advice needed on buying new video set up

Hi there

i will try to keep this short..ish

have had a trv 950e in an amphibico dive buddy hsg for 8 yrs its been a good un, unfortunatly its gone to the watery grave on my last trip to Komodo, the plus side is the insurance paid out

so the market has progressed some what in the last few years and i was looking at a new HD wave (aquatica/amphibico) hsg with a sony HDR LX730E ...however when a rang up a well known dealer in the UK he started banging on that the new compacts were just as good at taking HD video as the dedicated video cams and are cheaper and the vid cam market is as good as dead...im not so sure

the camaras he was talking about are

Canon powershot S110 in a canon hsg or recsea or ikelite i would purchase lenses/diopters as well as a sola photo 1200 he said the WB is good on these

a sony RX100 with ikelite or recsea he said WB abit complicated and not as good, would purchase lenses as above

a sony NEX7 with nauticam hsg

so my questions are...

are compacts as good as a dedicated video?

how do you keep these small compacts still?

ive seen footage from them but they seem to blur abit on fast subjects and i dont think the zoom is big enough 3.6x ?

if i got the HD wave and cam can i buy diopters etc to get closer to pigmys etc?

i am a total amateur in this i just take footage for myself then edit it on dvd and show to friends etc but i do want it to look good

if you have suggestions for a set up im all ears

i was ready to buy a HD wave then he told me about the compacts and the fact they haven't sold a wave in 2years has just put my mind into turmoil cos even tho im an amateur i also want the best i can afford

i have a budget in my mind but like everything that will prob go out the window!!

i do at least 3 big 2-3 week trips a year so it will get used for about 100 dives a year

many thanks

jonathan

I recommend you have a read at my blog for the RX100 http://interceptor121.wordpress.com

According to what people say the video are better than most single chip camcorders check on the channel http://www.youtube.com/interceptor121

I am actually selling my RX100 rig with Nauticam housing if you are interested as well

By the way did you talk to the shop in London on the embankment?

What is your budget? That will be a big deciding factor.

I recommend you have a read at my blog for the RX100 http://interceptor121.wordpress.com

 

According to what people say the video are better than most single chip camcorders check on the channel http://www.youtube.com/interceptor121

 

I am actually selling my RX100 rig with Nauticam housing if you are interested as well

 

By the way did you talk to the shop in London on the embankment?

Hi intercepter

excellant blog, however from what you say the RX100 is not so good on the macro stuff and really thats what i really require, also the zoom on a wide angle, so it looks like that might be out

i have only spoken to camaras underwater in devon i dont know about the london shop on the embankment..have you got a name for it?

jon

What is your budget? That will be a big deciding factor.

hi bluefacemanta the HD wave + a cx730e would come in at about £3000

i really need something small as in terms of weight but powerful in terms of video ie decent

can anyone suggest such a set up im open to all ideas new or old

jon

Hi intercepter

excellant blog, however from what you say the RX100 is not so good on the macro stuff and really thats what i really require, also the zoom on a wide angle, so it looks like that might be out

i have only spoken to camaras underwater in devon i dont know about the london shop on the embankment..have you got a name for it?

jon

I am extremely picky when I say is not good on macro I mean you can't shoot macro without a diopter

HOWEVER once you have a diopter the quality is superb I think it shows in my videos

If you are looking for a compact video rig in UK those are the numbers

RX100 449

Nauticam housing 699

Lens Adapter for LD bayonet mount 120

Inon UCL165LD 179

Inon UWLH-100 28LD 399

£1850 once you add two sola and a tray you get to £3,500 however this is cheaper than a Sony camcorder in gates housing with NO lights

The reason why am selling the RX100 is because I got it as camera for stills to replace a Canon S95 that my buddy and student uses, but she would not let go of it so I did some video and now that I now she definitely does not want to change I am selling it, I think the camera has incredible image quality

I would not recommend the recsea housing though versus the Nauticam for the RX100

hi intercepter121

thanks very much for your input

this is what im up against ive gone through your footage again and it is very good, so i went through a clip of my 10 year old vid cam and its good...not as good as yours... so im thinking if a compact cam can do your footage at this time then surely a dedicated vid cam will do even better!

unfortuanatley i think you must live in the states so i would have import duty if i bought your rig so i might as well buy it here in the uk if that was the way i would go

also like i said earlier i am an amateur stick it on auto, bit of WB and away i go, all this iso, apertures, shutter speeds i just understand abit and thats all so after researching all this stuff my head is all over the place, i want to dive and take video not do a BBC production but i appreciate your replies and its certainly opened my eyes to what these compacts can do

maybe ive gone on the wrong forum you guys are pros and im abit out of my depth

having said that maybe someone could point me in the right direction re shops/stores in the UK where i could buy this stuff

i only know camaras underwater

and L&M as far as i know have no presence in the UK now

regards

jon

I live in UK Surrey to be precise

I would not assume you would get better results with a camcorder by default. You need to get a semipro one in my opinion to beat the RX100

When you shoot with the RX100 you can pretty much leave it in program as it follows the 180 shutter speed as a camcorder, only time where you want to operate in aperture priority is when using diopters. From that point of view the RX100 is very rewarding

Thanks intercepter121 i will bear all youve said in mind

i just assumed you lived in the states cos of referance to dollars and stuff, sorry about that

jon

I use $ because majority of people are americans, sadly UK prices are much higher because of 20% sales tax and higher baseline cost in majority of cases