4K video I shot in Moalboal, Cebu using Sony A7SIII HLG, Nauticam, WWL-1, Sardines, plane wrecks, pilot whales.

[GTF8 24]

Just wanted to share and discuss with other video shooters using A7SIII.

Until this trip I have been shooting always in SLOG3, however for this last weekend I tweaked a HLG profile and shot exclusively with that.

I found it fine to use, although colours can be a bit odd to my eye.  Always keen to hear from and learn other Sony shooters settings for underwater video.

Enjoying the process.

All shot in 4K 4:2:2 10 bit, 60fps, PP10, HLG, with A7SIII, 28mm F2 inside WWL-1, using a combination of nitescuba NSV80 lights which I'm currently testing, and my existing Keldan lights.

[elmelodico 3]

Great video, I love the field of view the WWL-1 provides, especially that shot of the turtle with the diver inside the cave, well done. 

It's true that sometimes the colour seems a bit off. Did you white balance before every shot? If not, that may be the problem, and if you did, did you find it a cumbersome procedure? I've got an A7rIII and always thought the way to custom balance on Sony mirrorless to be a PITA. 

Also, how did you track the subjects? I've read and watched online that right now you can only use tracking with the touchscreen, which is impossible when using it inside a housing. 

Thanks!

[GTF8 24]

Hi Elmelodico,

Thanks, glad you like the video!  Lot of turtles on those dive sites, makes life easier for filming them.

I do try to white balance every time with depth changes, maybe sometimes I'm a little lazy, especially if something happens quickly, rather record than do that process, so I'm sure that's the issue that its not spot on with the depths sometimes, very aware of that problem, need to be more disciplined.  I've tried different WB techniques, such as the auto where you set the lock button, so you just need something neutral and toggle the button on/off, which works fine, but takes 5-7 seconds to effect, I usually prefer to WB directly off a tank of another diver or a white slate, both work the same (grey or white), same as topside photography.  I have preprogrammed top right button to WB, and on there I just have two clicks, wb on, then custom, and press.  I notice can also save custom WB, maybe 3 of them, 5-10-15m just for quick changes, but its still not as accurate as manually for every shot of course.

With regards tracking, I always just leave the camera on wide focus AF-C for 99% of my shots, that works perfect for me.  If im shooting Macro, I use the little adjustable square and just move it to the face of the subject, and same AF-C.  Not tried the normal 'tracking' if that's activated only by touch screen as you say, would be interested to know if anyone has figured out how to use that without touchscreen?  I don't see hardly any shots out of focus with the method im using, even for super macro on night dives I have use that same method and most is super sharp, if you want to have a look at that video of A7S3 shooting macro at 120fps in night 'bonfire' diving, the link is here for my YouTube of that:

 

[Aquatic Images 49]

Really nice work, love the edit & music!

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

[matdiver1234 29]

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

[GTF8 24]

Thanks Matt. The website I use for all my music is called ‘Artlist.io’. Annual subscription I think is around 150usd approx. Works well for me as I need music for my work video edits also so saves on buying individual tracks. Glad u like the video. Thanks again.

 

[water buffalo 13]

Man-o-man, that is one excellent video. I really enjoyed it and now I want to go there! 

Your work is outstanding...

[Eransalah 6]

Amazing video can tell me Which tool do you use for exposure?and did you use a red filter with which lens you use for macro thank 

[Eransalah 6]

Amazing video really enjoy to watch 

[Eransalah 6]

On 6/30/2021 at 6:57 PM, GTF8 said:

Just wanted to share and discuss with other video shooters using A7SIII.

Until this trip I have been shooting always in SLOG3, however for this last weekend I tweaked a HLG profile and shot exclusively with that.

I found it fine to use, although colours can be a bit odd to my eye.  Always keen to hear from and learn other Sony shooters settings for underwater video.

Enjoying the process.

All shot in 4K 4:2:2 10 bit, 60fps, PP10, HLG, with A7SIII, 28mm F2 inside WWL-1, using a combination of nitescuba NSV80 lights which I'm currently testing, and my existing Keldan lights.

What iso do you use for HLG because for every picture profile as native iso 

[GTF8 24]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:58 AM, Eransalah said:

Amazing video can tell me Which tool do you use for exposure?and did you use a red filter with which lens you use for macro thank 

I didn't use a red filter for any of this.  I did start off with red filter when using the 16-35 lens a few months ago (other videos from Puerta Galera on my YouTube with that filter), but actually I realised that with the new white balance range on the A7S3 its not necessary (in my view), all of this is shot just making manual white balance underwater with a slate, and using lights with blue filters thereafter if needing light and it seems to grade fine, saves me losing 2 stops of light by adding a red filter.

[GTF8 24]

On 9/7/2021 at 12:38 AM, Eransalah said:

What iso do you use for HLG because for every picture profile as native iso 

Each ISO has native ISO, that's correct, I have attached a chart that shows each one.  For the HLG3 I believe its ISO 2000 for the higher setting, which is what I used throughout this video.  Of course with SLOG3, you get clean files at ISO12,800, so it depends on how deep going, etc, for example as I am using the Sony 28mm F2 lens and WWL-1, if I want to take of the WWL-1 and shoot portraits at wide aperture (which I often do), the SLOG3 wouldn't work, as F2 there would just be far too much light coming in, so its always a choice based on what I want to film.

[Eransalah 6]

Thank for information 

[karlton31 0]

Really nice video , sony a7s looks nice for underwater video ! 
some shots are really nice and the music is nice too, but i think you can improve a little bit your editing easily

[GTF8 24]

19 hours ago, karlton31 said:

Really nice video , sony a7s looks nice for underwater video ! 
some shots are really nice and the music is nice too, but i think you can improve a little bit your editing easily

Thanks.  Of course we can all improve our editing, life is always a learning curve.  Always happy to share ideas and learn from others.  Do you have any work we can see for some improved ideas?  Looking forward to see it!

[dreifish 362]

On 7/2/2021 at 7:25 PM, GTF8 said:

Hi Elmelodico,

Thanks, glad you like the video!  Lot of turtles on those dive sites, makes life easier for filming them.

I do try to white balance every time with depth changes, maybe sometimes I'm a little lazy, especially if something happens quickly, rather record than do that process, so I'm sure that's the issue that its not spot on with the depths sometimes, very aware of that problem, need to be more disciplined.  I've tried different WB techniques, such as the auto where you set the lock button, so you just need something neutral and toggle the button on/off, which works fine, but takes 5-7 seconds to effect, I usually prefer to WB directly off a tank of another diver or a white slate, both work the same (grey or white), same as topside photography.  I have preprogrammed top right button to WB, and on there I just have two clicks, wb on, then custom, and press.  I notice can also save custom WB, maybe 3 of them, 5-10-15m just for quick changes, but its still not as accurate as manually for every shot of course.

With regards tracking, I always just leave the camera on wide focus AF-C for 99% of my shots, that works perfect for me.  If im shooting Macro, I use the little adjustable square and just move it to the face of the subject, and same AF-C.  Not tried the normal 'tracking' if that's activated only by touch screen as you say, would be interested to know if anyone has figured out how to use that without touchscreen?  I don't see hardly any shots out of focus with the method im using, even for super macro on night dives I have use that same method and most is super sharp, if you want to have a look at that video of A7S3 shooting macro at 120fps in night 'bonfire' diving, the link is here for my YouTube of that:

 

The white balance seems to be biased quite a lot towards the red on most of the shots. No idea if that's an issue with the sony color science or you're just white balancing for a deep depth than where you actually end up filming. Perhaps you could try dialing down the red channel in post for a bit more of a neutral look?

[GTF8 24]

5 hours ago, dreifish said:

The white balance seems to be biased quite a lot towards the red on most of the shots. No idea if that's an issue with the sony color science or you're just white balancing for a deep depth than where you actually end up filming. Perhaps you could try dialing down the red channel in post for a bit more of a neutral look?

Thanks for your comment, Its more likely my choice in post production rather than any issue with the colour science, as I often see some amazing graded work shot by other people on the Sony A7SIII with this picture profile.  I tried HLG on the Moalboal video (on my YouTube channel) and this nighttime video was shot on SLOG3.  I will try dialling down the red a bit on next video, see where we are at.  I have been trying to consistently white balance shots and am careful with my grading using Color Finale Pro within FCPX with calibrated monitors etc, but can always learn more for sure!  Appreciate the feedback.

[GTF8 24]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:58 AM, Eransalah said:

Amazing video can tell me Which tool do you use for exposure?and did you use a red filter with which lens you use for macro thank 

For exposure I just use the meter on back of camera, no red filter and for macro I shoot the Sony 90mm, thanks!

 

[Emmeriaa 0]

How do you like the nsv80?

[andywillett 6]

Hi Gary, On your review of the Nitescuba NSV80, I have now bought three NSV60 and one NSV80.

I have a few Chinese video lamps, those are ok and fair value, the Nitescuba lamps are so superior. 

They don't seem to be taking a great market share yet, shame as they are excellent good quality lights. 

If you didn't already know, the lamp heads of the NVS60 and 80 are interchangeable.

Kind Regards

Andy 

[Marc Casanovas 2]

Great video, congrats

[GTF8 24]

Thanks Marc!

[rileym21 0]

Great videos Gary! I've watched them all.  Big inspiration for me. I'm about to purchase a Nauticam housing for my A7Siii, do you feel at all limited on photos or do you mess with photo at all? My focus is on video for sure, but I'm sure I'll try some photos here and there.

Riley

[GTF8 24]

7 minutes ago, rileym21 said:

Great videos Gary! I've watched them all.  Big inspiration for me. I'm about to purchase a Nauticam housing for my A7Siii, do you feel at all limited on photos or do you mess with photo at all? My focus is on video for sure, but I'm sure I'll try some photos here and there.

Riley

Hi Riley, thank you for your kind words. Happy u like the videos. I have no limitations with A7S3 for stills also. It’s really great. You can also use the ‘enhance’ feature in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to 1-click make any image 4x size with no visible loss of quality and still RAW format. It’s a game changing feature for printing. You can also batch process a whole series of images so effectively you have a 48mp camera there. 
 

i also own the new Sony A74 which I use as a b-roll camera for topside work and have also been using that in the same housing. Fits and works perfectly  (also the Sony A7R4 and A1 fit this housing). 
 

I’ll post some shots from A74 filming I did last weekend soon. Just diving again at mo. 

[rileym21 0]

1 hour ago, GTF8 said:

Hi Riley, thank you for your kind words. Happy u like the videos. I have no limitations with A7S3 for stills also. It’s really great. You can also use the ‘enhance’ feature in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to 1-click make any image 4x size with no visible loss of quality and still RAW format. It’s a game changing feature for printing. You can also batch process a whole series of images so effectively you have a 48mp camera there. 
 

i also own the new Sony A74 which I use as a b-roll camera for topside work and have also been using that in the same housing. Fits and works perfectly  (also the Sony A7R4 and A1 fit this housing). 
 

I’ll post some shots from A74 filming I did last weekend soon. Just diving again at mo. 

This is great info! My topside camera is currently Olympus, but it’s for sale and eventually I might grab an old A73 (for topside) so I can share lenses/batteries between cams and streamline my stuff. So so so excited! I’ve been endlessly reading and I’ve settled on the same kit I think you’re running, the WWL1 with 28-60. I’ve only ever taken a GoPro hero 5 underwater. So this is life changing, and I’m changing my life for it!

Edited March 12, 2022 by rileym21