Background:
I just spent 11 days shooting with the HC3 in Cozumel, MX. Before the L&M housing, I shot with a JVC-DVM70u housed in an Ikelite housing. I have been shooting UW video for about 7 years, mostly with the Ikelite housing. I decided on the L&M HC3 housing because it allowed access to MWB, I thought Gates had better optics but no access to MWB.
I already had a trip planned to visit Cozumel to see the hurricane damage in person and my JVC camera had finally died; it was time to upgrade. On a side note, Cozumel is fine and I had some of the best diving I have ever had in Cozumel.
My Setup:
L&M HC3 housing with standard port
Wide Angle port
Sunray-S Pro HID lights
2.5 external monitor
White Balance:
In case it is not clear, MWB is accessed on this housing using a 'plunger type push dial' that presses the appropriate screen options. To MWB you have to press the plunger on the 'p-menu' screen option, then press 'White Balance', then the 'One Push' button to actually perform the balance. Finally you have to press 'OK' to remove the on-screen menu.
As you can probably guess I initially found MWB to be difficult to use. You would think that looking at the screen and pressing the options would be the best route, but I found NOT looking through the screen and using the dial pointer worked better. You always hear that your mask will refract the image, trying to look through the screen window and point at a touch screen is a great example of it. I found that I would get my MWB set, but when I went to press 'OK' to clear the screen, I would accidentally press the 'One Press' again. Now my camera would MWB on whatever it was pointed at. Once this occurs, you have to re-MWB. ARGH!!!
Instead of going through this optical illusion, I started to MWB without looking through the screen window. The pointer dial has an elongated tip that lets you know where you are pointing, after a little practice I was able to MWB without looking at the screen quite quickly and accurately.
Controls:
The L&M HC3 housing gives you access to the following electronic features: record, zoom in/out, focus in/out, auto focus/off, momentary auto focus, photo, photo display, lights. If you press the ‘on-mode’ button 3 times you will place the camera in play/edit mode and complete playback controls are available.
For manual controls, the housing has the plunger mentioned in the MWB section. This same plunger gets you access to the Tele Macro feature and the Slow Record option. There is a manual flip down CC filter and a Manual button that enables a turn dial. The turn dial can be set to WB shift, Focus, Exposure or AE shift. There is also an Easy button that in my opinion should be avoided at all times.
Use of Controls:
As mentioned before, I found the MWB to be somewhat tricky to get used to. I was able to train myself into using it efficiently, however this should be considered if you are thinking of purchasing this setup.
Tele Macro and Slow Smooth record are slightly different than the MWB option in that they are either on or off. The resulting button presses are less and easier. I found Tele Macro to be a very useful and useable option. I did not try the Slow Record option but it might be a cool feature if you have something fast you were trying to capture.
The Manual button and associated Manual Dial can be setup to be 4 different options, WB shift, Focus, Exposure and AE shift. I found both WB shift and Focus to be useable options. I started out using the WB shift but eventually shifted to the Focus option. This allowed me to really dial in my focus for those Macro shots. That being said I wish the camera could be set to display the focus distance in feet instead of meters.
The Easy button is a nightmare. The Easy button is good for people who don’t know anything about a camcorder, it basically makes the camera really dumb. The real problem with it is for those of us who actually want to use the features of the camera. I go in and set about 5-6 options in the Menu before placing the camera into the housing. One of the important settings is the Video Out, which tells the camera send all the video to the external monitor. When the Easy button is pressed, all your settings go back to a default and even when Easy is undone, your settings are history. I am seriously thinking about ‘disabling’ this feature even if it requires a modification to the housing.
Optics:
The housing comes with a standard port that gives the camera a 65 degree FOV with complete zoom through. I also purchased the WA lens that increases the FOV to 80 degrees, but limits the zoom through to about 1/3. Changing the lens is easy using the standard L&M double o-ring design.
I started out using the WA lens for the first part of the trip, and then went to the standard for the later half. Both lenses provide a beautiful image that is crisp edge to edge. I have a 77 inch HD screen in my house and I was amazed with the picture this little housing produced.
If the WA lens provided for full zoom through, it would have never been removed from the housing. But the Tele Macro feature is too cool not to use and the WA does not allow for it. I found the WA lens was really nice for general reef shots, I was able to get the camera very close to subject (1-2 inches) while maintaining focus and clarity.
The Standard port is a better lens than the WA in terms of build and zoom, I really enjoyed the full zoom through and the Tele Macro options. In this area I think L&M is behind the competition. I would be willing to pay for a Super WA with zoom through, but maybe I am the only one in this prosumer range.
Handling:
Before I can review the handling, I have to reveal that I immediately changed the arms on the Sunray HID lights. They come standard with the LocLine connectors with I did not like. I have always used ULCS arms for lights and strobes and this was no exception. I also was running with a Fisheye 48LED light at night. All of these modifications added to the overall weight topside and negative buoyancy UW.
The whole reason I went with the HC3 camera was its size, and the housing is just as small. Another gentleman was shooting with an HC1 on the same trip, we were amazed at the size difference. Even with the extra lights and arms, it was extremely portable. The whole setup (all parts, chargers, etc) fits into a M2500 storm case which is airline approved for non-checked luggage. It was great traveling knowing that my housing was with me, I can buy everything else if they loose my luggage.
I did take a few shallow dives without any light setup and the housing was extremely light and nimble. Even with all the lights the housing was great in the water and did not take up too much room in a dive boat. Since the housing is almost symmetrical side to side, there was no feeling of turning and the housing stayed flat in the water.
External Monitor:
Without an external monitor, the L&M HC3 housing allows for viewing though a viewfinder attached to the rear plate of the housing or by looking through the side of the enclosure through a window showing the camera LCD. Neither of these is very useable in my opinion especially if you plan to use zoom or Tele Macro.
The external monitor provided by L&M is not my favorite product. First off, the resolution is not that great, second there is no indication of remaining battery life or charge status. I purposely ran the monitor until it died so I had some idea of how often I needed to recharge it.
From a pure video quality perspective the monitor cannot be trusted. Sometimes the color looked washed out, sometimes it looked blown out even though it wasn’t. I found the camera LCD to be pretty accurate and I used it to verify color saturation after a MWB. I did find the monitor very useful for framing, especially on the really tight shots. I don’t think I could have used Tele Macro without it.
Tele Macro:
What a cool feature. I initially didn’t know if it would be useable UW, but after being able to fill my FOV with the eyes and gills of a seahorse I was hooked. I ended up taking many shots at WA, then after a light zoom in, and finally in Tele Macro. For example I have some great footage of a carpet anemone blowing in the drift, after a slight zoom in you can see the cleaner shrimp working in the tentacles, and finally after a Tele Macro the cleaner shrimp fills the FOV. To be able to fill the FOV with such small things was something I did not have access to in my previous setup and was/is really exciting. It took some practice to be able to hold the camera steady, but I was also in Cozumel with the familiar 2-3 knot drift.
Focus:
The housing allows the camera to be shot using either manual or auto focus. It also has a cool feature called Momentary Auto Focus (MAF) that allows the auto focus capability of the camera to be toggled on/off. I found this very useful when changing subject distances rapidly. I was close up on a reef when I saw a spotted eagle ray off to the right of me, coming at me; my camera was in manual focus @ .8m. I immediately aimed my camera at a section of the reef 2 meters away and pressed MAF button to allow focus. Now my camera was ready for the ray coming at me.
I did not find the electronic manual focus too trustworthy. It seems you have to hold the button for a moment to get it engaged, but then it moves to quickly from near to far. The manual focus dial was much more accurate and useable. That being said, I gained focus lock 90% of the time use the MAF button. In Tele Macro having access to the manual focus was a nice option of the MAF would not lock.
Low Light / Refracted Light:
As mentioned in other HC3 posts, the low light capabilities are not the best on this camera. It was quite noticeable during a swim through or cave with no lights. I thought the refracted light tolerance was better that I was used to; for example if you are shooting a reef scene upwards and into the sun.
Conclusions and opinions:
I think L&M did a great job getting the most out of the camera considering where some of the features are located (like in a menu). The housing is well built and gives you the feeling of confidence; I was never concerned when the housing spent some time on the floor of the boat between dives. Even though the lights were not part of my review, the Sunray-S Pro HID lights were awesome and a nice surprise going from a halogen based lighting system. The reason I purchased the HC3, the size, was probably the best feature. I feel like I can get some professional quality video out of an extremely small system. Traveling was a delight regardless if it was an airport, getting to the dive shop or getting in/out of the water.
My biggest complaint at the beginning of the trip would have been the MWB process (and this might be at the beginning of my next trip). By the end of the trip my complaint was optics; I wish I could purchase a WA with full zoom through. Maybe this will be an option in the future, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Disclaimer:
I do not work for any UW, camera, or review company. All the comments in this review should be considered strictly the opinion of the author. I cannot be held responsible for any outcomes that my form from this review.
Ryan
I used my fisheye LED for spotting and diving, and the HID for recording only. I thought I would miss the ability to give the 'wong' feeling with Halogens, you know, when you turn them on and you give your subject the 'wong'. But it was kinda nice to turn on the HID's once the desired subject was spotted and let them gradually brighted over 10-15 seconds. I found the critter was less apt to go into 'headlight mode'. I still miss the ability for different brightness settings you get with the halogens.
