Eric Hanauer

...has become a classic dive site in the Sea of Cortez. We spent two of our four dive days there this month on a La Paz trip with Seasick Expeditions. I've posted a 3 1/2 minute video on my YouTube channel. Here's the link:

I met Jim Black at an airport counter. He was traveling to Malaysia with three other airline pilots. We recognized each others dive gear and started a conversation while waiting for our flight. I was in first class on a magazine assignment; the pilots were in another cabin. After a few hours, Jim and his buddies appeared and asked me to follow them into the cockpit of the 747. Obviously this was before 9/11. We spent a few hours there conversing with the Malaysia crew. This was also before they closed Sipadan to dive resorts, so we had a great week of diving and fellowship at Borneo Divers. Jim was the leader of the pilots group, friendly, gregarious, and everything Kraken stated so well. Afterward, we would occasionally see each other at DEMA and reminisce. I'm sorry to hear of his passing, but glad to have been able to share this experience with him.

Starting point is better than just decent on my GH5II. One click in color balance on FCP usually does it. Colors underwater are subjective. It’s not like studio skin tones. Or like rocket science.

Editing video is a time investment we owe to our viewers. Color grading is an integral part of that.

I’ve been shooting a GH5 underwater for several years. Manual white balance works fine down to about 100 feet. You don’t need a white card. Sand or gray rock will work. It still will need color grading in post. Final Cut Pro does a good job of this.

On a recent trip to Cozumel I shot video on the entire trip with one lens: the LUMIX 14-40mm behind a Nauticam WWL-1, Panasonic GH5II. I don’t know to what degree 4/3 optics differ from full frame, but my imagery was sharp corner to corner. And it focused virtually on the lens. I was so impressed that I sold my big dome port.

You’ve got to temper your expectations. UW manual white balance will give you the colors you see without artificial light, not the brilliant colors you would get with video lights. Even then it will require color grading in post. Finally, using sand or your bare hand for manual white balance is as effective as a white card.

I resisted the subscription model for over a year. I expected Adobe to raise the monthly price. That hasn’t happened. When Lightroom started doing things my version couldn’t, I finally gave in. They continually improve the product and the price remains the same.

Crucial has a reasonably priced 4 tb ssd. It’s tiny. Check it out on Amazon.

Best comparison I’ve seen. Thanks.

Thanks for re-establishing our community of underwater image makers. It's good to see some familiar names and posts from people I've followed and responded to over the past decade or more. I'm looking forward to more discussion, problem solving, and online friendship in the years to come. Eric