Sony A1E with Sony SPK-TVR1 Sports Housing

Richard Gooderick · November 29th, 2007, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan Avery

I am not on these forums to say that other stuff doesn't exist or work. I am sure the Raynox will do an acceptable job. We simply manufacture a higher quality piece which may or may not be exactly what people are looking for. I hope to provide the most accurate information regarding our product.

Which ever way you go, I hope you get some great video out of it.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

Hi Ryan
Sorry, I appreciated your post and I wasn't trying to insult. Just being objective.
I've got a Century wide angle adaptor, and used it for just about every shot on my Atlantic film, which is an endorsement of your product.

Laurence Kingston · December 2nd, 2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan Avery

I am not on these forums to say that other stuff doesn't exist or work. I am sure the Raynox will do an acceptable job. We simply manufacture a higher quality piece which may or may not be exactly what people are looking for. I hope to provide the most accurate information regarding our product.

Which ever way you go, I hope you get some great video out of it.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

I have a Century Optics zoom through wide angle lense that is just terrible. It is this model:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Converter.html

Your post has me wondering if maybe I just got a bad one.

Richard Gooderick · December 3rd, 2007, 06:15 AM

Hi Laurence

I remember reading your posts after I bought my Century adaptor.

I don't have any previous experience of wide angle adaptors and don't know what's normal.

Here's a photo of a trellis that I took a year ago. It was just a test and I didn't white balance it. Hence the weird colour.

http://web.mac.com/gooderick/Site/Ce...e_Adaptor.html

There is some distortion and the image seems soft away from the centre. It's more noticeable in this still than it is when shooting moving images.

I recently bought a Canon XH A1 with wide angle adaptor from another manufacturer. In a test shoot the distortion at the edge of the image was very noticeable in some shots eg doors bending. It seemed a lot worse than A1E and Century adaptor but I have not had time to test this further yet.

Warren Fraser · December 12th, 2007, 08:33 PM

Richard,

I just purchased the housing and need to make the same mod. Would it be possible for you to add pictures of the mod itself to your .mac image page or email them to me. I too am doing this to shoot on a rolling deck and a rough sea.

Warren Fraser
sv Voyager of Yokohama

Richard Gooderick · December 14th, 2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warren Fraser

Richard,

I just purchased the housing and need to make the same mod. Would it be possible for you to add pictures of the mod itself to your .mac image page or email them to me. I too am doing this to shoot on a rolling deck and a rough sea.

Warren Fraser
sv Voyager of Yokohama

Hi Warren

Here are the photos.
http://web.mac.com/gooderick/Site_2/Welcome.html
My modification is very basic. It does work but I think it would be better to make up an aluminium plate with the screw and pin fixed to that and then attach it to the plastic sled somehow (pop rivets?).

I marked it out carefully and centrepunched the holes before I drilled them (actually I used the tip of a modelling knife to make the pilot holes. Was worried a punch might break the plastic).

The third photo shows the upper surface of the sled plate with the screw and pin protruding through.
The other two show the underside of the sled plate.
You can see that I have made up two rectangular washers. These spread the load of the screw. They also act as spacers because the thread does not run the full length of the screw and the spacers are required in order for the screw to do up tight when mounting the camera.

I think that you can see that the pin is very close to the web. So close in fact that it is offset from the vertical (you can see this in the third photo).
Therefore if you locate the pin in the hole on the underside of the camera and then locate and tighten the screw, the pin is forced upright and locks in place as it is forced against the web on the undersurface of the sled plate. I didn't plan this. It just happened that way.
Both are a push fit in the sled plate.

The pin is made from an old dinghy burgee that I had kept for years in case it might be useful and literally threw in the bin that morning in a fit of tidyness. It is just the right diameter.
I made a spare pin and taped it to the underside of the sled. Hence the white tape in the photo.

To be honest Warren it is a bit of a lash-up. I am no engineer.

Two things to consider when marking out.

1 Getting the holes in the plate in line with the housing so that housing and camera are pointing in the same direction.
2 The fore and aft positioning of the camera. I have placed mine right up against the glass at the front of the housing. It is too far forward.
I think it would be better moved back. Partly so that you can get a wide angle adapter into the housing. Very useful when filming on a boat. Also because the view finder wants to be close to the glass at the rear of the housing so that you can get your eye close enough to see through it.

By the way. Whilst we are talking. A very useful bit of gear that I made up before my atlantic trip was a manfrotto superclamp with brass connector with a universal joint (lockable at any angle) with a tripod plate mounted on that.
I could clamp this to grab handles and stanchions and mount the camera on that for interviews. It worked well.

http://www.videogear.co.uk/index.php...&Submit=Search

Sound was an issue. I used a Seinheisser G2 radio mic, Sanken CS3e shotgun mic and a Rode NTG1 simultaneously. I used an HHB MDP500 for recording separate sound (the two shotguns).

The G2 was excellent but I cracked one of the mics early on in the voyage. It still worked but did not sound as good so I was glad that I had a back up in the Sanken.
I used the Sanken as a second mic for interviews. It was superb.
I used the Rode for ambiance eg waves, rigging. It was not the right choice. The result was OK, not brilliant.

The MDP 500 worked well (although it eat batteries) but I have had problems with it since. I recently recorded seals fighting on a beach with booming surf in the background. The minidisc compression could not cope and distorted horribly.

I don't know what your budget is but I would use a Fostex FR2 LE if I was doing it again.

And I really, really wish I had a stereo mic to catch the ambiance of the boat underway.

The separate sound was not time coded but it was easy enough to sync up in editing and took a long time to lose sync.

Hope this helps. Have a fantastic trip wherever you are going. I'd love to see the film.

Warren Fraser · December 14th, 2007, 05:30 PM

Richard,

Thanks a lot for the information and photos. I too am no engineer, and find visuals help immensely.

I purchased my housing on eBay and expect it to arrive this week. I found a place here that sells the tiny screws and aluminum plate that Graeme Fullick mentioned in a previous post and will try his method, as you recommend.

Thanks for the info on the Manfrotto clamp. I am particularly interested in getting unusual camera angles by rigging the camera and housing to, say, the end of the boom/spin pole for outboard shots, up in the rigging, and using available halyards to raise the gear up high, or even something like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKGup...eature=related

I'm in the process of putting a mic set together and will be using a Sony portable DAT for external recording. Mics are another step up in the steep learning curve for me, so thanks for the audio recommendations.

So, thanks again for your help

Warren Fraser
sv Voyager of Yokohama

Richard Gooderick · December 14th, 2007, 05:48 PM

Yes, have seen the kitesailing video on YouTube too. Amazingly effective but I'm not sure if I want to risk an A1E on the end of a string.
I was going to put it on the end of a pole too and tried to buy a windsurfer mast in the Canaries without luck. However the rolling of the boat was so great for the first two weeks that I think it would have been difficult.
One of the most effective sequences that I shot was an interview at 03.00 about night sailing. Used the infra red for that.
In fact I did buy an IR security light in order to light the boat up at night (the IR of course does not have to emanate from the camera) but the retailer sent me a narrow beam light (I asked for wide angle) with no mounting bracket and it was too close to my departure date to return. Could be interesting though.
Another thing I would say about microphones: wind protection. A Rycote windjammer with big cover going to be essential if you want to get sound in rough weather. Luckily I ignored professional advice that a softie would be sufficient. It was for only some of the time. Rycote is expensive but worth the money. The Rode deadcat is not very effective.
I think that I may be going slightly off topic but I don't think that a new thread about using an A1E on a sailboat would be very popular.
I won't say any more on the matter unless asked!

December 12th, 2007, 08:33 PM	#19
Warren Fraser Tourist Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 2	SPK TRV Mod Richard, I just purchased the housing and need to make the same mod. Would it be possible for you to add pictures of the mod itself to your .mac image page or email them to me. I too am doing this to shoot on a rolling deck and a rough sea. Warren Fraser sv Voyager of Yokohama

December 14th, 2007, 05:30 PM	#21
Warren Fraser Tourist Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 2	Richard, Thanks a lot for the information and photos. I too am no engineer, and find visuals help immensely. I purchased my housing on eBay and expect it to arrive this week. I found a place here that sells the tiny screws and aluminum plate that Graeme Fullick mentioned in a previous post and will try his method, as you recommend. Thanks for the info on the Manfrotto clamp. I am particularly interested in getting unusual camera angles by rigging the camera and housing to, say, the end of the boom/spin pole for outboard shots, up in the rigging, and using available halyards to raise the gear up high, or even something like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKGup...eature=related I'm in the process of putting a mic set together and will be using a Sony portable DAT for external recording. Mics are another step up in the steep learning curve for me, so thanks for the audio recommendations. So, thanks again for your help Warren Fraser sv Voyager of Yokohama Last edited by Warren Fraser; December 14th, 2007 at 05:33 PM. Reason: incorrect link

December 3rd, 2007, 06:15 AM	#18
Richard Gooderick Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: London, UK Posts: 795	Hi Laurence I remember reading your posts after I bought my Century adaptor. I don't have any previous experience of wide angle adaptors and don't know what's normal. Here's a photo of a trellis that I took a year ago. It was just a test and I didn't white balance it. Hence the weird colour. http://web.mac.com/gooderick/Site/Ce...e_Adaptor.html There is some distortion and the image seems soft away from the centre. It's more noticeable in this still than it is when shooting moving images. I recently bought a Canon XH A1 with wide angle adaptor from another manufacturer. In a test shoot the distortion at the edge of the image was very noticeable in some shots eg doors bending. It seemed a lot worse than A1E and Century adaptor but I have not had time to test this further yet.

December 14th, 2007, 05:48 PM	#22
Richard Gooderick Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: London, UK Posts: 795	Yes, have seen the kitesailing video on YouTube too. Amazingly effective but I'm not sure if I want to risk an A1E on the end of a string. I was going to put it on the end of a pole too and tried to buy a windsurfer mast in the Canaries without luck. However the rolling of the boat was so great for the first two weeks that I think it would have been difficult. One of the most effective sequences that I shot was an interview at 03.00 about night sailing. Used the infra red for that. In fact I did buy an IR security light in order to light the boat up at night (the IR of course does not have to emanate from the camera) but the retailer sent me a narrow beam light (I asked for wide angle) with no mounting bracket and it was too close to my departure date to return. Could be interesting though. Another thing I would say about microphones: wind protection. A Rycote windjammer with big cover going to be essential if you want to get sound in rough weather. Luckily I ignored professional advice that a softie would be sufficient. It was for only some of the time. Rycote is expensive but worth the money. The Rode deadcat is not very effective. I think that I may be going slightly off topic but I don't think that a new thread about using an A1E on a sailboat would be very popular. I won't say any more on the matter unless asked!