Unpacking Gates Deep Red #1

Well, after a long anticipated wait, we are in the middle of unpacking and prepping our Gates Deep Red, the first production model to be completed and delivered by Gates...and will be doing complete in pool and in ocean testing this weekend. Ill keep you all posted. Lots of pics to come, and video will be shown at the Long Beach Scuba Show!!

Awesome, Mike! Can't wait to see your report.

Day 1 in the pool went well. No serious issues, got to see some of the latest design changes gates made since we last tested their prototype. Tow significant changes are they added the two cooling fans, and they are no longer using a bulkhead connection to plug the Red LCD into. Instead, there is a longer cable from the LCD to Red One, that passes through the housing and plugs directly into the camera. They have the cable enclosed in tubing. Pictures to follow this weekend.

Taking it to Catalina late tomorrow into Monday for some in water testing. Will have video of it in use, shot with the EX1.

Way to go Mike, you will enjoy the housing, its a smooth piece of engineering.

Cheers,

Mark.

Back from the day at Catalina. WOOOWWW what a beauty. Gates did an amazing job with the Deep Red. We have officially named ours "Avalon". Very nice changes done since we last tested the prototype housing. Ill be posting more details here shortly. Also, shot footage of the RED in use, and during its buoyancy tests. Will have those up this week!

Back from the day at Catalina. WOOOWWW what a beauty. Gates did an amazing job with the Deep Red. We have officially named ours "Avalon". Very nice changes done since we last tested the prototype housing. Ill be posting more details here shortly. Also, shot footage of the RED in use, and during its buoyancy tests. Will have those up this week!

M

Mike, stop posting words and start posting images.......

M

Here here.... looks and sound like an awesome piece of kit. What glass were you using the RED 18- 50mm?

Yes we were using the 18-50. Only problem was our 18-50 came back from rental with the zoom busted...so we were stuck at full wide!! Its going to Red tomorrow to get repaired. Our plan is to get in the water soon with a 14mm, and hopefully some other lenses to test as well. There is another company making an adapter with Iris control for the Tokina 11-16. I believe its Op Tech...should be out in 3 weeks and will only cost $750!! If all works out then we will have that lens as well!!

We have officially named ours "Avalon".

I heard Marky is naming his housing 'The Compensator' ... Although he didnt say why this was

Dive safe

DeanB

Still waiting for some edited images here;-)

Steve

I heard Marky is naming his housing 'The Compensator' ... Although he didnt say why this was

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

Yeah well that's only coz 'Little Jim" was taken!!!

Ok here is a quick clip of Bert with the Deep Red on the first 5 minutes of our first dive with it. Not sure whats going on, but the the Vimeo file doesnt seem to play smooth on my machines. Let me know if its the same for you guys.

Watch the clip here

It plays fine on my machine Mike. That is a beautiful piece of gear. It does kind of look like you might need to add a prop though.

Just jealous,

Steve

Here is a video of me playing with the Deep Red, demonstrating its ability to achieve perfect trim and buoyancy for an underwater rig. It handles amazingly underwater!!! I call it A Well Balanced Red

It looks good Mike, a fair bit smaller than I thought it was!

Really looking forward to seeing some frame grabs from red to see what the image is like. Do you have the aqua video and housing as well? It would be great to see frame grabs of each in controlled conditions to compare the optics of each.

Cheers

Jon

Hi Jon,

Im still going through the RED footage, just got the drive from my partner today. He also has the Aqua Video housing. We have some pool tests done shooting a focus chart in the pool with both the Aqua Video housing, and then the Gates Deep Red housing.

I wouldn't let go of that 'badboy' infront of me... It would disappear... RAPID

Mike ...How does the EX1 Gates housing compare on balance ???

Dive safe

DeanB

Ill keep that in mind Dean. The EX1 handles amazing in water, better than any of the previous housings Ive used....but the Deep Red EXCEEDS the EX1's handling. Id guess at 15% larger, its wider for sure which allows for easy handling. Both Bert and myself have EX1's and have extensive time in the water with them...and both of us agree the Deep Red is even easier to use! I think the actually weight trimming (as seen in the video) for the Deep Red is definitely better as well. However, since Gates came out the the foam collar, the EX1 trim is MUCH improved.

Now the test comes when the Glass port comes out for the red...and once we start using different lenses and extension rings. We are going to move a few of the weights around on our current configuration. One thing is to compensation for the large connector where the LCD cable goes into the housing (housing lends itself to the right a bit) so we are going to move one of the weights to the left side. All in all...AMAZING!!!

Hi Mike

Great work, vimeo clips played fine on my PC Book Pro here even at full screen.

How much is a set-up like that cost, not that I could every afford one.

Great to know Wags, thank you.

Hahah, the question of all questions. That really depends on what options you have. Rough figures, for a Red, with batteries, 2 drives, 18-50 lens, 5.6 LCD, you are just under $30k. Then the housing set up with port and extender for the 18-50 will put you around $26k or so....

You are in for it for a nice BMW to say the least!!!