9 replies to this topic

[liquidguru]

Even though Lembeh is all about small things, some things are smaller than others. And they don't come much smaller (or harder to film) than Idiomysis.

These are a tiny little crustacean that seem to hover around like flies. They are only a few millimeters long and are always in constant motion. This makes it very difficult to photograph or film them.

It has been a pet project of mine, over the last year or so, to try and get video of them, using my woefully inadequate equipment. My idea is simple...use the slow motion feature to capture these creatures, so you can actually see them. The trouble is twofold. One: The depth of field is very very small, and it's impossible to re-focus, either manually or automatically, at these distances and speed that the Idiomysis move. Two: When I hit the 'slow motion' function on my camcorder, it goes into a three second 240fps auto mode. you hit it and it immediately takes the 3 second shot, with no control, no re-focusing...

So for a shot of these Idiomysis to come out I need the tiny little thing to just move up and down while it happens to be in focus, and not to move back or forth away to towards the camera. Believe me , this is not something that happens very much...

But finally, today, I think I have enough to present the world's first macro slow motion (nearly all in focus) video of these creatures. They are fascinating little things, and have wonderful eyes, bodies and it is really cool to finally be able to see one.

[vimeohd]58819470[/vimeohd]

[Steve Williams]

Absolutely amazing! Congrats Kaj. That really is something special.

Steve

[Davide DB]

Wowo amazing shots!

[SimonSpear]

Wooo fantastic - well done!!

[BDSC]

Excellent! So are they easy to find but hard to video or hard to find AND hard to video?

[liquidguru]

Thanks for the comments.

BDSC: They are around but not that easy to find Sometimes I see them on nearly every dive, then I'll go a few months without seeing any. You've got to tbe looking for then though, they are one of the easiest critters to swim over and not notice

[CheungyDiver]

Kaj


Priceless...! I am totally amazed how you manage to video these wee boys.
This got to be one of the most exciting critter footage from Lembeh for this year so far....one more thing I gotta look out for in my March trip.
Hint hint...where did you find them?


cheers

David

[escape]

Very cool!

[liquidguru]

David,

They are on a lot of the sandy sands like TK, Aer Bajo, Pante Parigi, Pulau Abadi...all depths and come in brown, yellow or black and white. You usually see them around the base of a small rock that's in the middle of the sand. Nus/Ali shouldn't have any probs finding them...

Edited by liquidguru, 05 February 2013 - 07:39 PM.

[SwiftFF5]

Wow, stunning video. I am more and more impressed every time I watch one of your videos.