Cocos Island during El Nino

[mjh]

We love Cocos Island and this was our 3rd trip. Water was way warm almost 80 degrees and the hammerheads were down deep and in sparse numbers. Maybe with time they will start coming up to more typical depths.

We will go back, but probably after El Nino is finished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_514n-lTgQ

 

[Legend]

Your video is great quality, mind posting your the gear you used to shoot the video with?

 

[mjh]

Thank you. The majority of the video is shot with the Canon HFG30, Gates housing, Super Wide Angle Port, and I-Torch Pro 7 lights (5000lumen). The rest with a Sony RX100II, or Sony a7.

 

[sharksdelight]

I've lead 13 trips to the Cocos, including the largest of the El Ninos to hit there in 98. The sharks were all driven very deep by the change of the water's temperature and I was sorely disappointed. My continued advice is to ignore the charter fleets, ' special prices' given to those departing in the winter months. You'll still have a good time but without the schools of sharks, many of which have been depleted by the number of outlaw fishing fleets. ONLY go during Costa Rica's rainy season from June through late August. I have heard that Sept is also a decent month to go but I cannot confirm that. Since I wanted the best diving for myself as well as my guests, I always took them during the months I just mentioned. The Cocos are wonderful but the prices have risen up so much for both the charters and the island fees (which do not go to protecting the Cocos) that you now to be fairly wealthy to go there. What a shame.

 

[mjh]

We have been during the dry and wet season and agree; while viz is down and it can be cooler it is the best time to go. On one trip we went with the Imaging Foundation and they have done literally thousands of dives at Cocos and agreed that all their trips are during the wet season. Our first trip was during the dry and we had pretty good luck but that was 6-7yrs ago. As mentioned we went at the start of the El Nino. I would hope/think that the sharks may get more accustomed to the warmer water and start frequenting all their regular spots.

 

[Legend]

I have watched many of your videos online, and I just have some questions regarding your editing. In your opinion which software gives the best quality for rendering. I have sony vegas and adobe premier pro. Also, are you touching up any of your videos in after effects (or related software)?

 

[mjh]

Thanks, very kind. I will admit I am not very tech savvy, nor do I read manuals. Started on a Windows machine, like most, but was having trouble with it crashing all the time. Moved to all Apple and things are better. Using Final Cut Pro X, it is major overkill for my skill level. As with all my gear I am like a 13yr old with a Ferrari, just driving around and grinding the first 3 gears. I am sure I am not taking advantage of what FCPX can do. The Cocos videos and some of the rowing videos I have actually just shot the video in MPEG4 and skipped ACHVD. For ACHVD I have used Clipwrap to convert for editing. I am not a pixel peeper but when I run the Youtube videos on our 1080HD, widescreen tv they look good enough to me. But once again I am not submitting stuff to the National Geographic and am flattered anyone watches anything we do past the 2min mark, lol.

With the video I will often do some adjusting of brightness and contrast to keep things from looking blown out. Being a "Stills Guy" I use Photoshop and with that program am very comfortable with adjusting Color in RAW. With FCPX I struggle with the Color function, I wish it was like Photoshop. I am sure a video shooter/editor guru could give much better advice on that function. I think I missed the class on the "color wheel" and how they combine. Sorry don't have any great insights, maybe someone more skilled will jump in.

 

[mintakax]

Amazing !
Thank you