SEA&SEA DX1200-HD. Pictures taken with my new cam :)

[ScubaDiverGreg]

It just came in the mail yesterday and I took a few nice shots.

I need to get a nice 8gb card to start taking some HD video!

 

[Blazinator]

I too was excited when I bought my 1200HD last month. Still love it, but here's a few things to ponder:

The free ArcSoft MediaImpression video editing software it comes with is insanely stupid - so simplified that its almost useless. Sure you can upload direct to YouTube, but you can't even overlay text onto the video cuts. And it won't output a finished video into HD (only 720 x 560), and it can't handle the HD videos without creating screaching audio sounds. So I have to go and buy Adobe Premiere and hope its not so full of pro features that it takes months to learn it enough to just post a cool vid on Vimeo.

And the AV cable that it comes with will not playback HD on an HD TV (doesn't have mini HDMI to HDMI, and you can't buy one for the camera). But it does look cool at 30 fps on SDTV.

So the only way to actually view the HD videos you create would be to create a video with some expensive editing software, and output to BLueRay disc, then playback on your HDTV as long as you have a BlueRay disc player. (anyone know otherwise, please tell me)

The housing blocks much of the internal strobe, so you'll want to get a nice YS 110.

The only other gripe is the lack of manual aperture settings, so the edges of all shots are a bit blurry (I can tell in your pics above too) from low depth of field. The trick to overcoming this is to shoot in a high res setting like 8 to 12 MP, and get all your subject in the central portion, then crop, or use a large strobe or lots of daylight to hope that the aperture closes up a bit.

And don't forget to manual white balance underwater with a white card or slate.

I bought the 8GB stick and love it too. Can you believe over one full hour of HD video? Some of my files are almost 200 MB, so you will choke your computor at times.

Here's a pic:

And vimeo Vid, but not HD, although the source footage was HD:

[vimeo]5069794[/vimeo]

 

[ScubaDiverGreg]

I haven't even bothered with the stock software. I use Picasa to edit my photos and I found that Windows Movie Maker does a good job in editing movies. You can use neat transitions (or overlay one clip to the next), you can text overlay, create titles (clips with just writing), use neat effects to alter the video, and I like how you can control the volume of the video and any additional music independantly. You can get it as a free download, and it is easy to use. It's not super advanced, but not too basic, and you can make a pro looking video with ease. I'm not too worried about the whole HD thing, as long as it looks crisp on my computer screen, YouTube, and 24" tube TV, I'm happy.

Without the 8gb card, it took a while to process the photos, so I took my earlier pictures at 8mp, fine, and normal. I got my 8gb card a few hours ago and set the camera so that it takes photos with the highest quality. I set it at 12mp, superfine, and vivid. I think my current adjustments will help with blurring out the sides, and getting a better pic!

I don't want spend any money on a strobe (I already spent enough on my cam) so I'm going to get a powerful LED flashlight to help illuminate my subjects when taking video and pictures. Both video and pictures are equally important to me so I think I nice flashlight will help me in both areas. Do you think this would suffice?

 

[marcaumarc]

I don't think a flashlight will work nearly as well as a strobe, but if you do try that, you will probably want to have a diffuser on it. I made some with the lids from the containers that hot & sour soup is delivered in. It seemed to be the best out of the translucent plastics I had around the house. On flashlights they fit underneath the front part, whatever that is called. They diminish the light somewhat, but without them, you will probably just have a tiny hot spot in your photos and no lighting in the rest of the frame. My buddy was using one of the lights to shoot video and found that it was actually easier to hold the light separately instead of attached to the housing on an arm (although she did use one segment of arm as a handle).

DIY Video Light Diffusers | Les Fruits De Mer

 

[Blazinator]

I hope windows moviemaker works good for you, Greg, as I seem to recall that it didn't like my 100 MB HD files, but it also might be other incompatibility issues. I'm hoping someone chimes in and points out an inexpensive software that can handle HD, but I'm sure I'll pay for it. I am with you though on just looking good on TV - the 30 fps rate sure does that well.

Real nice diffuser tutorial Marc! I thought I was the king of homemade diffusers (suede lexan film etc.), but the translucency of those lids (I'm looking at one right now from a salsa container in my fridge) seem to be perfect translucency. I agree with you that nothing will beat a strobe, but I also believe that nothing beats NOT spending a grand on a strobe, when money is tight.

I currently use my 24 watt HID dive light as my "strobe" and video light combo til I can afford a strobe. It is the Darkbuster dive light for less than $400.00 on Scubatoys.com. It puts out a whopping 1750 Lumens which blows away ANY dive light's output until you spend over $1200.00. As a comparison, Greg, if you buy a powerful LED, you will only get 500 lumens, which still may be fine fo you, as they are lighter weight, and longer burn times. The Darkbuster has Lithuim rechargeable batts for 3 hr burn times, so I've never had a problem. The night dive video above was lit with the HID, and you can see the little baby light spots from the other divers halogen lights, as a comparison.

So basically, a flashlight is ok if you plan to shoot small macro, and even my HID won't do as well as a strobe for larger field of illumination, but video lighting is great. Some videographers even use two Darkbusters on arms, and still get more light than a comparable pro video setup for two grand, while spending less than one grand.

The shark pic above was shot with the HID, which gave me the flexibility of shooting his face from one hole in the cave, while reaching around to the left an lighting him from another hole in the cave.

Here's an example of a macro shot using a small cheapo UKD8 halogen dive light, but you are limited to tight macro shots:

 

[Blazinator]

DIY Video Light Diffusers | Les Fruits De Mer

Really cool website Marc - saw just about all of it. You are the Cousteau of everything less than one meter.

Some of my best memories are of shallow sites.

 

[hammerhead man]

Very nice pics.

Regards,

Bill

 

[ScubaDiverGreg]

Another question, if I'm diving in relatively shallow (20-40ft) and clear Caribbean water do I really need a flash or strobe? Won't the fireball in the sky do the lighting for me? It would also keep it nice and natural. At what depth would I need to use a strobe?

Please let me know.

 

[NewbieH]

Love the pics!! The eye pic is so clear and detailed!! Great job! I know you're excited.. I'm still waiting on my camera to arrive..

 

[MtnPlayVA]

Awesome pictures - this proves to me that my pictures are terrible because I don't know what I am doing! I just returned from Cozumel and my pictures leave a lot to be desired. I see an underwater photography class in my future.