Making The Leap To 4k Pro. Please Help.

I think it is best that I start by introducing myself and I don't mind sharing some personnel information as it is very important I think to understand how I am struggling with making the leap to pro level underwater footage and possibly work as a freelance underwater videographer. I am sharing these details so that you all realize I am not talking pie in the sky stuff here. I am serious about this.

My name is Mike, I am a 44 year old male that has worked in the oil industry for the last 17 years. I live in the Rocky Mountains in sunny Alberta, Canada. I found diving as a passion only 5 years ago and also fell in love with underwater videography thanks to the GoPro action cams. I have logged close to 700 dives in 5 years and am TDI certified cave diver. I spend a minimum of 2 months in Cozumel each year diving everyday and always have a camera in my hand. I have never upgraded my GoPro to anything else but have kept pace with their updates. I usually buy 2 new GoPro's for every update that comes out. I currently have 8 GoPros and yes I have used all of them at once before lol. I also love shark diving, have taken a shark feeder course in the Bahamas, dove with tigers at Tiger beach. I took a month long trip to South Africa to cage dive with white sharks, then open water dive with Makos and Blues, big black tips copperhead, seven gill, pajama and cat sharks. I have done the Sardine Run on the wild coast and many many dives with the big bull sharks of Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and... well you get the Idea, I love sharks!

Anyway I am kind of rambling but the point is I have a little experience with diving in interesting places that would benefit being captured with a Pro lvl camera.

In the last 5 years I have seen my skills learning how to control buoyancy, compose shots, work lighting and approach wildlife has improved greatly. Especially since I have been working with such a limited camera as the GoPro but what I do know is that if everything lines up with The GoPro. Good lighting, steady hand, and a incredible event or animal you can be rewarded with pretty good results. The problem comes in post if there is anything really to be done with the image.

I never really worried about post corrections other than if I was shooting Protune on special trips such as Tiger Beach and even then my lack of skill has prevented me from even attempting post production colour corrections. My skill lvl is non existent in that regard.

What has made me think about possibly going pro:

​ - First thing that got me thinking about this kind of stuff is the fact that some of my footage has made it to certain productions. It started with some clips I got while on the sardine run for a internet tv production crew. Then some footage from coral reefs that was included in a accompanied CD for the movie 'SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge Out of Water'. Most recently I sold some footage to a production company in Canada. I am defiantly not getting rich but it started me thinking of taking my filming and footage to the next level.

- The oil industry is in flux especially in Canada, some sources have said that 2016 will be the worst in a generation and not since the mid 1970's has the outlook been as bad in the province I live in. I myself have not worked since mid February with no work on the horizon until maybe, (Big Maybe) The first quarter of the new year.

- The downturn in work could be a blessing in disguise and could give me the opportunity to explore the possibility on going pro.

​Where I am financially:

- I am not in the best place financially as you can imagine being off work for nearly a year with no income coming in and having to support my spouse who does not work either right now. But I do have access to some resources such as; A little bit of saving left, a small monthly pension that covers the basics at home, a operating line of credit from my Bank, and I do own my own modest home that is paid in full. So I could possibly remortgage to get enough capital to make a investment in equipment and or training, or use my operating line of credit. I currently don't owe a thing to the bank or to credit cards!

My dilemma:

- I want to continue to dive and or work on skills not just for videography but other dive skills, Dive Master, Instructor, and cave? But I figure if I am underwater and I am seriously thinking about doing this I should have some pro lvl equipment in my hands sooner than later and I am seriously overwhelmed by the options out there and what potential clients want right now. Not to mention who those clients might be? Two production houses have told me that they are limited in the amount of HD footage they can use. 10% for clients such as Discovery.

- I am very open though. To start maybe my clients are or would be just doing vacation videos. Hopefully enough to put some food on the table as I work on gathering stock footage and hope for that truly amazing encounter underwater. One that I can get in crystal clear 4k!

​- Maybe I could get invited on a amazing expedition to explore a new cave or get work on a livaboard as a videographer. I do have some contacts in the cave diving world but know nothing about livaboards

.-I guess I am looking for advice on where to start. Education, or hands on? Some advice in this regard would be much appreciated. Real world examples and or courses out there. I have looked at Koh Tao but December looks like not the best month over there.

My thoughts on equipment:

I have really run the gamut trying to figure out the next system to get into after the GoPro. One thing I will say is that if a guys end result is pro lvl equipment. Maybe the best thing is not to go up in increments as I have done this in the past with other things. This approach has cost me almost double in the past as by the time I reached the lvl I wanted I easily spent double. That said I know for a fact I am not looking at getting a RED at the moment!

What I think I need vs. what I would really like:

I have thought about this a lot and talked to some people briefly (Backscatter). I get a feeling a lot of people pushing the dslrs or mirrorless but not one of them shoots 4k in 60p. I don't know about what those guys are watching but a lot of nature videogrhpy is shoot in beautiful buttery smooth slow motion. I know your not getting that in 60p but you would think that 60p is the minimum to slow any footage down?

To me if I wanted to stick with the ability to slow footage down at minimum 4k 60p really limits my choices. PWX-Z100, FS-100 with Convergence 7Q+, FS7 the next jump would be right to a FS55( depending on your guys thoughts of course but I think this would be way out of my price range and or work flow capabilities).

Sony - FS7 / Con, very expensive to get into camera and housing / Pros 10 bit 4k 60p internal. High slow motion frame rates in and HD up to 180fps. The cost here is huge and it confuses me when I look at the RX-100 IV when it will shoot 4k 30fps but also shoot what looks to be pretty good slow motion in full HD at 240fps. But will I get 60 mins (two tank dive) of recording time out of a battery on the RX-100?

Sony PXW-Z100 - Con; also very expensive to get into but maybe a few thousand dollars cheaper than FS7, expensive media to record on. Can I get 60 mins on a pair of 128GB XQD cards? . Pros; Can shoot internal 4k 60 fps 10 bit 4:2:2 in full 4k 17:9. I have seen some pretty impressive footage out of this camera on YouTube anyway i don't have a 4k monitor. Smaller sensor and less depth of field but maybe that is a good thing with underwater videography? I’ve heard that getting focus with full frame can be a challenge at times.

Something else I have no Idea of is workflow or even just storage on these video cameras. So again, am I going to get 60 minutes of footage without having to open my housing and swapping two more 128GB QXD cards without relying on expensive and bulky external recorder.

​Sony FS-700 – Con - cannot shoot 4k internally and only has 8 bit AVCHD . This makes the camera practically useless without monitor for someone needing to shoot in 4k. Pro - Some cheaper prices on used camera and housings but will require some expensive and bulky external monitor to shoot 4k 60p, i.e. The Odyssey7Q+ , Subal Housing, proprietary SSD storage at outrageous price. (With the Canadian dollar as it is I think I am looking close to 10k with two 1TB SSDs. Another pro is it can shoot buttery smooth 2.7k at 240fps with the external monitor. The top of the line monitor can travel to your next camera upgrade also. The used package with ports and extras and external monitor is approaching the cost of a new PXW-Z100 in housing. (No Monitor)

Sony A7S II - I have heard people especially some of the Backscatter guys go googoogaga over this camera and its low light capabilities but I am not sure I like the fact that I have to decide if I am shooting wide angle or not on my dive. I don't know how many times I have been diving hoping to get a close up of a turtle or eagle ray and ran into something small like a batfish or seahorse latter in the dive. I mean I want to hear your thoughts on this but to me the video camera or compact with zoom wins here.

The GH4 - Again with the 4k @ 30 fps and no 240fps in HD that the Sony-RX100 IV has.

I have to consider what might be coming out soon. How far are we from seeing 4k @ 60fps standard?

Where am I today:

I am currently mulling over some possibilities. I know there is no work for me coming in December, so I was considering renting a small house somewhere near Playa Del Carmen and getting to know the cave diving crowd down there working on some cave diving skills, possibly some courses and doing some exploration on my own or as part of the community down there. I could also get my dive masters course and or instructor and get my FM3 so as to work in Mexico. Maybe freelance for some of the dive companies that need a extra guy from time to time or work out a deal with a cenote owner to do tourist videos.

I have also been thinking about going down to Utila to do a dive internship. The more I know my way around a dive shop and the boats the better. May be something I am actually interested in getting into in the future as well. Utila is very competitive for prices and is known for offering good training. It is what they do.

I am committed to going to Cozumel in April and May/2 months. My spouse and I are sharing accommodation this year with a friend to make it more affordable. My friend and I will dive every day and I hope to have a little practice on my choice of video equipment before I arrive. My first dive I can start working on stock footage right away. After that who knows, hopefully I can get some work in Canada on the oil rigs and make up for some lost time but if not I would move into some accommodation that was much cheaper and search for opportunities to ply my trade and further my experience.

What do I do now?

I have made absolutely no choices on what to do as far as time, training and or equipment are concerned, but am really hopping I can get the ear of a Pro in the industry to help guide me. I can also talk on the phone if that would be a option if anyone wanted to PM me their phone number. December is the month though, I know there is no work so I would like to take advantage of it if I need further training.

I would like to share my YouTube Channel also https://www.youtube.com/user/gearbow/videos

Hey Mike,

I'm not a video pro by any means, but have worked a bit in the dive tourism industry as an instructor and photographer, so perhaps my perspective will be of some help. First, some general thoughts, then I'll address some of your questions.

1. Return on Investment (ROI)

If you want to embark on videography as a money-making enterprise rather than as a hobby, the #1 consideration of any equipment purchase you make should be it's ROI. The more expensive the camera, the more money you need to be making from it's footage to justify the investment. And from my limited knowledge, the commercial demand for underwater footage is very, very limited. I know for example one David Cheung of Scubacam Singapore has a RED underwater system that he rents out for productions -- and he still hasn't made back his investment in the system.

My assumption (and I'd love to be corrected here) is that very few people ear a living solely from filming high-end underwater nature documentary footage for places like the BBC. And most that do do other (non-underwater) video work as well. Which brings me to...

2. Tourist Videos

There may be more opportunities to get started out doing tourist videos for divers on vacation -- though I think that market is also shrinking thanks to the proliferation of GoPro's and similar cheap underwater cameras. As an Instructor, I've seen lots of people singing up for their open water course or even a discover scuba diving experience who want to bring along their GoPro. Consider how likely you are to sell vacation videos to such customers.

But I digress. My main point is that tourist videos don't necessarily require the same quality standards as professional nature documentaries. So think hard about whether you'd need (a) 4k video and (b) 60fps 4k video or © 10bit or higher footage (and the associated post-production required for color-correction). Chances are for this type of footage you'd be just fine with a 1080p camera.

Plus, the money you'll be making is going to make it hard to justify investing $10k+ in a camera system. If you're making $3k/month from tourist videos, I'd say you're doing very well for yourself.

3. Further dive training

If you plan to do tourist videos as a way to build up experience and dive every day with a camera, it can help if you're a divemaster or instructor, though in truth neither skillset is really required. Since the instructor cert especially requires a $3k investment, I wouldn't bother unless (a) you really enjoy teaching people to scuba dive (and are prepared to do it for less than minimum wage) or (b) you find that you really need the credential to find work making tourist videos (seems unlikely).

4. 4k60p standard

New cameras are coming out every year. I've no doubt we will see 4k60p cameras at the consumer end of the market in the next 1-3 years. Expand that horizon to 5 years and we'll be talking about 8k30p or even 8k60p. Will you want to upgrade your camera then?

The accelerating pace of camera "obscelecence" is a very strong argument against investing in expensive cameras -- they'll quickly lose 50% or more of their value. Unless you're making enough money from the footage they enable you to shoot today to more than offset that depreciation, you're better off buying a cheaper general camera to use while improving your skills and rent higher-end cameras when you have work that requires it.

Note, however, that one of the issues with 4k60p is the codecs and the bit rate. Right now, the A7RII, GH4 and RX100IV use codecs that record 4k30p at 100mbs. This is largely a limitation of the storage media they use (SD cards) which doesn't record fast enough for higher bit rates. The storage media used in the FS7 to allow it to record 4k60p at 10bit 4:2:2 internally is a LOT more expensive. Unless that media becomes cheaper over the next few years or we get more efficient codecs, you won't be seeing 4k60p prores 10bit 4:2:2 in consumer cameras.

Actually, at the moment, an external monitor/recorder like the Atmos Shogun with (non-proprietary) SSDs is the most cost-effective method to record higher bit-rate footage. With the added advantage of getting you an external monitor.

Now, to address some of your other points:

 

​ - First thing that got me thinking about this kind of stuff is the fact that some of my footage has made it to certain productions. It started with some clips I got while on the sardine run for a internet tv production crew. Then some footage from coral reefs that was included in a accompanied CD for the movie 'SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge Out of Water'. Most recently I sold some footage to a production company in Canada. I am defiantly not getting rich but it started me thinking of taking my filming and footage to the next level.

How much are you selling this footage for? Do you have a good sense of what sort of footage the production companies are looking for and what sort of money you can get for it?

 

 

​- Maybe I could get invited on a amazing expedition to explore a new cave or get work on a livaboard as a videographer. I do have some contacts in the cave diving world but know nothing about livaboards

There's no shortage of people with cameras (and talent) who would love to be invited to partake in such expeditions or work on liveaboards. As far as cave footage is concerned, I think you'll find the appeal to the general public to be very very limited. Cave divers are a subset of a subset of a subset. How many commercial documentaries have you seen about cave diving?

To conclude, if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't buy anything more expensive than a RX100IV. For a few reasons:

1. All interchangable lens cameras will force you to shoot wide angle or macro on a given dive -- and for tourist videos especially, you'll appreciate the flexibility of having a zoom-through lens;

2. To get features like 4k60p or 10bit4:2:2 requires an order-of-magnitude price jump from the RX100IV (which can be had for under $3000 with a nice housing and wide angle wet lens that you can zoom through). An FS7 + Gates housing + lenses + ports is going to cost you over $20k, and the image quality improvement is nowhere near as big.

3. If you find paying work that requires 4k60p or 10bit4:2:2 you can always rent a RED camera or FS7 camera for that particular shoot.

4. An FS7 or z100 with housing is not a small camera. Worth considering if you're traveling, and just pushing it around in the water in general.

5. The Rx100iv gives you the opportunity to continue improving your skills and making the connections that may get you that higher-paying work. And you could always invest the money you save into things like an external monitor and video lights, which can have a large impact on the quality of the footage you shoot. If slow motion is what you want, it also gives you great 120fps 1080p and limited 240fps almost 1080p.

The FS7 comes from a lineage of cameras with dodgy underwater white balance. I don't know if they've resolved that. The PMW-Z100 comes from a lineage of cameras with very good u/w white balance, and footage I've seen indicates that it's still good.

The zoom-through SWP44C Super Wide port available for the Gates housing is one big advantage that the PMW-Z100 has.

Personally I like a big rig for stability and trim purposes.

..

1. Return on Investment (ROI)

..

2. Tourist Videos

..

3. Further dive training

..

 

4. 4k60p standard

..

 

...The Rx100iv gives you the opportunity to continue improving your skills and making the connections that may get you that higher-paying work. And you could always invest the money you save into things like an external monitor and video lights, which can have a large impact on the quality of the footage you shoot. If slow motion is what you want, it also gives you great 120fps 1080p and limited 240fps almost 1080p.

Agreed with the points here, filming is a rather closed industry. First one should get a "name" and contacts, maybe some certification from a film school. This is heavy $$, which has to be spent wisely.

First of, as dreifish suggested, I would certainly not start with a state-of-art 4k60p shooting rig at 20k$: learn the technique with a consumer camera, publish great shots on youtube/etc as much as possible. For online, you definitely don't need a 10k$+rig, there are tons of amazing gopro footage out there! Furthermore, your 4k60p camera + housing will worth ~1/5th of its value when you are really going to need it (embarking on an expedition where you are the payed cameraman).

Scuba is a low paying industry with high investment, just take a look, how much dive instructors earn after ~500-1000 dives, probably ~20k$ invested not all for fun. (Maldives is ridiculous, if you have a "life", you definietly need side financing there, which is tedious after 4+dives a day, 7 days a week...) As suggested, I'd also pick up the RX100mkIV in the economical Fantasea housing and put on a WWL-1 and a pair of realistically priced lights from ebay. Important to note here, that handling an increasingly complex system is something one has to learn through many dives in different - sometimes challenging conditions. Obviously you don't want to loose a full 20k rig while filming mantas in the maldives in a 5 knot current.

That's not true. PMW-Z100 can only do 30p at 4k. Maybe you meant the FS7, or maybe I read it wrong?



I am pretty sure the z100 does do all that including 4k 60p. Check out the description at B&H photo also there is underwater footage on YouTube with those listed specs.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwkJtgVswgM

Hey Mike,

 

I'm not a video pro by any means, but have worked a bit in the dive tourism industry as an instructor and photographer, so perhaps my perspective will be of some help. First, some general thoughts, then I'll address some of your questions.

 

Wow, Thanks so much. I am leaning towards the RX-100. But still not sure that will help me learn anything new on the video front.

That's not true. PMW-Z100 can only do 30p at 4k. Maybe you meant the FS7, or maybe I read it wrong?

 

 

 

I am pretty sure the z100 does do all that including 4k 60p. Check out the description at B&H photo also there is underwater footage on YouTube with those listed specs.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwkJtgVswgM

 

Oops, you're right! Apologies for my mistake. I mis-interpreted a specs list. I'll delete that part from my post.

 

Hmm... I'm much more interested in one now!

Just a couple thought:

Financially, I hope your retirement fund is in good shape. Otherwise, tapping into refinancing and home equity for camera equipment and diving is probably not a wise move.

Is there any reason why you only go to Caribbean area? There are many more places to dive in the world, South East Asia, Indo pacific, Micronesia etc. Those places have different things to offer that may spark inspiration and creativity. My point is, don't spend all of your budget in equipment. You're 44, travel long distance while you still could. I have seen people travel from US to Asia and dive when they turn 70 (retired people), 3 dives a day and they're done.

Skill level & technique: having high spec equipment doesn't make one a pro. As you said, buoyancy is the key which you have worked on the past 5 years. But there are other insider secret technique that you have to develop, like tripod/stable footage, color correction, composition, and some other creative stuffs. There is a difference between stock video and film requirement, and each field require different skill. The past 2 years underwater model/wedding shoot is gaining popularity, so is that something you may consider since it's more feasible than TV station?

As for equipment, just wait until Spring 2016, the Panasonic GH5 should be around the corner and it may answer your need of 60 fps 4K. Around 2018, 8K may be around the corner if not 6K. The point is, if you spend $7k right now, don't be surprise that 4 years later you may need and upgrade. Also, go and get a 4K TV right now. Black Friday has tons of 4K TV for sell, I think Canada to join in on the Black Friday sales.

Yes I think you're right about the 4k tv and yes Canada is starting to do Black Friday sales to now.

Before you go with the Sony RX100 M4, make sure you understand its short coming. You can't do custom white balance when shooting video, how would one improve video skill without learning white balance? If the camera require shooter to slab on a red filter and leave the white balance to auto, it's just a glorified GoPro.

I use Panasonic LX100 and it gets the job done with reasonable budget. Even though it uses port system, the Nauticam N50 port system is reasonable priced compare to interchangeable M3/4 and dSLR. I was going to move into the GH4, but I can't justify spending $200 for a piece of gear for the lens, and if I have a few lens, then the cost of gear add up, not to mention dome etc. Using the port system on the LX100 also prepared me mentally should I move into higher end camera in the future if I want to go with dSLR or m3/4.

Here is one of the clips of the LX100:

Moses, the RX100IV (indeed, all the RX100 line) can custom white balance for video -- you just have to do it in one of the photo modes and then switch back to video mode (or shoot video in the photo mode). So it requires a few extra steps, but it's more of an annoyance than a real limitation.

Yes, you could work around the RX100 IV white balance issue. I once help a fellow diver to figure out her RX100 M2 white balance, you have to switch to P mode to set the white balance then switch to movie mode again. Even when you do that, the moment you read the white balance the camera would give you error, and you need to ignore that error and continue. The lack of custom function button on the camera make it worse (there is only 1 in the RX100M2, does M4 has more?). Panasonic can do one push white balance setting in less time.

Even you work around the problem, a red filter is a must for the RX100: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56855

So here is my question, do you want to pay premium price for a point and shoot with an inferior feature that the consumer have to work around? The idea should be grow and improve to bring out the capability of the camera, not to figure out the bug of the camera and work around it. As a programmer for living, I don't accept this kind of concept. But if people are still draw to those cameras, it's their choice, I just point out other options.

IMHO red filter is superior to in-camera WB anyway, because without filter you either the blue & green channels will be overexposed or the red underexposed. The WB algo would pull them to the "right" levels, still, you loose dynamic range and the noise will be higher.

This stands for ambient light, in case one has strong video lights, I don't expect serious WB issues.

 

So here is my question, do you want to pay premium price for a point and shoot with an inferior feature that the consumer have to work around? The idea should be grow and improve to bring out the capability of the camera, not to figure out the bug of the camera and work around it. As a programmer for living, I don't accept this kind of concept. But if people are still draw to those cameras, it's their choice, I just point out other options.

As with all camera choices, it's a matter of tradeoffs. There's no perfect camera out there

The LX100 does have better white balance than the RX100IV and a slightly wider crop when shooting 4k. The oversized sensor also allows you to shoot in different aspect ratios without cropping.

On the other hand, with the LX100 you need to use a port system with a short port that has a smaller zoom range. It lacks the Sony's 1080p120fps mode and its HRF mode (really nice 240fps and more specialized 480fps and 960fps) It also doesn't have a pop-up flash and the housing is significantly bigger. And, perhaps less important for underwater footage, but the RX100IV has a log mode, whereas the LX100 doesn't.

Trade-offs.

These are the things that gearbow will have to learn and figure out what work for him. Red filter will definitely be benefit in Tropical water with sunny environment and fast lens. Red filter cut out 1-stop of light, so you will need to use higher ISO on not so sunny day. Also, try to shoot sunball/drapper light with red filter and you will have some challenge. Experience shooter should be able to adapt and modify the camera configuration depends on environment changes. For example, there were a few times I start diving around 3 pm in Asia, the sun was still bright and I can still use red filter, when it's closer to 4 pm, it's no longer sunny, then I have to make the choice of remove the red filter, or use higher ISO, or use light. This is what I mean by grow and bring out the capability of the camera, not trying to figure out if I remove the red filter, would the camera not white balance, and if it doesn't work without red filter, how can I work around?

The best result of using red filter is when the sun is behind you. From my experience, diving around 9 am with red filter, the ambient light is normally not very optimal. If it's between 11 am to 3 pm, I would put on a red filter whenever possible.

On the other hand, with the LX100 you need to use a port system with a short port that has a smaller zoom range. It lacks the Sony's 1080p120fps mode and its HRF mode (really nice 240fps and more specialized 480fps and 960fps) It also doesn't have a pop-up flash and the housing is significantly bigger. And, perhaps less important for underwater footage, but the RX100IV has a log mode, whereas the LX100 doesn't.

 

Trade-offs.

Yes, there is no perfect camera out there. The initial discussion of this thread is "leap into 4K" so 1080p features are not really that relevant unless we're having a discussion solely about RX100 vs LX00, which there is plenty of videos in youtube to show that. BTW, LX100 is now $699 at B&H, that's a whole lot of bang for the bucks.

Log, yeah, it's another big discussion. Do you want to endure the work flow of color grading? What is the quality after grading (trying to grade a 100mbps 8-bit 4:2:0?) For log, it's best to go ask those GH4 shooters. From what I have seen, log and color grading is ok/good with the Atomos Shogun as the GH4 put out 10-bit 4:2:2 4K. Gearbow would also need to find out if his clients would want log video.

Now I am confused again, lol. The LX100 looks amazing, but I saw this video for the AX-100 now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqX5rnqPxMo

Underwater life in Marina del Este Granada Spain.
Ultra HD 3840x2160 25p MTS h264 60MBts.
GATES AX 100 4k housing -Sony AX 100 4k videocamera test

- XAVC S 60 Mbps 25 p at 3840x 2160 Native Codec
- XAVC S native Editing with Corel Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate 64
bits
-No post-production.
-No color corrections
-No corrections timebase.
-No diopters lens employed
-No software stabilized employed

-Stabilized optical in camera
-Red filter ON
-Manual Wb every shot.

Here is another good one that shows the video camera in the gates housing. and the camera men shooting. looks mostly hand held with no post processing although this one looks as if the are using a +5 diopter.

These are the things that gearbow will have to learn and figure out what work for him. Red filter will definitely be benefit in Tropical water with sunny environment and fast lens. Red filter cut out 1-stop of light, so you will need to use higher ISO on not so sunny day. Also, try to shoot sunball/drapper light with red filter and you will have some challenge. Experience shooter should be able to adapt and modify the camera configuration depends on environment changes. For example, there were a few times I start diving around 3 pm in Asia, the sun was still bright and I can still use red filter, when it's closer to 4 pm, it's no longer sunny, then I have to make the choice of remove the red filter, or use higher ISO, or use light. This is what I mean by grow and bring out the capability of the camera, not trying to figure out if I remove the red filter, would the camera not white balance, and if it doesn't work without red filter, how can I work around?

 

The best result of using red filter is when the sun is behind you. From my experience, diving around 9 am with red filter, the ambient light is normally not very optimal. If it's between 11 am to 3 pm, I would put on a red filter whenever possible.

Very good, that is exactly the kind of thing i will need to learn.

There aren't many camcorder users here. You will need to investigate the camera itself. Sony seems to be known for putting out products that's buggy:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=54617&hl=ax100

Sensor size on camcorder are normally smaller, but Image stabilization tends to be better. One thing to consider is Gate housing is very expensive and very bulky to travel with. Resell value or ease of resell of camcorder housing is very very low.

Also, do you do any top side photography/video? Most people use camera to shoot video because on top side, they can utilize the camera to one equipment do the job of both shooting video and photo. Most camcorder do shoot photos these days but I don't know if the quality if any good (aka offer RAW photo, HDR, Panoramic, timelapse etc.)

Now I am confused again, lol. The LX100 looks amazing, but I saw this video for the AX-100 now

 

Hi Gearbow,

I am actually seriously investigating this camcorder since a few weeks as well. I am currently using a RX100iv setup – a great little compact which I for sure will keep "on land" but I am still not convinced the „stills cam“ ist the right tool for people like me who primarily shoot video underwater – even tough most people seem to take that route these days.

But looking at ergonomics (perfectly balanced housing) , ease of use and – above all – the results I have seen coming out oft he AX100, I am really impressed! I have seen the clips by that spanish guy you are quoting above and quite a few others – and most just look great. Manual WB seems to work really easy and well with this cam.

I’ve been looking at the Gates housing for the AX100, and also the housing by German company Sealux. The Sealux seems to have the better Wide angle port - real optical glass and giving almost 20% more angle than the Gates GP34. It also has an internal redfilter flip and a +4 diopter flip which apparently you can use in parallel! On the Gates, you have only one flip: either use an internal redfilter or the diopter – you cant have both. So this pretty much sounds like a "one-stop-setup" being able to cover whale sharks as well as nudibranches.

I am waiting for some more details on the Sealux housing. Seems to be one of those typical small German companies: Great engineering but lousy marketing So I have to drag things out of them that are readily available for download from other manufacturers, like user manual etc.... I’m working on it. Happy to share whatever i find.

And: opposite to popular opinion the housings aren't that bulky. Sure they are larger than compact housings but the AX100 housing will fit into cabin luggage.

On resale value: I am hunting for a used Gates but cant find one - so not too bothered about resale value.