Shot some videos in Mexico last week

[DandyDon]

One of the things I like about the DC500 is that it shoots vid in ASF so it will shoot an hour of 640 wide clips per Gb, up to two hours on a 2 Gb card altho you'd need to replace the battery after an hour or sooner. I think you want to shoot in short clips too to avoid overheating, especially since the SD card is so close and along side the battery - but I really don't worry about that much. I had 2 cameras on this trip, shooting vid from each on each of 2 days of Holbox. My dive bud flooded his old DC310 from failing to clean the O-ring; I'm glad I didn't have a second DC500 housing as I really didn't want to loan him one.

Loaded on my Myspace account as they're much too large for SB Gallery. Myspace increased their video limits from 100 Mb to 250 so didn't have to compress the first two. The third is a bit long, and I had to compress from 356 Mb to less than 250 - came out 234 mb. If you'd like to watch any, learn from my mistakes, click the link, then click the rectangle to the left of the menu button in lower right corner of the video box for full screen...

Description: Drifting along over a shallow reef off of Cozumel Island Mexico in a current too fast for still shots. MySpaceTV Videos: Cozumel Reef Dive, Aug 2008 by DandyDon 13-1/4 minutes.

Description: Swimming with the Gentle Giants, Holbox Island Mexico, Aug 2008. MySpaceTV Videos: Holbox Whale Sharks by DandyDon 11-1/2 minutes.

Description: Our last day before leaving Mexico and certainly a great day at sea - better swim encounters and better video. MySpaceTV Videos: Whale Sharks & Mantas, Holbox Is Mexico Day 2 by DandyDon 25-1/2 minutes

 

[prskate2]

The whale shark video stops at like 9:30 min. I didn't get to seen any?

 

[DandyDon]

The whale shark video stops at like 9:30 min. I didn't get to seen any?

Sorry you had a problem. Sent those links to a large number of friends over the last 3 days, received several nice replies. Don't have to be a myspace member to watch them; one lady told me that she had to log in to her old account, but I didn't argue - even tho she shouldn't have to.

I opened them in a different browser where I was not logged in and played all three at once. Slowed my computer a bit, but they all played.

I did tell my email friends "Or if you're on dial-up, you could download the 191 to 234 Mb files from my Yousendit.com account. Start the download before going to bed and let it run. It's copyrighted, but you are welcome to save it to your computer for private use."

These links will only work for about 10 days from now...

The Reef Dive: http://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01GVWRwYUlWRCt4dnc9PQ

First whale shark vid: http://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01GVWRqb0JoeVpFQlE9PQ

Last one: http://rcpt.yousendit.com/597644079/5eada0fb5efcfa807daeecbbabe6ac6c

 

[Knuspar]

nice videos there DandyDon works fine with me.

The whaleshark trip, was that arrange, or just by chance you passed some whale sharks ?

I guess you need some more cardio-training so you can keep you with the gentle giants a bit longer next time

Thanks for sharing

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks. Holbox Island west of Cancun is developing tourism mostly for the whale shark summertime adventures and was the main reason for our trip altho we also scuba dived Cozumel and Playa del Carmen for 5 days prior.

 

[prskate2]

Very nice. Any pics from any of the dives?

 

[DandyDon]

Very nice. Any pics from any of the dives?

Haha, sure I did. Hardly worth posting here, but you can see the links to the slide shows on the trip threads I finally posted...

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/248752-our-coz-trip-unforgettable-cab-driver.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/248750-tulum-cenotes-playa-del-carmen-turtle-reef-dives.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/248751-yucatan-end-run.html

 

[firstdive2005]

Great shots Don! My wife and I went chasing them in July/08. I am so upset at myself, I tried to still shoot them. Way too hard with a life jacket on. Also I had a wetsuit on, thats also a bad idea. When I stripped down I could fly at them. By that time I just wanted to have fun staying with it. But I am mad I didn't put my dc600 on video. That was the way to go. I did get a couple of stills but your videos have taught me a lesson. Thanks. By the way when the captain said get going I thought I would have to throw my wife in, well she was in so fast I could hardly breathe I was laughing so hard at this 5 footer chasing a 30 foot fish. Too much fun. So thanks again for sharing your trip, great vids on myspace. kev

 

[DandyDon]

Great shots Don! My wife and I went chasing them in July/08. I am so upset at myself, I tried to still shoot them. Way too hard with a life jacket on. Also I had a wetsuit on, thats also a bad idea. When I stripped down I could fly at them. By that time I just wanted to have fun staying with it. But I am mad I didn't put my dc600 on video. That was the way to go. I did get a couple of stills but your videos have taught me a lesson. Thanks. By the way when the captain said get going I thought I would have to throw my wife in, well she was in so fast I could hardly breathe I was laughing so hard at this 5 footer chasing a 30 foot fish. Too much fun. So thanks again for sharing your trip, great vids on myspace. kev

Thanks! Yeah a PFD would be a lot to drag in the water. I haven't snorkeled much since I got into scuba 7 years back, but I remember the first time I did with family wearing just a wetsuit - no BC or tank to drag thru the water - Wow, felt like I was flying. A PFD would probly be almost as bad. Most of the swimmers on my boat wore wet suits I think; a few wore PFDs and lost out quickly; we wore just snorkel vests with little air so we didn't drag much - attached. I think you're required to wear some flotation device, as a sinker would be difficult to find in those green waters, even as good as the escort guides were at their swimming.

Your wife was eager, huh? Funny. I don't think my bud was afraid; he's just laid back. For 5 days I'd been waiting on scuba dives for him to slowly work thru clearing his problem ears, staying with him on descents etc, but this was just swimming and I had fish to chase so I went. He totally missed the first "GO!" but caught on after that.

Does your DC600 shoot vid in ASF? I knew I wanted to shoot in 640 wide, not 320, but my Canon uses AVI and burns thru a 2 Gb card in 17 minutes. Hate that. I like the ASF that the DC500/Vivicam 5340s uses, as I get two hours on a 2 Gb card at 640 wide. There is probly a loss in quality technically, but in the end - nah! I like the vid I get from these.

I originally compressed the last vid from 356 Mb to 234 Mb on Windows Movie Maker to load within Myspace's 250 Mb limit, but they have recently increased the limit to 500 Mb - not that one can tell a difference on play. I just tonight loaded the 356 Mb version on our new video server; had some issues playing it at first, but it looks okay - if you let it load the stream for a couple of minutes before playing. Here is that last one again if you'd like to see how Vimeo works....

[vimeo]1706228[/vimeo]
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