ScubaBC

Ok, just FYI for anyone who may stumble upon this thread. The cerium oxide powder works like a hot damn. It's taken me an hour and I have 1/2 the dome done. Scale is completely gone and the dome looks like new. I haven't tested the optical quality underwater but if it's truly not-coated on the outside then we're good. I'll post some photos of the dome once it's fully done too. For those wondering what product I used, it was a 99% pure cerium oxide powder (photo attached), I added a little bit of powder into a bowl, mixed in some water to get a paste like consistency and then worked it into the dome using a Costco kirkland microfiber cloth (yellow ones) in small circles and then back and forth and then small circles over and over, lol... It takes a TON of elbow grease but it definitely takes off the scale, I am pretty impressed.

Makes sense! I will send it and see what happens, lol. Worse case I re-glass the dome which I was planning on anyway. I will report back for science.

It's mentioned in some of Aquatica's marketing material, but Aquatica's own site says nothing. It’s coated with a superior Silicon Oxide coating (SiO2) on the convex surface and with a Broad Band Anti Reflective (BBAR) coating on the concave surface.

If the cerium oxide works it will remove the coating applied to the glass from factory, I assume? Does the factory coating really even matter optically? I know some domes don't even have coatings or only an internal coating.

Roger, I did do some searching but couldn't find anyone that was able to solve it, lol. I tried the 50/50 water/vinegar and that didn't work. Coke is an interesting one, might try that! I am getting some cerium oxide powder tomorrow so will give that a try.

Yes, I need to make a dunk tank with some distilled water for sure. The well water doesn't help.

Hello, I have a very cloudy exterior film on my Aquatica glass megadome. Possibly salt etching? or the exterior coating is done? Most of the time you cannot see it in my video when underwater, especially when using my lights but when trying to film ambient or at the higher base ISO of my camera (12800) it's very noticeable. Any ideas on how to correct this? I have a couple trips coming up this next week, but after I am back I may just send it to Aquatica to have new glass put in. This dome is only 2 years old. I did try a claybar for auto detailing, that did nothing. I've tried vinegar/water that also did nothing. I have ordered some cerium oxide powder and will try that. I know Aquatica uses BK-7 mineral glass but I am unsure if they have an external coating on the dome. I did some searching but couldn't find a solid "how to" to repair this. I do rinse my gear after every dive but my rinse water is from my well, so this may be an issue too. Thoughts?

Thank you very much!

lol, thank you very much! I was able to keep it together and not crap my suit, lol. Thank you!

I thought I’d share one of the more memorable encounters I’ve had while filming underwater here on Vancouver Island. I was diving at around 100 feet, originally looking for giant Pacific octopus to film, when I turned away from an octopus den and saw a large bluntnose sixgill shark emerging from the darkness and coming directly toward me. My first few seconds of footage are a little chaotic as the shark came extremely close, but once I got myself sorted out I was able to spend roughly three minutes filming it as it slowly cruised alongside me and over the bottom. I estimate it was around 10–12 feet long and believe it may have been female. The conditions made it an interesting filming challenge. At that depth it was extremely dark, visibility was very good though, and I obviously had no opportunity to plan the encounter or how I wanted to shoot it. I basically had to work with what I had and try not to waste the opportunity. The footage ended up getting picked up by CBC National News, Global, CTV and CHEK, which was a pretty unexpected outcome from a dive where I was just hoping to come home with some decent octopus footage.

Yes, doing the white balance while holding a card and trying to hold the housing was impossible, lol... Here is a photo of the setup. It's just a cheap selfie stick off Amazon that had a 1/4 - 20 threaded hole in the bottom for the ball mount. Now taking custom white balance is easy as pie and it has made a noticeable difference in my footage. I used aquaseal to attach an old dive slate to the back of the whitebal card to stiffen it up a bit too.

Yes, that is what I thought. It looks like a great camera to me.

Is CWB still a big deal when you're shooting in 16 bit raw as the FX5 does? I currently shoot with a Sony A7SIII and use CWB all the time but I have a selfie stick with a whitebal card on it mounted to my Ultralight camera sled. I set my lighting, push the selfie stick down, take a white balance, and then I am good. Super easy as a one man show.

This was filmed over nearly 80 dives in the kelp forests near Browning Passage off northern Vancouver Island (God's Pocket area). Sites include Daphne Point, Hardy Bay, 7 Tree Island, Rock of Life, Browning Wall and Andy's Reef. This was filmed on my Sony A7SIII using both a Sony 16-35mm F4 lens and my Laowa 10mm F2.8 wide angle lens.

I have an Aquatica housing for my A7SIII and have over 600+ dives with it. A few little quirks with the buttons sticking but switching to the deep water spring kit seems to have solved my issues. Overall I am happy with it.

I shoot 60fps for most things and will switch to 120 for macro dives and/or where I have a lot of light. Shooting in 120 cuts out a lot of available light and increases file sizes substantially.

That really depends on the conditions, here in the pacific northwest we can have a nice sunny day where it's bright down to 100 feet or it could be cloudy with an algae bloom and it's pretty much pitch black at 60 feet. For wide angle I'll typically go with the native ISO of 12,800 which gives a nice clean image and I have my aperture set to 6 to 8 and it looks pretty good. If it's a darker day I have cranked it up to 32,000 with minimal noise and it can be corrected in post.

Thank you! Yes, I use 3 lights. I attached a photo of me with my camera rig. The 3rd light is positioned in the center and pointed either straight or slightly angled upward or down if the water is fairly clear... I find it works really well as a fill light with my two primary lights angled slightly outward to decrease backscatter. I am shooting in SLOG3 and using the lowest ISO possible so I need a lot of light to get the exposure right.

I've made 7 trips to Browning Passage over the last 4 years and have done about 70 dives in the area. This video is a compilation of the scenery and marine life at the different dive sites. Some quick timestamps if you want to see specific dive sites. 0:00 - Intro and Aerial Footage Of Browning Passage 0:53 - World Famous Browning Wall 32:22 - Hardy Bay Hooded Nudibranchs 40:00 - Barry Islet and Gorgonian Corals 52:09 - 5 Fathom Rock Schools Of Fish 01:00:55 - The Grotto 01:18:18 - Coolio's Dream 01:26:06 - Gangsta's Paradise 01:33:28 - Rock Of Life 01:40:55 - 7 Tree Island Filmed with a Sony A7SIII + Sony 16-35mm f/4 lens in an Aquatica Digital housing with 3x18,000 lumen kraken video lights. Shot in SLOG3 (10 bit 4:2:2) and graded in Davinci Resolve.

Thank you very much! Glad you liked it. Thank you Maria! Yes, you are more than welcome to share and play it anywhere you like!

Thank you! Yes, that's the full video, the teaser is on reddit, I just copied my post from there.

Filmed over hundreds of dives around Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea, this is a 1-minute teaser for my full 2-hour film featuring wild Pacific octopus and Ruby octopus. From babies the size of a pea to full-grown giants. No narration, no captions—just octopuses doing octopus things in the cold, emerald waters of British Columbia. You’ll see them hunt, change color, fight, crawl, vanish, and interact with their environment in ways that might leave you with a new appreciation for these incredible creatures. Great to play in the background—or just zone out and watch them move.

This video is a collection of footage from hundreds of dives over the past 3 years around Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Dive sites include Nanaimo, Nanoose, Gabriola Island, Campbell River, Barkley Sound, Port Hardy, and Browning Passage. It’s set to relaxing music—no narration, no captions, no divers—just marine life and cold water scenery. Perfect for background viewing or whenever you need a moment of calm. Hope you enjoy it!