Diving in Misool Raja Ampat with Sony A7Rii

Here is my second project using FCPX: https://youtu.be/6u1IIMjMOWA

I will greatly appreciate your constructive criticism and recommendations.

In this video, I was trying to capture a beauty and abundance of marine life in Raja Ampat during our 9-day stay at Misool Eco Resort.

My camera is Sony A7Rii with a 28mm and 28mm+fisheye lens.

I used two Keldan Video 8X lights (11000 lm, 92 CRI), which are fantastic video lights.

Thank you very much.

Super video, octopus is the best;)

Super video, octopus is the best;)

Thank you for your comment.

wonderful! loved it

Very nice, great content and generally very pleasing viewing. A minor point, At least on my screen the reds/oranges in the shots starting with the sea fan at about 2:10 or so through to maybe the 3 minute mark seemed a little too neon/over saturated. I'm not sure how much control you have over that.

wonderful! loved it

Thank you for your comment, Robin.

I am glad you like it.

Very nice, great content and generally very pleasing viewing. A minor point, At least on my screen the reds/oranges in the shots starting with the sea fan at about 2:10 or so through to maybe the 3 minute mark seemed a little too neon/over saturated. I'm not sure how much control you have over that.

Chris, thank you for your review and comments. Regarding reds/oranges, I am probably overusing my powerful video lights. I am still on a learning curve and have to find the right balance. I started to use a combination of a red filter on a lens and a blue ambient filter on my lights. This combination works well in some situation. I am planning to put a short video to share the results.

On another hand, I am trying to find an answer to the question "What is a true color under water? How much of red, purple or orange is actually over there". Most divers do not see real colors under water, and as you know the deeper we go the less color we see. When I started using really powerful video lights (I bought them just before my trip to Misool) I started to see all those fantastic colors; and in Misool the whole group was following me because they could see everything in color.

By the way, I checked your website and instagram account, and I love your photos. Seadragons are my favourites, but I've never seen them 'in person'.

 

Chris, thank you for your review and comments. Regarding reds/oranges, I am probably overusing my powerful video lights. I am still on a learning curve and have to find the right balance. I started to use a combination of a red filter on a lens and a blue ambient filter on my lights. This combination works well in some situation. I am planning to put a short video to share the results.

 

On another hand, I am trying to find an answer to the question "What is a true color under water? How much of red, purple or orange is actually over there". Most divers do not see real colors under water, and as you know the deeper we go the less color we see. When I started using really powerful video lights (I bought them just before my trip to Misool) I started to see all those fantastic colors; and in Misool the whole group was following me because they could see everything in color.

 

By the way, I checked your website and instagram account, and I love your photos. Seadragons are my favourites, but I've never seen them 'in person'.

No worries, I was just wondering if you had the ability to pull back the reds and oranges when grading those segments . I think the thing with colours is people like to see stuff illuminated with daylight colour balance, You could argue that's what the diver sees, but many divers carry lights to better see the UW colours, blue/green biased stuff looks like a bit flat to most.

Thanks re my website and Instagram....If ever you come to Sydney I'm sure I could find you a sea dragon relatively easily.

 

No worries, I was just wondering if you had the ability to pull back the reds and oranges when grading those segments . I think the thing with colours is people like to see stuff illuminated with daylight colour balance, You could argue that's what the diver sees, but many divers carry lights to better see the UW colours, blue/green biased stuff looks like a bit flat to most.

 

Thanks re my website and Instagram....If ever you come to Sydney I'm sure I could find you a sea dragon relatively easily.

Thank you, Chris.

My current camera, Sony A7Rii, does not allow to do custom WB underwater. So, it is a bit tricky.

what is the power of the video lights?

what is the power of the video lights?

11000lm each.

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Nice video considering the Sony challenges

Am not sure how you are shooting he close up shots but there are many clipped highlights. If you shoot manual either lower the lights or close the lens if auto set metering to centre not multi or you will have issues also do not expose to the right underwater

For the filters are you using the spectrum on the lens? From what I understand this is optimised for blue water and raja is blue green nevertheless it looks ok but would look better with a filter that is more purple

The video anyway presents well so the above really are improvement tips

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Nice video considering the Sony challenges

Am not sure how you are shooting he close up shots but there are many clipped highlights. If you shoot manual either lower the lights or close the lens if auto set metering to centre not multi or you will have issues also do not expose to the right underwater

For the filters are you using the spectrum on the lens? From what I understand this is optimised for blue water and raja is blue green nevertheless it looks ok but would look better with a filter that is more purple

The video anyway presents well so the above really are improvement tips

 

 

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I appreciate your comments, Interceptor121. Clipped highlights are the result of my inexperience with these powerful lights. I do not recall using any filters on that trip. I was playing in between Underwater WB or Auto WB setting. At that time, I did not know that water in Raja Ampat is blue green. In most cases, I had lights at 100%, and I was adjusting aperture and/or ISO. Would you rather recommend to start with lights at lower level (say 50%), keep aperture say at 8 and play adjust ISO around 800 to avoid clipping highlights? Thank you again.

I appreciate your comments, Interceptor121. Clipped highlights are the result of my inexperience with these powerful lights. I do not recall using any filters on that trip. I was playing in between Underwater WB or Auto WB setting. At that time, I did not know that water in Raja Ampat is blue green. In most cases, I had lights at 100%, and I was adjusting aperture and/or ISO. Would you rather recommend to start with lights at lower level (say 50%), keep aperture say at 8 and play adjust ISO around 800 to avoid clipping highlights? Thank you again.

The keldan can be reduced to a very low lower

Typically you set the camera to the best optical settings that depend on the lens and on the frame rate you use

Say you shoot at 24p you will use 1/50 which is rather slow shutter speed then set aperture as require by the depth of field you need and start at lowest iso possible see if your light can create the right exposure but start at lowest setting not 100%

Probably your sony has zebra to mark clipped highlights set it to 100% or less if you shoot log and you will be able to see what you are clipping

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In terms of the funky colors, the main issue I observed is pushing a bit to much towards the red in certain reef scenes, which introduces a noticeable magenta color cast into the water column, too.

So if I understand correctly, you

1. Kept the camera set to either auto WB or underwater WB;

2. Did not use a red filter on the camera;

3. Did not use a blue filter on the lights; and

4. Did not do any color correction in post or increase the saturation in post?

What picture profile were you using?

Basically, I would not recommend using the underwater WB mode with the video lights, as underwater WB will set the WB too warm for subjects primarily lit by your lights. That could account for the red push in some of the shots. Auto WB or fixed WB (5500k) would work better for shots primarily lit by your lights.

In terms of exposure strategy, I would actually try to keep the lights on full power unless the ambient light conditions are /really/ dark. Basically start around F8, 1/50, ISO 400. I doubt your lights on full power would cause overexposure at such a setting. If you find that this produces a water column that is too dark, then raise the ISO and lower the power of the lights to avoid overexposing the foreground. If the exposure is too bright, leave the lights on full power and lower the ISO first. If still overexposed at F8, 1/50, ISO 100, start closing down the aperture further until F16, then start raising the shutter speed. I can't think of any conditions underwater where F16, 1/100, ISO 100 would cause overexposure from either the ambient light or the artificial light, even at midday in shallow water.

I was referring to the close ups where the highlights are definitely clipped there are also some colour issues but clipping is apparent. You can clip at close range easily (by close i mean less than 1 foot)

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Very nice. Those reefs are packed with life!

In terms of the funky colors, the main issue I observed is pushing a bit to much towards the red in certain reef scenes, which introduces a noticeable magenta color cast into the water column, too.

 

So if I understand correctly, you

 

1. Kept the camera set to either auto WB or underwater WB;

2. Did not use a red filter on the camera;

3. Did not use a blue filter on the lights; and

4. Did not do any color correction in post or increase the saturation in post?

 

What picture profile were you using?

 

Basically, I would not recommend using the underwater WB mode with the video lights, as underwater WB will set the WB too warm for subjects primarily lit by your lights. That could account for the red push in some of the shots. Auto WB or fixed WB (5500k) would work better for shots primarily lit by your lights.

 

In terms of exposure strategy, I would actually try to keep the lights on full power unless the ambient light conditions are /really/ dark. Basically start around F8, 1/50, ISO 400. I doubt your lights on full power would cause overexposure at such a setting. If you find that this produces a water column that is too dark, then raise the ISO and lower the power of the lights to avoid overexposing the foreground. If the exposure is too bright, leave the lights on full power and lower the ISO first. If still overexposed at F8, 1/50, ISO 100, start closing down the aperture further until F16, then start raising the shutter speed. I can't think of any conditions underwater where F16, 1/100, ISO 100 would cause overexposure from either the ambient light or the artificial light, even at midday in shallow water.

Thank you for your recommendations, dreifish. Everything make sense now. I will follow your recommendations in the future. Regarding picture profile, I used standard, plus I did some color correction, but did not change saturation. By the way, I checked your YouTube channel, and watched many of your films about Raja Ampat and Komodo, and was very impressed. I wish I could create something close to it one day. Great films!

Thank you again,

Val

The keldan can be reduced to a very low lower

Typically you set the camera to the best optical settings that depend on the lens and on the frame rate you use

Say you shoot at 24p you will use 1/50 which is rather slow shutter speed then set aperture as require by the depth of field you need and start at lowest iso possible see if your light can create the right exposure but start at lowest setting not 100%

Probably your sony has zebra to mark clipped highlights set it to 100% or less if you shoot log and you will be able to see what you are clipping

 

 

 

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Great tips! Thank you, Interceptor121. I did not use zebra, but will use in the future. Thank you again.

I am thinking of upgrading to this camera system. Have you found it easy to use and travel with? I really enjoyed the video. I am a newbie and currently shooting Sony RX 100V.