LMI bluefin Pro Housing and Canon HFS-10

I'm very seriously considering switching from my Amphibico/Sony hrv-a1 to this housing, camera, and Fathom 90 degree lens. Since it's new I have a few questions for anyone who has it and has used it.

1. Any problems with the operations or quality?

2. Do you have any sort of macro capability? The housing for the Sony xr500 series has a flip macro filter, but this housing doesn't.

3. Have you posted videos anywhere?

4. Does the camera white balance reasonably quick (2-3 sec) at depth? What's the max depth that you've tried wb?

5. What can I expect to get on battery life before I have to change them?

Sorry for all the questions, but there's very little info out that's not from a dealer or mfr.

I'm very seriously considering switching from my Amphibico/Sony hrv-a1 to this housing, camera, and Fathom 90 degree lens. Since it's new I have a few questions for anyone who has it and has used it.

 

1. Any problems with the operations or quality?

2. Do you have any sort of macro capability? The housing for the Sony xr500 series has a flip macro filter, but this housing doesn't.

3. Have you posted videos anywhere?

4. Does the camera white balance reasonably quick (2-3 sec) at depth? What's the max depth that you've tried wb?

5. What can I expect to get on battery life before I have to change them?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but there's very little info out that's not from a dealer or mfr.

Ok. here we go......

1. yes. the manual gearing for the custom dial was only VERY RECENTLY fixed. see other thread for full story. I have to say though, now the fix has been applied with a new gearing and arm/tray arrangement - this is now all ok. But should have been fully tested at the factory and not left to customers with fat wallets to find these things out.

2. Either use zoom, or screw in filter or use the canons nifty built in 1.7x tele convertor function as psuedo macro. Camera will focus down to 1cm.

3. Nope, not yet, but i shot some night time scenes of fireworks down in Devon last week, and the blacks on my 50" LCD are black, with very little grain. camera set to 6db gain max.

4. White balance is quick and a simple one button operation once setup with menu system. easy pasy. max depth - dunno yet.

5. standard battery - about 70mins dependant on temp, useage etc.. i'm going to get the BP827 for max time recording. Hope the housing accepts this size of battery. CAN ANYONE CONFIRM THIS ON HERE?

6. You didn't have a six in your list, but i've included one just to confound you - AVCHD format is extremely processor hungry. I'm using sony vegas with a quad core and 3 gis 'o' ram and it chugs at times.

hope this helps in your quest for the holy grail.....

Oh, and the OLED monitors don't yet work with HFS10's. they are working on a fix. i'm using a standard back for now. the 90 degree fathom will actually be an 80 degree.

correction, the OLED monitors don't work with PAL HFS10's.

Oh, and the OLED monitors don't yet work with HFS10's. they are working on a fix. i'm using a standard back for now. the 90 degree fathom will actually be an 80 degree.

 

correction, the OLED monitors don't work with PAL HFS10's.

THANK YOU for the very fast reply. You've given me lots of info and it's very much appreciated.

You say the 90 is really an 80? On their website they list both a 90 and 110 degree (110 is too expensive for me) Fathom lens, and an 80 hd which I assume is theirs. The specs they show on the 90 is 90.3 degrees.

I'm shooting NTSC and strongly considering getting the OLED and will check with LMI to see if it's compatible.

Didn't know the camera had a 1.7 teleconverter.

One final question: can you zoom the full range?

Again, thanks.

The lenses listed on the Light & Motion site are for the Sony Bluefins only. New lenses are being designed for the S10, but their final specifications have not been announced yet. Some early design criteria I saw showed 80 deg w/ partial zoom through and 100 deg w/ full zoom through, but I don't know that this has been finalized.

I personally use the standard lcd, and like it. The screen has plenty of resolution for confirming macro focus. Oled is brighter and has a wider viewing angle.

I've only used the camera at 60', and white balance through the filter was instant. Most of my shooting has been at Blue Heron Bridge in 8' of water.

The camera's standard port is a flat port that allows full zoom through. I pair it with an old school reefnet subsee for super macro shooting, and am anxiously awaiting the new larger diameter lens that won't require as much zoom.

THANK YOU for the very fast reply. You've given me lots of info and it's very much appreciated.

 

You say the 90 is really an 80? On their website they list both a 90 and 110 degree (110 is too expensive for me) Fathom lens, and an 80 hd which I assume is theirs. The specs they show on the 90 is 90.3 degrees.

 

I'm shooting NTSC and strongly considering getting the OLED and will check with LMI to see if it's compatible.

 

Didn't know the camera had a 1.7 teleconverter.

 

One final question: can you zoom the full range?

 

Again, thanks.

You should be ok then with the OLED. Us european PAL scum that aren't as important as you NTSC people will have to wait for the fix!

The L & M website is not to be trusted as the info isn't entirely accurate, and as ryan says, most of it relates to Sony.

The L & M uk website is more accurate and this is what i base my info upon: http://www.lightandmotionuk.com/

Regards

John

I personally use the standard lcd, and like it. The screen has plenty of resolution for confirming macro focus. Oled is brighter and has a wider viewing angle.

 

I've only used the camera at 60', and white balance through the filter was instant. Most of my shooting has been at Blue Heron Bridge in 8' of water.

Ryan, Again thanks very much. The UK website is quite informative. I wish I had the housing to look at but no one here on Guam has one....hence the questions. I've also searched for a ops manual for the s10 but cant find one.

1. Do you set the wb by programming it to the right handle, or do you use the "side wheel"? I'm assuming that the handle can't do both manual/auto focus and wb so one of these functions has to be programmed to the handle.

2. Is the "set" button the only one that can be programmed? I never use the light button and would like to have other functions programmed here.

Thanks for your time.

The control wheel is configured in the camera's menu, and I have this set to Exposure.

The "Set" Function is hard to describe, but easy to use.

Use the Up & Down arrows on the housing's left handle to choose a function (focus, in my case).

To toggle from AF to MF, press the set button.

Adjust focus near & far with the Left and Right Arrows.

At any time, exposure can be changed via mechanical access to the control wheel, and focus can be changed via the left grip. I also find it very beneficial to employ a momentary af style fousing scheme, where I'll activate af with the set button, let the camera lock focus, then press set again to switch to MF (locking focus) and keeping the camera from getting confused.

White balance is done separately. Function calls up a menu that lists Exposure Mode, White Balance, etc. Assuming a one touch white balance was the last operation you used in this menu, the key sequence is:

FUNC (Right Handle)

SET (Right Handle)

and FUNC to make the menu go away.

If you've accessed another function in this menu, then some navigation with the arrow keys will be required.

All of this is much easier to demonstrate with a video...

Thanks again...I've sent you a pm on this.