I'm part of a small company making videos for the local aquarium. One of our videos is going to be a short intro to the sharks and rays touch tank, telling kids how to hold your hand steady in the water, be quiet, etc. so you can touch the rays and sharks and not scare them away.
We need to shoot some video from under the water, looking up at kids' hands and down at the mangrove roots (it's shark/ray POV, basically, and will hopefully be somewhat funny).
I haven't tested it yet, but I've heard that it's tough to get good results from the GoPro in its underwater housing, in part because of how the curved exterior of the housing apparently blurs some of the frame.
I'm going to test that for myself soon, but I would LOVE to put my GH2 into the water instead.
So what are my options? I've started looking online, and I see products like this (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/547694-REG/DiCAPac_WPS10_WP_S10_Waterproof_Case.html) that are so cheap, it makes me nervous. And products like the 10Bar housing for $1300, which is out of our range, at least for now (http://opticaloceansales.com/?search_performed=Y&dispatch=products.search&oofm=4793&oofv=13).
I'd also be happy renting something.
Also, while this shoot will be in only two feet of water (or so) in a fairly well-lit room, I'm wondering about whether I'll need underwater lighting, and if so, what my options are.
If all goes well, we will have two major projects coming up with the aquarium over the next couple of years, so while our budget is tiny for this particular video, if I can make the case for investing in some gear--or find a great rental option--for the future, the head of the company may be willing to invest. But I need to find out what our options are.
And finally, I'm not wedded to using my GH2 if it's more practical to buy/rent some other camera. But I would just love to have the GH2 image quality in our underwater footage...it would be so wonderful.
So what do you recommend?
We need to shoot some video from under the water, looking up at kids' hands and down at the mangrove roots (it's shark/ray POV, basically, and will hopefully be somewhat funny).
I haven't tested it yet, but I've heard that it's tough to get good results from the GoPro in its underwater housing, in part because of how the curved exterior of the housing apparently blurs some of the frame.
I'm going to test that for myself soon, but I would LOVE to put my GH2 into the water instead.
So what are my options? I've started looking online, and I see products like this (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/547694-REG/DiCAPac_WPS10_WP_S10_Waterproof_Case.html) that are so cheap, it makes me nervous. And products like the 10Bar housing for $1300, which is out of our range, at least for now (http://opticaloceansales.com/?search_performed=Y&dispatch=products.search&oofm=4793&oofv=13).
I'd also be happy renting something.
Also, while this shoot will be in only two feet of water (or so) in a fairly well-lit room, I'm wondering about whether I'll need underwater lighting, and if so, what my options are.
If all goes well, we will have two major projects coming up with the aquarium over the next couple of years, so while our budget is tiny for this particular video, if I can make the case for investing in some gear--or find a great rental option--for the future, the head of the company may be willing to invest. But I need to find out what our options are.
And finally, I'm not wedded to using my GH2 if it's more practical to buy/rent some other camera. But I would just love to have the GH2 image quality in our underwater footage...it would be so wonderful.
So what do you recommend?
