Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I just want to share some info on a cheap UW-video rig i put together, and some footage taken with this setup. Hopefully someone will find this post interesting. Bellow is a picture of the rig (without camera in the housing).
(link if image doesn't work: UW rig )
What I did
I ordered a Xiaomi yi action camera (original model) from this page:
NEW Original Xiaomi YI Action Camera Xiaoyi WiFi Sport Camera 16MP 60FPS WIFI Ambarella Bluetooth International Version-in Sports & Action Video Camera from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
And a dome port (which includes a waterproof housing for the camera) from this page:
SHOOT 4" Portable Diving Dome Port for Xiaomi Yi 1st Camera With Floating Bobber Snorkeling Yi Dome Xiaoyi Yi Accessories-in Camera/Video Bags from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
The total price was just over 100$.
I then wanted to refocus the lens to work optimally with the dome port underwater. I had calculated the optimal focal point to be roughly 15 cm in front of the lens. To achieve this I had to remove the plastic front cover on the camera, and separate the lens from the glue that keeps it in a fixed position. This took me several hours, but after cutting through the glue you can simply rotate the lens to change focus. I connected the camera to my TV via HDMI, and used a ruler to achieve the correct distance.
Finally I downloaded this app which, if you follow the instructions, lets you change some settings on the camera which aren't otherwise available:
Yi Control Script Pro – Android-appar på Google Play
I set the resolution to 2k @ 30fps, and the bit rate to 40mbs. I also lowered noise reduction (NR) to 1000 (default is 5000 i believe) and set sharpness to "medium" and color to "flat" (to give me more alternatives in post). Next time I will set NR to 500 or 0, and sharpness to low. I will probably keep using AWB as I think it did a decent job with no sudden color shifts.
Results
Bellow is a video from three dives in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The video was put together quickly with fast contrast adjustments, and some small adjustments of white balance and saturation.
I didn't focus enough on the underwater landscapes and I tried to shoot small stuff like nudie-branches, which didn't work well. I also need to work on my "light positioning".
The visibility wasn't great but the wide angle makes the water look much clearer than it looked to the naked eye. Overall, the quality of the footage came out better than I had expected.
The lights I used are of cheep Chinese make (keeping with the overall theme). At 25 m, the button which controls the white led's on one of the lights would get pushed in, turning them off. This left me with only the red led's on this light, as is visible in the first couple of scenes. Luckily I had bought a third light of the same model as a spare, so I didn't have this problem on subsequent dives. If there is any interest, I could make a second post about the lights.
Dive safely!
(link if image doesn't work: UW rig )
What I did
I ordered a Xiaomi yi action camera (original model) from this page:
NEW Original Xiaomi YI Action Camera Xiaoyi WiFi Sport Camera 16MP 60FPS WIFI Ambarella Bluetooth International Version-in Sports & Action Video Camera from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
And a dome port (which includes a waterproof housing for the camera) from this page:
SHOOT 4" Portable Diving Dome Port for Xiaomi Yi 1st Camera With Floating Bobber Snorkeling Yi Dome Xiaoyi Yi Accessories-in Camera/Video Bags from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
The total price was just over 100$.
I then wanted to refocus the lens to work optimally with the dome port underwater. I had calculated the optimal focal point to be roughly 15 cm in front of the lens. To achieve this I had to remove the plastic front cover on the camera, and separate the lens from the glue that keeps it in a fixed position. This took me several hours, but after cutting through the glue you can simply rotate the lens to change focus. I connected the camera to my TV via HDMI, and used a ruler to achieve the correct distance.
Finally I downloaded this app which, if you follow the instructions, lets you change some settings on the camera which aren't otherwise available:
Yi Control Script Pro – Android-appar på Google Play
I set the resolution to 2k @ 30fps, and the bit rate to 40mbs. I also lowered noise reduction (NR) to 1000 (default is 5000 i believe) and set sharpness to "medium" and color to "flat" (to give me more alternatives in post). Next time I will set NR to 500 or 0, and sharpness to low. I will probably keep using AWB as I think it did a decent job with no sudden color shifts.
Results
Bellow is a video from three dives in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The video was put together quickly with fast contrast adjustments, and some small adjustments of white balance and saturation.
I didn't focus enough on the underwater landscapes and I tried to shoot small stuff like nudie-branches, which didn't work well. I also need to work on my "light positioning".
The visibility wasn't great but the wide angle makes the water look much clearer than it looked to the naked eye. Overall, the quality of the footage came out better than I had expected.
The lights I used are of cheep Chinese make (keeping with the overall theme). At 25 m, the button which controls the white led's on one of the lights would get pushed in, turning them off. This left me with only the red led's on this light, as is visible in the first couple of scenes. Luckily I had bought a third light of the same model as a spare, so I didn't have this problem on subsequent dives. If there is any interest, I could make a second post about the lights.
Dive safely!
