After a dive you get your film and jam it on the TV to just check out the quality. While watching me swim head on with a shoal of yellowtale, a weird effect happened.

As the fish came closer to the lense they did so in a segmented kind of way. They didn't loom up nice and slow like but it was sorta segmented. It looked like they came up frame by frame and it wasn't smooth as before?

I cant explain it very well but maybe I have my shutter speed to slow or high - dunno?

Any suggestions.

Did you have the steady shot function turned on or off ?

maybe upload the clip to you tube and post here? Would be fun to see and probably valuable for others as an example of shutter speed problems etc. If that is what it is. Maybe it was like in the Matrix when things start going wrong..... Spooky!

do you know what your shutter speed was?

Actually, it sounds like maybe a bad tape...I've seen this on tapes with drop outs
Steve

Yeh I was going to say the as well Steve or dirty head.

will get back to you with answers to those tips - thanks.

Uploaded it to Youtube today - just waiting for it to register.

Here is the link to the video;

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=H9DIRuQW_p4

You cannot see what I described in this clip but it was there when I first put it onto the TV. The shutter speed was on auto - I can change it but to what? Also don't you lose something when you change it?

The steady hand setting was on. Is it better off and just trying to be real still? How do you get still - it's hard?

I also have a bit of trouble with white balance as you can see. It was on auto but I can set it if I want but it gets darker and then I need more light right?

I know I have alot to learn but it's like one thing at a time at the moment for me. Any advice or tips are welcomed.

From camera to Youtube there is definately some quality lost.

Donga
I watched your clip, better than the first one you posted that you shot while free diving I think.
It takes time to get good at it.

At this point I would just concentrate on getting your shots steady, think as each shot like taking a photo.
Next is camera adjustment. If you can WB the camera then that's great but remember you are limited on what kind of quality / things you can achieve with it.

Here is something you can try. Next time you are diving like at the jetty there, zoom in and WB on the nice sunny blue sky and then don't adjust it again. See what you get. Because you WB at the blue sky it will trick the camera into a warm red colour and that's what you want underwater. It will work only till a certain depth then you need the camera on even a warmer WB. Ofcourse it may be too warm/red if you are using lights then.

Here is a dive Kelly and I did on the Busselton Jetty a few years ago.
http://hdvundersea.com/view/23/buselton-jetty/

Thanks dude, will try some of those things.

What's the difference between white balancing into the sky and white balancing off on my white car?

It depends if you take your car diving with you! You need to white balance at depth for it to work properly, preferably around the same depth you will be shooting at.

I'd shoot with steady shot off, i think that's how most of us started, it just takes a bit of time to get used to controlling your breathing. just relax and count to 10 or 15 while you shoot. If you can stay steady for that long then you should be able to get a decent clip.

Remember to have fun and not get too stressed

Okay guys

Think outside the square.

White slate = it will tell the camera what is white down there at what ever depth if it can WB. Great but thats not what you are after. Don't you want a nice vibrate color? You don't really want it to look exactly like you see it especially if the water is greenish.

Well you need to have the camera abit more warmer or redish. How can you do that? well point it at something nice & sunny blue...Blue SKY.... What happens then, well the poor old camera thinks it's too cold so it will add some red. Everything will then look pinky red if you use it uptop but under water (8m-14m) it will be fine. It's just like WBing underwater then you come up to the surface, it's too red/warm.

This way is easy, set it up before you get down there and then final adjust on our NLE.

I always shoot with my steady shot on and I never use a white slate.

Go on.... get up and go outside and zoom in you little cameras into the blue empty sky and WB it..See You want find that written in any underwater video book/DVD.

I used to W/B off the side of my van 'filter up', then as i reached my extreme depth of 5-6M i used to flip down the filter and it seemed o.k (remember post is a wonderful thing) but the other day I forgot so I W/B onto some rocks at 6M where the sunlight was shimmering (yes we have sun in England) and it looked great very natural... It obviously depends on ambient light etc...

O.k things are also diff in different waters.... I also keep the steady shot on as its given me no probs..Believe me when you get the DT's after not having a Jack Daniels for a 55min dive you need it on

Now for the more important above quotes...

Wags..."Dirty Head"

Simon... "just relax and count to 10 or 15 while you shoot"

Cheers back to the problem...

My A1 sometimes gives a blocking type look on a few frames and used to do a stutter effect but it stopped. Now i get the occasional drop out...What type of tapes are you using ?? can't remember what cam you use...

Dive safe

DeanB

Have no controls on my camera housing so it's set and forget type thing.

I have not cleaned the heads for a long time but will redo it now. I used tape that already had stuff recorded on it but that's ok right?

Camera is a decent digital Canon and has alot of features but like you say, steady eddy is the key for a basic start and so I will begin to try be more still.

I like Wags' idea though of WB off the sky. I will be getting some more powerful lights soon and wonder how that will affect it all. You could see my pissweak light in the clip - barely could raise a show but it was there.

You can actually buy white balance cards which as cooler i.e Blueish which will trick the camera into making the image warmer and visa versa. Here's a link to some http://www.warmcards.com/faq.html

But as Wags says blue sky is easier than carrying around a load of WB cards and then just correct in post.

Jon

it could be your shutter speed but idk

I remember hearing Wes Skiles saying many years ago that he white balanced underwater by aiming his cam at the sun. Anyone try this?
Steve

White balance is important when not using lights right?

I did some out of water tests at home with a diffused light in the dark. I focussed the camera on a colourful picture on the wall with the camera on auto and introduced the light - ughh, too bright.

Next I reduced the exposure (is this slow shutter speed?) and then hit the light - nice even clours and no bright spots.

So I then assumed that when deep and the colour is washed out like alot of amateur footage shows - reduce exposure and add light for a nice even colour - am I on the right track?

Sorry for bringing this post up from the dead.