sony hc-3 and light & motion housing

[limeyx]

Files wouldn't play. Some kind of quicktime error came up. Do you have a wmv version ?

Sorry, needs Quicktime 7.
I might make a WMV version, but the Quicktime/H.264 is awesome for low-res delivery

 

[ScubaBob92651]

I can white balance the bluefin hd on a slate one of two ways-

1. Cradling the housing in my left arm like a baby, and pressing MWB with my index finger.

2. Tucking the housing in my left armpit, and white balancing with my thumb.

Neither is easy. The HC3 allows MWB with your thumb from the handle

I tried doing the slate, WB button handle check my psi juggle for awhile, then found it to be a waste of time. First, you are white balancing on an object that is 5-6" in front of your lens (or however far you can hold out you slate in front of your camera and be able to get it to focus - assuming you want a good WB) - that is only good if your subject is only 6" from your lens (very rare, unless you are constantly shooting macro.) Second, you are wasting about 15 seconds or so to complete this task. In the mean time, ole' white tip or Queen Trigger is long gone at this point, but she sure would have been a beut.

I white balance on my subject, or close enough to it where there is a good spectrum of color (all coral won't work.) It may vary by camera, but I find with my JVC HD10 (HDV) and Gates housing this works incredibly well. I just completed 46 dives in Bonaire using this approach, probably white balancing on average of 10 times per dive. If I used the approach above, I wouldn't have a small percentage of the shots I ended up with.

I've also went from doing CC on about 50-60% of my shots to maybe 5% now. Much more accurate approach to white balancing.

 

[ScubaBob92651]

here's my first FX1 footage.
Kind of washed out due to no red-filter and lots of ambient light

D/loads are 30M for the first (low res) 330 M for the second (full size medium quality)
I am liking H.264 encoding for the web but it doesnt seem to scale very well.

http://nickambrose.com/diving/movies/catalina-11-4-2006-ship-rock-cdrom.mov
http://nickambrose.com/diving/movies/catalina-11-4-2006-ship-rock-H264-med.mov

I love how the FX-1 handles low-light. That was huge school of fish at Ship Rock, very cool. I'm sure you will be getting some great footage using a filter and white balancing. Just a thought on H.264 encoding, I think converting to 960x540p or 1280x720p would give better results for computer playback. I think that is what Wags was doing with his?

 

[alo100]

My wife recently bought the HC-3 with the L&M housing. I have been using a TRV-950 in a USVH housing for the past 4 years. It's great watching our last 2 dive trips in HD off the tape, but we've noticed that the 3 chip TRV-950 produces better color rendition when comparing each video shot on the same dives/conditions. Also under poor conditions, i.e. particulates, low light, the HC-3 loses autofocus more often than the TRV-950. I don't know what your professional end use will be, but there is little consumer market for HD DVD at the moment. If your goal is professional UW video, IMHO get the best camera you can. Topside the HC-3 produces nice video, but has limited external mic input if you need high quality sound.

Concerning about the performance under regular condition (onland), I have a review from magazine. HC-3 has its weakness on shooting under articficial light condition, then its build-in mic does not provide excellent result, add-on external mic is suggested. Besides that, the onland performance is pretty good comparing to others.

I've a question for chuck, would the infra-red help for dim light condition, because I've heard that sony is famous for night shooting for its camcorders. Then I noticed that besides the build-in infra red lighting, users can buy another add-on for further distance. Would it possibly help for the focusing/shooting in your opinion?

 

[chuck e]

I've a question for chuck, would the infra-red help for dim light condition, because I've heard that sony is famous for night shooting for its camcorders. Then I noticed that besides the build-in infra red lighting, users can buy another add-on for further distance. Would it possibly help for the focusing/shooting in your opinion?

If by infrared, do you mean the nite shot option? This isn't appropriate for UW use and cannot be accessed inside the housing and we have the L&M lights for close range which work fine. The focussing problem is probably due to the combination of camera and housing with wide angle lens.

 

[limeyx]

I love how the FX-1 handles low-light. That was huge school of fish at Ship Rock, very cool. I'm sure you will be getting some great footage using a filter and white balancing. Just a thought on H.264 encoding, I think converting to 960x540p or 1280x720p would give better results for computer playback. I think that is what Wags was doing with his?

Interesting, I did not check the de-interlace option in FCE when I exported. Maybe I will try that (not sure if that implictly downconverts to 720p or give me a fake 1080p which is not really in the HDV spec)

The ship rock dives were awesome (we did two -- one at 80 feet and one at 150, and huge schools of fish and seals on both dives)

Gonna play with the WB etc more this weekend.

 

[limeyx]

I tried doing the slate, WB button handle check my psi juggle for awhile, then found it to be a waste of time. First, you are white balancing on an object that is 5-6" in front of your lens (or however far you can hold out you slate in front of your camera and be able to get it to focus - assuming you want a good WB) - that is only good if your subject is only 6" from your lens (very rare, unless you are constantly shooting macro.) Second, you are wasting about 15 seconds or so to complete this task. In the mean time, ole' white tip or Queen Trigger is long gone at this point, but she sure would have been a beut.

I white balance on my subject, or close enough to it where there is a good spectrum of color (all coral won't work.) It may vary by camera, but I find with my JVC HD10 (HDV) and Gates housing this works incredibly well. I just completed 46 dives in Bonaire using this approach, probably white balancing on average of 10 times per dive. If I used the approach above, I wouldn't have a small percentage of the shots I ended up with.

I've also went from doing CC on about 50-60% of my shots to maybe 5% now. Much more accurate approach to white balancing.

Interesting. My understanding of WB was that you should do it on something white or close to it, so you get all the colors and so "white" is baselined (although I have also heard of WB toward the sun, white sand etc.)

I guess I am going to just have to play with it but I didn't think the distance from the lens was the big issue with WB (unless you are using lights of course -- then the slate will block out the lights and I guess you will not get a correct WB)

 

[HiDefPics]

You are right. The idea is that you must first tell the camera which color is white, and then it figures out all the other colors. Distance from the lens will effect white balance underwater, as the volume of water between your subject and the lens will change the lighting conditions. I have had the best results when I have my buddy hold a white slate about 5 or 6 feet from the lens, zoom in, iris, and WB. Yes, it takes about 60 seconds this way, but it makes a big difference. And if you are using lights then you've got to white balance, otherwise your color will be all over the place. Turn on your lights, have your buddy position the slate so the lights are shining on it, zoom in, iris, WB.

 

[ScubaBob92651]

Turn on your lights, have your buddy position the slate so the lights are shining on it, zoom in, iris, WB.

I actually thought about attaching my white slate to my buddy's tank

 

[limeyx]

I actually thought about attaching my white slate to my buddy's tank

even better -- make the buddy get white tanks (fabers