New plan - but what is it?

John I lost myself in this endless discussion.

Which kind of dives do you do?

Which kind of video productions are you after?

Did you already shoot underwater video?

17 hours ago, Davide DB said:

John I lost myself in this endless discussion.

Which kind of dives do you do?

Which kind of video productions are you after?

Did you already shoot underwater video?

Davide,

This is the place for discussion. Some people are finding it useful as do I.

My diving is all open circuit air to max of 60m. I was certified as an open water diver in 1985 and been diving ever since. I own a Bauer dive compressor as I do lots of remote area diving.

I am going to produce documentaries on fish and I live at the place where I am going to shoot this.

I have been shooting video since a 3 tube Sony camera in the 80's - but not underwater. You may or may not have seen I was here posting years ago about trying to get a Digital Ikonoscope - so pretty much at the start of the digital underwater scene. Well Ikonoscope failed and closed down so that was that. Next camera I was going to pull the trigger on had its housing cancelled before production began. So here we are having an endless discussion on possible options that are real and exist today.

This thread has really turned into a Zcam thread in the end because there does not seem to be anything else out there right now that is as innovative and cost effective (important to read those two points TOGETHER). Its Achilles heel is its Zraw format, but the Atomos recorder gives prores raw 12 bit 4K at 60p and lately 5.8K prores raw. Thats a powerful combination right now (which we will look back and laugh at in 5 years time). Some say the need for the Atomos is a draw back, but if you were a Zcam fan and wanted a Zcam because that's the camera you like then a monitor is needed in any case.....regardless of prores raw ability.

Far from an endless discussion I think the post by Tutem a few posts up is great - a well laid out set of points that totally resonate with me.

On 12/26/2020 at 11:54 PM, Tutem said:

The Zcam E2 S6 is currently at the top of my list and here's why:

1. The NA E2F housing can fit 3 different cameras: the S6, F6 & F8.

That gives me a clear upgrade path if I decide I want to go full frame in either 6k or 8k. With the BMPCC6k (the main alternative) i'm stuck with having to purchase a full upgrade if I want to beef up my resolution in the future.

Not only does this make sense financially, but also means I can offer different options to potential clients.
 

4. Flexibility.

With the Zcam S6 I have the flexibility to choose what resolution and codec I shoot in. This is great if I'm just shooting something for social or mobile platforms, or online platforms such as YouTube that will compress the video anyway. Alternatively I can go all the way up to 6k 75fps max OR even 4k 100fps for certain shots. This is less so the case in the BMPCC6k which is more restricted in that area.

Cheers,

Greg

 

Hi Greg,

All your points are on target. You briefly touched on cost but have you seen the difference in price between the E2 housings and the BM4k/6K housings? Edit - hmm I just looked again and the Backscatter price has jumped $1000 for the NA-E2F compared to the price a week ago.

Like you I like the idea of using the Z CAM NA-E2F housing - use an s35 sensor today (Zcam S6 camera) and maybe in the next year or two upgrade to a used F8 8K Zcam camera - using the SAME housing! Big money saver right there. Icing on the cake is the NA-E2F housing is an N120 mount - so can use the WACPII optic if one wants to go that far.

Don't be touchy. I called it an endless discussion because it touched on an infinite number of completely different topics and by the end it was no longer clear what the requirements of this elusive camera were.
I've only seen remote surface connections used in film productions and ethernet connections only in large multi-camera TV productions. So I wanted to understand if you were James Cameron in disguise

22 hours ago, Davide DB said:

Don't be touchy. I called it an endless discussion because it touched on an infinite number of completely different topics and by the end it was no longer clear what the requirements of this elusive camera were.
I've only seen remote surface connections used in film productions and ethernet connections only in large multi-camera TV productions. So I wanted to understand if you were James Cameron in disguise

OK gotcha.

I want to film a certain species of fish spawning. They are a deep dwelling fish. They come up to a relatively shallow depth of around 50-55m in August of each year to spawn. I dont know how many years diving you have but you are certainly more accomplished then me by the sounds of the type of diving you do. So you would know very well that 55 meters on air is not a great idea .....but if you have to its only a few minutes of bottom time if you dont want a deco obligation. I dont like my chances of grabbing excellent footage of this fish spawning at 55 meters with a few minutes down there. 

So the plan is, to put a camera on a tripod and run a cable to the surface and sit and watch for some action and trigger record at the right time. I expect to spend a month trying to get a few minutes of usable footage.

This is partly why I was so hot on the Sigma fp - it could also stream footage and control signals via a cable to the surface.

I do get its a very narrow vertical I am into, but thats fine..... makes it all the more fun.

James Cameron..... hmm you never know - right? I could be him. I will leave you guessing.