2 Underwater HD videos shot in Indonesia

[Dave Allen]

The below two part video is the 4th video I have ever shot.

I am less into the videocam and more into the critters, but I suspect this is the right place to balance that equation.;) This community rocks!

HDV, Underwater, Bankga Island, Mimpi Indah Resort, Indonesia Part 1

HDV, Underwater, Bangka Island, Mimpi Indah Resort, Indonesia Part 2

[Vidar Vedaa]

Hello Dave

I must say you make realy nice video here.The macros are realy good.
Shud love to been to this fantasic wahter.



Best Regards
Vidar Vedaa


Weblink: Info-home


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[Dave Allen]

Thanks for the kind words Vidar, but I like to say that is Mother Nature, and I am just lucky enough to be one of her messengers.

Those two videos were shot with a +3 single element flip down diopter I have since switched to a dual element achromatic screw on +3.5 diopter made by Schneider Optics in Germany. I am editing some footage shot in Anilao, Philippines tomorrow, and one of the subject is a bobtail squid, and amazing animal about the size of each letter here.

[Vidar Vedaa]

Hi Dave

I must fore shore say whit the video you make here,you must take a luck
at the UWOL-Challenge here in this forum.I think your film whit good Wo and
fantactic picture will make you good player in the Challenge.

Lock forword to see more of you work!!!



VJV.

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[Dave Allen]

I am almost done editing a 16 minute HDV video shot underwater in Anilao....and shortly I will be doing another underwater production in Bohol, Philippines.

[Mike Gorski]

WOW! I love periodically checking this portion of the forum to hopefully find a new thread that shares video much like what you have done and produce a smooth and enriching video to the eye. Out of curiosity did you get a few shots that were of great angle, not so much distorted but to give that vast "openness" feeling? I'm not sure what the topography or how deep your dives were but that was one thing that I picked up on that wasn't present. However the unique macro shots, and I'm a HUGE macro shot fan were superb. Your one lucky person to A) be scuba diving in a remote highly unique area but B) with an amazing underwater set up! Jealous! :-O Thanks for sharing!

[Paul Cronin]

Thank you Dave for sharing your fantastic work with all of us.

[Dave Allen]

Mike, I shot some wide angle footage at Verde Island in the Philippines 8 months ago. The footage was not usable as there was some black noticeable specks on the footage.

I just returned today from Panglao Island in Bohol, in the Philippines where i went specifically to shoot some wide angle footage off Balicasag island.

This time I removed the dome port to clean off what I thought was lens debris, but it turns out some of the black cement used by the port manufacturer to secure internal lenses is flaking off and has deposited itself inside the port. I also noticed two drops of water on the inside of the exterior dome shell. The moral of the story, I travel 6000 miles to shoot some stunning wide angle video only to be confined to macro again. The port will be returned to the manufacturer and I will take some photos first where you can actually see the black cement coming off.

I did manage to get some really cool macro footage of some soft coral crabs about 1/8" large as well as some crabs that look like arrow crabs but are far smaller and more spindly.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Dave, these scenes were gorgeous and sharp as could be. I've never seen video quality played back directly on Vimeo that was so good. The downloaded version will be even sharper, I'm sure. Thanks for making the download available to Vimeo subscribers.

[Bryce Comer]

Awsome pictures Dave,
Like Vidar said, you should come over to the UWOL contest & show us some more of your stuff. I really should get to bed, have to be up early in the morning, but i couldn't stop watching your videos, they were captivating.
Well done,

Bryce

[Dave Allen]

Again, thanks guys, I am lucky enough to be able to bring Mother nature to people.

Asia is the best diving in the world, and the Philippines is one of the best dive destination values.

One of the reasons though why Asia has such an incredible variety and density of fish, corals and invertebrates is because the waters are nutrient laden and thus support such a diverse and dense bio-load. The result of this is reduced water visibility compared to nutrient starved waters, so wide angle opportunities are not as extensive.

This Sunday should see the output of our Anilao, Philippines HDV video now 20 minutes long and we'll upload it to Vimeo as well as our FaceBook groups, the latter of which streams HD content surprisingly well. The background music is more dramatic and edgy and we have a Motion intro template that is sort of slick.

Bryce, I think the underwater video competition thing restricts submitters to 5 minutes or less so that is the hangup.

I just got back 3 weeks ago from a review I just did of a resort on Panglao island in Bohol, Philippines. This footage will have Tarsiers, the Chocolate Hills, the Caves of Danao area as well as underwater footage of a weird commensal crab with polyps going on it that matched the seafan polyps they reside on. I saw plenty of tiny commensal crinoid shrimp but could not get any suitable shots of them. Elusive buggers!

I was able to weasel in for free an assistant video cameraman friend who shot in SD some footage on our dives where a large frogfish decided I was a more suitable rock to perch on than the rope we found him on so he swam over to me, swam up my stomach and perched facing upwards on my chest as I just sat there on my knees.

It takes me forever to stumble my way through Final Cut Pro editing but when it is ready I will post a link.