Dancing with Sealions
If you set out to test one of the most powerful underwater camera setups (RED Monstro 8K in combination with the Nauticam Wide angle conversion port) available on the market, you take some friends and plan for something grand. We headed out to the Socorro Islands in the Mexican Pacific to dive two weeks with all kinds of pelagic giants. But then there are storms … and boats have to retfund … plans have to change … and you end up in a total different environment with Sea Lions during mating season (males can get quite aggressive), cloudy weather and rather low visibility in the waters of the Sea of Cortez. You can stick your head in the sand and pretend that this is not happening, or … you realize that in every setback there is a charming opportunity. For us it turned out that this was the perfect setting to test the potential of our camera setup to the max. And this is the result. Have fun watching it!
Technical Set up:
– Nauticam Weapon LT Housing
– Nauticam WACP (Wide Angle Conversion Port)
– Camera: RED Monstro 8K VV, Full Frame
– Lens: Canon 28mm with Keldan Red Filter for shallow waters
– Lights: Keldan 8X with Ambient Filters for shallow waters
Shot in 8K 50fps // edited and rendered in 4K 25fps
Special note: The conditions are very difficult to shoot in. The visibility is very low and there are often backlight shots. The subjects move from a very bright background to a dark background in the same shot, exposure is difficult and manual focusing on the moving objects as well. In addition to that, aperture had to be quite open at around 3,5 which is usually resulting in blurry corners in the frame and makes focussing even more difficult. We are impressed by the optical quality of the Nauticam WACP (Wide Angle Converter Port) which not only converts the 28mm by 0,36 to a 10,08 mm lens but also doesn’t show major blur in the edges even at 3,5 aperture. In addition the RED Monsto 8K VV appears to reproduce the highlights very well and keeps a lot of detail (especially in the surface in the background). All this in combination with the Keldan 8X/Ambient Filter/Redfilter makes the whole setup to be what we consider flawless at this point in time for underwater wide angle filming.
More on the tech spec and the test on our Facebook Channel. Flo talked on the new setup in a live video there.
Idea, Camera, Edit: Florian Fischer
Thanks for the support:
OMS
Nauticam
HECS aquatic
Keldan Lights
Float with us: http://behind-the-mask.com/
