Video from Malaysia shot with the new Sony XR520

this is my first try with the Sony XR520 camera , this was shot at Sipadan off Malaysia.

this is my first try with the Sony XR520 camera , this was shot at Sipadan off Malaysia.

 

 

Excellent! What kind of housing were you using? Also, what software did you edit with?

Excellent! What kind of housing were you using? Also, what software did you edit with?

Thanks, I use an Light and Motion Housing with the LED 2000 lights. I edit with Adobe Premiere CS4, The only problem in editing the MTS files is you need to some high end hardware in your computer , if not it will fall flat on its face. I have a quad core 3.0 12 gig of ram , Nvidia 260 GTX video card 4 tarabyte hadrives. I am not impressed with the white balancing of The XR520, my TRV900 worked much better. I had to work very hard to get what good video that I got, the camera had a green tint to it, on some of my video you can see it.

Nice setup..is there a big difference between the 520 and the HDR-12? I have a 12.

Thanks, I use an Light and Motion Housing with the LED 2000 lights. I edit with Adobe Premiere CS4, The only problem in editing the MTS files is you need to some high end hardware in your computer , if not it will fall flat on its face. I have a quad core 3.0 12 gig of ram , Nvidia 260 GTX video card 4 tarabyte hadrives. I am not impressed with the white balancing of The XR520, my TRV900 worked much better. I had to work very hard to get what good video that I got, the camera had a green tint to it, on some of my video you can see it.

were you using MWB? or auto?

were you using MWB? or auto?

I had to use Manual White Balance, if I didnt ,the video was pea green

I had to use Manual White Balance, if I didnt ,the video was pea green

The colour on the macro shots looks great but yes, the MWB on the wide angle shot of the bumpheads didn't produce the correct colour. Its worrying that the newer prosumer cameras have difficulty doing decent MWB compared to the older SD cameras (TRV900, TRV950, HC1000).

Are you using the Bluefin Pro? Great video nonetheless, well done.

The colour on the macro shots looks great but yes, the MWB on the wide angle shot of the bumpheads didn't produce the correct colour. Its worrying that the newer prosumer cameras have difficulty doing decent MWB compared to the older SD cameras (TRV900, TRV950, HC1000).

 

Are you using the Bluefin Pro? Great video nonetheless, well done.

Yes, I am using the Bluefin Pro. I think the new Sony's suck . I wish I would have waited before I bought the XR520. I have never worked so hard shooting video to get the correct color, usually i set the MWB as long as i Dont change depth or get the sun in at weird angle, I can shoot to my hearts content without even touching the white balance. Even in the Macro mode I couldnt just point and shoot. I thought the lights would do its job and being so close to the subject, it should have been easy but it wasnt, I even had to play with MWB in macro mode. I never had to do that with my 900. I am very dissapointed in the way the new Sony XR520 sees color underwater. Im backed to square one.

I enjoyed seeing the sights from Sipadan and it brought back a pang to go back there again. There was nothing quite like waking up early and heading out to be dumped into the middle of a school of Bumpheads, Jacks or Barracuda!

I think the HDV cams from Sony all lean towards green underwater and they can make even nice blue water look green if you don't or can't MWB. This happens on the 3 chips too, so it is not just the 1 chips. You could get away without MWB to some degree on SD cameras but you certainly can't on HDV. Having said that the colours that still look a little off should be correctable in post, or is that as good as you can get them?

Just something else I noticed was that there was some vignetting going on. Is the housing custom for your camera? If it is I'd be straight back to L&M asking what was going on. Vignetting on a housing costing a few thousand dollars is simply unacceptable these days (in my opinion).

Thanks for posting!

Cheers, Simon

Very nice Simon, you always shoot and edit well. Another step to fame and fortune.

Steve

Not me Steve, Lawrence claims the credit for this beauty!

Cheers, Simon

I enjoyed seeing the sights from Sipadan and it brought back a pang to go back there again. There was nothing quite like waking up early and heading out to be dumped into the middle of a school of Bumpheads, Jacks or Barracuda!

 

I think the HDV cams from Sony all lean towards green underwater and they can make even nice blue water look green if you don't or can't MWB. This happens on the 3 chips too, so it is not just the 1 chips. You could get away without MWB to some degree on SD cameras but you certainly can't on HDV. Having said that the colours that still look a little off should be correctable in post, or is that as good as you can get them?

 

Just something else I noticed was that there was some vignetting going on. Is the housing custom for your camera? If it is I'd be straight back to L&M asking what was going on. Vignetting on a housing costing a few thousand dollars is simply unacceptable these days (in my opinion).

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Cheers, Simon

Thanks Simon, The housing is supposed to be made for this camera. Light and motion said the vignetting was caused by the auto focus and the stabilization feature of the cameras, they said to lock the focus and turn off the stabilization feature and the vignetting will disappear . I haven't tried it yet.

Lawrence

Thanks Simon, The housing is supposed to be made for this camera. Light and motion said the vignetting was caused by the auto focus and the stabilization feature of the cameras, they said to lock the focus and turn off the stabilization feature and the vignetting will disappear . I haven't tried it yet.

 

 

Lawrence

I have just got the same system, so am interested in these comments to say the least!

What lens are you using on the L & M Housing? Flat, 90 or 110?

I have just got the same system, so am interested in these comments to say the least!

 

What lens are you using on the L & M Housing? Flat, 90 or 110?

I was using the 90,

I was using the 90,

OK, so what you are saying is that the camera somehow loses it's manual white balance setting?

I thought once you had hit the "one touch" white balance it would just stay there!

Could it be a faulty camera?

As far as I can work out, a manual white balance setting on the camera means it shouldn't change until you reset it again!

OK, so what you are saying is that the camera somehow loses it's manual white balance setting?

 

I thought once you had hit the "one touch" white balance it would just stay there!

 

Could it be a faulty camera?

 

As far as I can work out, a manual white balance setting on the camera means it shouldn't change until you reset it again!

I believe the XR520 doesn't know how to interpret the right colors underwater, when the conditions was just right( sun at the right angle, no particles in the water and shallow water, it seemed that you could get the correct color by MWB, but not without MWB 3 to 4 times before you got what you wanted. I had another little twist to the whole equation. the Light and Motion bluefin housing OLED monitor didnt even come close to matching the colors that the camera was seeing, I mean not even close. when the back monitor showed a good color the camera was actually recording a pea green color, when the monitor was blowed out with a deep very red tint, almost like having your red filter fliped up with your lights on, the camera was seeing the correct colors. so i had to shoot most of my video through the very small side window on the housing. The MWB was not kicking out as far as I could tell, its just not accurate for underwater use. when you get below 50 ft of water, forget it, its not going to MWB.

I believe the XR520 doesn't know how to interpret the right colors underwater, when the conditions was just right( sun at the right angle, no particles in the water and shallow water, it seemed that you could get the correct color by MWB, but not without MWB 3 to 4 times before you got what you wanted. I had another little twist to the whole equation. the Light and Motion bluefin housing OLED monitor didnt even come close to matching the colors that the camera was seeing, I mean not even close. when the back monitor showed a good color the camera was actually recording a pea green color, when the monitor was blowed out with a deep very red tint, almost like having your red filter fliped up with your lights on, the camera was seeing the correct colors. so i had to shoot most of my video through the very small side window on the housing. The MWB was not kicking out as far as I could tell, its just not accurate for underwater use. when you get below 50 ft of water, forget it, its not going to MWB.

Interesting! No on else using this combo is having this problem though, so I'm not sure what to make of it?!

I will be taking my unit for a dive today, so will have it's first good test. I will let you know what I find with it.

As for the OLED Monitor, there are contrast, hue, colour adjustments for the monitor, have you tried matching the pic from the side monitor so they are the the same?

The main reason for this monitor is better contrast/colour/response time, I can't see it being hugely different once you match it? Or L & M putting a monitor on the Bluefin Pro that isn't able to show the same pic. I think you need to have a play with the settings, or again, maybe the camera is faulty? All seems very strange to me.

I'll let you know my findings.

Interesting! No on else using this combo is having this problem though, so I'm not sure what to make of it?!

 

I will be taking my unit for a dive today, so will have it's first good test. I will let you know what I find with it.

 

As for the OLED Monitor, there are contrast, hue, colour adjustments for the monitor, have you tried matching the pic from the side monitor so they are the the same?

 

The main reason for this monitor is better contrast/colour/response time, I can't see it being hugely different once you match it? Or L & M putting a monitor on the Bluefin Pro that isn't able to show the same pic. I think you need to have a play with the settings, or again, maybe the camera is faulty? All seems very strange to me.

 

I'll let you know my findings.

Whats weird about it is, the colors on the OLED monitor matches what the camera is seeing on the surface, once you get it underwater it all goes to hell, and yes i did adjust the contrast, hue, even on a night dive my video had a small about of a green tint. L&M says the now have a RGB adjustment as well.

Also the camera takes awesome video on the surface, thats why I dont think its a defective camera, I think Sonys new camera is having a problem seeing colors underwater. I will edit some of my pea green video and post a link to it later today so you can see it, if it was blue, i could understand that but not pea green in blue water, I have $ 8000.00 US in this system, Im just disapointed in its performance

Also the camera takes awesome video on the surface, thats why I dont think its a defective camera, I think Sonys new camera is having a problem seeing colors underwater. I will edit some of my pea green video and post a link to it later today so you can see it, if it was blue, i could understand that but not pea green in blue water, I have $ 8000.00 US in this system, Im just disapointed in its performance

sorry to hear that you're having issues with the Sony. i think the real strength of the current and forthcoming Red systems is the ability to shoot video in RAW format. you can do the color in post without a pre-baked-in look. will make mwb a thing of the past.