HD u/w stock library - what format?

I'm using a +4 diopter. It's a 67mm Hoya multicoated. That's the size on the housing and they are mounted wet. Since the camera filter is 37mm I have enough glass on that filter to prevent edge distortions. A set of three was like $50. I took the ring from the +1 and glued it to my housing so I'd have somewhere to store the +4 while not in use. Thanks for the advice on the balancing on the other thread. Eventually I'll get all the variables under control. The VX has really good lowlight. I have to watch the gain here and there. How do you keep the camera steady? Just lots of practice? I'm using the +4 with full zoom.

I posted a reduced frame grab in another thread. I think this link will bring it up.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?act=A...pe=post&id=2344

Thanks NickJ I've ripped DVD footage and edited it before and it gets messy quick. MP4 and WMV are even worse and are basically deadend formats only good for viewing. I prefer WMV as it is easier (for me) to get good quality out of. Mostly an encoder issue. They are computationally intensive to render but half the space of MPEG2. Anyway, I'd say simple MPEG2 is the best archiving format considering it is A) compressed and B) editable.

I'm guessing you can create a 30minute HVDVD on a DVD5 using MPEG2?

Wagsy, as you noticed the HC1/A1 have a much narrower wide than most cameras. At least the A1 has an overscan display so you really see everything in the frame. The HC1 doesn't.

How do you keep the camera steady? Just lots of practice? I'm using the +4 with full zoom.

Now there's a question!

Here are three choices:

1. Take a tripod with you. Fine for static stuff like nudibranches. Not much use for anything likely to move. Admittedly I've never done this.

2. Lean your camera on stuff. In general shooting macro I lean the camera and my body on whatever I can to get it steady. But unless the camera is actually pinned on at least 3 points, you're going to get slight wobbles. When I'm shooting macro I can often see the camera rocking from my own pulse!

3. If the camera is well trimmed (neutrally buoyant, centre of gravity above centre) and you haven't got much current then you can just try and hold it steady with one hand while the other steadies your body on a bit of rock or dead coral, but let your arm act like a big damper. In other words not really trying to hold the camera still but just trying to iron out the small wobbles.

It all depends on the situation. In any case you're likely to get wobbles and it's just the case of choosing the steadiest part of the footage during editing.

Nick

I saw someone who made a flexible tripod on the bottom of their camera with those flexible light arms and had it attached to the base somehow....

He kept them folded up under the camera and when he wanted to shoot he pulled them out and formed them to the bottom. Each section was probably two feet long.

Kinda cool i thought for macro