New Bonica HDDV Camcorder

[WaterWolf]

You can see some video I took with the HDDV and NO strobe or housing....I just used the skin. IF you go to youtube.com and type in diverightinscuba with no spaces and you will see a shark dive we did recently at the Mall of America. The video looks alot better on a HD TV, youtube doesnt emit in HD, so it doesnt look as good.....

Here is a link:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.=

We just became a dealer and I fell in love with it. For the price, you really cant beat it

That video looks good. I just bought this camera for my wife. She is testing it out but her video is very pixelated. We've tried a few different high-speed sd cards but it doesn't seem to help much. Was this video shot in High Def? I noticed if we shoot in D1 Mode, it's a little better but still not good. Any ideas what we could be doing wrong? Could it behave differently under water (perhaps because it's darker)?

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Yes, it was shot in HD. Is the computer your watching it on, HD? You gotta remember that what your watching it on has to be compatible....Try playing the movie, thru the camera, thru the TV(if HD)....

 

[WaterWolf]

Yes, it was shot in HD. Is the computer your watching it on, HD? You gotta remember that what your watching it on has to be compatible....Try play the movie, thru the camera, thru the TV(if HD)....

Thanks. That's much better (shown on HDTV). I can see a new computer in my future.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Thanks. That's much better (shown on HDTV). I can see a new computer in my future.

Great to hear....feel free to buy me one too

 

[yarik83]

I bought bonica hddv about a week after it was released. It shoots amazing footage for its price. Unfortunately it is not exactly a 15000 dollar camera that they use for discovery channel. Huge advantage of camera is that its a hand held and one arm at that. I can use my other hand to anchor myself while filming something.

Only disadvantage after about a year of using it is that post production production. Camera shoots in quicktime format which is a huge apple conspiracy. As we all know quicktime is great but it is pain in the rear to edit without macintosh even with quicktime pro. That makes movie sharing an utter nightmare. I have been forced to burn movies as dvd file disks and available for pc only. I have been trying for almost a year now to make it editable in other formats that are dvd format. Only problem is that either video suffers or audio suffers.

 

[diverdoug141]

I recently got the bonica Snapper Hddv. I am using pinnacle studio 12 on a PC to edit the video. So far i have only used it to film an event in a pool. and above water. It works great. I have had no problems using it or displaying the video on a tv. though it looks best on HD tvs...
I have heard people say that you should not use more than a 4 GB sd card, i have been using an 8 gig card, it is very fast and can hold about 4 hours of video. the pictures have been turning out well. not as good as a nikon D80. but they work well for under water

 

[Gombessa]

Hmm, this seems like a great, inexpensive video option. Does anyone have any 720p dive videos posted on YT/Vimeo from this cam? Also, how long does the battery last for continuous video shooting at the highest resolution?

 

[TheBigPhillyFish]

Hmm, this seems like a great, inexpensive video option. Does anyone have any 720p dive videos posted on YT/Vimeo from this cam? Also, how long does the battery last for continuous video shooting at the highest resolution?

Gombessa try this!

EDIT: Wow, I'm kinda shocked, the videos were pretty decent for a $600.00 HD video camera. And talking about a small lightweight package.

 

[Gombessa]

Thanks for the link.

Wow, interesting camera...I'm going to look more into it.

My initial impressions:

- The image quality looks extremely clean and smooth, frame to frame. Great sharpness for streaming video even with a wide angle attachment. I'm really surprised and impressed by this.

- It appears to have a pretty serious case of CMOS rolling-shutter "jelly motion". Could just be the VIMEO codec, but it's pretty clearly there. Might be the biggest strike against it.

- I think I can hear electronic interference in every underwater video - a regular bzzz bzzz bzzz. Not a big deal since we typically overlay music, and perhaps a bit accentuated in the vids they posted since it seems like the shooter is on a silent rebreather.

For $600-700, it seems to be throwing its hat in with the new generation of P&S digicams, which are probably in a similar price range with housing. I'd probably want to hold off a couple of months and see what those are capable of before committing to the HDDV.

Haha, looks like James Flenner is featured in one of their vids! Close up Divers dive in Cayman Battle ship wreck (HI-DEF) on Vimeo Priceless!

 

[yarik83]

This is why I mentioned that post production production is such a pain.

The way I work on my videos is I first strip them off sound and then convert them to mpeg2. I take that and use nero ultimate to add in sound (ie my own voice+music). Its not the shutter that you are hearing its auto-focus feature. You cant turn it off. Its there. I guess it does its job because I never have to worry about focus in my videos.

Another thing to consider is the red correction lense. It made me cry and want to punch an infant. I shot 4 days 12 dives with air bubble trapped there when I first got the camera. I then decided to put on the filter under water to prevent that issue but of course forgot about it on 2nd dive.. I had to contact bonica and get permission to modify product under warrantee. I drilled holes on the metal band that is holding filter and solved my problem that way. I will try to find time to post videos in next couple of weeks. I have data all over the place need to find something interesting and worth watching.