Newbie question

Hi,

I hope I'm posting this in the correct place and don't want to hijack this thread. This is my first post so I'm a rank newbie and have to start with a reply.

I have just signed up to do a dive course, but have been filming for a few years now. I have a Lumix GH1, a Lumix GH2 body, 20mm, 14-140mm and 100-300mm lens, but only plan on using the 20mm. I would like to start with a setup that I won't grow out of too soon, but can expand. I am considering purchasing the following:

10bar Housing for GH2, 20mm port with 67mm thread, Light and Motion Photo 1200 or Mangrove Videocompact K-VC-2L6 and a wet macro and wide filter.

My main area of interest would be doing shallow water day dives filming macro, as I have no diving experience yet.

Any comments on the suitability of these items would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

Hi Chris,

A sincere welcome to Wetpixel. You'll find a wealth of information here and find that the Wetpixel community is, usually, most supportive. I already respect your abilities as a shooter but there are many things to consider before venturing into the world of underwater videography or photography. The first, and possibly the most important consideration is to evaluate honestly how prepared you are as a diver. If you are new to diving or haven't been in the water in a few years, than, for now, it is highly possible that getting into underwater videography or photography is not for you at this time. The new diver's time is much better spent mastering the diving skills that will make him/her a great videographer and diver. It is imperative that the budding diving videographer be completely comfortable in the water, and has a full and objective knowledge of his own skills and limitations. Ego under the water can lead to injury or a death sentence later on, maybe not now or tomorrow, but eventually. Buoyancy control, the ability to hover over, under or by an object in the water, regardless of a specific depth in relationship to your subject might just be the most important skill that all divers, videographers, photographers or not, must learn. The mastering of this skill cannot be overly emphasized. As a brand new diver you are probably still trying to practice maintaining buoyancy control, which can easily be affected by personal weighting, tank type, aluminum or steel, equipment being used, and dive conditions. That is a lot to deal with for a new or inexperienced scuba diver. Now imagine also trying to focus your attention on that $3,600 camcorder stuffed into that $4,100.00 housing with those $2,000 lights attached by the $400 light arms. If you accidentally drop the system while reaching for your high-pressure inflator hose, you can very likely kiss the entire system goodbye and hope your home owners insurance will cover it.

If you recognize in yourself that you are still at the stage where you frequently go to your inflator hose to change depth, if you have trouble maintaining a horizontal posture in the water and if you haven't yet learned to use breath control as a means to affect buoyancy than play it safe. Practice and master these skills until you and they become second nature before risking your hard earned money and equipment. Diving in a pool or swimming hole is not the same as diving in the open ocean with its currents and unpredictable nature.

That said, underwater filming is an exciting and creative endeavor. If I were you I would advise you not to purchase anything at this point. By the time you have mastered your diving skills there will probably be new cams, new housings and new technology that you will be able to take advantage of then. And then, since you are already an accomplished and knowledgeable shooter, you will have a big step up on many others who have gotten to the point where they then want to shoot video and photos.

I don't want to discourage you from either learning to dive or film underwater. Just do it smart and you'll be happy.....and safe.

Steve

Hi Chris, Probably a pretty good plan as you own the camera and lens already. 10-bar is cheaper than the Nauticam alternative.

Which wet lenses are you considering?

I suspect at some point you may want to upgrade to dedicated macro (45mm) and wide (e.g. 7-14) lenses rather than wet lenses, but this is based on reading the net and guesswork, not experience.

p.s Maybe get your PADI OWC dives out of the way first.

Thanks for the advice Steve and Nick.

I agree on the advice to learn good buoyancy control and not taking a camera for a while. I was planning on filming in full auto initially to reduce to number of things to worry about.

Losing gear had occurred to me so I will be filming in the 3-5m depth range until I feel I am becoming competent at buoyancy control. I was hoping to be able to practice lung volume control and film at the same time. I thought the worst case would be a missed shot.

The wet wide lens I looked at is the Dyron 20mm Wide Angle Lens for 67mm Port (DY.67WA20) and for macro the INON UCL-330. I would love the 45mm macro and the 7-14mm and had figured I would move to them when my diving was more competent. Had hoped that starting with the 20mm and using ETC would be a good beginning.

I know this is a difficult question with many variables, but was hoping a rough idea as to how many lumens of light might be needed for a 3-5m sunny day dive on the GB Reef shooting macro.

Thanks again for the replies,

Chris

For underwater shooting, avoid filming in auto focus as much as possible, especially so for wide angle shots as the iris will tend to go in and out of focus as you try to film that shark coming at you from a distance.

Lighting is most important. I find that for close up work I lower the lumens power on my lights to below 1000 and often down to about 500 lumens as, for macro, you can easily blow out your subject. Know that underwater, even the best video lights have a limited throw so even 2 or 3,000 lumens will only throw about 5 ft. Your depth is also a determining factor which is why manual white balance is so important for each time that your lighting conditions change and where the sun may be in the sky. In only 18ft of water, with the sun bright and behind you, you may not need to use your lights at all as there is a minimum of color loss at such a shallow depth.

Steve

I can't give you a lumen value, but at 3-5m on a sunny day on the GBR you shouldn't need lights for most shots and will just be able to use available light and manual white balance, or perhaps even auto or daylight white balance.

The same goes for deeper shots, especially wider ones. Consider getting a blue water filter (UR-PRO or Magic Filter similar) and using available light with manual white balance. Even if the camera will do a white balance without the filter, the filter will make the colours richer. Of course if you use it with lights then your subject will be red so if it's not removable then you need to make a decision before the dive whether to use it or not. Or maybe you can get an external one?