GH1/GH2 suitable for underwater videography?

R

RandyQ

Well-known member
I'm wondering if the GH cams will be good for underwater shooting. I am sure we wont be shooting very deep, probably max of 20 feet.

For sure, I need to get one of the 9-18 zooms, or even a fisheye.

But the max aperture of these zooms is f4 - will that be a liability, or will the increased depth of field make it useful underwater?

Alternatively, I am thinking of getting a fisheye to put over my 20mm f1.7, which might solve the aperture issue.

Anyone done this? Is it better to use another camera instead?
 
Any camera is good for underwater filming given the right setup. Not sure a fisheye is really necessary though. And even if it were you're not limited to Lumix lenses which are mostly slow. A Nikon fisheye or Canon fisheye could easily be adapted. the camera is so small it would still fit into an off the shelf underwater housing.

Noah
 
RandyQ said:
I'm wondering if the GH cams will be good for underwater shooting. I am sure we wont be shooting very deep, probably max of 20 feet.

For sure, I need to get one of the 9-18 zooms, or even a fisheye.

But the max aperture of these zooms is f4 - will that be a liability, or will the increased depth of field make it useful underwater?

Alternatively, I am thinking of getting a fisheye to put over my 20mm f1.7, which might solve the aperture issue.

Anyone done this? Is it better to use another camera instead?
Click to expand...

I've not used the GH-1 underwater... however, the Wife use to do some amount of undewater work in pools for 'art' photos, and we had to use:

Nikonos V
Fuji 800 ISO film, pushed to 1600.
One or two banks of strobes with 2400 W/s of power each.
Used the Nikonos SB 103 flash to trigger the high output flashes.

Since this was in a pool, I don't know what the light situation would be in open ocean, with day light. But the amount of light required for filming is 'a lot'... especially for movie filming...

I would recommend Ikelite housings. We have one for our Fuji S2 cameras...
 
NoahK said:
Any camera is good for underwater filming given the right setup. Not sure a fisheye is really necessary though. And even if it were you're not limited to Lumix lenses which are mostly slow. A Nikon fisheye or Canon fisheye could easily be adapted. the camera is so small it would still fit into an off the shelf underwater housing.

Noah
Click to expand...

I would say you definitely want the option of autofocus when filming underwater through a case, as focusing is otherwise impracticable. I think the OP's 20mm is the perfect lens for this - fast, auto and wide enough, not to mention tiny and excellent.
 
Lucas Adamson said:
I would say you definitely want the option of autofocus when filming underwater through a case, as focusing is otherwise impracticable.
Click to expand...

With a fisheye the depth of field will be huge anyway. Just focus on a meter and tape it. I use an 8mm for VR work and thats how I work.


Martin
 
I would kill for one of these housings, but so damn expensive. Different ones for different lenses.

http://www.seatool.net/list/GH1.html

gh1m02img.jpg

gh1mN02img.jpg
 
Last edited:
@telesteric,
Nice work you have there! Apparently with the right housing (and technique) its alright. I see you're using a GH13 - did you try shooting underwater before the hack, and did you notice too much artifacting? I'm using an unhacked Gh1, have had no problems so far at 720P, so I'm also wondering if the detail underwater will overwhelm the codec.

My other concern is depth of field, in this case not having enough. Have you tried other lenses other than the Samyang 8mm?

I wont be shooting commercials, my application will be a documentary that I am bidding for.
 
I have the 14-140 and the proper dome for it, but in most of my underwater footage i need wide, a week ago tryed olympus 9-18 great results as i can control everything.
Never tryed the cam before hack so i can not say much about it
For WB all i do is work in kelvin and forget about doing it unless im really shallow, sample pictures posted earlier where taken at nearly 30mts on my second dive with the housing and the 8mm.luis3.jpg

im working now with 2 oly epl1 and oly housing to match for underwater 3d videoSecuencia 01.Imagen fija009.jpg
 
Hi telesteric,

do you have some footage to show me.

I'm interested into the 10bar housing but I was afraid for the shallow DOF. I would shoot only wide with low light (+40m)

Thank you in advance
 
GH1 vs GOPRO?

When I started this thread, i was originally thinking of getting a housing for my Gh1, but now I am wondering if its not better to just buy one of these GoPro thingys. I'm just doing shallow water footage anyway.

Has anyone made a comparison between the GH1/GH2 vs GOPRO?

Thanks!
 
RandyQ said:
GH1 vs GOPRO?
I'm just doing shallow water footage anyway.
Click to expand...

For shallow things just having fun it's not bad.

Has anyone made a comparison between the GH1/GH2 vs GOPRO?
Click to expand...

Are you looking something like Ferrari Testarossa Vs Nissan Vanette? :tongue:

I saw some commente on gopro on wetpixel some times ago

Bye
 
RandyQ said:
GH1 vs GOPRO?

When I started this thread, i was originally thinking of getting a housing for my Gh1, but now I am wondering if its not better to just buy one of these GoPro thingys. I'm just doing shallow water footage anyway.

Has anyone made a comparison between the GH1/GH2 vs GOPRO?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I cut the footage of both all the time. If you shoot in good light and clean the Gopro footage with Neat Video, it is almost undetectable when cut with the GH13 once uploaded to vimeo. I did a comparison shoot with 3 cameras (see pic) HMC 152, Gh13 and the GoPro.

multi 2.jpg
 
Randy,

I don't know how demanding your potential client is, but the best underwater footage I've seen from the GoPro (posted by the company itself) doesn't seem to match what a large sensor camera like the GH1 , the GH13, or even the E-PL1 can do. If they're paying you enough, I'd say go ahead and get the $1340 GH1 housing or a $400 E-PL1 body and the $600 PEN housing. You can always sell them when the job is done.

Good luck with your bid!

Cheers,

Bill
 
brunerww said:
Randy,

I don't know how demanding your potential client is, but the best underwater footage I've seen from the GoPro (posted by the company itself) doesn't seem to match what a large sensor camera like the GH1 , the GH13, or even the E-PL1 can do.

Good luck with your bid!

Cheers,

Bill
Click to expand...

That's because GoPro don't have a flat lens for the camera, however aftermarket do and the difference is nite and day.

This is shot with the flat lens on the Gopro.


And this was the Mod

perspectivej.png
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top