Beginner video questions

[jd950]

I would really like to try shooting some underwater video, beyond short clips I can get with most still cameras, but at this point don't want to invest the time and money into a full video setup, and don't want to try carrying such a setup around in addition to my still camera, housing and strobes.

I was thinking of trying the Kodak Zi8 but I have not been that impressed by what I have read about it and some of the cheap and small video cameras out now, and was wondering if something like a Panasonic TS1 in an OEM housing would work? I can probably get by without lights for now, doing some shallow reef videos.

Any other relatively cheap and fairly small options I should consider? Without lights I would need to be sure I could adjust WB fairly easily, right?

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Where would most of your diving be? If you want cheap, the best solution I recommend is the Flip Ultra HD in an Ikelite Housing. Here is a short video I shot to test the camera at Catalina Island. No red filter, no lights. Flip Ultra HD Test Video in Ikelite Housing on Vimeo

 

[beautybelow]

that's pretty good for a camera like that.

 

[jd950]

Thanks for the comment, Mike. I have looked at that video. I will be using whatever I get in the Caribbean at this point. I am looking for cheap and small, partly because because I want to test the waters, so to speak before putting big bucks into video. Also, I am not ready to leave the still camera and strobes behind.

I would much prefer to get a Canon hf s11 and a Gates housing with a wide angle port, but don't want to deal with the size and cost at this point. I was hoping that I might be able to find something a good step up from the Flip, but still small and not over $1000.

Maybe I will just try the Flip on the next trip and see how it goes.

 

[diversteve]

About the closest you can get for around $1000 - excepting the Flip/JVC Picsio/Kodak Zi8 - is the new Canon HF-M30 in their new WP-V2 housing. But it will be closer to $1100. My buddy has the WP-V1/HF-200 combo and it easily fits in his carry-on bag.

Abe's of Maine has the housing for $449 today. Canon WP-V2 Water Proof Case for HF-M30/M31/M300 Camcorders
Amazon has the camera for $622. Amazon.com: Canon VIXIA HF M30 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder: Camera & Photo

Surprisingly the HF-M300 sells for about the same ($679). I would've thought it would be less like the HF-20/HF-200 difference was last year.

Note: neither this setup or the cheaper ones listed above do MWB.

 

[jd950]

diversteve: Thanks for the suggestion; I spent some time looking at this, but I think for now I am going to go with one of the compacts in the Ike housing, for size and price reasons. If the WP-v2 had a provision for setting WB I might feel differently, but without it, the smaller size of the other choices wins out.

I think I may get the Kodak Zi8 instead of the Flip, because I have seen some reviews that rate the video quality a bit higher and because of its image stabilization which might be helpful with such a small video camera.

 

[Gombessa]

I currently use the Flip HD with Ikelite housing on nearly every dive I make, and I have a bunch of quick'n'dirty vids up at YouTube - d5kenn's Channel. I like it very much, but recognize a few important caveats to using or recommending it to others:

One thing to consider about the Flip is that the fixed focus lens is roughly 47mm above water (I've performed a field of view test with the Flip here), which means underwater it's closer to 60mm, way out of the realm of wide angle, if that's what you need. This means in order to capture a bigger view of the scene, you'll need 1) good vis and 2) a very steady hand (both of which the excellent footage linked by Mike show; in addition a lot of the shots are close crops of fish, which IMO is the ideal composition for this kind of lens configuration). The focusing distance of the camera is about 1m or more as well, which means the telephoto-ish lens doesn't translate particularly well to macro shooting.

For close to the price I got my Flip + housing, a solution that may be more versatile above and below water may be to look at a pocket digicam that does 720p video, in an OEM housing. You then get the benefit of great quality photos, a flash, real image stabilization, an optical zoom lens with a 24-28mm true wide angle, removeable/upgradable media, and maybe even WB adjustment or preset in video mode (one of the things that started bothering me more than I thought it would was the fact that the Flip will auto-WB while shooting, so water turns from blue to green and back again if you pan or expose a sunball or bright dive light, and you can't stop it or easily correct it in post-processing since it's a continuous clip).

I made the following spreadsheet a while ago when I was making the same decision you are now--it's a little dated now (particularly the prices), but hopefully provides some information worth considering or further researching.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0AnrOwV9jNSX_dDFNTDdZMUFkbFQ3NHNoNlotejF2cVE&hl=en

 

[jd950]

Thanks for the information. I figured if I went with the Zi8 I would add the Ikelite W-20 lens to it. When I posed the question at the beginning of the thread I was thinking of exactly what you have mentioned; whether there might be a compact still camera with an available oem housing that might be better or equal to than the inexpensive video cameras available..

I didn't seem to find any enthusiasm for the idea in any responses and I was unable to find very much that suggested this was a paricularly good idea.

 

[Down2bizDiver]

Check out the GoPro Hero HD wide angle. Go to scubaboard thread scubaboard.com/forums/underwater-videography/305862-crazy-1080p-cam-180-housing-270-a-16.html

 

[seacreatures]

Has anyone tried the new Video Mask? It is supposed to have great HD and still capabilities.