Dive Video 12/12/10

Just uploaded a dive video to my youtube acct.
Tell me what you guys think.
Too long?
Weird music transitions?
Be honest. =]


YouTube - To the Metridium Fields!

Since you asked...

Here is my take on dive videos. Judging by most videos posted, many do not share my viewpoint.

I like dive videos sans music. I want to hear the sounds of the regulator, I want to hear the shower of bubbles, I want to hear the rhythmic breathing of the diver; I feel more immersed in the video. I find music in dive videos to be distracting.

Otherwise nice video!

I'll have to agree with you on that.
One of the reasons I added music to this one was because it was impressively long, in my point of view.
And admittedly I got a little bored watching the whole thing through.

Also I think the reason why many add music is because of the camera noise. I notice that some camera make more noise than others during the playback.

Sorry I stopped it at 1:30 I was getting dizzy from the shaking. Also it seems like you guys were sprinting down the pipe... I was getting winded just watching your pace.

Sorry for being blunt.

Heh Ben that as special ops it does looks like it as very fast though. it takes me on average 30min just to get to metridiums

Haha no worries.
Trying to stick with the leader.
And yes my camera work does need.....a bit of work.
We wanted to get to the metridium field in a quick pace so we could spend more time there.
All my buddies that I dive with go with single tanks, and we're luck if we can get 50mins in at 50ft.

Not trying to be pushy or anything but once we were at the field my camera handling got much better. =]

Nice job. It looks better than a lot of the first videos I tried to take!

g1138:

Trying to stick with the leader.

Click to expand...

I could see this happening throughout the first few minutes of the video. The leader soldiers on as fast as he possibly can, rarely (if ever) turning around and checking to make sure his buddies are still behind him.

For the benefit of any newer divers who may be reading, this is one of the most common occurrences during diving. The "leader," even if they're an experienced diver, often feels pressure to "perform" ("gotta make it to the site, gotta get navigation right, gotta not be too slow and need to turn before getting there, gotta NOT FAIL!!"), and it can be darned cumbersome to try to turn around on scuba. So the end result is the team not paying as much attention as deserves to keeping everyone together. My guess is that this is exactly how most buddy separations occur, especially in viz that can be as low as 5-10ft.

The key, as Ben mentioned, is really to slow down. It can be tough, since the leader's speed is typically subconscious. But it's so much more relaxing if everyone really sticks together and stays constantly aware of where everyone is. I've had some great dives where we never even make it to the end of the pipe, as there's always a lot hiding in the nooks and crannies and even in the sand

g1138:

Haha no worries.
Trying to stick with the leader.
And yes my camera work does need.....a bit of work.
We wanted to get to the metridium field in a quick pace so we could spend more time there.
All my buddies that I dive with go with single tanks, and we're luck if we can get 50mins in at 50ft.

Not trying to be pushy or anything but once we were at the field my camera handling got much better. =]

Click to expand...

With videos though you have to capture the interest and keep it hostage... If you lose the audience in the first minute it doesn't matter how good the ending is. Dive videos are really hard to keep interesting. You either have to have a vested interest in the scenery or the subject to keep you engaged (or have bunnies in the end )

g1138:

Haha no worries.
Trying to stick with the leader.
And yes my camera work does need.....a bit of work.
We wanted to get to the metridium field in a quick pace so we could spend more time there.
All my buddies that I dive with go with single tanks, and we're luck if we can get 50mins in at 50ft.

Not trying to be pushy or anything but once we were at the field my camera handling got much better. =]

Click to expand...

You actually have a lot of decent material to work with. If you edit really carefully, you can pick out some of the really interesting subjects such as some selected shots of jellies, the sea lemon and mola molas. One thing to try is to keep the video short and sweet. See if you can pick out about 1 minute's worth of material and see if you can tell a story with it.

Regarding the dive.. Personally, I think the best part of diving the metridium fields is the swim out on the pipe. I almost always see more interesting things going on at the pipe. I've seen octopus, all kinds of nudibranchs, hiding fish, dendronotus feeding on tube anemones, etc along the pipe. So take it easy and slow down. Have a look around. You might be surprised at what you see.

Ben_ca:

(or have bunnies in the end )

Click to expand...

Something I should work on. If only I still had my bunnies. ;]

I'll definitely take is slower on the pipe next time.

For the record, the leader did turn around to check on us. More so than what's shown in the video, it just happened to be edited out in the final cut.
I will admit that as a group though, our buddy-buddy contact needed improvement.
Something to work on for today. We'll be diving the Santa Cruz wharf, so really no excuse to be even a foot way ;D