Who shoots underwater video with the PDX10?

[teksimple]

Sounds like a decent camera when combined with a Gates or Amphibico housing.

The issue is: rather poor low light capability at 7 lux.

My main goal is to shoot closeups of hammerheads in the Galapagos. I have a rebreather, but my experience with video lights and hammerheads is that they freak with video lights.

So do you think a PDX10 is OK at 50 feet (in relatively clear water) without lights?

Thanks for your advice!


(other options include a PD-170, or HD-FX1, but, jeez, with a weight and price to boot!)

 

[ronrosa]

Sounds like a decent camera when combined with a Gates or Amphibico housing.

The issue is: rather poor low light capability at 7 lux.

My main goal is to shoot closeups of hammerheads in the Galapagos. I have a rebreather, but my experience with video lights and hammerheads is that they freak with video lights.

So do you think a PDX10 is OK at 50 feet (in relatively clear water) without lights?

Thanks for your advice!


(other options include a PD-170, or HD-FX1, but, jeez, with a weight and price to boot!)

The PDX10 is the pro version of the TRV950. Plenty of people use this camcorder and get great results.

50 ft w/o lights, no problem. As long as you have a red filter (Gates & Amphibico do) you'll be fine. Manually adjust your white balance (Gates & Amphibico can) and you'll be even better.

 

[teksimple]

Thanks ronrosa.

Doing a little more research, I found that the noisy artifacts only come up when the camera's DSP compensates by increasing the gain. Now, I know that you can limit the gain to +6dB by setting the exposure mode to "Sunset and Moon". Is there any reason I couldn't shoot underwater with it in this mode all the time? That way if I start to get low light affecting the performance, the worst that would happen is a darker picture, but no noisy artifacts that might ruin some otherwise decent footage.

Any thoughts?