Tuesday Dive Report: Scooter to the Sisters

[ae3753]

Here's my video... no music, but at least it's another perspective.

Pt. Lobos, Three Sisters, July 7, 2009


Definitely watch in HQ, the standard compression is rough.

 

[Gombessa]

Awesome vid, thanks for posting Don! Too bad you didn't have a more photogenic model though. That dangly tow cord at 1:30 tells me a scooter class would be helpful

I also notice that your camera captures reds a lot better at depth. The colors in your video from 0:20 to 1:00 are much closer to what I actually saw than in my vid. Maybe a modest camera upgrade is in my future after all...

 

[Ben_ca]

Great videos guys... Scooters are fun aren't they?

Did Ken's scooter have a fixed tow cord?

 

[ae3753]

Kenn, I thought that you looked better in my video than I looked in your video!

The dangly cord is cause the slipknot got hung on the bolt snap loop.

My camera has an "underwater" mode for video. It adds red back into the image, which is a pretty nice feature.

Ben, you know scooters are fun! When are we diving next? It's been beyond ages.

 

[Peter_C]

Great videos guys!

What a magical day Scooters are awesome, the long distances covered are easy with less time and energy expended.

 

[TSandM]

I hate to admit this, but as part of my DM class, I've been rereading the PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving . . . and they had a section on why we come back from a dive convinced we've seen color, when photographs say that they weren't there. Apparently the brain white-balances to a large extent, where cameras don't. So what we would normally perceive as all blues, we "learn" to see in reds and oranges during the dive. I thought that was fascinating, because it's always perplexed me that I "see" those colors, but the videos don't show them.

 

[DocWong]

I hate to admit this, but as part of my DM class, I've been rereading the PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving . . . and they had a section on why we come back from a dive convinced we've seen color, when photographs say that they weren't there. Apparently the brain white-balances to a large extent, where cameras don't. So what we would normally perceive as all blues, we "learn" to see in reds and oranges during the dive. I thought that was fascinating, because it's always perplexed me that I "see" those colors, but the videos don't show them.

I know my eyes white balance. When I look at my buddie's HID light and see that they are casting a pink hue, I'm either narc'd or white balanced! First time I saw it, I just about freaked. Now it's just usual. I'm waiting for the sides of my neck to grow gills.

 

[ae3753]

I hate to admit this, but as part of my DM class, I've been rereading the PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving . . .

DM class? Do tell!

Having someone as thoughtful and helpful as you to assist new divers would be great.

 

[Gombessa]

Apparently the brain white-balances to a large extent, where cameras don't. So what we would normally perceive as all blues, we "learn" to see in reds and oranges during the dive.

Chromatic adaptation is an incredibly powerful effect (as anyone who shoots RAW and post-processes can attest). There are a lot of really cool optical illusions that demonstrate it as well:

(the blue and the green spirals are actually the same color)

One of my favs is this:

The center brown square on the top face is the same color as the center orange square on the front face.

For me, the most striking thing is viewing the same scene simultaneously through the electronic viewfinder and live, side by side. One looks bright red, the other muddy brown! I've also had the opportunity to compare outputs from different cameras with manual white balance, and it's clear that color response and accuracy can differ dramatically between different sensors and processing, especially under lower light conditions (pretty much all underwater shooting without video lights). But which is the predominant effect when underwater? Argghh, can't really trust my brain on that one

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for the video