Davide DB

Is it a subliminal message for @TimG ?

OK, I am late to the party as this series of five documentaries aired on the BBC in March 2023. But today in another thread, @Nikolausz pointed me to the fourth episode of this series, the one about freshwater, and I couldn't miss the fifth episode "Oceans". I thought that with the last Blue Planet we had reached the pinnacle of what was possible to film and narrate underwater, but instead the BBC proved me wrong once again. The challenge was even more difficult with the rough waters of the North Atlantic, but with the stories and incredible images collected, the BBC crew demonstrated that the richness of the Atlantic has nothing to envy of tropical seas. As usual, each episode ends with a BTS and this one is entirely dedicated to the British cameraman Doug Anderson and the self-made equipment for some special shots. Anderson felt a lot of responsibility for the shoot as he played entirely at home for once. The series is available on the BBC's iPlayer and also on Amazon Prime in various countries around the world. I leave you with a review from the Guardian and 7 minutes of marine relaxation with footage from this episode. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/12/wild-isles-review-david-attenborough-beautiful-tour-of-britain-is-unmissable-tv

what were the considerations that led you to this choice?

Confirmed. Same here. I saw the episode and The BTS. I understood why they used the old gopro with the Telesin case and the homemade weight. Those are the only shots that the BBC crew didn't take but the guy from the salmon conservation foundation who has been going every day for 5 years to film them. Now I feel less stupid 😉

I have to see this series. Research mode on...

What's your ISO? It seems clean to me. Although many people say so, flooding the scene with lots of light is not always the solution. we should look for shadows, even with the position of the lights. I like the lighting you have achieved. The shadows give plasticity to the subjects.

So it means that a Sony or Canon setup could work on a M43 system?

Many years ago, for several months, I used an A7 for video. Now I had the opportunity to use the A7R4. Night and day P.S. You specified photos but I could not resist 😉

Dave gave a good hint already. I'll add mine. I can speak only for Nauticam. Yes I sent them once all the housings I had and usually they do a great job. But the question is: does your housing need service? I always sent them for specific reasons: problems or buying used and not trusting its condition. I dive all year round and I'm lame with equipment. I sent my NA-GH5 to Nauticam five years ago and spent around 300 euros. I did everything through the official Nauticam dealer. Seeing how much housing prices have risen, maybe the service prices have too. If you are fussy about rinsing and cleaning and have the vacuum system, you can go decades ahead in my opinion. Here you have further comments on this topic: Service of Nauticam extension rings

Ciao Matthew, Welcome aboard!

For our members I post here the new Alex's podcast episode on Nikon RS 13 mm

Hi René, Welcome aboard! Looking forward to have your contribution on our site! Ciao

If you are curious to see FCP in person, mounted on Alex's A7R5 Nauticam housing... The link should point @9:39 already

I have already zapped through the various videos on the channel. Well done and good luck!

Roughly is the key 😉

On my GH5 I followed @Interceptor121 article and and I am more or less OK with the calculations. https://interceptor121.com/2019/05/12/nauticam-wwl-1the-best-wide-angle-lens-for-underwater-video-on-the-gh5-and-other-micro-four-thirds/ I select a M43 camera from the list and I compile the form with a 11 mm lens trying different aperture and distances. https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Lovely sequence. I don't know what your version was like but this one is very entertaining. Maybe I would have tried to close it with a winner! How was it that you mounted the diopter? I wouldn't have thought it possible to shoot such subjects with a close focus lens mounted. Actually the outlined circle of light accentuates the epic of the clash. It almost looks like a boxing ring or a circus ring 😆 Thanks for sharing

"she" could be a Gymnothorax chilospilus AKA Whitelip Moray Eel. https://reefguide.org/gymnothoraxchilospilus.html https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=4444+4444+1106+0760 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipspot_moray_eel https://www.fishbase.se/FieldGuide/FieldGuideSummary.php?GenusName=Gymnothorax&SpeciesName=chilospilus&sps=&print=

Welcome aboard Pete! Let's dreams come true!

from video description: Shot with: TG6,GoPro 10, Kraken Hydra 5000s (2)

I'm more into video, so the question could be silly. Why cranking ISO to 5000? Stunning effect. Where did you dive?

When mine came back from service I had to check its serial number because I thought it was a new housing from the factory 🤣

Yes. In my opinion, the issue is simpler. We have millions of videos of people taking the action cam underwater because, they want to take home a memory and it's cheap. Those with ambition and passion quickly move on to more complete (and expensive) cameras and setups. So having perfect videos with the GoPro is practically an exercise in style for its own sake. Not that you can't make them, but the skills and especially the money you have to invest in them make you prefer to switch to a real camera. Take for example the videos made for AOI by Kay Burn Lim. Certainly more than ideal conditions but they are the state of the art of these cameras, but at what price? That setup, with no lights, goes in a used Olympus M43 kit territory. Does it worth it? On the other hand, even major film productions, both terrestrial and underwater, use GoPro's for B-Rolls and also for alternative shots. Advertising is usually avoided. The BBC still maintains its British understatement by dedicating special episodes to the BTS and How-To but now in the scripts of many documentaries, it is fashionable to make edits in which the 'real time' is emphasised by showing how the crew achieves its goals. For example I really like Bertie Gregory's style and I remember very well that in one of his encounters with the leopard seal he had a GoPro on one arm of his camera lights. In the edit there were shots taken with the GoPro mixed perfectly with his Red.

I was thinking that if the book worths mention, we could add a note on the language. For example I see this book on Nudibranchs (always by Egidio Trainito): https://opistobranquis.info/en/recursos/llibres-recomanats/nudibranchi-del-mediterraneo/ Nudibranchi del Mediterraneo by Egidio Trainito and Mauro Doneddu This book becomes the “de facto” bible about the Mediterranean nudibranchs. The authors, Egidio Trainito and Mauro Doneddu, have surpassed themselves on this occasion. This work contains all species of opisthobranch molluscs observed to date in the Mediterranean Sea, with interesting descriptions and lots of great colour pictures. This book, written in Italian, consists of an introduction to the opisthobranchs and its classification. The systematics have been updated from the first edition of 2005, so some species names have changed. Then comes a descriptive part with the records of 363 species, profusely illustrated with 650 excellent original photos made by the best underwater photographers in the Mediterranean. Trainito and Doneddu demostrate, once again, that the discovery of new species is still possible, even in a sea so heavily studied as the Mediterranean Sea. In this book a new species associated with the habitat of the red coral (Corallium rubrum) is described, the Tritonia coralliumrubri. If the first edition of 2005 was complete, this second edition is almost unbeatable. An ideal reference work for all nature-lovers, divers and marine biologysts; absolutely essential in your library.

I don't know the details of the transaction but reading "shipping and billing address" reminded me of an incident I almost stumbled upon myself years ago. Some fraudulent buyers ask for goods to be shipped to an address other than the one registered on the Paypal, Ebay or credit card account. It's a classic scam. If you Google 'billing shipping address paypal' a lot of results come up. In practice, IIRC, paypal & co. only insure products shipped to the registered address of the credit card on which the account is based. If you ship to a different address and even if you have a delivery receipt and the buyer opens a dispute, paypal does not protect you. This is why some sellers have restrictive policies on shipping addresses.