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Posts Tagged ‘Dive’

Google shares a deep dive into its new HDR+ with Bracketing technology found in its latest Pixel devices

26 Apr

Google has shared an article on its AI Blog that dives into the intricacies of the HDR capabilities of its most recent Pixel devices. In it, Google explains how its HDR+ with Bracketing technology works to capture the best image quality possible through clever capture and computational editing techniques.

To kick off the article, Google explains how its new ‘under the hood’ HDR+ with Bracketing technology — first launched on the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 back in October — ‘works by merging images taken with different exposure times to improve image quality (especially in shadows), resulting in more natural colors, improved details and texture, and reduced noise.’

Using bursts to improve image quality. HDR+ starts from a burst of full-resolution raw images (left). Depending on conditions, between 2 and 15 images are aligned and merged into a computational raw image (middle). The merged image has reduced noise and increased dynamic range, leading to a higher quality final result (right). Caption and image via Google.

Before diving into how the behind-the-scenes work is done to capture the HDR+ with Bracketing images, Google explains why high dynamic range (HDR) scenes are difficult to capture, particularly on mobile devices. ‘Because of the physical constraints of image sensors combined with limited signal in the shadows […] We can correctly expose either the shadows or the highlights, but not both at the same time.’

Left: The result of merging 12 short-exposure frames in Night Sight mode. Right: A single frame whose exposure time is 12 times longer than an individual short exposure. The longer exposure has significantly less noise in the shadows but sacrifices the highlights. Caption and image via Google.

Google says one way to combat this is to capture two different exposures and combine them — something ‘Photographers sometimes [do to] work around these limitations.’ While this works fairly well with cameras with larger sensors and more capable processors inside tablets and laptops to merge the images, Google says it’s a challenge to do on mobile devices because it requires ‘Capturing additional long exposure frames while maintaining the fast, predictable capture experience of the Pixel camera’ and ‘Taking advantage of long exposure frames while avoiding ghosting artifacts caused by motion between frames.’

Google was able to mitigate these issues with its original HDR+ technology through prioritizing the highlights in an image and using burst photography to reduce noise in the shadows. Google explains the HDR+ method ‘works well for scenes with moderate dynamic range, but breaks down for HDR scenes.’ As for why, Google breaks down the two different types of noise that get into an image when capturing bursts of photos: shot noise and read noise.

Google explains the differences in detail:

One important type of noise is called shot noise, which depends only on the total amount of light captured — the sum of N frames, each with E seconds of exposure time has the same amount of shot noise as a single frame exposed for N × E seconds. If this were the only type of noise present in captured images, burst photography would be as efficient as taking longer exposures. Unfortunately, a second type of noise, read noise, is introduced by the sensor every time a frame is captured. Read noise doesn’t depend on the amount of light captured but instead depends on the number of frames taken — that is, with each frame taken, an additional fixed amount of read noise is added.’

Left: The result of merging 12 short-exposure frames in Night Sight mode. Right: A single frame whose exposure time is 12 times longer than an individual short exposure. The longer exposure has significantly less noise in the shadows but sacrifices the highlights. Caption and image via Google.

As visible in the above image, Google highlights ‘why using burst photography to reduce total noise isn’t as efficient as simply taking longer exposures: taking multiple frames can reduce the effect of shot noise, but will also increase read noise.’

To address this shortcoming, Google explains how it’s managed to use a ‘concentrated effort’ to make the most of recent ‘incremental improvements’ in exposure bracketing to combined the burst photography component of HDR+ with the more traditional HDR method of exposure bracketing to get the best result possible in extreme high dynamic range scenes:

‘To start, adding bracketing to HDR+ required redesigning the capture strategy. Capturing is complicated by zero shutter lag (ZSL), which underpins the fast capture experience on Pixel. With ZSL, the frames displayed in the viewfinder before the shutter press are the frames we use for HDR+ burst merging. For bracketing, we capture an additional long exposure frame after the shutter press, which is not shown in the viewfinder. Note that holding the camera still for half a second after the shutter press to accommodate the long exposure can help improve image quality, even with a typical amount of handshake.’

Google explains how its Night Sight technology has also been improved through the use of its advanced bracketing technology. As visible in the illustration below, the original Night Sight mode captured 15 short exposure frames, which it merged to create the final image. Now, Night Sight with bracketing will capture 12 short and 3 long exposures before merging them, resulting in greater detail in the shadows.

Capture strategy for Night Sight. Top: The original Night Sight captured 15 short exposure frames. Bottom: Night Sight with bracketing captures 12 short and 3 long exposures. Caption and image via Google.

As for the merging process, Google says its technology chooses ‘one of the short frames as the reference frame to avoid potentially clipped highlights and motion blur.’ The remaining frames are then aligned with the reference frame before being merged.

To reduce ghosting artifacts caused by motion, Google says it’s designed a new spatial merge algorithm, similar to that used in its Super Res Zoom technology, ‘that decides per pixel whether image content should be merged or not.’ Unlike Super Res Zoom though, this new algorithm faces additional challenges due to the long exposure shots, which are more difficult to align with the reference frame due to blown out highlights, motion blur and different noise characteristics.

Left: Ghosting artifacts are visible around the silhouette of a moving person, when deghosting is disabled. Right: Robust merging produces a clean image. Caption and image via Google.

Google is confident it’s been able to overcome those challenges though, all while merging images even faster than before:

Despite those challenges, our algorithm is as robust to these issues as the original HDR+ and Super Res Zoom and doesn’t produce ghosting artifacts. At the same time, it merges images 40% faster than its predecessors. Because it merges RAW images early in the photographic pipeline, we were able to achieve all of those benefits while keeping the rest of processing and the signature HDR+ look unchanged. Furthermore, users who prefer to use computational RAW images can take advantage of those image quality and performance improvements.’

All of this is done behind the scenes without any need for the user to change settings. Google notes ‘depending on the dynamic range of the scene, and the presence of motion, HDR+ with bracketing chooses the best exposures to maximize image quality.’

Google’s HDR+ with Bracketing technology is found on its Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 devices with the default camera app, Night Sight and Portrait modes. Pixel 4 and 4a devices also have it, but it’s limited to Night Sight mode. It’s also safe to assume this and further improvements will be available on Pixel devices going forward.

You can read Google’s entire blog post in detail on its AI blog at the link below:

HDR+ with Bracketing on Pixel Phones

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Halide’s deep dive into why the iPhone 12 Pro Max is made for ‘Real Pro Photography’

20 Nov

Sebastiaan de With, Co-founder and Designer of the professional iOS camera app Halide, has shared a deep dive blog post into the photographic capabilities of Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max, showing a technical breakdown of all three cameras packed inside the flagship device.

In many of the articles we gathered in our iPhone 12 Pro Max review roundup, reviewers said they didn’t actually notice that big of a difference in image quality between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Max. This came as somewhat a surprise considering how promising the technology in the iPhone 12 Pro Max looked, but without having further information to work with — or a review unit in our hands — it’s all we could go off of.

As it turns out though, the cursory first-looks and reviews didn’t paint the entire picture for what the iPhone 12 Pro Max is capable of. Thankfully, Sebastiaan took matters into his own hands and has provided an incredibly detailed look into why initial reviewers didn’t notice nearly as big a difference as expected and provides a number of examples to showcase what’s actually capable with the new iPhone 12 Pro Max when you use it in a more advanced capacity.

Sebastiaan starts by revisiting the specs that set the iPhone 12 Pro Max apart from all the other iPhone 12 models: a 47% larger sensor, a faster F1.6 lens, improved image stabilization, 87% high ISO sensitivity and a new 65mm (full-frame equivalent) telephoto lens. As impressive as those specs are for a smartphone camera, they don’t mean much without context and examples to back them up.

To that point, Sebastiaan shares the above graphic to show just how much larger the new sensor is compared to the one found in the other iPhone 12 models. While the larger sensor should help with noise, Sebastiaan notes the difference is far less noticable during the day, compared to when the sun starts to set. He uses the below comparison shot to show just how well the iPhone 12 Pro Max (bottom image) handles noise compared to its smaller iPhone 12 Pro (top image) companion. As you can see when viewing the full-size image, it’s clear the photo captured with the iPhone 12 Pro Max (bottom image) holds much better detail in the shadows and doesn’t show nearly as much noise.

Click to enlarge.

Sebastiaan posits that the reason most reviewers didn’t notice the difference in image quality as much is twofold. First, many photos taken by reviewers were done during the day, when high-ISO and larger photosites don’t make nearly as big a difference. Second — and arguably even more importantly — most reviewers were using the stock iOS camera app, which uses various intelligent image processing technology to create the final image, which can soften parts of the image with noise reduction and other artifacts. To see how good the iPhone 12 Pro Max camera was without all of the image processing, Sebastiaan used Halide to capture Raw (DNG) images, which ‘omits steps like multi-exposure combination and noise reduction.’

Click to enlarge.

If you’re wondering just how much of a difference it makes when using the stock iOS Camera app versus a camera app that can capture a Raw image, such as Halide, take a look at the above comparison shot Sebastiaan captured in San Francisco at sunset. Notice the lack of detail in the distant buildings, the muddiness of the windows on nearby apartments and the overall ‘watercolor’ effect that happens when too much noise reduction is applied. Sebastiaan shows multiple other examples that highlight just how much of a difference it can make to use third-party apps capable of capturing Raw images compared to those captured with the stock camera app.

Also tackled in the deep dive is the improvement in image stabilization, which is now sensor-based rather than lens-based, as well as the new 65mm telephoto camera, which offers a slightly longer reach (65mm, full-frame equivalent vs the 52mm full-frame equivalent of other iPhone 12 models)

All in all, Sebastiaan concludes his breakdown by saying the ‘results [are] mind-blowing’ as the developer of a camera app. He summarizes it all saying:

It achieves images previously only seen in dedicated cameras, with sensors four times its size. It allows photographers to get steady and well exposed shots in conditions that weren’t imaginable a year ago. It captures low-light shots beyond anything we’ve seen on an iPhone. By a lot.’

That’s high praise compared to previous reviews, but the data doesn’t lie. To read the in-depth dive (which you absolutely should), head on over to the Halide blog using the link below:

The iPhone 12 Pro Max: Real Pro Photography

You can keep up with the Lux team — Sebastiaan De With, Ben Sandovsky and Rebecca Sloane — on Twitter and download Halide Mark II in the iOS App Store.


Image credits: Photographs/images provided by Halide, used with permission.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Diveroid housing turns your smartphone into a dive computer and underwater camera

22 Nov

A Kickstarter campaign has already gathered over ten times is funding goal for a campaign that aims to produce a smartphone dive camera system that uses your smartphone to take pictures as well as display live data about the dive itself.

Diveroid is an underwater housing kit that comes with a mini dive computer and a app that turn the users smartphone into an underwater camera while using the phones screen to display dive information and maintain a log of the dive. The housing accepts multiple models of smartphone and uses a set of three physical buttons to control the phone. The app connects to the mini dive monitor and the smartphone and displays depth, time and temperature information as well as guiding the diver around precautions such as avoid decompression.

The app takes over the phone’s camera function and offers ultra-wide-angle, wide-angle, zoom and selfie shooting modes, as well as options to record video. A red-filter effect can also be applied in the app to offer real-time preview and recording that compensates for the loss of red at certain depths.

The housing is said to be good for depths of 60m and keeps a track of your dive so it can tell you at what depths each picture was taken. Images can be overlaid with data graphs and the whole dive can be shared as a logbook through the app. When you need to summon a boat the app can send a text message with your exact location.

The campaign page shows the Diveroid kit with accessories attached for lighting the subject

The Diveroid kit is available for $ 249 via the Kickstarter campaign but will retail from $ 418 once it is in full production. The first units are expected to ship in February 2020. For more information see the Diveroid Kickstarter campaign page.


Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Google Pixel 3 interview: technical deep dive with the camera team

11 Oct

Recently, Science Editor Rishi Sanyal had the chance to sit down with two of Google’s most prominent imaging engineers and pick their brains about the software advances in the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Isaac Reynolds is the Product Manager for Camera on Pixel and Marc Levoy is a Distinguished Engineer and is the Computational Photography Lead at Google. From computational Raw to learning-based auto white balance, they gave us an overview of some key new camera features and an explanation of the tech that makes them tick.

Features covered in this video include the wide-angle selfie camera, Synthetic Fill Flash, Night Sight, Super Resolution Zoom, computational Raw, Top Shot and the method behind improving depth maps in Portrait Mode.

These features are also covered in written form in a previously published article here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Not Your Dive Bar’s Pool Table: 13 Modern Game Furniture Designs

12 Oct

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

Most game furniture looks like it belongs in a musty basement smelling of spilled beer and body odor, but high end tables for billiards, foosball, ping pong, shuffleboard and other popular indoor games are made to fit right into luxury environments, sometimes even complete with plated gold details. Some are even works of art in their own right, doubling as sculpture, while others bring games that haven’t changed much in decades a little more firmly into the current century.

Ping Pong FM Interactive Table Tennis Jukebox

This ‘fun musical take’ on table tennis by English designer Mark Wheeler lets you choose a song to set the tempo of your game, and the song only keeps playing as long as you manage to keep the ball in play. Drop it, and your game is over. “Usually music listening experiences are strictly about being as true to the original recording as possible. But why can’t listening to a record be as playful and interactive as a live performance?” says Wheeler.

Luxury Game Tables by Adriano Design

A gold-plated crystalline foosball table is among the ‘luxury’ game options offered by Adriano Design, an Italian-based company operating as both ‘Calma e Gesso’ and ‘TECKELL.’ The Cristallino comes complete with 24-karat-gold plated players – because what else would the owner of a $ 10 million estate put in their game room? Other offerings include the ‘Filotto’ pool table and the Lungolinea ping pong table, all made in the company’s signature crystal-clear glass. They even produce child-sized ‘Angolo’ foosball table models for kids, which spare no stylish details.

Isamu Noguchi Chess Table

Considered a seminal work of early organic modernism, Isamu Noguchi’s chess table is technically a functional sculpture, presented along with a set of game pieces Noguchi also designed. It debuted at ‘The Imagery of Chess’ in 1944, a show organized by Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst. The table was put into production in 1947, but only a few dozen examples exist. One was auctioned in Los Angeles in 2016, selling for over $ 100,000.

Woolsey Shuffleboard Table by Sean Woolsey

Long, narrow and sleek, the Woolsey Shuffleboard Table by designer Sean Woolsey features a rift-sawn white oak top finished with epoxy resin and solid black walnut legs, which hide leg levelers. The table comes with 4 white and 4 black pucks, lots of shuffleboard salt and a magnetic wall mount for the pucks when not in use. Prices, unsurprisingly, start at $ 10K.

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Not Your Dive Bars Pool Table 13 Modern Game Furniture Designs

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[ By SA Rogers in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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A slow motion dive onto a trampoline covered with mouse traps

15 May

You’ve said it to yourself at least 100 times: ‘Hey, if only I had a trampoline, and maybe 1,000 mouse traps, I could have a jolly good time by climbing up a ladder and throwing myself on top of them all.’

We understand this is a bucket list item for an awful lot of people. After all, with trampolines readily available online, and mouse traps that can be ordered in bulk, why the heck not? Of course, if you’re being really honest with yourself, you’ll admit that the only thing holding you back from acting out this all-too-common fantasy is not having a $ 100,000 Phantom Flex 4K camera so that you share the experience in super-slow-motion on social media.

Thankfully, the Slow Mo Guys are around to help. It took them four hours to set everything up, and just a few seconds to take the plunge, but with super-slow-motion we get to see every detail.

Of course, this got us curious. If you had access to a Phantom Flex 4K, what would you shoot in slow motion?

 

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Deep dive: the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II is an underwater ace

19 Jul

Canon 1Dx Mark II Underwater Camera Review

By Backscatter Staff

Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo is the largest underwater imaging equipment supplier in the world. They love the water, and they personally dive and shoot with the gear they sell. This article originally appeared on their website and is reproduced here with their permission.

Backscatter is fortunate to have a large customer base of professional underwater filmmakers. This year our conversations on 4K cinema have revolved around three cameras: Red Weapon/EPIC Dragon, Sony a7R Mark II, and the new Canon EOS-1DX II. We’ve spent many hours underwater with each of these cameras and this article compiles our Canon 1DX II tests from four uniquely skilled underwater professionals.

Canon 1Dx Mark II underwater housing system configured for wide angle.
Nauticam NA-1DXII Underwater Housing, Nauticam 8.5 inch Dome Port, Keldan 8,000 Lumen Video Lights,Canon 1Dx Mark II Camera, Canon 8-15mm Fisheye Lens.

Who is this camera for?

If you’re both an underwater photographer and filmmaker, our test results confirm the Canon 1DX II is hands down the greatest camera we’ve tested to date. It’s a no compromise professional photography camera capable of shooting both 20MP stills at 14fps and 4K 60p video in incredibly low light. While it doesn’t offer the raw video and flexibility of a RED, it shoots broadcast quality 4K motion at a fraction of the size and cost and out performs favorites such as the Sony A7 series in low noise when tasked with the extreme requirements of underwater white balance.

Backscatter has spent over 20 years finding the best underwater cameras and we’ve learned that a chart-topping land camera is not always the best underwater camera. The new Canon 1DX Mark II is a good example. While leading groups such as DxOMark give it a ranking of 21st place, we give the Canon 1DX MK II a clear first place position for underwater applications.

The high ISO and high bit rate of the Canon 1Dx II combine to make smooth blue water transitions without banding or red channel noise even at extreme underwater white balance settings of 50,000K+. This video was shot with Canon 1DX II, Canon 8-15mm lens, and ISO settings from 320-6400. Select HD playback of 4K for full experience. Video by Backscatter staff Berkley White.

Real-world underwater low light performance

ISO performance results can vary greatly between underwater and land environments. Underwater we are forced to use extreme white balance settings of 30,000K – 50,000K or swim around with 10,000 Lumen lights just to illuminate a subject 3 feet from the camera. These underwater requirements can turn land camera test results upside down.

Our previous tests showed the Canon 1Dc was a top performer with a maximum of ISO 1250 for images in blue water and a maximum of ISO 2500 when shooting in high contrast or artificial light. The new Canon 1DX MK II now opens up blue water scenes to ISO 2500 and high contrast shots such as caves or wrecks in ambient light up to ISO 6400 even at extreme white balance settings.

White balance is less of an issue for underwater photography as raw files are easily corrected in post. For this application we do agree that cameras such as the Sony A7 series and Nikon D810 offer better low light performace, but we found the Canon 1DX II’s combination of great white balance capabilities, high bit rate video, and great ISO performance make it the best performing camera for photographer / videographer professionals.

This video was shot at 50 feet underwater with only a manual white balance and no artifical light. Canon remains king when it comes to nailing color underwater with a manual white balance. The live autofocus of the Canon 1DX II was able to stay focused on this grouper, even at lips to lens distances with thin depth of field. Shot with Canon 1DX II and Canon 8-15mm lens. Select HD playback of 4K for full experience. Video by Backscatter Pro Team member Erin Quigley.

The simplicity of underwater white balance – without filters or lights

Most underwater videographers have preferred Canon cameras for a good reason. Red light is lost within the first 10 feet underwater and you’re quickly left with nothing but the blues. To make whites appear white in ambient light, you’ll need an extreme white balance setting of 30,000K – 50,000K or more. Currently only Canon DSLRs offer this extreme white balance range to produce brilliant underwater color in-camera. As our previous testing shows, Sony cameras such as the entire A7 series are unable to white balance below 10 feet without a red filter on the lens as it is limited to 9,900K. Required filter use makes shooting in mixed lighting difficult or logistically impossible underwater. Our latest tests with the new Nikon D500 revealed it to be the best Nikon to date, but it often takes 10 to 20 attempts to register an underwater white balance at depth. RED cameras can white balance without a filter, but even modified with a H2O ELPF can’t match the rich blues that are so easily produced with Canon cameras. 

When performed correctly underwater, a manual white balance with the Canon 1DX II will almost eliminate the need for color correction in post and not burden the underwater videographer with filter maintenance or the requirement to always keep subjects within 3 feet of even the brightest underwater lights. If you want to keep it simple underwater, nothing beats a camera that produces great underwater color with a manual white balance.

While Canon’s new autofocus system stunned us in wide angle and on-land tracking tests, it’s still not quite there for real world underwater macro without further experimentation. Stay tuned for our new tests. Video by Backscatter staff Rusty Sanoian.

Autofocus with underwater cinema? Almost!

Canon’s new Dual Pixel Autofocus performed incredibly well on land and we were excited to put it to the test underwater. This new autofocus system includes Flexizone Mode which offers a manually positioned zone at any point on the screen while the new AF Tracking Mode allows the focus zone to follow a moving subject across the frame. Experienced underwater videographers know that autofocus has only spelled certain death with all large sensor cameras to date. Thus, we were stunned to discover that Flexizone AF Mode was not only fast but extremely accurate in underwater wide angle scenes. For example, Erin Quigley’s video of the grouper was shot in full AF Servo mode even at close focus and low depth of field. We were even able to start a clip two meters away from a subject and push in until the subject touched the dome with smooth focus throughout. Flexizone AF Mode was the most accurate and responsive system we’ve seen for underwater wide angle.

We hoped AF Tracking Mode would shine with the razor thin depth of field in underwater macro scenes. This mode worked surprisingly well on land, but was not a slam dunk underwater. First, underwater housings don’t yet offer the ability to use the touchscreen to select focus points and require the user to position the focus zone with the joystick and activate with the set button. Secondly, water motion and passing particles seemed to cause the focus to hunt enough that we preferred to set and lock focus for most macro subjects. While some of Rusty Sanoian’s Monterey macro video used AF Tracking Mode, the majority was captured by locking focus before each shot. We are currently testing lowering the secondary menu options that Canon has cryptically named “When Active” and “AF Speed” to see if we can make AF Tracking a reliable function for underwater macro.

Experienced underwater videographers should also note that the Canon 1Dx Mark II default setting is for Movie Servo AF to be enabled and thus the camera will AF continuously even when not recording. We recommend modifying the custom controls menu to reprogram the Set or the front Function button to Pause Movie Servo AF and always monitor the LCD to verify AF is paused during low contrast pans. Further, it’s important to note that Pause Movie Servo AF will sometimes turn off after the camera goes to sleep or is cycled on and off causing unwanted AF activation. Underwater camera operators might find it best to turn Movie Servo AF off when shooting a full dive in very low contrast conditions.

Videos shot at 60p then slowed down to 30p has the effect of adding more drama to the image. More importantly, underwater shooters can’t always set up a tripod on a pristine reef and slow motion helps us eliminate camera shake for hand held sequences. Video by Backscatter Pro Team member Dustin Adamson.

Why is 4K 60fps amazing for underwater video? Stability!

We’ve all fallen in love with slow motion videos and the hidden world that is exposed when we slow down real time. The Canon 1DX II would not be considered a slow motion camera on land, but 60fps and 120fps video is about all we need in the fluid underwater environment. On land it may be easy to mount a camera to a tripod for rock steady footage, but we can’t always drop a tripod on a pristine reef. Slowing down reality helps us add stability to our shots. Maybe that clip of the mother humpback with her calf caught you unexpectedly and you had some camera shake? Slowing your 60fps video to 30fps will double your clip length and smooth out your camera wobbles. Maybe you were fighting your tripod when a tiny jaw fish was aerating his eggs? Playback your video at 30fps to get 2x the time on a great macro behavior shot with less camera shake. You’ll pay a price on hard drives when shooting higher frame rates, but you’ll double your chances to get the shot.

Cons of large file sizes and issues with new CFast cards

The Canon 1DX II is outfitted with (1) CF and (1) CFast card slot. All 4K 60P recording longer than 10 seconds must be recorded to the new CFast card. At a blistering 6GB per minute, you’ll need to buy 256GB CFast cards to get roughly 40 minutes of recording time per dive. Newcomers to low compression 4K will also need to upgrade their portable and home hard disks in a major way. Hard drives are inexpensive these days, but CFast cards are bleeding edge and still demand a premium price.

Canon recently issued a firmware update to fix issues with Sandisk CFast cards. Our test pilots didn’t experience any of these Sandisk issues, but one had a catastrophic issue with a Lexar 256GB card that was unrecoverable. Currently Backscatter is only recommending Delkin 256GB CFast cards as they have been the only cards without reported issues. Stay tuned for more feedback from the field.

Which 4K camera is best underwater? 

Canon 1DX II VS. SONY A7 SERIES CAMERAS

In an era where airline baggage fees have people compromising with smaller cameras, the mirrorless Sony a7R Mark II has been a crowd favorite for good reason. Its large sensor produces beautiful low noise 42MP stills, 4K 30p video, and a complete system is easily carried on a plane all at a great price. It performs best when shooting macro scenes where features such as focus peaking and super 35 mode really shine. The Sony a7R Mark II becomes difficult to use for underwater wide angle. The above-mentioned inability to white balance without a filter makes shooting with or without lights on the same dive almost impossible. Advanced photographers will miss an optical viewfinder when trying to compose wide-angle scenes at upward angles. In these situations the mirrorless screen overexposes and only provides a guess on classic underwater photo compositions. Filmmakers will greatly prefer the 800mbps data rate and 60fps of the Canon 1DX II over the Sony’s 100mbps and 30fps when scaling to larger projects. For most people the choice between these two cameras will be a mater of budget, physical size, and ability to overcome the limitations of the Sony a7R Mark II. 

Canon 1DX II VS. RED EPIC DRAGON

If your project has the budget, the RED EPIC DRAGON remains the ultimate “fix it in post camera.” RED continues to offer the greatest dynamic range, bitrate, and lens selection. If your project has skilled editors and colorists, they’ll prefer the flexibility that raw video offers to correct shooting errors and ability to color match a project across a wide range of unpredictable natural light sequences. The H2O OLPF filter and Dragoncolor 2 color space have significantly helped RED reproduce underwater color, but we’d like to see more underwater performance in a system in this price range. While RED remains king of large budget projects, the Canon 1DX II will certainly be the top pick for streamlined underwater productions. Based on our tests, the Canon 1DX II offers better saturated blues and overall lower noise in the blue light (red light starved) underwater environment. Assuming the proper white balance and exposure is attained while in water, the 1Dx Mark II footage looks fantastic out of the camera and is ready to pass to the Director or Producer in the field eliminating the need for expert level grading. If your project is heavy underwater and you have a medium to small budget, the 1Dx Mark II is an easy win.

Canon 1Dx Mark II underwater housing configured for macro.
Nauticam NA-1DXII Underwater Housing, Nauticam Flat Port, Nauticam SMC Macro Lens, Dive & See 5 inch Monitor, Light & Motion Sola Video 2500 Lumen Lights, XIT404 Tripod Plate, XIT404 Tripod Legs, Canon 1Dx Mark II Camera, Canon 100 IS Macro Lens.

We know you have questions – give us a call!

The team here at Backscatter is just like you. We want to spend the least on our personal gear, but still get the most future-proof camera system available. Give our cinema experts a call. We’re happy to walk you through all of the options and guide you towards the best camera for your goals and budget. 


Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo is the largest underwater imaging equipment supplier in the world. Since 1994, Backscatter has supported sport divers, filmmakers, and production companies with gear and technical support from its locations in Monterey, California and Derry, New Hampshire. Backscatter is far from a typical retailer and lives by its motto, “We dive, shoot, and service everything we sell” by publishing hundreds of detailed gear reviews from first hand experience and offering instructional seminars and trips around the world.

Backscatter is the only US retailer with a complete in-house warranty service center for all major underwater brands. Backscatter is the US distributor for Olympus in the scuba diving retail channel and also manufacturers its own line of underwater camera accessories such as the FLIP system of color correction optics for GoPro cameras. For more about Backscatter or articles on equipment and technique, please see http://www.backscatter.com

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Ricoh adds Mermaid mode and deeper dive to Japan-only WG-40 and WG-40W

29 Sep

Ricoh has introduced a pair of underwater cameras to its WG range that feature enhanced color control for still and movie photographers. The Ricoh WG-40 and WG-40W, which are being released only in Japan at the moment, are very much like the current Ricoh WG-30 and WG-30G models, but offer a new Mermaid mode that boosts contrast and reds when used underwater. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Dive in: Waterproof compact group test posted

17 Jun

underwasser2014-copy-flatfinal2.jpg

For those of us here in the Northern Hemisphere summer is upon us. We’re celebrating the arrival of longer days and seaside vacations with our annual waterproof compact group test. This year’s test includes the Canon PowerShot D30, Nikon Coolpix AW120, Olympus Tough TG-3, and Ricoh WG-4 GPS. See which of these rugged compacts came out on top.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Deep Dive: Inside Benjamin Von Wong’s shipwreck photo shoot

13 Jun

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Benjamin Von Wong isn’t afraid of a little drama. His work incorporates elements of fantasy, turning models into otherworldly creatures and fire-breathers. So who else might you expect to find at the helm of an underwater shoot with two models, a team of divers and a shipwreck? Yep, he went there. Take a look at some of the photos and watch a behind the scenes video to see how he pulled it off. See gallery

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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