Not sure if this will help any since I'm still a bit new to this u/w video stuff. FYI, I started with a HC1 in a Bluefin housing (so some things may not correlate):
1.) Every once in awhile I'll forget to turn off the flash after using the camera out of housing the evening before. Then, underwater when I switch to still mode and take that first shot its like "frackin' darn it" because the internal flip up flash illuminates within the housing and trashes a good part of the high resolution still. Nothing you can do about it for the rest of the dive.
2.) Get handy with the auto/manual focus button. I really like the speed of the HC1 autofocus, but there's nothing worse than having a blurry 6' long green moray with all the silt or frye 2 feet closer in perfect focus.
3.) I am currently working on getting a wide angle lens. The widescreen format in HD looks awesome to start with, going wide angle will be better.
4.) Try and preview your initial footage on a HD monitor as soon as you can. Seeing it play back, the lighting and focusing on such a clear display with all those pixels will really help you close the loop on honing in your next camera dive.
5.) I'm still trying to get better at locking the exposure before rolling the tape when I know it will be low light. Obviously an exposure setting changing during a video clip sucks and just seems even worse u/w and in high-def.
6.) I went with the 71-series battery (largest that will fit within enclosure). In a place like Cozumel I can get in 3 dives without opening the enclosure (typically ~10 minutes of tape per dive and about 20-60 stills).
7.) I really like to dive with the guideframe on and I find using the color viewfinder (no backscreen monitor on mine) much easier for me to determine focus. That small color viewfinder is quite nice.
8.) I like shots where the HD and widescreen (extra clarity) helps show/enchance action or depth. For example, getting a good focus on a moring line/chain in a heavy current and following it up into the light to a bouy or boat. The same goes for diver's bubbles, when in sharp focus and coming up at you in HD they look cool and help show the diver's depth and action.
9.) I've tried some macro shots with the HC1, spent a few minutes practicing on a flounder eyeball. I wish I would have had some lighting, but when in focus with all that resolution it looks very alien.
10.) Since this hardware HD is more expensive, I usually try to dump the video to a laptop where both the camera and laptop are both running on batteries only. Not sure if this really helps, but I like to avoid static spikes, ground loops, etc whenever possible with equipment like this.
11.) You can get surprising good stills at nearly SLR speeds when taking still pictures in the video mode. The resolution isn't very good for printing yet looks surprisingly good on the desktop or web gallery. I believe the resolution is 1440x810
12.) Similar to #11, be prepared for an extra step to your work flow. You'll come back from diving with video and stills. Then as you watch the video you'll find lots of still shots you'd like. Just press the photo button while watching and viola, a decent resolution still is dropped on the memory stick. For my last 3 dive trips I think I've managed to find 10-30 stills that I preferred over the higher resolution stills taken in the still mode. I'm sure these can be extracted during editing, however my laptop just isn't fast enough to edit the HDV stuff yet (but not for long).
13.) Some mixed distance shots can look better than you think when you review in HD. For example, I've had a few clips where I'm filming something about 6-8 feet away with a bit of optical zoom (say 2x) and there are divers 50 feet behind them. In the viewfinder, their bubbles don't look that good yet on the HD monitor it looks very cool since the clarity gives the illusion of some added depth of field.
LOL
