Building an A7Siii rig!

[rileym21 0]

Hi all

New member here, and I'm finally taking the steps to get my A7Siii underwater with me. I'm leaning towards the items below and would love to hear any input! I'll be 99% video and blue water diving is my main goal with this setup (trying to get the most versatile setup in one lens). Beginning in Cabo San Lucas to get my PADI Instructor later in 2022 and after that considering Philippines / Indonesia full time. I plan to document and share this journey with the A7Siii above and below water on my YouTube channel (getting this set up now). WetPixel has already been a fantastic source of information and inspiration, thank you!

• A7Siii (already own & use)
• Nauticam housing (haven't purchased yet)
• Sony 28-60mm lens (already purchased used)
• WWL-1 (haven't purchased yet)
• Lights are still to be determined (still so much to research/learn on lights)
• Beginning this without an external monitor, with practice I hope I can do this without one!

Let me know what you think! I'll share my progress here if I can manage, or I'll add my YouTube link soon which would be much more efficient.

Cheers!

Riley

Edited March 14, 2022 by rileym21

[ChrisRoss 150]

The WWL-1 is indeed versatile, when you say bluewater I assume you are talking big animals.  The first comment I would have is making sure you are not leaving yourself short of reach, at the long end you are 21mm equivalent focal length which means 2m from the subject the frame is about 3.5m wide.  I don't know how familiar you are with your proposed subjects but is worth thinking about.  I guess video has less need of frame filling shots than stills.

I would also think about getting your housing trimmed to make your job easier to get stable footage.  That may be a question worth asking on the video forum.

[rileym21 0]

14 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

The WWL-1 is indeed versatile, when you say bluewater I assume you are talking big animals.  The first comment I would have is making sure you are not leaving yourself short of reach, at the long end you are 21mm equivalent focal length which means 2m from the subject the frame is about 3.5m wide.  I don't know how familiar you are with your proposed subjects but is worth thinking about.  I guess video has less need of frame filling shots than stills.

I would also think about getting your housing trimmed to make your job easier to get stable footage.  That may be a question worth asking on the video forum.

Thanks for the tips Chris! I will be starting filming video in Cabo San Lucas and continuing on after that to Philippines, Indo, & Thailand. So I don't have any specific animal per say, but trying to have a kit that can do as much as possible with only one lens setup. Macro isn't really a priority at all for me. I'm thinking the bait balls and sea lions, & humpbacks in Cabo, corals, schools of fish, and cuttlefish in SE asia would be really fun. I can't really verify if the 28-60 & WWL-1 will do what I want until I try it. I've looked everywhere and seem to really enjoy the video content I can find coming from this combination, no way to be sure though (I guess).

I'm sure trimming the housing will be very important as you said, I have seen bad trim issues cause problems and fatigue.

Edited March 15, 2022 by rileym21

[Blakerunner57 1]

Hi Riley,

I actually just took delivery of this same package, though I have not gotten in wet yet.  I have Keldan lights from my previous package.

I'm with you on holding off on an external monitor for now.  I totally understand the advantages, but dang that thing is big!  Do I really want to be dragging that kind of package around with big currents? I think not.  I got used to filming (I do mostly video) with just the camera LCD screen when I was shooting with my Sony a6300.

I too got the Sony 28-60 with the WWL-1b with 130 degrees angle of view.  The cheap price on the Sony lens gave me pause, but Nauticam says the results with the WWL-1b will be sharper (especially in the corners) than using a really good prime lens and a dome port, which I have been using up till now.    

I am going to be trimming it out this week, so I am eager to see what you  come up with, and I will share what I end up doing.  My last Sony a6300/Nauticam/Keldan/Sony 10-18mm/Dome Rig was so nicely balanced I could shoot with two fingers.

I have the smaller Keldan 4x lights.  Been experimenting with different LEE cinematography blue filters to get the lights to match better with ambient white balance at depth.

Please keep us updated on how things are going.

 

Best,

Blake

[rileym21 0]

11 hours ago, Blakerunner57 said:

Hi Riley,

I actually just took delivery of this same package, though I have not gotten in wet yet.  I have Keldan lights from my previous package.

I'm with you on holding off on an external monitor for now.  I totally understand the advantages, but dang that thing is big!  Do I really want to be dragging that kind of package around with big currents? I think not.  I got used to filming (I do mostly video) with just the camera LCD screen when I was shooting with my Sony a6300.

I too got the Sony 28-60 with the WWL-1b with 130 degrees angle of view.  The cheap price on the Sony lens gave me pause, but Nauticam says the results with the WWL-1b will be sharper (especially in the corners) than using a really good prime lens and a dome port, which I have been using up till now.    

I am going to be trimming it out this week, so I am eager to see what you  come up with, and I will share what I end up doing.  My last Sony a6300/Nauticam/Keldan/Sony 10-18mm/Dome Rig was so nicely balanced I could shoot with two fingers.

I have the smaller Keldan 4x lights.  Been experimenting with different LEE cinematography blue filters to get the lights to match better with ambient white balance at depth.

Please keep us updated on how things are going.

 

Best,

Blake

Thanks for the reply Blake!

It sounds like we're coming to the same conclusions, you're just several steps ahead of me. Do you really love the Keldan 4x lights? They look really nice, but I haven't committed to buying lights that expensive yet.  Do you have any links to your content with the a6300 or anywhere you'll be sharing your A7Siii content? I'd be excited to see it!

Best

Riley

[Blakerunner57 1]

Hi Riley,

When I got the Keldans 5 years ago they were really the only good lights out there in the marketplace.  Now, with China, there are probably less expensive good options, but I don't now what they are.  I will say this: Recently when I emailed Keldan about the Blue filters with some questions, I got a personal email back from the owner himself explaning things.. That's good service! and I appreciate supporting somebody like that.

Here's a video with the old a6300 system and ONE of the Keldan lights.

 

[rileym21 0]

On 3/29/2022 at 4:41 PM, Blakerunner57 said:

Hi Riley,

When I got the Keldans 5 years ago they were really the only good lights out there in the marketplace.  Now, with China, there are probably less expensive good options, but I don't now what they are.  I will say this: Recently when I emailed Keldan about the Blue filters with some questions, I got a personal email back from the owner himself explaning things.. That's good service! and I appreciate supporting somebody like that.

Here's a video with the old a6300 system and ONE of the Keldan lights.

 

Hey Blake! This is a great video and thank you for sharing! Today I finally placed the order for my new camera housing and WWL-1B. Sooooo stoked and can't wait to start using it. I am beginning with ambient light only just to keep it simple. Lights will come later for me. 

[rgilkes 11]

Great choice. I've been shooting on the a7SIII for a little over a year now and prior to that an a7RII. White balance on the a7SIII is fantastic and having the dual gain kick in at 12800 iso really helps in low light. I don't use an external monitor and frankly have never felt the need to for video. For lights, I use 2x Sola Pro 15Ks, which are great lights. You can see some of my a7SIII stills and videos on my Instagram: https://instagram.com/robgilkestv

Good luck!!

Edited April 21, 2022 by rgilkes

[TimG 62]

Nice video, Blake. 
 

Is it East Coast Divers who run trips to Turtle Reef?

[jplaurel 46]

On 3/14/2022 at 3:37 PM, rileym21 said:

Hi all

New member here, and I'm finally taking the steps to get my A7Siii underwater with me. I'm leaning towards the items below and would love to hear any input! I'll be 99% video and blue water diving is my main goal with this setup (trying to get the most versatile setup in one lens). Beginning in Cabo San Lucas to get my PADI Instructor later in 2022 and after that considering Philippines / Indonesia full time. I plan to document and share this journey with the A7Siii above and below water on my YouTube channel (getting this set up now). WetPixel has already been a fantastic source of information and inspiration, thank you!

• A7Siii (already own & use)
• Nauticam housing (haven't purchased yet)
• Sony 28-60mm lens (already purchased used)
• WWL-1 (haven't purchased yet)
• Lights are still to be determined (still so much to research/learn on lights)
• Beginning this without an external monitor, with practice I hope I can do this without one!

Let me know what you think! I'll share my progress here if I can manage, or I'll add my YouTube link soon which would be much more efficient.

Cheers!

Riley

The Sony 28-60 is actually an excellent little lens, considering that it's such an inexpensive and cheaply-built little thing. Works really well with the WWL-1B on Sony full frame cameras. My advice is that, if you plan to travel with it, buy two of them. When I got my first one, I accidentally dropped the camera with it mounted and the barrel extended from just 1 foot onto a thickly carpeted floor. The barrel jammed. I sent it to Sony, and they said it could not be repaired. So it's a very fragile little lens. You can buy them all day long used on eBay or on B&H for around $300-325 or so.

[rileym21 0]

47 minutes ago, jplaurel said:

The Sony 28-60 is actually an excellent little lens, considering that it's such an inexpensive and cheaply-built little thing. Works really well with the WWL-1B on Sony full frame cameras. My advice is that, if you plan to travel with it, buy two of them. When I got my first one, I accidentally dropped the camera with it mounted and the barrel extended from just 1 foot onto a thickly carpeted floor. The barrel jammed. I sent it to Sony, and they said it could not be repaired. So it's a very fragile little lens. You can buy them all day long used on eBay or on B&H for around $300-325 or so.

Hi JP, I have been thinking the same thing recently actually. I bought my 28-60 used for $250 and everything is going to be depending on it.  I actually just received my housing, WWL1, and accessories yesterday!

Edited May 4, 2022 by rileym21

[dreifish 362]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:41 PM, Blakerunner57 said:

Hi Riley,

When I got the Keldans 5 years ago they were really the only good lights out there in the marketplace.  Now, with China, there are probably less expensive good options, but I don't now what they are.  I will say this: Recently when I emailed Keldan about the Blue filters with some questions, I got a personal email back from the owner himself explaning things.. That's good service! and I appreciate supporting somebody like that.

Here's a video with the old a6300 system and ONE of the Keldan lights.

 

What depth are the wide angle shots at and is this using the Keldan red filter, or just A6300 manual white balance?

Colors are pretty good, but to me at least it looks like the scenes are 99% lit by ambient light without the Keldan light actually contributing anything. If this is short in 15-20 feet of water, then most likely the ambient sunshine is completely overpowering any artificial light from one <20000 lumen torch. I wouldn't rely on this video as evidence that one video light is all you need, or makes for a good investment