Messages

@Jay429, Thank you. I was using a Nauticam housing and an 8.5" dome. Even on Macro. Till I can afford the entire macro setup.

@mothaibaphoto, thats a really good idea. I did a few in 16-bit and couldn't tell the difference. But again, things invisible to the naked eye can still rear its ugly head during compression. Ill try to do that for the entire clip and see if its better. Unfortunately the drone and GoPro are still in 8-bit. That's something I won't be able to escape from :-)

@dynalmadman, you're far too kind. Believe me I used to say the same thing and when I read your comment it made my day! I'll be honest with you, all I did before taking it underwater was do trials on land in the worst lighting conditions and mainly tried to recover my work in post as well as tweaking settings when recording. I did it over and over again so that I could be prepared to edit and film in the worst conditions. It helped a lot once submerged. Made it a lot easier to work with and gave me more time to deal with the underwater challenges like colors and filming positions. Thank you for your post. :-)

I've always wanted to try ML and the Canon 5D III underwater and I finally got the chance to do so this September (2015).
My hobby is underwater videography and from my previous experiences I always felt that shooting raw was just as (if not more) beneficial underwater. This is the first time I use raw and the canon camera underwater so there is still much to learn.

The main 2 issues of light loss (full frame advantage on 5dmIII) and the fact that every 10ft (3m) you lose another source/color of light has made this process quite appealing and pleasing for me. I do admit the process in post is time consuming but for me it is worth the extra effort. There is nothing more disappointing than spending so much money on a trip and not getting the full experience on video for others to see.

Im an amateur so this is not pro work but simply what one can achieve given the right tools for a given situation. And I couldn't have done this without ML and the amazing people who made this possible as well as some of the very informative threads on this forum that helped me understand and take note of what is important. Using this knowledge with what I've learned from shooting underwater gave me some good insight before getting in the water . The entire video was shot using only ambient light except for the crab scene.

https://vimeo.com/144209387

More details about the clip are available on my vimeo page.

Workflow:
Canon set to raw ML Module not MLV (needed the speed and not the sound)
Clips checked and marked in/out thru MLV Raw Viewer.
In Lightroom & Capture One for all corrections and enhancements (exported as TIFF 8-Bit)
Compressor to convert to Prores 442
Final Cut for video editing
Motion for text
Compressor to convert to Vimeo recommended settings for upload (30% of actual file size and compression made the IQ suffer banding/loss of sharpness & detail (on heavily edited shots that were not visible before compression) for example: shark clip with title and manta shot at sunset w/ natural light ...

Advice is highly welcomed and my newbie experiences will be calculated for upon next trip when affordable.

That was epic Duuuuude!

very cool! love these types of creative nuances and it takes some proper vision to accomplish!

Bravo! Supergeil Dude!

Hey mothaibaphoto,

Thank you for the insight and the kind words!
I shall do that! I was posting here to get help on the methods and got some good advice actually so I will do as you advise as well.

ok, So I was able to finally emotionally accept this final uploaded compression from the original far better IQ version onto Vimeo.

After trying to compress before uploading several times in H.264 on several Bit Rates online. I found compressing it 50% and leaving it in Prores to get better results post vimeo compression to be the best and final option. please advise if you have a better method since this took over a day on my slow internet connection to upload.  blow is the link, I tried to embed it hope it worked.

Diving Palau, Micronesia using ML raw module (not MLV for CF faster speeds)

https://vimeo.com/144209387

wow!

There is a lot of info there! Very interesting workflow.

I would like to go thru that thread bit by bit and make best of what it has to offer. Specifically the LUT's.

You have been a great help! Thanks again for that!

Hey DeafEyeJedi!

Just read a few topics on MLVFS including the one on this forum after your post.

Very interesting software and seems to be quite useful and time saving! Will be giving it a shot tonight. 

Wonderful tip! Thank you very much. 

This is wonderful Alex!

Thank you for all your efforts on this amazing creation. I would like to mention that my hobby is underwater videography. And any questions i have had in the past have mostly been answered by this forum's topics which I am quite grateful for. And would like to add that the benefits of shooting raw underwater seem IMHO more beneficial than even on land.

The main 2 issues of light loss (full frame advantage on 5dmIII) and the fact that every 10ft (3m) you lose another source/color of light has made this process quite appealing and pleasing for me. I do admit the process in post is time consuming but for me it is worth the extra effort. There is nothing more disappointing that spending so much money on a trip and not getting the full experience on video for others to see.

My experience and benefits:
No need for red filters - cause even more loss of light (lumens) when added
Macro flips are also replaced with magic zoom (unfortunately i realized on my vids that it was not centered and was using V1.1.3 as advised)
You can also take pictures - which has now become such a pleasing addition to my dive experience
Bigger sensor than camcorders and far less expensive that other raw capable video cameras (with smaller sensors)
It's more beneficial to work around and master the limitations present in ML for video on the 5D than using a real video camera when comparing the results.
WB balance is a one button correction in post (especially when you have had the privilege of trying out capture one!)

I will hopefully be able to finish my video of Palau, Micronesia within the next few days and post a link from vimeo onto this site for anyone interested to see what an amature like me has been able to create. But please take into consideration that it is my first video in raw and I am no professional in any way or meaning of the word. I will have it mixed with some GoPro footage and Aerial footage but it will be quite noticeable which is which and is mostly (90%) my raw footage 

My process is the following: Please correct me or educate me if you think I am making a mistake. I have read many topics on this forum so it's pretty similar.

1. Shoot in raw (24p) in 1920x1080
2. Examine the results using ML Viewer (mark my ins and outs or basically what's usable whilst on the viewer) and adding the frame numbers (in/out) to the file name
3. Convert using RawMagic
4. Import into Capture One/Lightroom
5. Do all color corrections and image fixtures here (even lens correction)
6. Export in tiff 8bit (find it is more than good enough when compared to 16 bit) and less time consuming
7. Convert into ProRes 422 (not HQ) in Compressor
8. Import into Final Cut Pro X for turning it into a movie and for image stabilization if needed (does not always help)
9. Export as ProRes 422 and not higher since the video is already way too large for uploading
10. My next process will be to bring it back into Compressor to turn it into a vimeo uploadable format like H.264 and then upload

Ill upload my result soon and try to link it to this post as an update if i figure out how.    I just joined!

Thanks for taking the time to read this!