Got the new Phenom in.....

Finally got the new HDR-FX1 and Amphibico Phenom in from Mike Luzansky at http://www.h2ophotopros.com/ It was a pleasure doing business with him, everything came in on time, communication was great and he gave me a good deal to boot.

I also got from Mike the Amphibico's 35-50w dual HID light system and external monitor.

As a former protoptype aerospace machinist and quality control manager I must say the workmanship is superb. The system has two heavy steel black weights attached to the sides to be removed if the battery housing is added. Plus there are a slew of lead weights held in place with individual allen screws underneath so one can fine tune total weight, side to side as well as fore and aft balance. Very well thought out!

I do have some questions for those that have the system.

One of the things I noticed about the external monitor was if you use the black central aluminum handle, that the monitor gets pushed back too far for my crappy middle aged vision. I did install the black accessory shoe that holds the base mount of the external monitor so as to be able to still have the center handle, but it places the whole monitor back too far for my farsighted vision.

The arms seem really long with their 3 segmented joints totalling about 18" in length.

So what are your thoughts on the external monitoring issues?

Attached as a .gif is the new toy

Hey Dave, congrats on the new toy.

Has it got the MWB modification on it?

I recond you will end up using the camera's high res LCD most of the time. If the external monitor could go in front of the LCD would be good as well.

Have you got any more pics of the setup from different angles?

I have a 6mp digital camera in hand as we speak, I'll take some more....I changed the position of how the light arms mount since I finally broke down and looked at the assembly instructions, lol.....

No WB mod yet, I am already in task overload mode......gotta go get a Hoya diopter next.....

Congratulations Dave, it is a really nice setup.

Anders

I have a 6mp digital camera in hand as we speak, I'll take some more....I changed the position of how the light arms mount since I finally broke down and looked at the assembly instructions, lol.....

 

No WB mod yet, I am already in task overload mode......gotta go get a Hoya diopter next.....

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Those light arms look interesting. Where did you get those?

Peter

They are Amphibico's dual 35-50 HID's and come with removable diffusers.

They are Amphibico's dual 35-50 HID's and come with removable diffusers.

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They looked like ULCS light arms. Are they bouyant?

Not with all those holes in them!

I have my reservations on the arms....there are no rubber o-rings, I will have to see how that works, as on land, they won't hold....and the other thing is the 1st segment of the arm is rigid, so if you whack them where they attach to the housing, something is going to break instead of pivot, and if that ends up breaking off the t-slot, then the housing would need to be sandblasted, rewelded, machined, anodized and repainted, then reassembled....all because of an accident and a lack of an articulation at the connection.

Hey Dave, can you post a close up pic of the arms and how they are setup.

I use aftermarket lights on bubble arms...

Sure, but they are the same arms as the photo you have of the entire unit on the bottom of that brochure image on your website.

Just standard aluminum arms like TLC's but without o-rings on the balls.

O yeh , I forgot about the brochure...but you know never trust the brochures..

It will be interesting to see how you go with it in the field.

If you are wondering why Im always on this thing. Im building a online shop and this screen is right next to my working screens...and so it gives me a break...

Gee, and here all along I thought it was because you were one of the moderators of this forum! Silly me! lol