Jumping into the Water with a RED EPIC & Gates Underwater Housing

Tobias Deml

Tobias Deml

Member
For a narrative shoot, we are planning a shot where the camera falls into the water sideways, following a character who is being tackled by an enemy. We did our research and ended up with a Gates Underwater Housing and a RED EPIC inside. Now... has anyone done this kind of thing? The rental house told us that they advise against jumping or falling into the water, since the rig is designed for underwater only, but not entering the water. From my judgement, the rig feels like it can take a lot of pressure and impact, only the front seems a bit shady with its simple slide-turn lock mechanism.

Has anyone done something similar - experiences to be shared? I'd really appreciate to hear some stories or advice on this.


Thanks a lot!

Toby
 
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I'd be dubious - there's a lot of impact when hitting water (which is why a belly flop dive into a swimming pool hurts), and the rental house is correctly pointing out that the rig isn't designed for that. Personally, I'd only risk an expensive camera with something far more robust - e.g. some sort of perspex box (a fish tank perhaps?) in which you can fit the whole camera (including the Gates Underwater Housing as extra insurance). Even then, you'd still want to do some pretesting, using a dummy weight matching the camera, before risking the real camera.
 
I've done exactly this shot, and it's going to be tough to pull off (but not for the reasons you're anticipating). The thing that's tough about entering the water with a camera is maintaining any semblance of control as you hit the water. The camera is going to do it's own thing and you won't be able to adjust and control your framing for a couple of seconds as you hit the water. You may be able to pull it off, but be prepared to do multiple takes (complete with drying your actors off and resetting HMU and wardrobe) because you're going to have a few seconds of wild unpredictability.

As for the housing surviving the impact, do a couple of test runs without the camera in the housing to make sure it's not taking on water.
 
Good point, stefancolson. Yes, any camera, regardless of housing, is going to briefly stop/slow as it impacts the water. Offhand, the only way I can think of to retain (or at least maximise the chances of retaining) control would be to have the housing securely attached to some sort of hinged frame/rig, with a base attached to something solid, thus at least ensuring the camera housing always hits the water at the same spot and angle. Even then, you'd almost certainly still need several takes.
 
I know you said you decided on the Epic, so maybe it's too late for this, but have you considered using a b-camera (GH2, GH3, 5D) in an underwater housing for the shot? That way if it takes on water, you're out a much less expensive camera... if the action happened fast enough, you might not notice the quality shift. Just a thought :)
 
awelgraven said:
I know you said you decided on the Epic, so maybe it's too late for this, but have you considered using a b-camera (GH2, GH3, 5D) in an underwater housing for the shot? That way if it takes on water, you're out a much less expensive camera... if the action happened fast enough, you might not notice the quality shift. Just a thought :)
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Smart man.

No way would I even try this on my Epic.
 
No matter which camera you end up using, the key here is to properly weight the housing to give the correct buoyancy to follow the actors.
 
Near me there is a waterpark that has an underwater mermaid show twice a day. Basically 100 people can sit below the level of the water and see the show through thick perspex or glass (can also see top of water). If there is something like this near you there would be no risk of camera getting wet
 
Thanks so much for the many replies and advice. I ended up doing it, by testing it without a camera three times, and cutting the shot in two - one was running and jumping into the pool, and the other one started already at the surface where I just had to push the camera down underwater. The splash serves as a digital seamless transition, so nobody can tell it wasn't one shot. After I landed in the water with the camera, I immediately pushed it over the surface, just in case the impact would have caused a leak.

What I did as additional security was to use a pressure measurement tool and created a strong under-pressure inside the housing; it was impossible to pull the front lens off even in the "unlocked" position due to the strong suction from the inside. All went safe, not a single droplet inside the housing. Good job Gates, although the company website strongly recommends against it. So, just to confirm stefancolson - it's perfectly possible to do this.
In my case I jumped in with a drop of around 3-4ft for the housing.



Toby
 
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