaining focus within it for 10 second shots... cheers b

The left-side clip looks more balanced - seeing this, I'm wondering what would happen if you were to reset the white balance to the sand in the foreground, see how it handles the green hue. Might be too much of a stretch though. Otherwise did you try shooting this in flat WB/colours as well? Also it's not clear to me, is there artificial light in the foreground, or is this ambient?

Welcome onboard Antoine, Great handle btw, not many Franco-Banana-benders around 😉 Ben (formerly de Melbourne)

As an update, I've been experimenting with bonfires in east Bali, and recently had very interesting exchanges with a real master of bonfire diving, currently pushing the boundaries of bonfire dives in Anilao. This has led me to change the spot I was using to a more enclosed bay, which does seem to help concentrate plankton and predators. I still use moorings, as this is just convenient and allows for a little depth under the cone of light, which is more comfy. It's easy peasy, just swim on the surface up to the mooring, descend,hang the lights between 3 and 8 meters, and the do the same thing in reverse, surfacing on the mooring itsel. On the light front, nothing new, but lure / bait light temperature (warmer) and light colour are important, and current explorations are leaning on existing coloured lights designed for anglers and cephalopod, which is really interesting. These lights are designed to be powered by a boat mounted battery, so a little DIY is in order to ad a watertight battery compartment. Also - and this is a little counter intuitive - in terms of light power, more isn't necessarily better - there's a max number of lumen after which the lure / bait lights actually repel plankton and critters, 2.5K to 5K lumen being the optimal range (which doesn't mean you can't have more lights to increase the lit up area, but more than 5K is not necessarily recommended. I'm still a long way from this, but getting acceptable results with my basic setup - tonight I'm trying a different disposition, inspired by Japanese bonfire dive setups. I'm making do with what I have, but even a ridiculously low lumen setup like this gets results in good locations. However, more powerful lights would be better (and allow me to use my Backscatter MW4300 as a focus light...), especially video lights more than simple dive lights, but hey, it's better than nothing. With this setup, more than light power, it's actually battery life which is an issue. It's better to let the site "cook" for a minimum of 30 minutes before the dive starts, yet I run out of battery power after 80 minutes, often when things are picking up! cheers ben

Fair enough - the captures were not from 4K, so I'd be reassured if these artifacts are coming from my aging display! (but be warned, if you start attacking what's left of my aging eyeballs, I will meet you at dawn to avenge my honor with matched GoPro Selfie Sticks 🧐😉) To compare, what do you get here at 1'46"?

Wow - they're really showering the internets aren't they... Apparently the presskit release included the word "king" 😅 Fun times we're living in, as always. Anyway, here are some screen captures from the M. Lebo and Aquatic Images (who is a Waterpixel member, if I remember correctly?) Matthias Lebo review, UW footage captures: "out of camera" useable greatness for people eager to share ASAP This is with the software to improve the UW image (and give it a bit of an aura as well, apparently) Andreas Fiskeseth / Aquatic images review, UW footage captures: What was the name of that Hendrix tune? You know the one that goes 🎶 tadadeeda, deedadadaaa 🎶 seriously, I wonder where that came from - it looks like lens flare, but at this angle? Glitch in the AI matrix? Should we have taken the blue pill? and round and round it goes... On UW corner distortion Lebo, compared the three actions cams here: DJI is abhorrent (compounded with an external wide lens, as previously discussed), and the Insta360 Ace Pro2 might be the Kwisatz Haderach (but then... what happens when an external lens is thrown in the mix?) *** So, all hail the king 👑 or do we bring out the guillotine? (this is the Frenchman in me speaking of course) As an aside, computational ("AI" 💻) sharpening (artifacts included free of charge, apparently) and saturation taken to 11 seems to be something of a trend these days - compare with Lebo's latest Iphone16 informercial captures here, showing how good it is, really : Well, similar plus and minuses I'd say - and well, herm, colourful, to say the least 😎

I've tried with 4 different batteries. But it's time to move on, dangerous and wasting time hoping it might be resurrected - even if it does work again it will be too unstable to take diving. I just wish there was a way to recycle the optical snoot optics at the front of the light somehow, but they're welded in. Oh well, paper weight?

Interestingly, I tested the light again today, more out of curiosity than anything (I don't have a good spotting light for bonfires, so this is frustrating and I expect a miracle to happen). This time nothing happened (no disco light as in the previous video, flatlining) - however, when I opened the light, it turned out the SUPE 18650 battery was piping hot... I ventured to touch the connecter spring inside the battery compartment and burnt my pinkie, to give you an idea (no, I am not going to sue 😉) -Never seen anything like it. I'm guessing it's a short-circuit of sorts, pretty scary to see it heat up like this... Won't be testing it anymore as I'm afraid of a fire or explosion after this experience. SUPE MS10 - what a strange trip it's been... My plan is now to try and open the light up to see if I can make use of the snoot optics somehow.

That looks good, with you with avoiding buoyancy on the sides, and keeping the rig compact with the lights close like this. And I also find it nicer to have the buoyancy above (so the rig "hangs" on it) than below (so it "pushes" the rig) - these 10bar compensate 400g each, right? What you could try is get a 10" 900g float above on the triple clamps, something like this one: https://www.puluz.com/v/3163499 This is what I use, and just cabletie additional floats to it as required. One thing you could also try is just add 5" arms to the lights, with 10bar or stix float, to bring the closer to neutral (these are next to the float, bottom right) Shouldn't mess much with the balance, but will compensate 150g or so off the lights themselves, and will give you more flexibility in positioning if using triple clamps. Maybe try to get open triple clamps if you can, to give you more options with a centrally mounted float

This is really huge - best uploaded to youtube as Davide suggested. That said, I'm curious - when/if you have time, do you think you could shoot an ambient light 10 second clip in flat (WB native, GoPro color) followed by one in the same place/conditions in Natural color (I think the new gopros have options to change settings easily, right?) Just ambient light (if you use artificial lights as a dominant light source it's best to set to the kelvin of your lights), properly exposed, reasonable depth for ambient light your locale (say 15m?) one in flat (WB native / GoPro color) the other one in Natural color. If you can have some sort of white balance ref (sand, tank, bubbles, slate...) it would be great. I don't expect much without a filter to help balance in post, but I'm really curious to give the flat clip a spin, so how what data is on there with the technological advances, and also how flat results compare to the natural color one, especially with the increased colour bit rate and everything. Just keep it small (10 seconds each) as I'm on an old laptop. There must be a lot more information to work with, and regardless of the locales, I'm really interested in how the data behaves compared to what I have on the GP7, and also how graded re-white balanced results compare to baked natural color profile. (and on a purely selfish note, I'm also curious if my laptop can still handle the files....) On water colour, where I was in Mexico (Gulf of California / Sea of Cortez) is generally green water as well btw - it does clear up some months (and temperatures do rise to 29°C in August before dropping), but otherwise heavy planktonic and generally green. Japan is a mixed bag, but water is generally surprisingly blue despite being temperate like Europe or colder in the north. Where I was working (Hachijo) had a mixed subtropical environment, including underwater like you can see here, with some hard coral (thanks to the Kuroshio, water temp doesn't drop below 17°C in winter) but also more temperate characteristics. Volcanic, and characteristics somewhat closer to Macaronesia I have some old GoPro4 Mediterranean clips (from Hyeres, so somewhat greener water) in flat somewhere, but not accessible here unfortunately... cheers b

Welcome Valerie, lovely vids always great to see more video-inclined people joining up 😄 Best of luck for the GH5 - otherwise changing the entire electronics should solve the issue. cheers ben

yep... Too cropped on the dual screen format in to judge corners, colours at depth are terrible on both to be fair, which is expected on cameras unable to understand / process the underwater environment I wish we had some reviewers actually working, even basically, on the footage, showing ungraded flat footage and quickly graded results, and when I say graded I especially mean white-balanced footage for instance. It's not difficult, and would give an idea of what is actually possible, when one is not crippling the camera's potential by forcing it to do things it will struggle with in such an environment (= auto wb, auto colors underwater) In a way, these auto-settings reviews are the equivalent of photographers comparing camera models by shooting photos in P mode or iA mode "because that's what most people will use"... Anyway 😅 Other than the wider fov, the DJI seems to handle low light better, that's what stands out the most

Very interesting subject Shelby. One thing I’ve been thinking about is maybe making a distinction between video (moving-pictures) as a format and video as a medium. As a format, we are clearly in a video centric world, a tendency which started as television sets became accessible and mainstream. It would be difficult to quantify this, as we can’t say really quantify attention received by the print industry with that of television and cinema, but as a format, since the tap of television was fully opened and brought moving-pictures out of the cinema and into everyone's living-rooms, the balance with written words, illustrations, still-pictures began to shift rapidly. If we fast-forward to our current digital connected online-age, this is even clearer. As technological advances (digital video compression, effective codecs and bandwith) made it possible, video - again as a format - quickly took over online (and spaces like this forum are just leftovers of an age gone-by, where the written word was still dominant online format...). This includes streaming, youtube, vlogs, tiktok and all the rest... It’s generational, but most people are now more likely to seek spoken / filmed information than written / printed data (whereas old farts like myself prefer skim reading than listening to a talking head meandering about a subject 😁) Yet when we come to video as an actual medium, things are a little less clear, especially in our field of underwater imaging. Yes, video shooting is now accessible and somewhat easier, we have action cams, phones and even instant editing apps that can auto-edit, auto-colour correct – and all still cameras can shoot video to some extent - and yet anyone who does video can testify that beyond the short-clip, it's still a rather painful process to actually share video content online, and that the audiences reached with video content are also way more limited than with still picture distribution. Instagram - the dominant image-sharing app - has strict limitations on video length, and their platform format is really designed for phone uploads, which makes it near-impossible to work with for sharing anything more than a 0:59 second clip... And even that is not easy, as you do need to upload (from a phone...) at some point, which is a really headache after editing on a computer, which is still unavoidable for most projects... And don't get me started on vertical vs. horizontal, portraits vs. landscape formats, bah, humbug! And generally, our almighty algorithm overlords are quite finicky when it comes to video content... Or take this beautiful forum: it has member galleries, and yet there is no way to upload videos (which would saturate servers), so they have to be shared from hosting platforms like Youtube and Vimeo (which is restricted / subscription based). In the field of underwater imaging, still-pictures dominate. By far. Again, just look at Waterpixels, out of the current member-base, how many of us focus exclusively – or primarily – on video? And this is not new, it was the same on Wetpixels and elsewhere… Just take a look at any underwater imaging publication – other than the latest action-cam or latest glamorously unaffordable-for-most cinecam release info, what percentage of the discussion is actually dedicated to video as an underwater imaging medium? And out of actual physical imaging devices made, other than action cams, what percentage of the products are actually primarily video-focused? Do people mostly shoot stills or videos on their phones? This does not mean that underwater videos aren't made of course. But what I mean to highlight here is that few people are actually pursuing underwater videography as their medium of choice, and that these numbers are probably dropping. To which people will like answer but what of the ubiquitous action cams and phones, which are the first imaging equipment bought by divers, think selfie-sticks, etc, etc. And yes, it is certainly true a lot of divers will try to film their dives, especially when they start diving, but beyond the resulting memento footage to share on socials, how many among them actually keep at it after filming a few of their first dives ? Yes, how many of these divers, after having action-cam'ed their first bubbles and turtles, actively continue underwater video making, spend time editing, look at other videos, try to build something in the medium, share content? Most of the things I now see posted (Scubaboard, the 2 or 3 zombie UW video FB groups...) are now mostly such "film-my-dive" content, showcasing a dive, a divesite, a trip - some good, some bad - along with some "check-out-this-crazy-thing-I-saw" type clips. Nothing wrong with this, I do slideshows myself, but the percentage of constructed pieces, or piece - showing something else is actually very very small. And they are usually done by the same active shooters entering UW photo competitions in the UW video category, Alex B's Freediving under ice in Greenland at amazing icebergs to take a recent local example, for instance. Other than that, you have the billion talking-head gear-reviews feeding the machine (Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog!) - and usually with very little underwater footage shown - along with promotional/commercial content (liveaboard, resort, tourism area with some diving), often done by semi-professionals hired for the job. These productions, fueled by commercial interests, occupy a slightly different sector in the world of underwater imaging (as a sidenote, other than people of consequent financial means, a lot of pro to semi-pro videographers started by working on such promo content for liveaboards or resorts for instance), with a set purpose, economy and ecosystem... And lastly we have professional documentary productions which we all know. Large productions with a budget, a dedicated film crew of sorts, or projects toeing the line, like local/scientific documentary projects (Underwater Italy to give take another local example). An underwater cameraman like Roger Munns would be a good example of inspiring work, but working in a professional environment which is disconnected from what most amateurs video enthusiast operate in. These operators and productions are in a world of their own (though technical advances and the development of more flexible commercial distribution outlets such as streaming platforms are making the border between semi-profession and professional productions more porous - I'm thinking of Alex Del Olmo / Behind The Mask Netflix collaborations hinted at recently for instance). So yes, action cam (and maybe, phone) clips are generally the first toe dipped in the sea of underwater imaging, but let's face it, for those that stick to UW imaging, they are also often a gateway to still-picture making... Why? Well for one thing, there are multiple concrete advantages to still-images shooting: - equipment is more accesible, and somewhat cheaper (strobes vs. video lights), or at least with a wider budget range information is generally more readily available, in many forms it's just easier to share still pictures, and there is more of a community of people will to engage in discussion, or just more shooters in general. Resorts, masterclasses etc are usually geared at still-shooters, not moving-picture weirdoes video is much more time consuming (selecting clips, choosing music if any, editing, publishing, sharing) than stills, which are more compatible with a busy life and also with phones as a content sharing device (which is why a lot of video content now is merging with the written work, subtitled and captioned to be consumed in silence during transit for instance...) - stills are generally more gratifying. You can put your signature on the pictures (so they are not stolen by evil online copyright pirates, of course...), have your galleries on instagram, on a forum or flickr, publish in online and physical mags, and have access to a more dynamic competition environment for those that are interested in this technically - I won't stir an outrage by paraphrasing Alex Del Olmo's recent provocative words in X-Ray mag stating that shooting stills is actually easier than shooting video - but underwater stability is certainly less of an issue when freezing a frame for seconds or less, as is whitebalancing / lighting, which are more straightforward with strobes, and still editing in lightroom is just not in the same timeframe as video editing, colour correcting – oh, and storage is actually easier... Video files are huge! (and require more computational power to edit...) Macro, macro, macro... Shooting macro video is tricky (working distance, stability) and quite a few of the star-subjects of macro photography (nudibranchs for instance) are rather static and usually make rather poor macro video subject, and then need to be complemented by creative lighting and editing solution to not bore viewers too quickly (yes, I am thinking of Dustin Adamson's nudi snooting slideshows and of Fred Miri Schaschl's whacky edits here) Lastly stills are probably more “artistic” - a very broad and provocative statement I know, but what I mean by that is that for stills, there is more of a focus on the photographer’s eye, compositional creation and vision of the subject, whereas video is generally more "naturalistic", highlighting the subject's behaviour and movement, and/or "story-based" (YMMV, take Behind The Mask’s current dramatic, sometimes neo-MTV-clips approach to video making for instance, and the attention-grabbing speed ramping trend which is - thanksfully - finally going out of style somewhat - but drone shots are still everywhere...) Sure, a good picture also needs to tell a story, as stated in the opening chapter of most photography 101 books, and yet this is really more literal for video. In my opinion there is quite difference between the story told by a picture and the actual dramatisation (story telling) created by narrative editing, voice-overs (ever so popular in current UW videos...) or even BBC style over-dramatisation, with zanny foley tracks and all.... All in all, I think it’s something of a paradox – as a format, moving pictures are everywhere, it’s never been easier to film underwater, and yet the medium of underwater videography is dying-out in a way (which is probably linked to the way content is consumed), at least when it comes to underwater imaging. Or re-inventing itself, to say the least... Recently, as I was looking for info on UR-Pro filters, I ended up drifting into ancient Wetpixel threads – it’s amazing how active the video section was around 2005-2010, with people actively exchanging and trying to figure things out within what was then a new medium of digital video. Where are they now, and where are their successors? Other than a few exceptions, like Dustin Adamson who seem to compete in most UW video competitions, most moved on, passed-away, shoot stills, do talking-head gear reviews, you name it... But this underwater videography boom is over, gone. Just compare this lively 20-year-old scene with the of scene today, where 90% of video content is related to discussing recent action cams and their oh-so frustrating limitations (which lead most video makers to move to something else anyway...), and very little content actually shared. In this, underwater video is currently a paradoxical medium - simultaneously more accessible, omnipresent, and yet in a state of flux, and more dead than alive, in its classical form at least. Video-game inspired 360° immersive content might seem like the future, but this also doesn't seem to be catching-on too well, probably because once the technical novelty is gone, this format doesn't blend too well with the narrative aspects of videography. Interestingly, we've been seeing a lot of super-slowmotion short clips recently, which probably works better on phones and instagram / soclal - but in slowing doing the movement to the extreme, is this not moving video clips closer to stills photography? (animated GIFs anyone?) The same cannot really be said of still-photography, which is alive and well in its own aging underwater niche and dive tourism-based ecosystem (after all, imaging gives divers something to do, to actively engage with underwater). Phones have also blown a new breath of life into photography, bringing a camera back into everyone's pockets. How will this translate for underwater still photography? The future will tell... And let's not forget computational (AI) imaging content is also just around the corner, so we'll see where all this takes us... cheers ben (disclaimer - it's 2024, so I'll add that I do not condone the actions of the Cousteau + Louis Malle team in this documentary or subsequent ones, and am simply posting this as a reminder that while there were others UW documentary productions before it, this 1956 documentary-fiction film was really one of the first underwater cinematographic endeavours to reach a wide, almost global audience...)

Wow - modesty, style and all the rest 😅 Surely they need to keep up with the other 2 cameras - the only thing I see on that, erhm, trailer thing, is the flipscreen... Which is useless underwater, but likely indicates a desire to court the youtuber (sorry, content creator) market a bit more, as this is a move away from pure immersive / action fovs. We'll see. This is purely subjective, but out of the three action cam brands, this one feels a little more chaotic. And not as in iphone-disruption chaotic, more like, a little all over the place chaotic. But we'll see...

A CMC-3 would be nice as well. Something to keep up with AOI's UCL-900 Pro for instance. Their UCL-90 Pro is also fantastic, bright and already offers a stronger magnification than the CMC-1. As much as I love my CMC-1, let's hope there's some movement on the the CMC line as well, for us little people 😁

Flexarm has been around for a while, and yes, quality is good. I've used two of their flexarms since 2016. Looks good - Your setup reminds me of the SRP tray I once had, boomerang shaped with two handles. It really helped on the GoPro4, which had no stabilisation (and wasn't waterproof either...) Then I started working in diving and was just shooting ambient in ambient light, stabilisation (hypersmooth etc) was introduced on the GoPro5. I got rid of the tray just handheld the GoPro housing directly, which worked fine - this was my hyperminimalist actioncam setup for years, always clipped on the BCD. But with heavy lights, this is not going to be an option. The lens is also a little heavy but my manageable on such a small camera. What solution are you going for in terms of buoyancy compensation? I'm guessing arms for the lights? Horizontal float above the camera are also nice (you can use triple clamps for the lights for instance), and help bulk-up the setup, which is nice to handle.