Hawaii Footage (Canon A1)

Kevin Wells

Kevin Wells

Well-known member
Hi all.

Just recently got back from Hawaii shooting a mini-doc/promotional piece on a group of maritime archaeologists from NC. I got a chance on days off to go around the islands and shoot a little bit of landscape footage. Here is some random shots pulled from the landscape footage.

I shot all of the land footage, and the underwater test footage was set-up by me but filmed by one of the divers in the group. This was all shot on the Canon A1.

http://www.emergentpictures.com/videos/HI_1.mov

I just threw some music below it, so I know it's not the right choice. I figured it would be better than complete silence.

- Kevin
 
Great thank you for sharing!

I see that underwater visibility was really limited and probably also cloudy outside.

I am setting up my brand new XH-A1 with a Brevis 35mm adapter.

I've also seen that Gates is going to deliver in two weeks the case for the XH-A1:

http://www.marinevisions.com/xha1.php


Price is around $5745.00 that puts this outside my budget for now...

What was your first impression witht the Equinox Pro 10 Housing. Do you know if you can use a wide lens on it?

Thanks

Giovanni
 
beautiful footage, thank you for that.

but wow those housings are pricey. I guess it costs a lot of money to get shots like that!
 
Kevin, that was some beautiful footage. I would love to see the mini doc if/when it's postable.
 
Thanks for the nice comments!

Giovanni, my impressions of the Equinox housings are: It does it's job, which is keeping the camera dry. Other than that, it looks like a big bomb, and is very heavy (a little over 60 pounds before you get it in the water). You change camera settings by using these mechanical arms, and it is very clumsy and hit or miss.

Overall, it gets the job done, but is not without flaws. For instance, we could not figure out how to change the iris...so we had to guess the exposure before putting the camera in the water, which was frustrating to say the least!

- Kevin
 
Just wanted to clarify that I just found out the non-control over the iris was a building mistake on my unit. I spoke with a rep, and they are going to fix it. That takes away a large complaint I have over the unit...
 
The colors were amazing in this, especially the part with the turtle on the sand. Could you tell us what preset you used? Was it one of the posted favorites or one you created yourself? Thanks for sharing this!

Ed
 
Ok great. Thank you very much.

Do you know if on the Equinox you can add a wide angle? Is the case compatible with others camcorders?

Thanks !
 
I used Steven's famous "VIVID RGB" preset. In putting this together to post, I bumped up the saturation and slightly crushed the blacks a bit. Coming from someone who in the past favored the DVX/HVX line of cameras, I have been extremely impressed and pleased with purchasing and shooting on the A1.

- Kevin
 
That's great to hear. I have been agonizing between the HVX and A1 for over a year and finally decided on the Canon which should be arriving any day. Your work makes me feel very good about the decision I made. Thanks again!

Ed
 
Giovanni: For specific additions or questions about ports/lenses, I would call Equinox. They are helpful and could give you specifics. I do know they the housings are built for the specific cameras, so you can't put a DVX in your Canon A1 housing. They seem pretty willing to work with you and help customize as much as possible.

Snowleapord: I was lucky to get this gig! I recently graduated in 2006 from East Carolina University. I freelance and work closely with a producer who also teaches at the university. We have been trying to target maritime documentaries (and beginning underwater video productions), so we have teamed with the maritime archeology program at the university. They are sold on the use of video to tell their stories to the public, so they write the grants and we work on the productions! This is our first major one, so hopefully more should come in the future.

- Kevin
 
Thanks

I've contacted Equinox and tis is the wide angle lens they are suggesting:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=1075&IID=2974


Your projects looks very very interesting. :happy:

Some time ago I was assistant during a summer for an archeologist in this area in Sardegna:

http://www.sardiniapoint.it/1385.html

In the marine park area, that is quiet small, there about 36 wreck sites from the prehistoric era thru Roman Empire, second world war and more recent transport ships.

Amazing experience...

Right now I am working on a totally self financed project also in Sardegna.

Cheers
 
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