Shooting Through A Flat Port

Over the last month I did alot of dives with a guy who had a custom housing with a FX1 inside.

It had a sony wide angle 0.85 inside the housing and was shooting through a flat port.

 

Well it might not of been quite as wide as the Phenom's port but boy did it have much much more zoom.

Certainly changed my thoughts on internal wide angles through flat ports.

 

I also found it interesting that you do not need a URPRO filter in to get color down there with the FX1 even at 25 meters. What did I do to achieve a good WB without a URPRO?? well that's my secret for now

 

I can also tell you a reason why the FX1 and Z1 will not WB at depth as good as the later CMOS camera's. That's because it can only go to 10,000 kelvin max were the later CMOS cameras can go to 20,000 kelvin...that is a warmer colour.

 

Merry Xmas.....

 

That housing has that nice "I've been used a lot" look. I just bought a Canon XH-A1, and although I'd like to get the Gates housing for it, it may be out of my price range for now. I have been thinking about Seacam's housing, which has a flat port. I would probably get Canon's wide angle converter for the camera. Nice to hear that this approach can work well.

 

I enjoyed your film at the San Diego Undersea Film Exhibition. Your nudibranch was about the size of a Volkswagon bug on the big screen, and your attention to steady shots showed.

 

Merry Xmas!

 

Pat

I also found it interesting that you do not need a URPRO filter in to get color down there with the FX1 even at 25 meters. What did I do to achieve a good WB without a URPRO?? well that's my secret for now

Wagsy, are you ready to share your little secret yet? I'm very interested to hear what it is. I'm assuming that all you did was to crank up the WB Shift and Color Phase, but would really like to know what you did. Some video samples or frame grabs from 25M or below would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dan

Wags, where did you get your WB specs from?

All the specs of the newer CMOS cameras including the EX1 is a high of 10-12000k.

 

One of the major factors of shooting through a flat port is water magnification. A dome port adjusts for this effect, thus reducing it and allowing a wider picture.

Pat, you are the first to say something about it, glad it looked great on the big screen.

 

That housing is like 20 years old and has been all over the world many many times. It has housed

8mm & Hi8 video camera's and was the first housing in the world to get a VX1000 and FX1 underwater. I would like to post a pic of the inside but all the electronics were custom designed by a SONY tech so it's not mine to post but I will ask the owner if it's okay to post some later. This same guy who did the custom design helped invent the HD format

 

Drew the specs were given to me by a Japanese HDCAM operator who has close ties with SONY.

Only the FX1 and Z1 could go to 10,000 Kelvin. All the HDV ones since can go to 20,000 Kelvin welll so he told me.

 

Well just I used the same WB method on my Sony HDV A1 over at Perth-ROTTO and got the same great results without any filter.

 

Back in Carins tomorrow so I will post some more pics soon.

Wagsy, are you planning on sharing your new WB method yet? There are many poeple who could possibly benefit from it, especially A1 and other users who have been posting lately with WB problems. Just a friendly reminder in case you forgot.

Dan

Sure

This only works for tropical sunny clear dives.

 

With the Phenom and FX1.

Put the camera inside and turn it on then make sure you set the Wit Bal button to on and have the preset to a or b setting.

Get to 8 meters, set the exposure, gain & shutter to auto and on full wide-infinity without a URPRO filter in, point the housing at the sun and MWB it. Do not use the electronic method on the right handle.

This will give you a nice warm colour and away you go setting the shutter etc to what ever you want. If you go down deep and want some more warmth, flip the URPRO filter in.

 

For the A1 I had it on 50 shutter, full wide-infinity and pointed it at the sun at 6-8 meters without any filter in for that warm feel then away you go. Once again if you need more warmth down deep flip the filter in but I found I did not need it.

 

Or.... before you get in, zoom into the nice blue sky and take a WB, zoom out and bingo you have a nice warm colour and off you go.

 

My only thoughts now is that I would like the housing with preset a/b WB control so I can change for a colder colour when using the lights instead of having to re wb again. Wonder if I can drill a hole in the Phenom

 

I'll be back on Ningaloo very soon so I will do more demos using these methods over there.

Wonder if I can drill a hole in the Phenom

 

 

It will flood silly billy...

 

Another Drew vs ??? battle of the info.... i love it

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB