Diversion Images photography services - Sport, commercial, studio, eventDiversion Images photography services - Sport, commercial, studio, event

Testing the Ikelite 5D MKII Housing….

The last time I put a live camera in this housing, it flooded killing the 5D body. Thanks to the bright sparks at Ikelite, they neglected to install an O-Ring on the superwide port body leaving a gap for the ocean to fill. I’m stupid enough to have only tested the housing briefly by dunking it in the SPA for a few minutes. Not this time!!!!

“Camera Dummy” – 2 dive weights (6 lb) wrapped in newspaper. A suitable camera analogue and the newspaper will easily show signs of water

Dummy Camera

Dummy Camera

Test 1 – 30 minuted in SPA with pump running.
Today I installed the dummy camera in the housing and left it in the SPA (15C) for 30 minuted with the pump running. I was not gentle with the housing holding it by the dome port to see if it would come lose. No water at all in the housing. Not a drop. Who would have thought that a correctly assembled housing would work.

SPA test - Pump running

SPA test - Pump running

SPA test - Pump not running

after a good wash-off

Test 2 – Dummy Scuba
With any luck, I’ll be diving Wednesday night off the boat. I’ll take the housing along to see if I can get it to leak. Dummy camera installed.

Test 3 – SPA with live camera

Test 4 – Shore (sure) dive with live camera

Go-Live

Category: camera, gear, geek, housing, ikelite, Scuba, swimming, underwater
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January 11th, 2011 , admin
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Annus horribilis – and its only just started….

The year has not started so well. I lost 4 days work when a HDD failed (My own stupid fault there), and now my new Ikelite housing flooded killing my 5D (again, my stupidity there).

What has this taught me…..Slow down and do things properly. Having all files in only one location is poor practice, and getting on a dive boat with a briefly tested housing is crazy.

Lets get back to doing things properly and with any luck the year will get better.

Category: gear, housing, ikelite, Scuba, underwater
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January 9th, 2011 , admin
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2010 Aust Age Champs – Underwater Camera Setup

From the 5th to the 10th of April, I had the pleasure of working with Duane Hart from Sporting Images at the 2010 Australian Age Swimming Championships. The event brings some of Australia’s best 18 and under swimmers together to claim the national title.

In previous years, we had overhead remotes and remotes in the pool edge port holes, but this year for the first time, we used underwater remote cameras.

The cameras were Canon 1D MK3, MK4 and 5D MK2 (depending on the day and the set-up). The underwater housings are Aquatech and the lens ports used are for the 16-35 and the 15mm fish eye. To trigger the cameras we had one 100′ and 2×20′ Aquatech trigger cables. Duane operated the cameras from the pool deck, triggering the camera to capture the peak of the action.

To position the camera I used my recently acquired SCUBA skills to swim the cameras into place and to set them up. See the video below on how this was done.

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The final results are really great. After some initial teething problems we got the locations and setting perfect for the last 4 nights. Much thanks to Duane for letting me chase this image. There aren’t many companies that are as progressive and challenging as Sporting Images and I congratulate Duane for giving this a go. Cheers to Matt Roberts for his assistance and high contrast focus-specific board shorts. Cheers to Delly Carr for encouraging me to keep going when the first night was rubbish….and for giving me heaps along the way :D . Thanks to Dan and the team at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic centre for letting me in the pool, and finally thanks to John from Swimming Australia for giving the final ok.

Images can be seen at www.sportingimages.com.au

April 13th, 2010 , admin
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Underwater Housing remote trigger and Data Transfer…

This is something I’ve been working on for a few months now, and it’s finally working. My aim was to have a camera underwater and to be able to trigger it with the PocketWizards and to be able to retrieve the data instantaneously.

SETUP :
Aquatech DV4-III, FishEye port
Canon 1D MK3 and Fish Eye
Some homemade cables
Pocketwizard
Laptop

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The data transfer is by far the hardest part of this build. The transfer rates are not too fast with L-JPG taking 8 seconds each and RAW files taking 15 seconds each, but if you are just shooting bursts (Start and finishes) then this is fine.

The first real test will be the National Age Group Swimming with Sporting Images in a few weeks. I have to get the approval of the pool manager and then hope the coaches don’t get too upset by it and we’re a go’er.

Fingers Crossed.

March 24th, 2010 , admin
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2010 ANZ Netball – Media Photos…

I had the pleasure of working with the players from the 2010 ANZ Netball Championships last Friday. I had been contracted to take the media shots of each player during their other media commitments on the day. The players are some of the nicest, and lets admit, tallest, ladies I have ever worked with. Great at following direction and happy to have a little fun when I lost my mind at the end of the day and asked them to stick their tongues out!!

The setup was nice and simple with 2 front lights and one rear 3/4 rim light. All shot on white seamless paper. The lights were the Elinchrom Ranger Quadras connected to the mains. They ran all day faultlessly. I shot tethered to my laptop so the players and I could see what was going on.

I shot a quick video on the 5D to show the room layout, and to see a couple of the more fun photos from the day.

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Much thanks to Michael Bradley from MBPhotowho was a kind boss on the day, Looked after me, bought me sushi and coke and kept me in line.

March 11th, 2010 , admin
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