Underwater Bubble Blowers User Group Thread NEW

[Tom Hamilton]

Hadn't seen this gear before, very innovative u/w propulsion system that straps to your legs, no need to mount the camera to a scooter. Just wondering if anyone has had a chance to use it?

http://www.swiss-cave-diving.ch/PDF-...n/Jetboots.pdf

Here's a very nice piece shot on GoPro with the new u/w housing, sorry Koz :-), if you can wrench your eyes away from the white bikini, the model is wearing one of the units;

http://gopro.com/videos/vod/shark-ri...opro-hd-hero2/

[Jason Sturgis]

Hi Tom,
I have used jet boots in the past. I found it very useful to have your hands free and just hold the housing while moving through the water. Turning was straight forward- just point the housing where you wanted to go and you were there. Free diving with the things was wild. You could be at 100ft in no time- definitely had to watch yourself. This was a few years ago and there were still some quirks to the system. But all-in-all they were a useful tool in certain situations.
There should be a few shots of me with the jet boots on.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20.../chadwick-text

[Tom Hamilton]

Thanks very much Jason, I'd imagine you'd have to be very careful watching your depth, perhaps even more so with open-circuit, and the risk of bending.

Watched one of your reels by the way, absolutely stunned you got an under/over of a breaching Humpback, big congrats, that is one spectacular shot.

Are you still working with whales?

[Ross Isaacs]

It was awesome being underwater off Maui surrounded by whales and have Jason zoom past with his jet boots on. They call him Marine Boy!

[Tom Hamilton]

They call him Marine Boy!

That sounds like the makings of a new TV series :-)

[Jason Sturgis]

Tom,
Thanks for the kind words on the over/under breach shot. I was just hoping that I hit the record button in time. It was a long ride back to the harbor in anticipation of what I did or didn't capture. But every once in a while a blind squirrel gets a nut.

As for the jet boots, I never did try them with open circuit but, as you say, you would have to watch yourself. I was going for the streamlined approach in most instances. I would be wearing a 5mm suit and have the boots strapped on. Then I would put on a pair of stretchy pants over the power cords so to eliminate drag. Worked well but the look was a bit odd. Good thing we were off-shore where it was hard to be seen. There is no glory in wearing women's tights.
I am still doing whale work in the winter time.

Ross,
Those were good times down there. It has been a few years and I hope the project paths cross soon, it would be great to catch up. Again, it was a few years ago and I am now Marine Lad. :)

[Simon Christidis]

Hi
This is my Epicarbon housing .I make this style .Its made from Carbon fibre wich is and insulator but very machinable and easy to do your self . It takes any lenses and you can fit all the short zooms like Optimo and Zeiss.Balancing and trim You just add weghts to your liking .Also for studio or tank work you can put your MDR (Preston) inside and let the assitsant do the work .The external Focus and Iris control are all finger tip so your hands dont leave the handles at all and theres no breathing .I use the Red LCD montor and this can be postion anywher on the housing or If you want you can putthe monitor inside the main housing and look from the rear .The Ports I make fit the 10mm Ultra prime or anyother wide .It has a video split cable for the director just made from RG6 highflex video cable get it anywhere .You can also fit a PIX240 inside if you want .If you remove the weights and baseplate and monitor you can use it in the surf within reason (doesnt go well in barrels ) .It has a max depth of 50m not that I work down there that much .
Im currently making a light weight very small surf housing (will go well in barrels) its like a mini heatsink to take all primes action style and ill be using the side handle and Red volt batteries .
building housings of anykind takes a lot of guts as the gear that goes in them most of the time is not yours and we all know how expensive it is not only for the loss of the gear but the days or weeks shoot ,.So well done to all you housing builders out there we should have a get togther and talk about the absolute headF--- you come across when your re inventing something .But there is one thing we all share togther in our housing designs is the 2 cent oring yep little black round thing keeps us safe .
On the 3D side of things I have heard that 300 and Fury Road have all gone 2D and are going the post 3D way with the new technolgy coming out of the states .
Also has anyone had any screws missing from the Red Epic on arrival ?

[Jon Shaw]

Looks good Simon, the lightweight surf housing would be a winner, keen to see some images of that when it's completed.
I thought Fury Road had just made the decision to shoot 2D and 2D for delivery?

[James R.D. Scott]

I just got back a little while ago from my first shoot with the Red Epic underwater. I've got the Deep Epic housing from Gates. Was shooting Oceanic Whitetips off Cat Island and really like shooting at the higher frame rates. I'm using Red Volts with Quad Battery Charger as oppose to Red Brick (which is the common setup).

Few first impressions. Not so keen on having the Redmote run wirelessly though as many are aware these can be finicky at times. Was causing me some headaches on the road. Also, at issues sometimes with getting the knob to turn on the Redmote along with gears slipping after some time on certain days. Hopefully will be able to sort through some of these issues but interested to hear other peoples thoughts on the Gates Housing once they use it.

[Simon Christidis]

just a show case of my stuff I don't generally say much on forums my typing is just bad ?I do find the big films going that way very interesting though in 3D world what's around the corner ?? .Mayby that post might have been better in bubble blowers