Underwater Bubble Blowers User Group Thread NEW

[Pawel Achtel]

thanks, Jim

[Josh Snyder]

Is there yet any good footage shot in clear waters with EPIC? Don't feel like reading the whole thread :p

[Tom Hamilton]

I have some.

[John J Ellerbrock]

Is there yet any good footage shot in clear waters with EPIC? Don't feel like reading the whole thread :p

Hi Josh,

I'll refer you back to a post from February, and a link to Vimeo.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthr...l=1#post952551

https://vimeo.com/37492950 These are clips strung together and graded in REDCINE-X (what a great program, BTW).

J-

[Josh Snyder]

Thanks for the link. The part with the rays was nice, but not fan of the close up footage of corals and tiny fishes...

[Tom Hamilton]

Josh,

John was working with a brand new camera and a brand new housing, there are pioneering issues to be sure, we're all still in learning mode with underwater Epic, not least of which is the bigger sensor.

Can you elaborate on your comments, any input is considered valuable, what specifically did you find good/not so good?

Thanks

[John J Ellerbrock]

Josh,

John was working with a brand new camera and a brand new housing, there are pioneering issues to be sure, we're all still in learning mode with underwater Epic, not least of which is the bigger sensor.

Can you elaborate on your comments, any input is considered valuable, what specifically did you find good/not so good?

Thanks

Precisely Tom, thanks.

[Pawel Achtel]

Nice footage, John. It reminds me filming in Raja Ampat over 10 years ago for National Geographic. It was my first shoot with an HDCAM camera when they were still an expensive novelty and no one knew about the incredible diversity of marine life down there.

Thanks for the link. The part with the rays was nice, but not fan of the close up footage of corals and tiny fishes...

Josh,

I don't think there is anything wrong with the way that the scene was shot. A bit wobbly for a large screen, but probably fine for television.

I'm just guessing here but maybe your observations are onto something.

The shots of the manta rays that you like seem to occupy most of the middle part of the frame. I like them too. But the shots that fill the entire frame, like the corals and schools of small fish that you disliked fill the entire frame.

As I mentioned earlier, most underwater housings use land lenses housed behind optical ports: flat ports and domes.

While such solution was adequate when sensor sizes and resolutions were relatively low, they do not scale well with the size and resolving power of sensors.

Unfortunately, those optical ports cause significant image distortions, image plane curvature, chromatic aberrations, coma and astigmatism - all contributing to poor optical performance of even the best land lenses. And, as the result, the footage often does not look compelling or natural, especially on a large screen.

I believe the poor result may be caused by the optical degradation resulting from using dome and flat ports with land lenses, which were not designed for such purpose. This degradation is much more clearly noticeable on shots where the scene fills the entire frame: the corals, the schools of small fish and the cuttlefish where the background fills the entire frame edge to edge. This is where those optical problems generally show up.

I believe that, as an industry, we should all strive to overcome these limitations. I think that underwater optics for a 5k cinema camera should be able to resolve 5k corner to corner and be free from distortions, plane curvature and chromatic aberrations.

While your subjective comments are telling and provide useful feedback, I am a great believer of quantifying the optical performance. I think it would be beneficial to all of us if we could objectively measure and publish the optical performance of different optical solutions so that we could not only have a meaningful discussion about it, but also be able to compare and improve upon the current optical solutions for underwater cinematography.

[Ron Lagerlof]

Is there yet any good footage shot in clear waters with EPIC? Don't feel like reading the whole thread :p

I just uploaded a couple of new things today. Not happy with the H264 compression or Vimeo's handling of the video (any advice would be welcome).
FYI - These were shot in 5K 2:1. I did a quick color and head/tail trim in RCX-pro, debayering to 2K with the RED Rocket and exporting to ProRes HQ. Brought the new clips into Premier Pro CS5.5 and did my edit, finish and export.

https://vimeo.com/41213529
https://vimeo.com/41254745

Cheers, Ron

[Txema Vega]

Filmed and produced by Txema Vega / Underwater Film Service. Editing and Color grading by Victor Subirana. Music by Cristian Vogel. Graphics by Sandra Clua. Filmed in Neno 33 - Brussels (deepest pool in the world). Shot with Gates Deepred housing . Camera Red one , Lens Ultraprime .
https://vimeo.com/41165409
www.txemavega.com