Mike L

Steve: There are definitely several positives to going with an aluminum housing. The MDX housing you mentioned from Sea & Sea is what ive been using for a year, and it is without a doubt the most ergonomic SLR housing Ive ever used. Its also quite compact, the port lock is a real nice feature, and of course the Sea & Sea ports are fantastic. With regards to TTL, Inon and Sea & Sea strobes both work well with the TTL Converter. Although it violates warranty and is not guaranteed, I personally know of a couple of shooters using the MDX-D300 with Ike strobes and the S&S ttl converter, and all seems to be working great for them. You can of course get some pretty good money for your DS-125s should you decide to make the switch to the more compact Inon or S&S strobes. Best of luck, let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Of course the Nikon, after all its only money right Scott? I gotta stop telling myself that!

The HF S10 is definitely a camera to look at. I would not compare it to the SR12, but rather compare it to Sony's newer camera, the XR 520. Both the XR 520 and the HF S10 are going to be the cameras to look at for this year. The new Sony Optical Image Stabilization is the best stabilization system Ive seen to date. How useful it will be underwater is still to be determined. The new sensor is supposed to be superior in low light when compared to the sensor of the older SR12. The Canon however is being highly regarded as the best image quality of all the small cameras, and some say it rivals the quality of larger 3 chip cameras. Underwater tests of course have not been done yet since the camera is just being released and housings are not yet available. One thing to consider before buying the camera is what type of housing you want. The Sony is likely to be supported by all the manufacturers (Gates, Seatool, Light & Motion, Ikelite, Amphibico, etc). The HF S10 will for sure be supported by Gates and Ikelite...but others have not confirmed anything. Canon generally does not have the support of the underwater manufacturers. I hope this helps, as of now its a tough decision between the XR 520 and the HF S10...both are excellent and you cannot go wrong with either. I wont make my final decision until I get them both underwater and test their low light capabilities.

Thanks Mark. Im spending some time playing with the footage in the editing software this week so Ill see how it goes.

Ohh man I cant wait. Its been a long weekend shooting so I havent had the time to write up my thoughts yet....or even look at much of all footage we shot. Not sure how it was for you Mark, but shooting without lights in Green water in Cali...the Red low light performance certainly did not compare to the EX1's performance (we shot both cams simultaneously underwater)

Well it certainly was a fun, and LONG day. We didnt make it back from Catalina until 8:30 last night. The camera was fantastic and we got it very well balanced in the water. Ill post more details over the weekend and am going to pull a couple of still frames of us using the Deep Red off our EX1 footage.

Im excited to read it Mark. I wish I had days to test and be in warm water too. But ill try and stay warm in my drysuit instead of a 3mm (or less ) that you were enjoying yourself in.

I have had the privilege of spending the last couple of days with one of the Gates Deep Red housings and a Red One with an 18-50 lens. Yesterday I spent a good 4 hours with John down at Gates going through the set up process, and today we did some in pool testing and trimming of the buoyancy. All seems to be dialed out nicely now and ready for tomorrow where we will be taking it out Catalina to do some cold water tests as well. I have some video clips shot on the EX1 of our buoyancy tests from today...and will be shooting the same in the ocean tomorrow. Will report back with more details on the housing. Here are some initial thoughts after a few hours in the pool today (more details to follow tomorrow). 1. Housing is very manageable in size. For anyone that has used a larger housing from Gates (Z1U, EX1, etc) you will find the housing to be somewhat comparable in the handling (side by side pics coming this weekend). The Red is noticeably wider than the other housings, but length was not significantly different. The ergonomics and controls that John has engineered are fantastic. The large control wheels are very easy to use. The housing requires a lot of weight (mounted both inside and outside of the housing) in order to achieve slightly negative buoyancy. 2. The Red LCD is amazing and sharp and the housing built by Gates for it allows access to the controls on the top, thus providing use of two more assignable controls. Id pay for a monitor like this to use with my EX1 it was so amazing! 3. Set up is much more intuitive than any housing I have ever played with. To do a thorough set up, its a solid hour and a half or more (from camera prep to housing assembly and seal check). Ill have more details tomorrow night after a day at Catalina. We do not have the rig set up with lights, so its going to be a nice test of the low light capability of the camera itself.

Is Dive Chronicles/Brad Nolan just ignoring all your calls/emails? Has anyone gone to any of their recent shows and tried to talk to him? How about trying to call Dive Chronicles pretending to want to advertise in their publication...just to get someone on the phone? Sad to have to do that, but perhaps the only way???

I have a D300 body that has roughly 1000 actuations. Ive never taken this one underwater. It comes with all packaging, accessories, etc. Could pass for brand new. I am selling so I can upgrade to a D700. B&H is selling them new at $1699. I will sell this for $1349.

It will be a real disappointment if this is overturned. Although I had not been to Palau before my past trip in Dec/January, even that trip was a disappointment after years of hearing how abundant sharks were in Palau...yet our week they certainly were not abundant. I heard several stories while out there of Taiwanese fishing boats being seen with shark fins on the deck, yet no enforcing being done. Its very sad to see this has even come up.

You guys are right on. John, Pamela & the whole crew down at Gates are right on at taking care of any problems. I commend them for always openly coming out to admit and correct the problems on their own. I experienced the softness on the acrylic SP44, but found the glass version to be much better. Of course, nothing compares to the SWP44c.

I've used a couple of different dry glove systems over the years, both the SiTek and the DUI dry gloves with Zip Seals. I definitely preferred the Zip Seal system over the Sitek...those were a real PIA.

Hey Mark what lighting are you using with the Red?

Do you have the old YS90 or one of the YS90DX strobes? The original YS90 does not work via Fiber Optic. Also note, the older 90DX strobes had sync issues when used with Canon point & shoot cameras. The new Sea & Sea YS-110 Alpha has all issues corrected and the DS-TTL works flawless with the FIX G10 and Patima G10 housings.

Hi mark, cant wait to see the report. Ive been in the water with the AquaVideo beast so I'm very anxious to hear the comparison the the Gates Deep Red!

Bob, What kind of camera system are you trying to carry on?

The article is in the current issue of Outside on sale now. Its a very sad event. I know several spearfishermen and they are all pretty scared of sharks and in reality just do not seem to understand them the way we all do, since they do not interact with them in the water, sans bloody fish. Its only obvious if you have bloody fish attached to your body, sharks are going to come in close to inspect. I guess the ole saying is true...IF YOU CANT HANDLE THE HEAT STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN, so if you cant handle sharks around you, don't spearfish in the ocean!

I think I just wet my pants!!

Absolutely Dale, you let me know the time and place. We have two EX1 complete systems, plenty of stills, currently a Red with Aqua Video housing, and our Gates Deep Red should be here within a few weeks.

I have not had the chance to take a 5d MKII down yet but hope to soon. We have some of the Hugyfot 5d MKII housings landing later this next week so I will have some feed back on those in the very near future. I was at PMA a week ago, and it certainly was a disappointment that Nikon did not announce a new, competing DSLR to the 5d MKII...

Very nice Dale, congrats. Thats awesome you got Wagsy involved too. Ill keep my eye out for the show!

Hi All. I wanted to let everyone know next weekend we will be hosting 3 days of seminars on video editing at our on-site classroom in Newport Beach. If anyone needs a hotel, we have a Best Western directly across the street and its quite reasonable. Most of you know Steve Douglas (Sharks Delight). He is our staff Video Editing Instructor. Steve is very well known in the video community and is a writer for KenStone.net as well as the LA Final Cut Pro Users Group. Here is a brief description of the classes. Friday March 20 7PM-10PM Basic Editing....To be including in this class will be a thorough going over of the proper settings for your log and capture, log and transfer, capture scratch and clip labeling. Thorough review of the entire Final Cut Pro interface, the setting of in and out points, working within the timeline, adding and adjust both filters and transitions and final export. Saturday March 21 9AM-1PM Audio Seminar....To be included will be setting audio levels for music, narration and film ambience. Equalizing audio, looking for audio peaking and correcting of audio problems. The basic use of Soundtrack Pro within the Final Cut Studio and exporting self made music to Final Cut. Preview and review of Sonic Fire Pro's royalty free music program...making your music stand out. In addition, synching your video to music for final export. Sunday March 22 9AM-1PM Preparing your video for the web. This will be a step by step lesson on how to add protective watermarks to your films so as to prevent theft of your footage as well as to how to use Compressor to export to the web,(Vimeo & YouTube) in HD for the best results. The classes are $195 each day. Or all 3 days for $495. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to sign up.

I think he is talking about an Underwater Red Boot Camp, not just the normal Red One Camp...am I correct?

The site looks great! Really enjoyed it all. Your underwater photos look great too.