Housing for Sony FX1/Z1

[bubblevision]

Is anyone using a housing yet for these cameras?

Or has anyone ordered one or intends to order one?

I'm intending to upgrade at some point. Probably the Gates but possibly Amphibico or even Sea & Sea.

Please let us know your experiences / intentions.

Nick

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

I took delivery of the Gates Z1 housing a week ago. It is fantastic. I will have some footage up on my website shortly. I will also have a display of the set up, along with footage at the Long Beach Scuba show.

The housing design is excellent. Gates made some nice improvements on the controls from previous housings. The housing itself is positively buoyant, thus they have weights for the inside of it. Depending on what lighting, port, etc. you are using, you may or may not need the weights.

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

 

[bubblevision]

I took delivery of the Gates Z1 housing a week ago. It is fantastic. I will have some footage up on my website shortly. I will also have a display of the set up, along with footage at the Long Beach Scuba show.

The housing design is excellent. Gates made some nice improvements on the controls from previous housings. The housing itself is positively buoyant, thus they have weights for the inside of it. Depending on what lighting, port, etc. you are using, you may or may not need the weights.

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Brilliant! I'm a fan of Gates so i'm glad to hear the good news as I'll probably be following your route at some point.

To start with, some questions:

1. What port are you using? I was understanding that only the flat port is available at the moment, which would result in a very narrow field of view. I would hope to get the aspheric (super wide angle, zoom-through) port if I upgrade to the Z1.

2. Can you describe how the white balance works? I had to customise my VX2000 housing to make this anything like useable.

3. Have you had to upgrade your computer to capture/edit HD footage from the Z1? If so then what are the specs?

4. Are you using an external monitor or just the viewfinder? I am concerned that the monitors currently offered do not display 16:9 footage at the correct aspect ratio, which makes framing/composition very difficult.

Cheers, Nick

 

[Mike Veitch]

Looking at taking delivery of the camera in the next few weeks, then hopefully the Amphibico soon after. I would prefer the Gates but not my money.......nice eh?

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Actually Mike, the Gates will end up being cheaper than the Amphibico. If you would like pricing details, send me a PM. I am a dealer for both companies. Also Mike, I will be up in Vancouver in a month if you would like to take a look at the Gates set up. Im on the Nautilus June 5-12.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Nick, to answer your questions:

1. Currently, the flat port and standard dome ports are available. I have both and will be testing them in the next few weeks (when I get the housing back). The SWP port is scheduled for delivery in June. Fathom Imaging is still in the design phase.

2. What did you have to do to your white balance controls??

3. I am currently waiting for Final Cut Pro 5 to be released. As of right not, you can only use Imovie 5 or Final Cut Express HD to edit. Avid is releasing a new HDV compliant version as Adobe is as well for Premiere. I have not made any changes to my editing system. HOwever, I am using a Powermac G5 dual 2.5ghz processor, 2gb ram, and large external hard drives.

4. I have both. I also added the extended focus control on the housing (this is an optional control on the Gates). You are correct in that the 4" lcd is not 16x9. So, the picture is a little "squished". I have not played with the set up in water yet, but I dont think it is really going to make composition difficult. I use the monitor for adjusting WB, focus, etc. I find it hard to see the details in the viewfinder. If you need to double check your composition, you can always look into the viewfinder. I personally find the Lcd to be indispensable. Now, Light & Motion is working on their 16x9 monitor (probably 5"). This monitor however is going to be quite expensive.

Do you already have a camera??

 

[Mike Veitch]

Actually Mike, the Gates will end up being cheaper than the Amphibico. If you would like pricing details, send me a PM. I am a dealer for both companies. Also Mike, I will be up in Vancouver in a month if you would like to take a look at the Gates set up. Im on the Nautilus June 5-12.

Oops sorry, think you misunderstood. I mean that i am not the one buying the camera, one of the guys i work with is and he has always been an Amphibico person (must have something to do with him being from Quebec...)

As for Vancouver, ha ha. Tis a wet and grey place, i live in the tropics now...so come on down to Yap instead and show it to me here, i can show you mantas in 84 degrees instead of green 48 degree water....

Have a great trip on the Nautilus, if you need a dry suit i have one sitting in my parents garage that hasn't been used since 99. Its like new!

Mike

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Oops sorry, think you misunderstood. I mean that i am not the one buying the camera, one of the guys i work with is and he has always been an Amphibico person (must have something to do with him being from Quebec...)

As for Vancouver, ha ha. Tis a wet and grey place, i live in the tropics now...so come on down to Yap instead and show it to me here, i can show you mantas in 84 degrees instead of green 48 degree water....

Have a great trip on the Nautilus, if you need a dry suit i have one sitting in my parents garage that hasn't been used since 99. Its like new!

Mike

Oh ok, well you will want one when you see it.

Hey must be nice to live in the tropics...84...Ill be lucky to se 48!!

Thanks for the dry suit offer, I will be bringing mine with me. I dive dry in Souther Cali...Ill definitely be diving dry in BC. So is the diving worth it in the cold water??

 

[ScubaBob92651]

H2OPhotoPro

Interested to see how accurate color is, especially when you manually white balance a shot, using the Gates LCD for the FX1. I have the 2.5" Gates LCD for my Gates HD1 (JVC HD10U) and I don't find the LCD to be much of a help when it comes to white balance. The LCD appeared to have more of a reddish tint to it. Luckily I decided to trust the manual white balance on the camera (as well as the seemingly good but tiny image in the viewfinder) and I was glad I did - white balance was much closer using this method. Composition and focus are definately selling points for an external LCD, however (everything appears larger underwater..except for the darned viewfinder!).

 

[bubblevision]

Thanks Mike....

1. Currently, the flat port and standard dome ports are available. I have both and will be testing them in the next few weeks (when I get the housing back). The SWP port is scheduled for delivery in June. Fathom Imaging is still in the design phase.

Please let us know how you get on!

2. What did you have to do to your white balance controls??

I use a spacer to get the WB mode control pretty much permanently out of the way and I made a rotary "stop" out of epoxy filler for the WB Set control so that I didn't have to blindly hunt through 360 degrees for the wheel to push. The standard white balance setup on the Gates VX2000 housing was truly awful to use. You can see my VX2000 setup toward the bottom of this page: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=75979 Is the Z1 WB setup easier then Mike?

3. I am currently waiting for Final Cut Pro 5 to be released. As of right not, you can only use Imovie 5 or Final Cut Express HD to edit. Avid is releasing a new HDV compliant version as Adobe is as well for Premiere. I have not made any changes to my editing system. HOwever, I am using a Powermac G5 dual 2.5ghz processor, 2gb ram, and large external hard drives.

I'm a Sony Vegas user myself and the HD capability is all in place as of now, although the new 6.0a is buggy. 6.0b in June/July should fix this. I was wondering if I will need faster hardware. By the time I actually move to HD I may well want to upgrade anyway.

4. I have both. I also added the extended focus control on the housing (this is an optional control on the Gates). You are correct in that the 4" lcd is not 16x9. So, the picture is a little "squished". I have not played with the set up in water yet, but I dont think it is really going to make composition difficult. I use the monitor for adjusting WB, focus, etc. I find it hard to see the details in the viewfinder. If you need to double check your composition, you can always look into the viewfinder. I personally find the Lcd to be indispensable. Now, Light & Motion is working on their 16x9 monitor (probably 5"). This monitor however is going to be quite expensive.

I really hope Gates considers a 16:9 monitor or another one can be made to fit. I did a shoot at 16:9 on my 2.5" monitor and I wasn't at all comfortable framing. I won't be buying L&M though as I find their electronics to be very unreliable.

Do you already have a camera??

I'm saving up for it! I'll go Z1 at some time but for now I have a VX2000.

Another thing Mike. What are those "keyways" for that run along the top of the Gates housing?