L&M Bluefin / Sony CX550 experience

If I may interject: I was reading in the AVS forum "Cx550 owner thread" that the CX550s are becoming difficult to find... Might just be a rumor, I did not try to buy another one. However, I can't find it on Sonystyle anymore (the XR550V is still here but the CX550V seems to have been replaced by a 700V with more memory and a 560V without viewfinder -which BTW is useless underwater...)

But the point is that by the time you get ready to purchase a camcorder later this year, it may not be available anymore (or secondhand only). The nice thing is that the L&M housing should be ready for it (if one trusts L&M).

Ah, the throes of being an undecided buyer! :-)

If one were to wait for a camcorder that would stay "current model" for more than a year, you'd be waiting until the cows come home...

Buy early in the lifecycle, get 2 years use, sell and move on to the next one.

And, there is always a secondhand market for good condition housing / camcorder kits.

Regards

Peter

If I may interject: I was reading in the AVS forum "Cx550 owner thread" that the CX550s are becoming difficult to find... Might just be a rumor, I did not try to buy another one. However, I can't find it on Sonystyle anymore (the XR550V is still here but the CX550V seems to have been replaced by a 700V with more memory and a 560V without viewfinder -which BTW is useless underwater...)

But the point is that by the time you get ready to purchase a camcorder later this year, it may not be available anymore (or secondhand only). The nice thing is that the L&M housing should be ready for it (if one trusts L&M).

Ah, the throws of being an undecided buyer! :-)

Funny you should say this - I've just been the recipient of some very bad news - the mechanism in my HC7 is shot and needs to be replaced. This is particularly bad news because they have to order in the parts and I leave on my trip on Friday. So I'm forced to consider doing the 550V / Bluefin upgrade now but I'm searching high and low for a XR or CX550V that someone can get to me in Sydney by Friday before I leave. I have had no luck yet finding anything... Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm even willing to consider a creative solution where the camera gets sent to me in Egypt (not ideal but I'm desperate!!!!).....

HELP!!!

Funny you should say this - I've just been the recipient of some very bad news - the mechanism in my HC7 is shot and needs to be replaced. This is particularly bad news because they have to order in the parts and I leave on my trip on Friday. So I'm forced to consider doing the 550V / Bluefin upgrade now but I'm searching high and low for a XR or CX550V that someone can get to me in Sydney by Friday before I leave. I have had no luck yet finding anything... Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm even willing to consider a creative solution where the camera gets sent to me in Egypt (not ideal but I'm desperate!!!!).....

 

HELP!!!

Are you flying to Egypt via Singapore?

Regards

Peter

Are you flying to Egypt via Singapore?

 

Regards

Peter

Sadly no, we are going via Abu Dhabi.... but I wouldn't be surprised if a store couldn't FEDEX / DHL something to Sydney in 1-2 days provided the camera was ready to be shipped now.....

Also investigating if I can get a mailing address for our tour agent in Egypt - we are doing a few days of land before the liveaboard, so maybe I could receive it there. oh how convoluted this is becoming!!!!

Did you have any ideas?

Sadly no, we are going via Abu Dhabi.... but I wouldn't be surprised if a store couldn't FEDEX / DHL something to Sydney in 1-2 days provided the camera was ready to be shipped now.....

 

Also investigating if I can get a mailing address for our tour agent in Egypt - we are doing a few days of land before the liveaboard, so maybe I could receive it there. oh how convoluted this is becoming!!!!

 

Did you have any ideas?

If you were travelling via Singapore I'm sure we could have found a camera for you. Maybe even the housing too, through ScubaCam.

You could try googling camera shops at Abu Dhabi airport, contact them and see if they have any in stock. Bit of a long shot, but worth a try.

Or maybe your tour operator in Egypt could arrange a loan camera and housing, also a long, long shot.

But really, do you want to be on your "once in a lifetime" Egypt trip with a brand new camera and housing - no dunk test, no familiarisation time...

Alternatively, you could put out a "help" call out through wetpixel / scubaboard / local ebay site / radio stations / etc for a loaner or second-hand HC7...

Regards

Peter

No guarantees, but L&M are expecting that this housing will also accommodate Sony's next model (unless Sony completely change the form factor). So you could use the Bluefin Pro OLED with your XR520 then upgrade to the Sony XX999 when it comes out in 2011/2012, maybe with just a change of housing tray...

While I've been looking for the XR550, I had a quick look at the 700, looks like Sony has changed the form quite a bit from what I could see. Guess that means a new L&M housing and no chance to reuse the existing L&M Bluefin housing, huh? How frustrating!!!

If you were travelling via Singapore I'm sure we could have found a camera for you. Maybe even the housing too, through ScubaCam.

 

You could try googling camera shops at Abu Dhabi airport, contact them and see if they have any in stock. Bit of a long shot, but worth a try.

 

Or maybe your tour operator in Egypt could arrange a loan camera and housing, also a long, long shot.

 

But really, do you want to be on your "once in a lifetime" Egypt trip with a brand new camera and housing - no dunk test, no familiarisation time...

 

Alternatively, you could put out a "help" call out through wetpixel / scubaboard / local ebay site / radio stations / etc for a loaner or second-hand HC7...

 

Regards

Peter

Well, as crazy as it sounds, I'd prefer to have a brand new setup versus no setup at all... In any case, I had luck and found an XR550V. So here we go!!! Peter, a couple of questions for you on your camera setup:

1. I've heard a few varying opinions on the steady shot function - do you have yours turned on or off?

2. XV Color - do you have yours on or off?

3. If you know you are going to be in low light conditions underwater, have you ever turned on the "low lux" functionality?

4. What rec mode are you using, HD FX, FD FH, HD HQ or HD LP?

Any other key setup items I have missed? Is there a zebra functionality? What about shutter speed? Or have I lost this going from the HC7 to the XR550?

Rebecca

1. I've heard a few varying opinions on the steady shot function - do you have yours turned on or off?

2. XV Color - do you have yours on or off?

3. If you know you are going to be in low light conditions underwater, have you ever turned on the "low lux" functionality?

4. What rec mode are you using, HD FX, FD FH, HD HQ or HD LP?

Any other key setup items I have missed?

Is there a zebra functionality?

What about shutter speed? Or have I lost this going from the HC7 to the XR550?

Regards

Peter

1. I've heard a few varying opinions on the steady shot function - do you have yours turned on or off?

Always on. It works well.

2. XV Color - do you have yours on or off?

Did not know it was an option... It has been turned off.

3. If you know you are going to be in low light conditions underwater, have you ever turned on the "low lux" functionality?

Never. The gain might make the image fuzzy. I always use lights in low-light: deep, low-vis, inside wreck/cave, etc.

4. What rec mode are you using, HD FX, FD FH, HD HQ or HD LP?

HD FX always. Why compromise quality when you don't need to.

Any other key setup items I have missed?

All the settings recommended by L&M for working in the housing (e.g. rec light off, beep off, video out, remote on, etc)

White Bal. must be the top left My Menu item for the MWB button on the housing to work

Also, I like to move "Media Settings" to My Menu so, if I need to change from internal memory to SD while underwater, it is a quick change.

Set other "i might want to change this during a dive" menu items on to My Menu

Turn off smile functionality.

Is there a zebra functionality?

Not that I know about.

What about shutter speed? Or have I lost this going from the HC7 to the XR550?

I've never felt a need to change shutter speed. I do use the Exposure Adjust (AE Shift) mode set to the manual control and therefore adjustable underwater. Usually set to -4 for night dives and -2 for daytime underwater, otherwise the camera tries to boost the exposure more than I like.

 

Regards

Peter

Thanks for that.

With respect to XV Color, it is definitely an option on the 550. My experience with the HC7 was that having it on helped with the color, but I'll try to do a couple tests with it on and then off to see if there is any marked difference.

This has been a great thread for me- I was considering ditching my camera because of the poor performance of a different housing I bought- but after looking at the videos- I am going to scrounge up enough dough to buy a Bluefin with SOLA lights.

I am going to Fiji in August and this is the "big trip" of the year. I have access to a lake and will practice first there so I expect the WB situation will be very different.

My big question is whether the expensive rig would be wasted money since I am such an amatuer.

Thanks to everyone who has posted to this and the SOLA light thread. They have both been informative.

I have just found this thread having returned from Lembah with my newly aquired L&M Bluefin housing and have found it very useful. My greatest disappointment with the housing was the flip lens - by day 3, I managed to scratch it in the housing. Had I done something wrong here? I was under the impression that I could quite happily change this when I wanted to change shooting from wide angle to close up. I hadn't touched the lens from inserting it in the housing so no user error from that point of view. I am using a Sony CX550E

John Dory

I have just found this thread having returned from Lembah with my newly aquired L&M Bluefin housing and have found it very useful. My greatest disappointment with the housing was the flip lens - by day 3, I managed to scratch it in the housing. Had I done something wrong here? I was under the impression that I could quite happily change this when I wanted to change shooting from wide angle to close up. I hadn't touched the lens from inserting it in the housing so no user error from that point of view. I am using a Sony CX550E

 

John Dory

I have not had this problem and I have flipped it in and out a lot.

I did shave off some of the black plastic frame around the flip macro lens so that it cleared the rear rim of the flat port more smoothly. But I have never seen where the lens of the flip macro lens would touch anything while being flipped.

The macro lens can be popped in and out of its frame to change diopters. Are you sure that yours is properly seated?

Was the whole unit properly seated into its magnetic holder?

You are using it with the flat glass port aren't you? It can not be used with the Fathom 90 as it will hit the back of the port (not that you would use a macro lens with the Fathom 90 anyway).

Regards

Peter

Hi Peter

Thanks for replying. I'm not sure if it is properly seated - I had assumed it was as it is a new piece of kit. Because it is a positve magnetic seating I cannot see that I could have got this wrong, but I am willing to take any suggestions. It is used with the standard flat glass lens.

I will contact Light and Motion about this as it was rather disappointing and didn't allow me to do the macro work I had hoped for.

John Dory

Hi Peter

Thanks for replying. I'm not sure if it is properly seated - I had assumed it was as it is a new piece of kit. Because it is a positve magnetic seating I cannot see that I could have got this wrong, but I am willing to take any suggestions. It is used with the standard flat glass lens.

 

I will contact Light and Motion about this as it was rather disappointing and didn't allow me to do the macro work I had hoped for.

 

John Dory

I would very much like to know what you learn from Light and Motion on this.

I have only had a couple dives with mine (mostly a lot of table practice) but am heading to Bali later this month and would hate to lose my diopter option. It would be interesting to see who makes a stronger diopter that would work in the flip mount.

Currently optimal positioning of the new Sola lights to eliminate shadows is the biggest tweak.

Would appreciate any info you find out.

Thanks. John

Well after reading this I removed my flip diopter and sure enough there are fine scratches towards the edge about the 8 o clock position.

Since I have never used it with the WA lens I looked for what might be causing this.

There is a screw that holds the tray spring in the front of the housing, when not flipped up the diopter/red filter recesses into a "channel" behind it.

My hands were too large but when my wife ran her hand down thru the channel she can feel that spring screw sticking out the other side where it would scratch the thicker diopter as it travels in and out.

I will contact REEF on Monday about verifying this and correcting the problem, (and replacing diopter).

With the WA lens on I can feel/see the red filter lens side drag slightly on the rear rim of the port.

Peter, how did you "shave off some of the black plastic frame around the flip macro lens"? I would like to do that.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

John

With the WA lens on I can feel/see the red filter lens side drag slightly on the rear rim of the port.

There is a screw that holds the tray spring in the front of the housing, when not flipped up the diopter/red filter recesses into a "channel" behind it.

My hands were too large but when my wife ran her hand down thru the channel she can feel that spring screw sticking out the other side where it would scratch the thicker diopter as it travels in and out.

Peter, how did you "shave off some of the black plastic frame around the flip macro lens"? I would like to do that.

As I've mentioned here a few times, with MWB, I don't see any value in using the red filter so I can not comment on that one. But I would be very careful of anything that touches the rear rim of the Fathom port because the rear lens is convex, so, if the filter is touching the rim, it may well be touching the glass and this would not be a good thing.

I certainly would not recommend using the flip macro when the Fathom port is mounted. With the Fathom on the housing, I would recommend that you have nothing in the flip mount - or at least never swing it up. Flip macro and the Fathom wont work together anyway.

I have taken a good look at my flip macro and the standard port - I was using it yesterday. In my case, I can not see how the glass in the flip macro could be rubbing across anything as it is slightly behind its black plastic frame ring. There are no scratches on the glass.

The "shaving" that I did was on the bottom of the round black frame of the flip macro at the forwards side, where it slides into the slot behind and below the port. I found that, a couple times underwater, the edge of the flip macro caught on the edge of the housing and would not easily slide down into its slot. The frame plastic is quite soft. So I took a sharp craft knife (box knife with snap off blades) and carefully whittled off the front lower edge about 1 mm, making it beveled and smooth. Now it slides down easily. Possibly the shaving that I did means that it does not push up against the spring-screw head in the slot.

By the way, I would not get too hung up about some minor scratches on the flip macro glass. If they are on the bottom part of the lens, they are out of frame. Even if in frame, anything that close to the camera lens is going to have almost zero impact on image quality - unless you are shooting a strongly backlit scene - which would be unusual with macro critter shot. If it is that spring screw that is doing the scratching, the scratch must be way below the camera's lens so it would be well-out of the image frame.

Regards

Peter

As I've mentioned here a few times, with MWB, I don't see any value in using the red filter so I can not comment on that one. But I would be very careful of anything that touches the rear rim of the Fathom port because the rear lens is convex, so, if the filter is touching the rim, it may well be touching the glass and this would not be a good thing.

 

I certainly would not recommend using the flip macro when the Fathom port is mounted. With the Fathom on the housing, I would recommend that you have nothing in the flip mount - or at least never swing it up. Flip macro and the Fathom wont work together anyway.

 

I have taken a good look at my flip macro and the standard port - I was using it yesterday. In my case, I can not see how the glass in the flip macro could be rubbing across anything as it is slightly behind its black plastic frame ring. There are no scratches on the glass.

 

The "shaving" that I did was on the bottom of the round black frame of the flip macro at the forwards side, where it slides into the slot behind and below the port. I found that, a couple times underwater, the edge of the flip macro caught on the edge of the housing and would not easily slide down into its slot. The frame plastic is quite soft. So I took a sharp craft knife (box knife with snap off blades) and carefully whittled off the front lower edge about 1 mm, making it beveled and smooth. Now it slides down easily. Possibly the shaving that I did means that it does not push up against the spring-screw head in the slot.

 

By the way, I would not get too hung up about some minor scratches on the flip macro glass. If they are on the bottom part of the lens, they are out of frame. Even if in frame, anything that close to the camera lens is going to have almost zero impact on image quality - unless you are shooting a strongly backlit scene - which would be unusual with macro critter shot. If it is that spring screw that is doing the scratching, the scratch must be way below the camera's lens so it would be well-out of the image frame.

 

Regards

Peter

Peter-

Good information as usual.

To be clear, I've never tried the flip macro with anything but the standard port.

If you remove the standard port and look in and down from the front you can see the end of the spring screw extending out into the channel. It won't hit the red filter but (at least on mine) it does touch the diopter.

I'm sure its an easy fix but good to know if you haven't checked.

On a side note, I tried the WA lens yesterday and was surprised that occasionally after a manual white balance it would give me a crazy red effect where silver fish would have a weird red strobing across the bodies and the everything else was too red. It was very strange, also the background past the lights appeared very grainy.

Perhaps there is a setting for gain or exposure I have wrong, it had been set for auto shift AE -2 but I noticed later somehow it was in auto exposure. It may have gone back to default or I accidently changed it without noticing.

On a 60 ft dive (no red filter) I tried to WB on different things like a red brown sponge, sand or the sun and the effects were disappointing. Especially as that crazy red affect occurred several times and it was subtle enough that I didn't notice it till we got home.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you. John

Hi all, fantastic thread, precisely what I was looking for. I have been running a underwater video business in Puerto galera and have finally decided to upgrade - well, my old trv900 has decided for me by dying, really - to the XR520. I have used Gates housings for the past 14 years and want to stay with them. Here's my questions, I have looked on line but without much succes:

I am based in the Philippines but a friend from South Australia is coming in about three weeks and could bring me the camera and housing. Do any of you know any place in Australia retailing the housings/cameras and their contact.

Any idea of prices in Oz?

Cheers,

Rob

Thanks very much for feedback re this problem. I had a look at the retaining screw but this is not the problem. I watched the action of flipping the dioptre and it is clearly scratching against the rim of the camera. It is not a superficial scratch - footage taken is unusable as it has a smear right across the centre! Spoke to L&M UK today and they are going to have a look at the housing. I will keep you posted

John Dory

I am based in the Philippines but a friend from South Australia is coming in about three weeks and could bring me the camera and housing. Do any of you know any place in Australia retailing the housings/cameras and their contact.

If your friend travels through Singapore on his way to the Philippines, it would only take 2 or 3 hours to visit David or Sanah at ScubaCam.

Great people, strong supporters of Wetpixel, experts on L&M and good prices. You should contact them to have it set up and ready when your friend passes through. If you asked nicely, might even bring it out to the airport to meet your friend on the way through.

Regards

Peter

ScubaCam

Tel: (65) 6336 6186

Fax: (65) 6336 6252

89 Short Street, #01-09 Golden Wall Centre, Singapore 188216

Website: www.scubacam.com.sg

Email: info@scubacam.com.sg

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