rlmalisz

Dropping to $600, including camcorder. Does not include shipping.

Dropping this to $1000 (or sane offer) including camcorder. I'd much rather sell this here to folks who know what they're about than taking it to Ebay.

This is a Bluefin (not pro..no manual focus dial) for HFG10 with video back, Fathoms WA90 port, flat port, spare O-ring set, wrenches. Lightly used, in very good condition. Will consider reasonable lower offers. I can add a complete HFG10 camcorder with all original materials and larger battery for another $300, or $1300 total. Price given does not include shipping. Can provide photos, serial numbers to serious inquirers. --Richard

Two lights, never flooded. Approximately 20 hours on the bulbs. Come with two dual-battery chargers (international input), and four sets of batteries. Approximately 30 hours of use per set. Does not include arms, and I don't have the silly little neoprene "vests" they came with. Some scuffs and scratches on the bodies. But they work great. Serious inquiries to rlmalisz@nguzu.com. Price does not include shipping. I am in the USA. --Richard

Just wondering if anyone here had experience and suggestions with the camcorder settings for the HFS30 for UW use. I have turned off "face tracking", since that seemed to be doomed to making bad decisions. Have the camera currently set at 17mbps, 24p (for better low-light performance). Have not turned off image stabilization--it's supposed to be quite good in the camera, although I know that is another "feature" that doesn't translate well to UW use. I can certainly learn what does and doesn't work in Raja Ampat, but hints before the rig sees its first blue water would be welcome. --Richard

While I had pretty much sworn off LMI, I've been without a video setup for my last two trips--have been waiting for something that would deliver acceptable video while still being small and light. I've been waiting (and waiting) for Gates to get Fathoms glass for their Vixia housings, but it hasn't happened and isn't clear it will. Apparently, LMI's Bluefin for this camera gives real one-touch white balance, and works pretty well. Before I plunge off this cliff, it'd be great to hear from anyone here who has (or has even used) this setup. LMI gives the housing mass at 7 pounds, and the cameras weigh nothing. It looks like they sell a float/life-jacket for this, which suggests it may be fairly negative in the water. Anyway, any feedback much appreciated. --Richard

So did this outing happen, and how did it go? --Richard

So Mike, I'd love to hear how your first wet adventure with this beast goes. I sold my Amphibico Endeavor (V1U) last winter, and am currently without a rig for this November's trip. Have really been eying the HFS21+Gates as the likely setup I could travel around Indonesia with without paying for it annually in their domestic overweight fees. Have been bugging Gates about the Fathoms port for this rig as well, and it sounds like there's progress there--or at least, we haven't hit flameout on it yet. So if you feel it dives well, and they make the glass, I'm almost certainly in. Canon claims the HFS21 to have better low-light performance than the HFS10. Do you see any difference? I guess it's supposed to be markedly better in this regard when shooting 24p than 60i, and now that I'm not struggling to mix footage from HDV, that's a real option for me. --Richard

Or as was once said to another Scarlet, "Frankly, dear, I don't give a damn". I guess now I can start thinking about buying a car or a yacht again instead. This thing appears to be Gone With the Wind--or made of hot air. --Richard

So the HFS21 looks like it'd be a pretty serious piece of gear. I have to wonder if the "eye level viewfinder" changes the body shape enough that it won't fit the same housings as the previous models.... http://www.macworld.com/article/145427/201...l?lsrc=rss_main --Richard

This system has been sold.

Amphibico Endeavor Housing with HD rear monitor (for Sony V1U, FX7), in excellent condition Amphibico flat port for above (http://www.amphibico.com/store/optics-and-optical-accessories/phenom-endeavor-flat-port-assembly.html)...which has never been wet Amphibico 94 degree WA dome port for above with new, scratch-free dome (http://www.amphibico.com/store/optics-and-optical-accessories/phenom-endeavor-94-wide-angle-dome-port-assembly.html). This port fits this housing and the Phenoms, and allows full zoom-through, from full wide down to macro. Amphibico custom storm case for above, O-ring set. $3500 for the above. Note that the new price for the WA port alone is $3400. Also have an excellent condition Sony V1U with topside WA adapter, two large capacity batteries, and all original materials, available separately for $1500, or as a package with the housing above for a total package price of $4500. Obviously, these prices include neither shipping nor shipping insurance. Serious inquiries only, please.

So I pinged them myself (hey, if they perceive enough interest, it may nudge them over). The answer I got back was that there would be no plans until they find out if Canon is continuing this line of camcorders next year. If so, it's a possibility. If not, it's DOA. And that they expected to find out at CES on January. --Richard

The bent-up bar is odd looking. But given my experience with LMI handle controls, on any given dive, I'd only be sure that the mechanical control was going to obey my wishes. YMMV, and I was a believer and a follower for about five years. I just wound up underwater too many times with a rig that would shoot nothing, or in better cases, would shoot but not really under my control. If I have to work the controls one at a time and am sure they're going to work, I can live with that, and that's more important to me than slick looks. --Richard

So here's hoping for something equivalent or close to the Fathoms super-wide that will fit this beast...

I, for one, would love to see photos of the beast. And hear approximate pricing....? --Richard

Let me know what platform you need it for, and an email address where I can send you a copy. --Richard

So I just stumbled across the information that this latest of Canon's tiny AVCHD camcorders has an "advanced accessory hot-shoe" that accepts their RA-V1 LANC adapter. It looks like the functions *their* remotes support through this are pretty limited, and the RA-V1 is a lot bigger (taller) than one would like for housing purposes, but it still seems to me like the housing manufacturers would be all over this. Anyone have any news/insight/rumors about this? Am I excited over nothing? --Richard

So isn't the amount of zoom required proportional to the amount of shake, wobble, and variation in rate of track? Because they're doing more correction, it's higher than 2D correction, but the more your raw input looks like the tracking shot they're making it into, wouldn't there be less perimeter that gets thrown away because it isn't there, frame to frame? Their examples are pretty dramatically in need of help, and more help requires more zoom (and discard of perimeter pixels), right? --Richard

So my dive videos run short...the most recent one was a smidge over 5 minutes. It took 500M--this was encoded at 15mbps, as described. My math says that I could get about 45 minutes onto a DVD-R DVD-5 at this encoding rate. --Richard

1) I am editing the video in Premiere Pro CS4, and then doing a "send to Encore". In Encore, I have the encoding settings at full HD, 15mbps, AC3 audio. The resulting video looks great. 2) I haven't touched any of the fancy pop-up menu stuff. --Richard

I know there's been some discussion here about taking the output of Encore (or anything else that will output a BD folder) and burning to DVD-R. I've struggled with BDedit and other tools to try to get to fully functional BD5 disk, and have managed to do it, but was never sure it was worth the agony. It order to do this with BDedit (which only runs under WinXX), you have to start with a index.bdmv that already has the AVCHD "tag" in the ExtensionData area, and then value-by-value, modify that file to match everything else about your index.bdmv. Painful. Prone to error. Requires Windows. I've finally gleaned enough infomation about this "tag" from online patent disclosures, helpful hints here and there, and binary reverse-engineering of the file format to make a (tiny) tool that modifies my index.bdmv files in-place, just adding the AVCHD tag and calling it a day. I'm doing this on Leopard, but there's nothing platform-specific about the code. So this changed the old workflow: Encore->BDMV folder->copy files to Win VM->use two instances of BDedit and AVCHD template to cobble together BD5 versions of my index.bdmv and MovieObject.bdmv->copy back to BDMV folder->burn to DVD5 with Toast->pray I didn't screw up to: Encore->BDMV folder->run BD5_index->burn to DVD5 with Toast If anyone here cares about this and is doing everything they can to avoid putting out BD media $$$ to put short projects out that will play at BD resolutions, let me know. --Richard PS: To be clear--I know you can burn a BDMV folder to a DVD5, pop it into a PS3, navigate to the streams folder and play the stream there. My goal--and what I am now able to do--was to be able to have the disc have fully functional menus. I insert the disk, the PS3 says "AVCHD" for a brief moment, and the first play menu comes up. On the standalone BD players I have access to, the behavior is the same, minus the brief "AVCHD" advisory. I am authoring the streams at 15mpbs (H.264), which exceeds the DVD spec, but on 8X DVD-R media in BD players, I have seen no issues.

Dropping the asking prices somewhat: Endeavor and listed accessories: $6300 Discovery 10 lights, batteries, chargers: $1500 Sony HVR-V1U and listed accessories: $1800 System price: $9000 Does not include shipping costs or shipping insurance. --Richard

A few more (shot with tripod): Endeavor rear view (closed) Endeavor front left profile (port pit visible) Endeavor right side --Richard

I'm still working on photos of the front and back of the housing. We have a blizzard in progress here, so the light is poor. But here's a start: Endeavor left side Endeavor rear (open) Endeavor in travel (storm) case Amphibico lights, batteries, chargers Sony V1U camcorder, batteries, charger. WA adapter --Richard