matdiver1234

Very nice video! Nice colours, interesting shots, and amazingly steady. It really reminded of how great it is to dive in Palau. Personally, I also find ambient light gives a better sense of "being there", because it's more natural. My last time there was 2018, and I'd love to go back soon (I usually go on Ocean Hunter III). I use a different red filter for my GH5, the one from Aditech (which I think is UrPro), but my results with the Magic Filter were always too green. Thanks a lot for posting it. Cheers, Matt

No problem, i am aware of this color noise and have no idea how to get rid off in post. I have this noise with 10bit too. Maybe its because the higher ISO of 1600 which i use. For the colour noise - well, first of all, most people wouldn't even notice because the shot is just great, it's only nerdy pixel peepers like us lot here on Wetpixel! However, have you tried Neat Video? I've had good results. You can try the demo version, and play with the settings. I also use the GH5 up to 1600 ISO. I won't hijack the thread by posting other videos, but you can check in my signature the one I did from the Maldives. All the mantas were shot with ambient light at 30m, and I used NV in post.

Great - thanks for sharing that! Really enjoyed watching. Brings back some good memories of diving down there. You were lucky with the dolphins! Cheers, Matt

Thanks a lot for posting this, Davide. It's been 20 years since my last Spanish lesson, and I'm a shallow water diver... but I still found the movie totally captivating. Watched it right through non-stop. Incredibly beautiful. Yeah, Rafa's totally in another league, I agree with troporobo's comment. Cheers, Matt [video enthusiast ;-) ]

What Aquatic Images said! Very nice shots and editing. What was the music btw? Videos like this just make me want to get in the water again.. it's been way too long! Cheers, Matt

Hi, it's been a while since I last dived in Sardinia, but I have really good memories of the north-east region, round Isla Maddalena and Lavezzi (that dive site is actually off the south-east coast of Corsica). Lavezzi is a special place, because you can see lots of groupers at a site called Merouville ("Grouper city"). Generally speaking, expect very good visibility, not a huge amount of fish (compared with the Red Sea, obviously...), and nice underwater scenery. Check out these guys: https://www.scubapoint.info/en/ This being Italy, the food and wine are simply amazing! Cheers, Matt

Really nice video Thani, especially for the current situation when most of us can't go diving due to lockdown. A pleasure to watch, all the way through. I love the way the fish just split, e.g. around 4'35", .... and those colours! Looks like a great dive site. Which lens were you using for the crocodile fish at 7'10"? Cheers, Matt

I went looking for whalesharks, earlier this year.... no luck there, but plenty of mantas! [media]https://vimeo.com/352696720[/media] Mantas are at the beginning and again at 2:45. Panasonic GH5, Nauticam housing. Cheers, Matt

Thanks for the comments! Yes, this was all ambient light, and the location was "Sheik Malek" - same general area as Abu Dabbab and Marsa Shagra. Seems there was a period when there were very few sightings and now there are more sightings... but it's probably just the same few individuals that are moving around. @aviator8 - I think you've identified what you have to do. Really look at the screen whilst you're filming. I try and lock my arms and rest my elbows against my body as well, but I think many of us probably have to discard some shaky footage from every trip! Also, sometimes I slow down 50fps footage to make it appear more stable. After that.... practise practise practise! Cheers, Matt

After many attempts, I finally saw a dugong in the Red Sea: [media] [media] The rest of the video is just the usual Red Sea stuff, mostly in the 10-20m range so ambient light/manual white balance/red filter. For GH5 owners: the lizard fish (2'32") is what happens when you insert a 6K photo/video file (i.e. 18 megapixels at 30 fps) into a 50 fps video. The porcupine fish (2'13") was in a place that looked very dark, 15m down under an overhang. However I dropped the frame rate to 25 fps, and shutter to 25 too, with ISO at 1600. Quite good low light capability, at least for something that isn't moving fast. All constructive comments and criticisms welcome! Cheers, Matt

Very nice. I really admire the macro work especially. What was your lens set-up? Cheers, Matt

Hi, I would have thought that a liveaboard in the Maldives would be your best bet, or maybe South Africa but it's the wrong time of year for the sardine run. Having said that, even in the right season and the right area, I still didn't see a whaleshark in the Maldives during my last trip! Cheers, Matt

I think this thread is even more topical now than when it was started, at least as regards video lights, which are becoming incredibly powerful. There's a thread on here at the moment discussing the merits of a light pumping out15000 lumens, e.g. I haven't seen any precise scientific data either, but what String said on 20 Jan is also my experience. Surely, we can use some common sense? who among us likes an incredibly bright light shone in their eyes? what about your kids and pets? isn't it just possible that marine life is, at the very least, going to become more wary over time with divers shining such bright video lights at them? (leaving aside the question of whether or not it's actually harmful). As divers, we surely have a responsibility to our fishy friends! Yeah, OK, morays and hunting lion fish at night don't seem to care.... As for strobes, well, I don't do photography, but 1/250' just doesn't seem like it would be the same as 20 seconds of bright video light in terms of impact on behaviour. Also what that scientific paper concluded with regard to sea horses. Just my 2c. Matt

Very nice, especially the thresher footage. Must have been quite dark at that depth, so early in the day!

Very nice! Especially at 1'45". It's like that nurse shark just wanted to test the autofocus capabilities.... Thanks. Matt