Snorkeling videos

[snorkelnow]

Hi All,

In the spirit of the long-lived "snorkeling photos" thread I thought it might be nice to start one for videos.

Regards,
Amy

Here are some of ours:

Florida: John Pennekamp State Park (Grecian Rocks and White sands sites from boat)
[youtubehq]yIBNTIH0FdA[/youtubehq]

Florida: Biscayne National Park (boat snorkel)
[youtubehq]XVArZgHLJIE[/youtubehq]

Florida: Peanut Island, West Palm Beach/Riviera Beach (shore snorkel)
[youtubehq]iwXGZPDfi9Q[/youtubehq]

Florida: Dry Tortugas, Schooling fish (shore snorkel)
[youtubehq]bmHKAWd8480[/youtubehq]

Florida: Bahai Honda State Park (shore snorkel)
[youtubehq]UlqMg-CKOQA[/youtubehq]

 

[snorkelnow]

Hi All,

FYI, I found a nice, free frame extractor that works for HD. I posted about it here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/production/359732-video-editing-recomendations-3.html#post5785799

Regards,
Amy

 

[jksnorkel]

Hi Amy,
Great videos...
What camera did you use for these videos? I am currently in the market for a new UW camera. More for photos than video, but would be nice to have both.

 

[snorkelnow]

Hi James,

We had two underwater cameras on the trip (brand new). The Sealife DC1200 w/ the exteral video and flash was supposed to be our "good" camera but it seemed to not work that great in the 0-10ft we were shooting in. We ended up taking off the lights and not even using the snorkel mode because it was making things (especially the video) too red. Overall, seemed more suited for deeper water (we even went to a big dive shop down there to have them look at our rig and give us some advice when it seemed the pics were not spectacular). We also talked to their tech support. I think was hit or miss. If I lived near the ocean and had plenty of time to tweak it and really understand it it may take a superior photo but as it turns out our "little" point and shoot backup camera was the star of the show. I really missed the HD video capability on the Sealife as well.

Our second camera was the Panasonic TS2 and surpassed all expectations above and below the water. 14MP, 4x optical zoom and 720p HD video. Waterproof to 33ft. Really did a great job for the price (I paid about $330) and super durable (dragged across the sand many times). The TS3 has just come out at $399. It has gotten a little bigger physically but gone back to 12 MP, added geocache marking and gone to 1080p HD. It also takes back-to-back pictures faster than the TS2. The TS2's went on clearance at amazon (down to about $250). I bought another one as a backup.

I read a lot of underwater camera reviews before I bought the Panasonic. I liked that there were a lot of reviews and the ratings (5-1) were a nice dove-tail (most 5, little less 4, etc). The other cameras seemed to have wide variation of opinion.

I've had two of my friends (one who is snorkeling in Mexico this week) buy the TS2 since they saw our trip pictures.

I do think the pictures may be a little underlit at times compared to an external flash when you are doing wider/longer shots but the auto-correction software that is out there (picassa and photoscape are even free) helps you recover from the shadows. There are links to our Florida pics over on the Snorkeling Photos thread (toward the end of it) if you want to check them out. They have been cropped and run through image correction software.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/snorkeling-freediving/302671-snorkeling-photos-11.html

Regards,
Amy

 

[snorkelnow]

Hi All,

I've finished my experiments with clarifying my underwater video using an inexpensive and relatively pain-free process. I posted about it over in the video editing section if you are interested.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/production/359732-video-editing-recomendations-3.html#post5800759

Regards,
Amy

 

[jksnorkel]

Thanks for the info, I will defiently look into the TS2, your pictures look great. I am also considering the Canon D10, but finding it hard to find.

 

[Dave C]

I have seen some very nice photos taken with the D10, although I don't know how it is with video. Here is a good snorkeling photo that was recently posted on flickr:
coralreef_dogisland | Flickr - Photo Sharing!