Finally See my HD... in HD (but with the green cast)!

[drbill]

My Panny has a LANC connector.

Yes, yes... please tell us. Then I can find out if it would fit in my current housing.

 

[ScubaBob92651]

I doubt very seriously the green is caused by colorspace issues or, and most definately not by the Sony logo on the side of the camera. I think the HID lights will help, but only on close up shots. For wider shots, MWB (or a lucky AWB day) will be your best bet. I got the same results (green - everything green) last weekend in Catalina when my HC-7 was stuck in AWB. I've never had this problem in Laguna, with 1/4 of the viz and much more particulate, but I've always had MWB. I'm taking my camera over to the island this weekend to hopefully do some better testing with clear Catalina water.

 

[PerroneFord]

Yes, yes... please tell us. Then I can find out if it would fit in my current housing.

I haev a Panny DXV100.

After looking into this a bit, the camera does indeed have a LANC connection, but I've just learned it is NOT the same LANC connection the Sony has. There are controlles for the Panny that do zoom/focus/iris manipulation, but it doesn't appear that you can do all the tricks you can with the Sony. Varizoom makes a number of these controllers and you can check their webpage for more info.

I doubt very seriously if it will fit into your existing housing as it is an oddly shaped camera.

 

[PerroneFord]

What model is it? And can you get a electronic housing for it?

I don't think there are electronic housings, but here is a mechanical one...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/275296-REG/Equinox_PP8DVX100_Pro_Pak_8_Underwater_Video.html

 

[somewhereinla]

I doubt very seriously the green is caused by colorspace issues or, and most definately not by the Sony logo on the side of the camera. I think the HID lights will help, but only on close up shots. For wider shots, MWB (or a lucky AWB day) will be your best bet. I got the same results (green - everything green) last weekend in Catalina when my HC-7 was stuck in AWB. I've never had this problem in Laguna, with 1/4 of the viz and much more particulate, but I've always had MWB. I'm taking my camera over to the island this weekend to hopefully do some better testing with clear Catalina water.

Not to disagree with you but the colospace is a known issue and is (90%sure) very probably causing the problem. However it is not a defect. The HC-7 output will play fine on any monitors that support this particular color space, the problem is that there is no monitors that yet support it.

 

[diversteve]

I've seen the Pro-Pak 8. It's a big one. So no go with the TopDawg drbill...

Just turn off the x.v.color setting and see if that solves your problem. But I don't think it will. I think the problem is the green water color off California coupled with not enough light. I think you just need more light for HDV than you did for miniDV. I've seen similar output in the Sea of Cortez with my HC1 and it doesn't have the x.v.color output. And I have a new Sony 1080P HDTV so no compatibility issues there.

 

[somewhereinla]

If only Panasonics had a LANC connector and would work in my housings. My very first camcorder was a Panasonic. I dropped it hard, but it still works to this day... although the clanking and crunching of the drive mechanism after being damaged in the drop makes the audio portion unusable!

If you already have an housing with the Sony LANC connector and is you are thinking of getting it to work with a different brand, it should be a simple a "rewiring job" with a soldering iron. I think I might know how to get the specs. PM me if interested.

If you went with a different equipment my advise would be:

Panasonic HVX200, if you want pristine HD footage, this is a ProHD tapeless (P2 cards) solution, it's also a bit expensive. about $6-7K for the camera with p2's and about the same for a housing.

In the consumer/compact category I have heard great things about the Canon HV20, which should be about the size of your housing.

 

[pakman]

Not to disagree with you but the colospace is a known issue and is (90%sure) very probably causing the problem.

LA, can you tell us how you came to this conclusion... In my research before buying the HC7, I never came across anyone complaining that the Sony proprietary x.v. colorspace caused any problems.

Personally I have to agree with sjspeck. My shots in the greenish waters around HK water have that nasty green cast in shadows and beyond the light coverage. In well lit footage from crystal clear waters in Philippines, I didn't have that issue.

 

[DaFireMedic]

However, my buddy also noticed the wierd green cast in the shadow areas that I've complained about since I got the camera. As long as the lighting was perfectly even over the subject area, everything looked great. However, when I backed off a subject so that it was just partially (say half) illuminated and the rest was in shadow, there was that hideos green cast.

Since I saw none of this in my buddy's video, I have to wonder if this is an artifact of the imaging sensor used in the HC-7 (which differs from that in the HC-3), or whether I have a defective sensor.

Please forgive my "newbiness" to underwater videography, but could it have been a result of the differences in the water color? I've never been diving in Fiji, but I dive Catalina fairly often and I assume that there is more green in the water than in Fiji. I am familiar with white balance from my topside videography stuff and I know that differences in the ambient color can affect such things. I am asking this more for my own knowledge as I am just getting into underwater videography and I want to learn as much as I can about color correction, etc.

 

[pakman]

DrBill here go out and buy this latest HDTV from Sony which incorporates the new x.v.Color and get back to us with your findings

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/consumer/television/microdisplay/sxrd_grand_wega/release/30504.html