Shooting Underwater W/HMC150

S

sublimesnfu

Well-known member
Hello, I'm going to go snorkeling in a couple of weeks and was wondering if anyone had any tips or experience with shooting underwater with the HMC150. I'll be snorkeling so I the deepest I'll be going is 10-15 feet. I picked up a VX1000 EWA Camera bag which happens to fit the HMC perfectly. I've been practicing using the camera in a local wave pool while trying to swim to get used to working with the camera underwater but I've never shot underwater in real world conditions before.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks
Alan
 
Is that a soft bag that seals?

If so I would be worried about it pressing buttons as it compresses if you take it more than a foot or two under water.

As long as the water is clear there should be nothing different you have to do with the camera to shoot with it at snorkling depths. As you start going deeper you loose color but that is not something you will have to worry about. Personally if you are just using this to mess around with I would buy a cheap little flip camera and housing to use in the water.

Phil
 
Man Ive seen underwater housing fail on cheap rigs... I know my hmc doesn't swim well so I would be hard pressed to put it in anything but the equinox.
 
The EWA bag is a soft bag, but the way it seal I would be hard pressed to see it leak water at the depths I'll be going. I've all ready taken it to the deep end of a local pool 25ft with no problems so I'm not worried about it plus my insurance policy does cover water damage.
 
Yeah I would not be worried about the leak, it is more so the crushing of the bag as you descend deeper pressing buttons or putting strain on the camera.

Have fun with it. Post some footage when you get back...

Phil
 
You can get some splash housings that will work for the 150. I bought one from Jim Bailey custom built at www.waterhousings.com


I also have built some housings that's always an option. For the most part you won't be focusing and or zooming. The only major thing that I've found is nice to be able to control is the ND filter on and off, and or the shutter speed. Leaving it on auto iris is pretty good... Underwater stuff takes a lot more coordination and keeping things simple is good. I would also recommend a wide or a fisheye on the camera.. Really makes a nice option and moving closer is always optimal over zooming.
 
How do you view while shooting? I'm assuming you can't have the screen folded out while it's in the bag.
 
jchristie said:
How do you view while shooting? I'm assuming you can't have the screen folded out while it's in the bag.
Click to expand...

Good housings will have a LCD built into them, or actually use a mirror to reflect the LCD that is flipped around against the body. You may be able to do the latter, but have to look at the camera from the side all the time.
 
The EWA Marine bag allows you to see the viewfinder pretty clearly underwater, I've thought about throwing a little citizen LCD behind the camera but I think using the viewfinder will work for now.
 
Your best bet is to use the Viewfinder for sure. The LCD will be less effecive unless the housing is completely opaque and shaded. Most of the professional housings will utilize the viewfinder and or have a secondary monitor located at the back of the housing.. Having it on the side flip is really not very functional and tends to become awkward underwater. I wouldn't also get anything with a mirror and or such as that tends to be a very weak option.

Here's some pics of the housing I had for my HVX:

http://www.electriccowtheater.com/WATER/photos /
 
Well bad news, my ewa bag got beat up while in transit (people jamming crap into carry on bins) and got a tiny hole poked in it so there was no underwater shooting happening this time. My back up ewa bag just got in so we shall see what happens this fall when shooting in Hawaii.
 
i have a custom waterhousing for the hpx170 . it has been down to 70 ft. glass port. should work with the 150 . all the buttons are in the same place?
 
I have some HVX underwater and also some TS1 underwater... In all fairness, I really think that for 250 bucks you can't beat the TS1 by Panasonic. It's good for up to 15' and you don't have such an expensive and big camera in the water...

If you are looking to do underwater stuff... just pick up a TS1. It can't do 1080, or 60p, but it's 250 bucks.... Shooting underwater with a big heavy camera is both nervewracking but also cumbersome... I love the TS1 and I sold my old expensive housing....
 
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