Took the GH5 to Anilao

It seems like there have been a lot of videographers in Anilao recently. Here's my contribution. Comments and critiques welcome. Pretty much everything shot with 60mm and CMC-1. Mavic Pro for the drone shots--which I didn't get much of because it was so windy!

Hi,
very nice.
All the tiny stuff was only 60mm and the CMC?
Wow.

Regards,
Wolfgang

Very Nice Video Thanks for Sharing

Diggy

Did you shoot manual focus or autofocus? For macro, it's better to shoot manual focus with peaking on. Seems like a lot of the scene has soft image, during the mantis scene, the eye is where you can judge the focus.

Hi,

very nice.

All the tiny stuff was only 60mm and the CMC?

Wow.

 

Regards,

Wolfgang

Wolfgang, yes the small stuff was shot with the 60mm and CMC-1. I did have a fisheye lens for the wide shots. And perhaps a few were taken with the 12-50mm, but 95% with the 60mm.

Did you shoot manual focus or autofocus? For macro, it's better to shoot manual focus with peaking on. Seems like a lot of the scene has soft image, during the mantis scene, the eye is where you can judge the focus.

Yes, all manual focus. There are several mantis shrimp scenes, are you saying all of them are out of focus? The scene with the mantis shrimp juggling the eggs is out of focus a bit, but I liked the action so I kept it in.

Also, there was a lot of particulate in the water, so the dust and scratches filter may be taking away some sharpness.

The mantis shrimp starting from 5:22 have soft eyes. Try output to 4K, and may be when you only output to 1080p, Youtube compress it further. From my experience, if you upload 4K to Youtube, even play back at 1080p, the quality is still good.

Dust and particle in the water shouldn't affect sharpness if you shoot manual focus. What you want to do is turn the peaking on, move your camera so that the peaking is on the eye of the subject, so if particle float by, it won't affect your sharpness, diving in murky water (water with sand stir up) would be a different story.

The mantis shrimp starting from 5:22 have soft eyes. Try output to 4K, and may be when you only output to 1080p, Youtube compress it further. From my experience, if you upload 4K to Youtube, even play back at 1080p, the quality is still good.

 

Dust and particle in the water shouldn't affect sharpness if you shoot manual focus. What you want to do is turn the peaking on, move your camera so that the peaking is on the eye of the subject, so if particle float by, it won't affect your sharpness, diving in murky water (water with sand stir up) would be a different story.

What are you viewing the video on? I'm not seeing the softness at that time point. I shoot in 4k and output at 1080 to be able to punch into the scene if needed.

I shoot in manual focus and use focus and exposure peaking. I didn't say the particulate in the water effects focus, I said the filter I used in post to remove some of the particulate causes softness.

Wow, fantastic work! I love everything about your video. When people want to know what diving in Anilao is like, this is where they should look. A few questions if I may:

What wide angle lens and port were you using? That shot at 0:55 with the nembrotha in the foreground and diver in the distance is brilliant.

Were your macro sequences all hand held or did you have any sort of tripod? I'm amazed at how stable they are at such high magnification (e.g. the pygmy at 1:20)

What is your lighting setup? You got a great quality of light in most shots especially the macro. I don't do video but the color grading also looks very good to me, with the wide shots looking very natural and correctly white balanced (unlike some videos we see where the blue is dialed up to almost neon).

Did you keep the name and contact info of your spotter? Whoever it was, they are a lot better than the guy I dive with. I'd hire them if I could

Now a minor quibble - you missed getting my weekend house in the frame of the opening sequence by about 100m! ;-)

Wow, fantastic work! I love everything about your video. When people want to know what diving in Anilao is like, this is where they should look. A few questions if I may:

 

What wide angle lens and port were you using? That shot at 0:55 with the nembrotha in the foreground and diver in the distance is brilliant.

 

Were your macro sequences all hand held or did you have any sort of tripod? I'm amazed at how stable they are at such high magnification (e.g. the pygmy at 1:20)

 

What is your lighting setup? You got a great quality of light in most shots especially the macro. I don't do video but the color grading also looks very good to me, with the wide shots looking very natural and correctly white balanced (unlike some videos we see where the blue is dialed up to almost neon).

 

Did you keep the name and contact info of your spotter? Whoever it was, they are a lot better than the guy I dive with. I'd hire them if I could

 

Now a minor quibble - you missed getting my weekend house in the frame of the opening sequence by about 100m! ;-)

Thanks a lot! I used the M.Zuiko ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye PRO and Nauticam 4.33' port for the wide shots. All the macro shots were set on a tripod. I'd like to say I'm that steady handheld, but it's impossible.

I have two sola 3800s but barely used them. I mainly use a sola 500 spot with a semi DIY snoot. However, I lost part of the snoot on the first dive and rigged my own from a pen and eye dropper. It kinda worked!

Yes, our dive guide was Pong and he works for Crystal Blue resorts. He was awesome and enthusiastic. We gave him a list of the critters we wanted to see. We got everything on the list with the exception of a jawfish with eggs.

I'm glad I kept your home privacy intact!

Thanks for the info. Ive been resisting a fisheye lens but I like your results enough to seriously reconsider.

Ill be in Anilao tomorrow and will definitely drop by to look for Pong.