Canon 5D Mark II in Aquatica Housing AND mounted on Gavin Scooter as "Steady Cam" :-)

[danvolker]

‪Paul's Reef from Canon 5D markII on a Gavin Scooter--Planning a trip? Watch this!‬‏ - YouTube for the video, please watch at 720p, obviously, and full screen.

This is my 7th month shooting video, and still learning a lot each time out....

Focus, as the other poster just commented on.....I use manual, and with the 16 to 35 mm lens, if you are focusing on a subject 2 to 3 feet away, as in the ledges I am running down for sea-scape type views of the reef, the lens has a big depth of field remaining in focus.....if I try to do a close up, where I get 8 inches away from a frogfish, then even the tiniest forward or backward movement will effect the sharpness of the focus.

Lighting...The hardest thing for me is not getting washouts of light, when I aim at the ledges...I am finding I have to avoid hitting the ledge AND the distant crown and horizon including blue mid water to surface in distance, as this will have far too much light to MIX in the same screen with the much darker ledge....one or the other will suffer badly... so I have to shoot down into the ledge whenever possible ( its not always possible) and restrict top and bottom subject matter ( as the sand in front of the ledge is white and reflective, so has too much brightness as well).

Closeness to subject..... this has been shocking. Just when I think I am so close it would have to be perfect, I find out when editing that I should have been closer ....Now running the gavin scooter, I can smoothly stay "prety close" when I am concentrating enough on this, but sometimes the gorgonians and seafans come up so high that if I get as close to the bottom as I want, they will get into the props of the scooter--which I can't have, for many reasons

Speed while shooting.... I would be interested to hear from you guys on this....You will see some scenes where I was swimming slowly, the Gavin just acting as a huge inertial stabilizer...and other scenes where I am scootering and the view is more like what you might imagine on a "critter Cam" Let me know what you think...my intention, unless I hear negatively about this, is to always mix some scooter runs, with some slow swims, with some still holding of the camera over spots worthy of several seconds of concentration.

 

[c0r3yz]

Very cool! I am with you on constantly learning more and more about the 5D MKII and video. I keep forgetting that the same principals you use in controlling light in photography apply to shooting video like changing aperture to change the depth of field.

You can use AF, you just have to tweak some settings in the Live View/Movie func. set. menu. AF will not work while shooting video if AF Mode is set to Quick mode. AF can ruin a shot while recording if you're not careful with it though, because it will throw everything out of focus, even if it is in focus, before it can lock the focus.

How do you like your housing? Is it neutrally buoyant?

 

[danvolker]

Very cool! I am with you on constantly learning more and more about the 5D MKII and video. I keep forgetting that the same principals you use in controlling light in photography apply to shooting video like changing aperture to change the depth of field.

You can use AF, you just have to tweak some settings in the Live View/Movie func. set. menu. AF will not work while shooting video if AF Mode is set to Quick mode. AF can ruin a shot while recording if you're not careful with it though, because it will throw everything out of focus, even if it is in focus, before it can lock the focus.

How do you like your housing? Is it neutrally buoyant?

Without lights, due to the big dome, it was very bouyant..maybe 6 pounds.
With the lights..2 50 watt HID video cave lights by Extreme Exposure, it is about neutral....And mounted on Gavin Scooter is it about a quarter or a half a pound positive.

I have been shooting on manual focus and manual rather than AV or Tv or other choices, and using the knob at right to turn down the exposure or up...

 

[c0r3yz]

Without lights, due to the big dome, it was very bouyant..maybe 6 pounds.
With the lights..2 50 watt HID video cave lights by Extreme Exposure, it is about neutral....And mounted on Gavin Scooter is it about a quarter or a half a pound positive.

I have been shooting on manual focus and manual rather than AV or Tv or other choices, and using the knob at right to turn down the exposure or up...

I have been really unsure as to which housing to get... considering the investment and all.

Typically I shoot video in CA, but have been playing with Manual a bit more to get more lately.

As for the speed while shooting, I think the mixture you used in this video worked out quite well for what you're doing here. I think it would be cool to flip it around and get some shots over your shoulder as well with you in the shot looking around, assuming you don't get washed out by the sun.

 

[danvolker]

I have been really unsure as to which housing to get... considering the investment and all.

Typically I shoot video in CA, but have been playing with Manual a bit more to get more lately.

As for the speed while shooting, I think the mixture you used in this video worked out quite well for what you're doing here. I think it would be cool to flip it around and get some shots over your shoulder as well with you in the shot looking around, assuming you don't get washed out by the sun.

This sun problem is huge.....Unlike on land, where you really know where the sun is, on the dive, you ( or at least I ) do not really have a good handle on where the sun is most of the time. One thing I am seeing from editing, is that footage shot in the morning, when the sun is coming up and in the background of video shot from the sand--aimed at the ledge and crown---this footage suffers from the sun shining into the camera lens.....An Afternoon boat trip would have the sun overhead and a little behind on the 2:00 dive, and the 2nd dive around 4 pm it would be nicely behind me....I will be trying this for the first time this coming sunday....Usually we like morning trips because the ocean is calmest in the morning, and we have the afternoon to chill afterwards....anyway, after this weekend's video, I'll post another clip.

 

[Rileybri]

I am just shocked you are willing to take you 5D underwater let alone mont it to you scooter. I dont even let others touch mine let alone get it near water! good on ya!

 

[danvolker]

I am just shocked you are willing to take you 5D underwater let alone mont it to you scooter. I dont even let others touch mine let alone get it near water! good on ya!

The Aquatica Housing is so awesome it is beyond belief. Even if you tried, it would be hard to make this thing leak.

The way I got into this, was an outfit in Ca that has been in u/w photography for over 20 years, that does both sales AND rentals.....I rented a housing and camera at a very low fee....they sent it to me ups--the service and transactions actually better than most local shops in most retail industries...They gave me all the information I needed to use the system comfortably, and it worked so well I "had to have my own"
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