OK, so I get to stop complaining now

Well I finally took possession of my new LMI FX1 housing on Friday night. Shawn heroically carried it over from the US for me, saving me big bucks on transport.

My set up is LMI's travel package with pro HID lights and the additional 80deg WA lens for good measure. I bought the FX1 in Singapore the previous weekend.

On Saturday we traveled to Padang Bai, Bali to try and track down Mola Mola - it's the season after all.

What a christening of the new gear! Crystal Bay off NW Nusa Penida lived up to it's name of clear water (25-35m viz) and we were treated to half a dozen huge Molas on every dive there. Largest was 3m from top to bottom so to speak - I don't think it's relevant to measure their 'length' as they're all head...

The gear was just excellent. LMI have put an awful lot of ergonomic analysis into this chunk of metal. I was especially impressed with the ease of loading and unloading the FX1. I'd also have to say the beast handled just as easily as my smaller USVH (950/A1) housing, and of course I had access to many more camera adjustments - it just felt 'natural' to use. Underwater it was very smooth to handle and pan with, and even though I've had to learn to view my subjects in the top LCD window, it was an easy transition, and I don't see myself investing in an external monitor. The quality of the LCD viewer makes framing and focus a treat.

I shot about 70 minutes of tape over 7 dives and have just uploaded to my Quad and reviewed clips in FCP outputting to my HDTV monitor. Wow! what clean material! No gain issues, huge depth and richness, vibrant colours (I was using the Amphibico 'blue' slate and also the sun for WB). Of course the picture quality is all about the FX1, but the FX1 LMI combo seems to work very well for me and this will definitely be my rig for the next couple of years or so I'm sure.

One trick I learned from Shawn is that .3m on manual focus (one quick stab at the AF button) with the 80deg lens fixes a depth of field from very close to very far (OK I'm not being specific because the exact DoF will depend on the iris) and this was excellent for really crisp shots of the Molas from some distance away and panning v close - right up to the eyeballs and parasites in fact. A couple of earlier pans o the Mola Molas on AF gave me some 'popping' despite the great viz, so it looks like I'm being converted to manual focus from now on too.

What an amazing few days - very satisfying. The quality of the diving, the Molas and the delight of using really well designed video equipment means I'll be on a high from this w/e for quite a while ......

Sounds good Nick...

Cannot wait to get out to clearer waters..

I will now be staying at the 'Elizabeth hotel' in central Singapore as the Holiday inn has a conference...

Do you know of this hotel..?

Glad the FX1 is going great guns..

Dive safe

DeanB

Thanks, Nick. Your review is just one more reason why I'm not hesitating about my LMI purchase next month, specifically the package and lens confguration you got as well.

Thanks also (and to Shawn, natch) for the manual focus tip. Big, big help, I'm sure.

Glad you enjoy it Nick. I have nothing but good to say about this housing as well. I also use the 80 degree WA-lens and found it to be a nescessary upgrade from the flat port. I am really happy with this lens so I am now not so sure anymore that I need to rush to get the 100 degree or similar lens...

Anders

great to here it Nick!

Crystal Bay eh? right.. must remember that as i am going to bali next month.. hurray!

That's good to hear, Nick, especially after seeing how frustrated you were with your previous setup...

Thanks Mathieu - yes much happier now I can concentrate on the videoing and not the camera's shortcomings!

Mike - Crystal Bay is a must! Are you coming through Singapore on your travels next month? Would love to catch up.

Anders, I used the 80deg for all 'distance' work, and the flat+macro lens for closeups/night dive - seems to be a good mix. I found the macro setup a little less intuitive than the WA, I'll need to do more practice with that as I had issues with zoom and macro - tho that'll have to be in the pool until next November when I'm off to Raja Ampat again and where mastery of macro will be essential.

Peacedog - you will be v happy I am sure, just work on those upper body muscles for topside transport. Actually the supplied Pelican case in the LMI travel pack is great - quite small and robust (but heavy). I had no issues stowing in the hold......

Dean - you are arriving in the middle of the 2006 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Singapore, so Hotel bookings are few and far between, but the Shark Fin soup in Singapore that week will be to die for (literally please). The Elizabeth Hotel is just behind the Mt Elizabeth Medical Centre, and a short walk to Orchard Road, v central, you'll be fine. Alternative of Chez Jackson is expensive of course but there are stacks of amateur dive trip DVDs to view.

Sounds great Nick. Congratulations!

How much did you shoot ambient light and how much with your HIDs?

Hi Nick - over the w/e it was six dives ambient, and one night dive with HIDs.

Under ambient the great low light capabilities of the FX1 really impressed me at depth. I was WB'ing as deep as 22m with filter, no issue. Typically by doing this the corals and sponges become very pink at depths below 30m (up to 40m+) so I guess there is a choice of not balancing so deep to enjoy more 'realistic' deep blues at depth, or doing stuff with colour correction filters in post. Higher up the reef the colours really jumped out, bright sunlight was streaming through the shallows, and the results were stunning - again WB'd with the filter on. Strangely WB shallow with the filter, and pointing to the sun/surface sometimes resulted in WB not 'fixing'; however pointing down with sun behind at the slightly pale blue Amphibico plate I use seemed to be fine. Apart from AF/MF and the very occasional use of N1, I left everything on auto - oh yes, turned of auto shake control. This big housing has so much inertia that there is v little shake anyhow, resulting is v smooth pans.

Under HID I went all manual to avoid burnout. So: Zebra on (I chose 90%); fixed speed (50); and manual aperture (anything from around 3 to 6 depending on brightness of subject). I could also have used the N1 and N2 neutral filters to cut down light - but didn't seem to need. Actually I only used one lamp on, for no other reason that the other battery pod was not charged (long story).

This is a great set-up, and I feel I have control over all light and subject conditions. I do need more macro time, but I'm sure that is just training not functions available......

Hope this is useful!

He He..I think Nick is a happy chappy now....

Now we want to see some video Nick......

Well that's true Wags, I'm immediately into a totaly diferent zone - it's like the sudden relief you feel when you stop banging your head against a brick wall

You'll see some clips ASAP when I find a host - seems the embedded video feature needs that. I'll check out what's available in Singapore, or maybe you can offer me some mate's rates I can't push a friendship too much further - you're already hosting over 100meg of mine!

Nick- Glad your having great dives with your new setup. I think I'm sticking (stuck?) with the A1 for now while I wait to see what this year brings new camera wise. The little beast took some nice White Shark video at Guadelupe last month but never was deeper than the cage floor with nice vis and plenty of light. If nothing better comes along at least between you and Shawn you'll have fine tuned the best settings/technique for the LM/FX package when I committ... Keep posting your discoveries, I'm saving them! Congrats!!! John

Thanks for the info Nick. All sounds good and sounds like you're into manual control virtually straight out of the blocks. I'm yet to hear anyone have a negative comment or problem with that housing, which bodes well.

You could post some stuff on Google Video instead of setting up your own site. The streamed Flash videos there are so-so (better than YouTube) but the 480px-wide download versions are nice. Can't embed the download versions here though I don't think. I send them 480px-wide Xvid files done in Virtual Dub with the smart deinterlace filter, 2048kbps bitrate and audio compressed to to MP3 (44100kHz, 128 kbps CBR) using Lame.

I'll be setting up some form of web host in Singapore I think - watch this space.

Meanwhile I've deleted the 80meg version of my Belize video from kindly Wags' site (I've left the small versions for anyone who cares to download) and am uploading a 25meg Mola Mola taster right now - I'll post in the sharing section in a sec.

I've found that MP4's encoded in MPEG Stream clip (free MacOS download) give the best quality small files. There are a lot of controls you can apply, although the defaults are not too bad either. Other DVD to MP4 encoder I like is HandBrake.

Enjoy!