The first two Lytro light field cameras in Singapore

Just a few days before the Chinese NY festival Scubacam had a surprise visitor by the name of Eric Cheng, DP at Lytro and Founder of Wetpixel.  Eric was on route to PNG/ Eastern Fields dive trip to get on board the MV Golden Dawn to meet up with Craig De Wit (the Captain) and Tony Wu.

Eric with Red (16 GB) & Blue (8GB) Lytros

Well he brought with him a couple of Lytro cameras. These are “light field” cameras which allow you to refocus your picture after you have taken them. Yes you heard right….it could be refocused and on any part of the picture after. I believe this is the first two Lytros  in SE Asia which makes this a historic moment. This camera uses a very sophisticated light capturing technology which is a wee bit long and difficult for me to explain correctly. In essence it captures all the light beams (photons with vector information) from the environment and records that information and then uses computational processing (software) to reconstruct the image on the screen. Huhh? I told you it was complicated. It needs a lot of micro-processor power and memory. Lets just say a few years ago a camera like this would be the size of a small room. Lytro is tiny and has all that built in plus the software to make it work. Since it is processed by software who knows what this technology will lead? A holographic picture one could interact with it in the future maybe – exciting times indeed.

'Beam me up Scotty" Dave getting carried away....

It’s only available at the USA at the moment but I am sure it will be launched to the rest of the world soon. More info on the camera and how it all works could be found here https://www.lytro.com/camera

We at Scubacam will definitely be trying out this amazing camera and possibly with a housing. No more out-of-focus fishy photos.

Sanah’s just realized the Lytro is perfect at parties.

The Lytro camera come in a variety of colours – even colour coordinated with Sanah and Eric’s clothes.

Too Hot To Handle

Apart from the 3 day social visit in Singapore, Eric also brought along his L&M Bluefin housing for his Canon HF G10. I had a custom flip macro and an +8 achromatic dioptre (internal) made for Eric to test with his camcorder setup. These were not available from L&M and I get many request to make them so I thought Eric should test them for good measure. What he  also really wanted was a top hung carry handle for the housing. I had a day to think about it and decided to make one. The difficulty is the two screw mounts on top of the housing and these are blocked by the housing float which sits over them.  So like a trained surgeon I fashioned a handle out of a scrap of aluminum and cut a few holes in the foam. I even managed to add a ball adapter for a small LED light or a GoPro Hero.

Well I was rather please with my handy work and judging fromEric’s reaction he was rather pleased too.

As usual Eric visit is always fun and it was great to catch up with him on stories of his travels and work. More on Wetpixel could be found here http://wetpixel.com/

Ciao

Oh Gong Xi Fay Choy  BTW…..

Hello there !

Happy 2012 to you all.

The new year kicks off with an exciting addition to  Scubacam’s equipment rental family.

We now shoot with the RED EPIC and Gates DEEP EPIC housing plus a few Cine lenses. More detail on “what’s New” later. Now I am itching to go diving and have a play with this baby. Shooting 5K video footage is not without problems. Everything to do with the computer needs upgrading in particular memory storage…..RED just sucks the memory like a hungry gas -guzzler hot rod. Enough of my babbling here are just couple of teasers.

Gates Deep Epic & RED Epic M with PL mount

David & Bert with eyes closed and prayed to RED that it all fits and working

Stay tuned for full test report soon.    Wishing all a great year to come.  See you at the shop. Ciao!

I can’t really believe the amount of light each of these packs in. The New Sola 4000  is Light and Motion long awaited flagship underwater video light. Yes it is finally on our shelves and it is flying off the shelves too figuratively speaking.

Yes 4000 really means 4000 lumens and the light has 7 dimmer settings using the same magnetic slide switch of the earlier Solas. In fact it looks like a “grown up” version of the Sola 1200 video light. No longer pocket-able. It is certainly quite small compare with others in the market. So dimension-wise it is about the size of a Starbuck coffee mug.

I had a play with it in a pool and at full power the light could easily overcome the daylight and fill in the harsh shadows bringing out the lovely colours of the corals – in this case the mosaic tiles and my toes.  Colour is about daylight and certainly whiter than sunlight.

It is a self contained  light with a high capacity rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. Now if any divers worry about getting stopped by airport custom with these then fret no more. It has a safety turn switch above the slider marked with little airplane and diver symbols. It will switch the battery indicator on or off. If that is not enough then the front is designed to enable the user to remove the front LED module, turn it round and screw back on with the front bezel. This make it impossible to have an “accident” of the light switching on and burning your luggage.  I particularly like the attention to detail like the words “this side out for AIR TRANSPORT” in big bold letter on the inside face – just so the custom official gets the message and don’t insist in take the thing apart.

The light is relatively light and could be supported on 3/4 inch loc-line or with ball arms and clamps to any housing  rig (I always wonder why UW photographers call their gear “rig”). Two of these will light up the pool or a soccer pitch size seabed at night. Two on the same spot would be more than enough for continuous light UW digtal still photography. 8000 lumens! It could probably cook a shrimp from six feet. It will be like a personal UW studio lights. It is something I will try out.  Time to cook a fish or two….. Ciao

Want to know more click here: http://www.uwimaging.com/sola4000v.html

Underwater housing and Compact Hi-Def pro system is here. The Sony NXCAM series of interchangeable lens camcorder is making a huge splash (pardon the pun) in the professional scene. The camcorder is developed around a Super-35mm CMOS sensor and the new E-mount lens is perfectly calibrated to take advantage to this video capture format.

The exciting news is that Amphibico has produced the new GENESIS FS100U for this camera.

The housing is compact and will be travel friendly in terms of size and weight. Amphibico uses the same high quality marine grade aluminum construction as their previous PRO line of housings; no compromise was taken to create the New “GENESIS” line. Keeping in mind total ergonomics and underwater balance, its compact design with an intergraded electronic grip system makes the unit extremely user friendly underwater. The further cherry on the icing is the attachment of a separate accessory to house the Ninja recording media. Ninja preserves the pristine uncompressed video quality from your camera’s sensor by encoding it into Apple ProRes® directly. Then it goes straight to the timeline of your NLE. It’s the fastest and best-quality workflow possible today. Amphibico may have had its share of hardship lately but with this rebound the company is yet again on the forefront of innovative underwater technology.

Key Features

Solid Construction

Precision machined from a solid block of marine grade aluminum giving endless durability. Black anodized for corrosion protection a layer of tuff military grade polyurethane powder coat paint and a final coat of clear for the outmost durability in harsh sea water.

Full Camcorder Control

Complete access to your camcorder while filming underwater. The Genesis boasts a host of features that is certain to pacify the most passionate of underwater video professionals. With dual electronic grips and menu control panel, this housing gives complete access to your camcorder while filming underwater.

Top Mounted large 3.5» Window

For convenient and easy filming through Sony’ sharp, large and bright 3.5 XtraFine™ LCD/ Viewfinder. Located on the optical axis, the 3.5-inch-type XtraFine LCD panel enables easier, more intuitive framing.

Bayonet Lens Mounting System

Given that the Sony FS100U camcorder features a Super 35mm E-Mount Interchangeable Lens System, a great variety of current and future E-mount lenses from various lens manufacturers (Sony Zeiss, Tamron, Sigma and Cosina) are compatible.

Ninja SPLASH PRO (optional accessory)

Professionals can now go underwater and record video at considerably higher Bit-Rates and color (4:2:2). 10 bit Uncompressed to Apple ProRes Field Recorder and also be used as a Monitor. Better quality videos can be produced to articulate the motion image being captured in the stunning underwater world below. Designed with a robust look and feel, the Ninja Splash syncs. simply via the LANC control on the camcorder. So press record and the unit starts up at the same time as your camcorder.

Specifications:

Construction:

- 6061-T6 Marine grade solid aluminum

- Fully anodized with a hard coat of polyurethane paint & a final clear coat.

- All hardware is marine grade aluminum & stainless steel

Features & Controls:

- Designed for professional underwater use

- 14 Electronic push button controls to access over 25 functions

- Control Panel for all menu access to camcorder functions

- Proportional Manual Focus

- Proportional Manual Zoom knob

- Manual White Balance

- Manual Iris

- Manual Gain

- Manual Shutter Speed

- Sensitive Hydrophone

- Moisture sensor alarm

- Tally light flashes green while filming

- 3 Auxiliary ports

- Two Year Standard Full Warranty

- Bayonet lens mounting system

- Conveniently designed to accept Aquatica ports

Dimensions:

- TBD

Weight:

- TBD

Operating Depth:

- 300 feet / 90 meters

It has been a while. I will be going to S. Africa for a week of Great White Shark spotting and hopefully some seals and penguins. I will been shooting some 3D video stuff with a modified Go-Pro 3D and a Light and Motion Prototype Sony TD10 3D camcorder.

Here is a photo of the GoPro 3D Polecam!

Of course for those of you in the know the Go-Pro port on their housing is useless for UW. It will not focus properly. I have made and installed two flat lenses so that the video image will not suffer that problem.

Stay tuned for more when I get back.

Ciao  David

If this is about boxing then Patima’s new S95 housing packs a real punch. Welterweight size and solidly build. Patima took a little while to come up with this casing but is it worth the wait…..?

First something about the camera. Canon in their wisdom, following the success of the S90 did little cosmetic changes to the camera casing and they upgraded the innards instead – a CCD sensor capable of 10 million pixels for digital still and 720p (24fps) video. They enhanced the low light, low noise sensitivity of the sensor. Provided ISO up to 3200 and added special features like High Dynamic Range Mode. It is another little pocket size wonder like its earlier sibling the S90 which I still uses everyday.

From first impression the S95 housing looks nothing like the G12 housing which Patima has been producing for three generations of the Canon G- series PowerShot with great success. One thing it does share is the rugged design and absolutely solid built.

The housing is a little bigger than the S95 camera and is shaped in the same pleasing chamfered  rectangular form.

Installing the camera takes only seconds. The S95 fits snugly inside the housing internal guides.

A spring loaded lever turns the rocker switch which toggles between on/off button and the ring function button. A nice feature reachable by the thumb.

And speaking of thumbs another useful feature of the housing is the thumb hold. The little protrusion on the top right hand corner allows the user to shoot single handed with out the need of a housing handle or tray. Although I must admit the housing latch on the palm become uncomfortable after a while.

Another great design feature of the housing is the extended and spring loaded shutter lever like the ones found in Nauticam’s NEX 5 and Fix S95 housings. The lever is especially long to enhance the slight touch for pre-focusing and tactile feel of the camera’s shutter button. Very well done.

Top of the housing contain the Mode dial the front ring function dial and the zoom.

The attention to the ergonomic is excellent. The zoom is spring loaded and will return to neutral position after each activation something that was missing in the Ikelite S90 and S95 housing which causes camera operations to freeze up if the dial is not push back to neutral position.  Something that I have to tell customers using the Ikelite housings.

The housing has a fixed port as one would expect for this class of housing and to Patima’s credit they have included a 67mm filter thread to the port. Handy for attaching wet attachable lenses and further extending the capability of this system. Here I have a Sea-gadget +5 Achromatic close up and a stacked x3 lens for super macro shooting.

Finally to really make it a versatile system I have added an Inon UWL 100 wet attachable wide angle lens, Inon s2000 strobe on a Sea-gadget carbon neutral arm (I mean buoyancy) and Ultralight grip and tray. The whole thing is less than 2kg in weight – perfect for travelling light (then again lighter means less carbon footprint).

Now after this totally bias review you may wonder are there any negatives? Not many. Weight is really not an issue here. It does look heavier than it really is. Price? As third party manufactured housing goes  it sits comfortably between the Ikelite (lower) and the Fix S95 (higher) housings. In terms of depth rating the housing is as rugged as it comes. Patima produces one of the deepest consumer camera housing I know. This little basher could comfortably go down to 120m (with special springs). Many times the depth redundancy of a normal diver user. Well here it is and if you would like to have a feel and try it out for yourself just pop over to my shop at Scubacam, Singapore.

Sanah is more than happy to let you have  a tryout. Find out the many combo promotions we are doing with this little Rocky Marciano….

Ciao, Dave.

I thought it was a good idea to decorate the office computer a bit. I did. This is the end result. Blinking red, blue and green LEDs. Glowing front Acrylic panel…. I thought it would be like one of those deep sea jelly fishes that glows and has these undulating lights….beautiful. I hope to attempt to emulate a tidy fraction of that beauty and wonder.

Or these lights might just drive Sanah mad…. not the last of my many escapades

Here is a few more of the computer jelly fish like glow and sparkles:

Hope you enjoy it. Ciao Dave

If you are wondering about my 3D stereoscopic rig…I will write about that in the near future. That contraption has been keeping me awake many nights. A little 3D movie feature is called for….watch this space.

Now. Here is something else I have been working on. Remote or Tethered digital still shooting. Or simply “remote shooting”. What it involves is the use of the mini USB in your digital camera (in my case a Canon 5D MII). You hook that up with a USB cable to a PC or Mac for complete control of your camera and file transferring. Sounds simple? Read on…..

To cut this short I am going to show you photo by photo how this could be done. I will leave out the gory details like hacking up cables; puncturing a watertight housing and a singe finger or two……

In this example I have added a PC sync connector to enable a studio flash to be used together with two Ikelite strobes. I like to make my life difficult as you can see. This setup is perfect for a studio pool shoot. Two UW strobes for fill in and Studio flash for ambient flash.

As mentioned earlier you may have to drill holes as required to your housing. I choose an Ikelite 5D MII housing. Firstly it is the easiest housing to tackle and secondly its not mine. Seriously its because the back plate is thick and the housing has some pockets of space which I could use.

One thing to note is that you need to get some USB 2 cables and parts, These are available in most computer shops. Here is a Pin Out diagram. Some ability to solder things is required. As a caveat I am not responsible if you burn your fingers or your camera for that matter. Get some assistant or help from someone who knows. Or I could do it for a fee

The pin 1 is the +5VDC usually with the red cable. Pin 2 is the – Data and usually Blue or White cable. Pin 3 is the +Data usually the Green cable. Pin 4 is Ground or Black cable. The outer shield is soldered to the connector metal rim.

Next thing to note is that for USB cable over 8m a USB booster circuit is required. The one I used will boost the signal up to 40m. However I only needed 10m for this particular shoot so plenty of redundancy signal strength.

The other cable is the PC sync for the studio flash. This is relatively easy to install as it only requires 2 pins. Trigger and ground.

Here it is all three cables in place. The Ikelite Hotshoe, the PC sync and the USB mini. One little trick I use is a 90 deg mini USB adapter so the USB cable does not stick out beyond the housing o-ring groove.

Managing where these cable go is important as space is limited inside a housing. Luckily Ikelite housing has ample space inside with the 5D MII.

I find the best position for the new sockets is top left hand corner for USB and the right hand buttom corner for the PC studio flash sync socket.

The booster circuit and LED indicator in view. Ikelite housing is made of transparent polycarbonate and is ideal for this mod. Everything is in view and you could find any problems, if any, quickly.

Such as whether the USB is connected properly.

Or whether a cable is snagged.

Everything is just snug fit in this case. And nothing gets in the way of the housing controls.

The cable for the PC sync is fitted with an Ikelite 5 pin socket. Cable should be at least rated IP 86 for UW use even in the swimming pool.

Similarly the USB cable. This cable will also be shielded to prevent signal interference.

Here it is both cables connected.

I found a handy anchor point to cable tie the two cables together. I  formed a hoop on each so if the housing accidentally slips the cables will be held by the anchor point and not being pull out of their sockets.

Testing the USB cable to the computer. A green LED on the booster signals proper connection.

Computer screen registering the 5DMII connection.

Uploading files is simple using drag and drop. You can use Canon’s DPP software with Aperture or other Canon Utility software here : http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/product/canon_software/eos_utility.do

Happy shooting Thanks for reading…

Ciao Dave.

Now where is my drill bit..?/!!!

There appears to be a great preponderance of interest since my last blog ( blog7 ) about the UW snoot. In fact some crafty people have exploited this simple device, re-branded and commercialized it for underwater photography. I  have also been inundated for these branded UW snoots which is made from  off -the-self  studio cone snoots with some drainage parts cobbled together with some velcro patches.  Some looks like knocked up with standard parts and could fall apart during a dive shoot.

Common studio snoot

I thought I could do better than that.  Lets dissect some of the myth of this device. A snoot is just a “cone” to channel light to a point. The point of light is variable according to the length of the tube or the aperture size. That’s it in a nutshell. On the flip side there is advance mathematical formulas for calculating how to precisely polarize light to a given spot. I like the simple version. A opaque plastic cup with a hole at the base is a snoot!  It will not last long on a dive but works nevertheless. The honeycomb material people asked me about is nothing more than a bunch of smaller tubes stacked together. Yes one could get some aluminium honeycomb from panel suppliers. A bunch of black drinking straws works too. I think what this shows is that there are is a market for convenient ready-made UW snoots.

Of course not all snoot performs the same or made the same way.

Here is the good news. I have decided  to make a batch of my version. The “telescopic snoot”. What is more I have a fiber optic version made as well.

See my two version in the picture below

Left is the "telescopic snoot" and the right is the "Fiber Optic snoot"

Essentially both will do the job of channeling light to the right places on the subject. The photographer is still in charge here not the device. The effect could be achieved in various ways. A spot light on the subject in a dark background is very popular or  a back light to a  subject. There should be thousand and one ways for UW photography and the creative decision rest with the shooter. With so many snoot around  the “UW snoot shots” will soon become cliche. So it pays to decide when to snoot and when not to snoot. Choosing the right subject matters.

Telescopic snoot on a Sea and Sea YS-110 alpha

Fiber Optic Snoot on a Sea and Sea YS-110 alpha

The fibre optic snoot has more potential for creating interesting macro shots. I have managed to focus the light to all the fiber optic strands and the ends are all highly polished. This saves having to use a lot of strobe power. Save on battery charges and potentially more fiber optic could be added. With more fibre optic arms a “ring” of dots could form around a subject. This will act like a ring flash but much closer to a subject than normal ring flash.  Further control could be done by either putting tiny “snooties” on the fiber optic tips or blanking some of the tips. I know some of you will say ” this is going over the top”. I agree.  This will be investigated further in my workshop.

The fiber optic snoot in action

These snoots are made to fit each type of strobes so each will fit nicely and will take some knocks. Definitely no velcro (nothing against this wonder product BTW)

Until next time. Happy Snooting!

Plastic shark and cuddle fish caught snooting

Well the months has just gone by. I was away on dive trips. Last year I went to the Rodney Fox’s Great White Shark experience. That was quite an experience. This year in late August early September I went on Tony Wu’s Tonga Humpback Whale trip. That was a real eye opener. Nothing could prepare me for the adrenaline rush of feeling the current created by seven Humpback whales going at full throttle. I was with a group of people from different parts of the world. Really friendly bunch. All brilliant snorkelers and free divers. No wonder I was frequently left behind.   No words could describe adequately my experience so here is a short video. I hope you will enjoy it. The video was shot with a Sony CX520 in a L&M Bluefin and Fathom 90 degree wide angle. I wish I had the Fathom 110 deg lens. Next time.

David