Is the death of the camcorder near when it comes to underwater video?

[Interceptor121]

I have been playing for a bit with the new Sony DSC-RX100 in addition to be a great camera it produces some great video and has plenty of controls

Few examples

Wide Angle
[youtubehq]2p6g12dxIBU[/youtubehq]

Macro
[youtubehq]nwmEg9yY874[/youtubehq]

Super Macro
[youtubehq]vyegzx70EcU[/youtubehq]

Dedicated videocam are still good for some aspects, depth of field, stabilisation but we are getting really close here

Tips on using your compact for video

Interceptor121 Underwater Video

 

[drbill]

The versatility of a still camera that shoots good HD video is indeed intriguing, but I don't think I'll be abandoning my HD video rig any time soon. One issue is the potential need for two lighting sets: one for video and one for stills. On drawback of a good HD camcorder is that the video lights aren't powerful enough to give good shutter speeds in most cases.

 

[Interceptor121]

I shot those clips at 1/100 50p and I think you can stretch it to 1/125 60p
You are right about two lighting set but in this case I only have one for video in water. I have then a ball mount arm and a strobe should I want to take pictures. You need to make a decision what you want to do alternatively you can mount video lights on strobe arms however there is limited flexibility. I use locline for video as they are easy to move and ball arm for strobe as I need more precision, can you imagine having all of that on a tray?

 

[matdiver]

Hi Interceptor121,
interesting question, but personally I think you've answered it when you say "Dedicated videocam are still good for some aspects, depth of field, stabilisation but we are getting really close here". You've hit the nail on the head there.
After several years of resisting, I'm finally making the switch to HD (from Sony PDX10 to Pana GH2). Sure, depth of field is an issue, as are low light capability and manual white balance. Those issues seem to be handled much better with good-sized 3-chip sensor arrays. I guess that's why Sony still produces 3 chip camcorders like its latest high-level offering, the PMW200, or the PD175 (SD!). Problem is that the package underwater then becomes pretty large and expensive....

I guess we'll see more and more blurring of the distinction between dedicated videocams under water and SLR/ micro 4/3 etc.

Matt

 

[Interceptor121]

I guess dedicated equipment with specific features can't be beaten however with advent of gopro there are so many people doing video and many do not know that what you can do with a compact now is better than a midrange camcorder 5 years ago
So the way I see it is
Basic video --> action camera good for your diving class not so good for real fish shots
Compact Camera HD --> good for memories and youtube
Professional camcorders --> good for commercial and broadcast use

Meanwhile I am not sure where to place DSLR as all in all you can get a semi pro full size sensor camcorder that has more features for video and costs less

I think the various layers eat into each other and make video more affordable to many but for commercial work you need the big guns

Surely a mid range camcorder in an plastic housing to me is a no go there days...

 

[Marty Cerven]

Basic video --> action camera good for your diving class not so good for real fish shots
Compact Camera HD --> good for memories and youtube
Professional camcorders --> good for commercial and broadcast use

Not sure why you would rate action cams so lowly, I think the GoPro does pretty good with fish shots and I think its far from being too poor for memories or youtube if I understand the way you have rated these?

Below is one of my recent videos with it showing a bit of what you can get with a gopro that I think easily is good enough for memories and youtube.

[video=youtube;VooIEEpg2Ao]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VooIEEpg2Ao[/video]

 

[Interceptor121]

I have been very harsh in my grading you are correct action camera are as good as, with few key weaknesses in white balancing and real macro but still very good

I could probably say

Action and Basic Compact -- good for memories and youtube
advanced compact -- good for semipro
High quality camcorders - commercial and broadcast

Happy with that?

 

[Drewpy]

Marty..thats a great video and dive site you have there! Love those sea dragons!

 

[Marty Cerven]

I have been very harsh in my grading you are correct action camera are as good as, with few key weaknesses in white balancing and real macro but still very good

I could probaby say

Action and Basic Compact -- good for memories and youtube
advanced compact -- good for semipro
High quality camcorders - commercial and broadcast

Happy with that?

I'd agree more with that, thought it was funny as you wouldn't rate them good enough for YouTube and quite a few people have seen and mostly liked my go pro underwater videos there, so it can't be that bad. That video looks much better on vimeo and if you DL the original there I think you can see how much the yet compression is hurting it. I have never had a comment saying this is too crap take it off yt lol.

With the new 3 black having cam raw white balance recording a raw format at 45Mb/s at 1080p60 or even 2.7k30 its pushing into a much higher level. Auto wb still sucks on it but pretty much all cameras struggle with underwater awb, set to cam raw and you can easily set wb in post without the need of doing it manually underwater which I think is a much easier way of dealing with that issue.

However there are still some pretty big limitations due to sensor size lack of manual controls and fixed focus but for the keen diver wanting some cool video to share with friends and online its a great way to start out. Something like the rx100 with nauticam housing is about $1600 compared to the hero 3 black at $499 so its a fair jump in price and not everyone is willing to spend that much just starting out.

There is always room for more dedicated cameras and these will always be used by the professionals though many will add gopro's as b cams to their setup yet unlikely to add a small compact. I'm sure there are more gopro's used in broadcast then any compacts, they fill a gap where large expensive broadcast cameras can't go but compacts are just for the advanced compacts are purely for the enthusiast or semi pro and unlikely to be used in broadcasting as they do the same job as a full professional setup just not quite as well.

Marty..thats a great video and dive site you have there! Love those sea dragons!

Thanks, got lucky to get a day with awesome vis there.

 

[Interceptor121]

Marty action cameras are not just the gopro3 my comment was generic

For what concerns the camera raw mode how does it actually work? Is it just a less compressed format we are talking about and then you need to do white point picking? I would be interested in understanding the detail of that as 45 MB/s does not correspond to taking 60 full frames at 2 mb each it should be more something like 120 mb/s which no card can sustain
I think you are talking about 45 mbps which is less than 6 Mb/s so still pretty compressed not that much raw
If that is the case white balance before the shot is still much better