Upgrading from GoPro, Seeking advice...

I am getting more and more into scuba and the GoPro just isnt cutting it anymore... I currently have a Nikon D850 but really cant justify spending $3000+ on a housing, plus the video capabilities aren't great, so I'm leaning towards getting an RX100vi and the Sony housing (like $280 base).

Can anyone direct me to someone they follow and trust on youtube or website to help get me started with learning the basics of real(not gopro) underwater photography/videography. Also any 'economical' accessories I will need to get going in addition to the camera and housing (lights, dome, holder etc). Its worth noting that I am not a professional, this is just a hobby.

I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks!

RX100 VI and VII won't fit into the Sony housing - MPK-URX100A only fits models I through V(a), with an additional caveat of the first two models ending up with their lens offset from the port center, creating problems with wet lenses. If you want to house an RX100 VI, your options are SeaFrogs Salted Line, Ikelite and Nauticam. Due to its long lens, all of these use interchangeable ports, with a short port allowing you to mount a wet wide lens but restricting lens extension, and a long port allowing full lens extension for macro but vignetting at wide angle. SeaFrogs also offers a universal flat port that works for the entire focal length range but has no provisions for wet lens mounting, and several dome port options. Fantasea has a housing for RX100 VI/VII, but it has a fixed port that is limited to 24-66mm focal range.

However, if you're focused primarily on video, keep in mind that Sony white balance underwater isn't the greatest. It's not particularly relevant when you're shooting stills with strobes, but it is important for video, where you need to white balance inside the camera. For a primarily video shooter, a Panasonic LX10 is probably a better choice to take underwater than a Sony RX100. Its main weakness is wet wide lens compatibility - most wet lenses cause vignetting, restricting you to the heavy and expensive Nauticam WWL-1 - but that aside, it is, by all accounts, an excellent camera. Since it's been on the market for a while, it shouldn't be difficult to pick up a used complete rig at a good discount - for example, this set sold for $1050 .

Barmaglot_07 wrote:

RX100 VI and VII won't fit into the Sony housing - MPK-URX100A only fits models I through V(a), with an additional caveat of the first two models ending up with their lens offset from the port center, creating problems with wet lenses. If you want to house an RX100 VI, your options are SeaFrogs Salted Line, Ikelite and Nauticam. Due to its long lens, all of these use interchangeable ports, with a short port allowing you to mount a wet wide lens but restricting lens extension, and a long port allowing full lens extension for macro but vignetting at wide angle. SeaFrogs also offers a universal flat port that works for the entire focal length range but has no provisions for wet lens mounting, and several dome port options. Fantasea has a housing for RX100 VI/VII, but it has a fixed port that is limited to 24-66mm focal range.

However, if you're focused primarily on video, keep in mind that Sony white balance underwater isn't the greatest. It's not particularly relevant when you're shooting stills with strobes, but it is important for video, where you need to white balance inside the camera. For a primarily video shooter, a Panasonic LX10 is probably a better choice to take underwater than a Sony RX100. Its main weakness is wet wide lens compatibility - most wet lenses cause vignetting, restricting you to the heavy and expensive Nauticam WWL-1 - but that aside, it is, by all accounts, an excellent camera. Since it's been on the market for a while, it shouldn't be difficult to pick up a used complete rig at a good discount - for example, this set sold for $1050 .

Awesome, appreciate the help! Ill look into the LX10 a bit more!

I'm sort of doing the opposite of you.  I was shooting video on a GoPro Hero 3 Black for about 5 years, then upgraded to the LX10/Nauticam.  I'm not super happy with the 4k stabilization out of this camera, on land I'm happy with it, underwater is the problem.  In 1080 it has 5 axis stabilization but you don't get the horizontal level stabilization in 4k.

I've tried adding arms/floats/lights for stability, but it's actually a bit better handheld with just the nauticam hand strap.

I find myself shooting 1080 60 with this camera primarily.  I just picked up a Hero 8 Black yesterday to see how much it's improved over the 3.

I am very picky when it comes to stabilization in my video.  Everything else I like about the LX10.

brousseb wrote:

I'm sort of doing the opposite of you. I was shooting video on a GoPro Hero 3 Black for about 5 years, then upgraded to the LX10/Nauticam. I'm not super happy with the 4k stabilization out of this camera, on land I'm happy with it, underwater is the problem. In 1080 it has 5 axis stabilization but you don't get the horizontal level stabilization in 4k.

I've tried adding arms/floats/lights for stability, but it's actually a bit better handheld with just the nauticam hand strap.

I find myself shooting 1080 60 with this camera primarily. I just picked up a Hero 8 Black yesterday to see how much it's improved over the 3.

I am very picky when it comes to stabilization in my video. Everything else I like about the LX10.

My biggest issues with the GoPro are more about post processing videos in Ppro and pics in lightroom. The quality gets degraded wayy too fast when starting to push the colors, and the noise above iso 200ish drives me nuts.

Stabilization isnt a huge concern of mine right now as I mainly use short cuts in videos and think I should be able to keep the rig steady for a couple seconds at a time, and if need use warp stabilizer.

Makes sense, here are a couple examples of the colour grading I do on the LX10 footage. Manual white balance, no filter, 30-90 feet:

before/after: https://youtu.be/bft2rHaFun8

and here is the finished product: https://youtu.be/F-oK0-Yw3iA

A couple of other things to keep in mind with the LX10:

1) AF-C focusing is completely useless for video on this camera, you have to set it to AF-S.

2) You will have to use the back button focus and pre-set the focus before you shoot (and do this before every shot), the focus will jump around if you let the camera decide where to focus.  You might get lucky if it's a static shot.

3) I have the wheel on the top right of the camera set to custom white balance so it takes about 3 clicks to assign a custom white balance at whatever depth I'm at.

4) You can save some time by creating some LUT's on some footage you shoot at 50-60 feet that you've corrected.  It will give you a good starting point for all your clips.

5) If you're using a wet wide angle lens (almost a necessity, given that the LX10 in 4k is 36mm wide + another 30% tighter due to refraction underwater), you will have to stop down to about f5.6 - f8 to get semi sharp corners, at least on my INON uwl-h100, so even though f1.4 is tempting on this camera for low light, everything but the middle of the image will be super soft.

Feel free to ask me any other questions if you have any.

brousseb wrote:

Makes sense, here are a couple examples of the colour grading I do on the LX10 footage. Manual white balance, no filter, 30-90 feet:

before/after: https://youtu.be/bft2rHaFun8

and here is the finished product: https://youtu.be/F-oK0-Yw3iA

Jesus was that a bull shark!?

7-8 bull sharks;)

I am currently using the Sony RX100Va in a Fantasea FRX100Va housing and lighting is provided by the kraken/weefing 3000 ring light. I am 95% a stills shooter but I wouldn't mind trying some video in the future.

The biggest issue I have with the RX100Va is the lack of back button focus.  I really dislike the half-press for focus then full press for image capture, especially in our semi-cold water.  My last dive the water was about 56 deg F and I had 5mm gloves on.

Also, I wish I would have realized that the Fantasea housing was a "fixed lens port" when I bought it.  Now I am looking to work on wide-angle images and I am trying to decide if I want to spend the money on a screw-on type wet lens or do I want to spend the money on a new housing (Sea Frogs Salted Line) so that I can have BOTH the macro and wide-angle ports available to me.  Right now it is looking like the Salted line with vacuum option can be had for less money than just the wide-angle screw-on lens.

I can share images captured with my set-up if you wish.

Sony RX100Va here

Fantasea FRX100Va here

Kraken Ring Light here

Macro Lens here

Sony RX100Vi and Fantasea housing here

Wide Angle Lens here

You don't really need interchangeable ports for RX100Va. The longer lens of models VI and VII demands them, but the 24-70mm in Va is fine with a fixed port. Keep in mind that a proper wet wide lens - Nautical WWL-1, Kraken KRL-01, Inon UWL-H100, AOI UWL-09, etc - will give you a much wider field of view than your lens is capable of on its own, typically about 130 degrees diagonal, compared to 84 degrees native AoV. When you put the lens behind a flat port underwater, it shrinks further to about 60 degrees due to refraction, and a dome, whether dry (as on the SeaFrogs Salted Line housing) or wet (such as a Meikon wet dome or Backscatter Air Lens) will restore the lenses in-air field of view, but it won't actively widen it - for that, you need additional lens elements.

Dann-Oh wrote:

The biggest issue I have with the RX100Va is the lack of back button focus. I really dislike the half-press for focus then full press for image capture, especially in our semi-cold water. My last dive the water was about 56 deg F and I had 5mm gloves on.

I use this trigger extension with my A6300, makes half-pressing very easy and controllable. I don't dive in water that requires gloves, but I imagine it would help with those too.

Awe man, that thing looks awesome. I need to get a tray and some handles for my set-up.

I'm kind of new to this underwater stuff in terms of lens angle of view. So if I put my RX100 into a fantasea flat port housing then put a wide angle wet lens (the uwl-009f from Fantasea) would I be able to get the field of view I'm looking for? I want to work on wide angle close focus and split shot type photos.

Fantasea UWL-09F over a flat port will give you 130 degrees AoV, which will let you get close to larger subject and light them up with strobes, but it has a rather small front element, which will make split shots difficult. In general, I'm not aware of any wet lenses with large front elements, although Meikon has a 6" wet dome - this will give you a significantly narrower AoV than a UWL-09F, but split shots will be easier.

Awesome.  Many thanks for your response.

Can anyone recommend a less expensive lighting setup that is similar to this one by sealife (http://shop.sealife-cameras.com/r/en/product.php?product_id=70955) ?

sroni21 wrote:

Can anyone recommend a less expensive lighting setup that is similar to this one by sealife (http://shop.sealife-cameras.com/r/en/product.php?product_id=70955) ?

You could try something like this package. You get dual 2500 limen lights with this package for about $700.  If you get the extra T-Bolts (for $5) you can connect a compact housing to the lights. The sola lights are a 60deg beam angle and are apparently video lights.

The kit you linked is $1,000, that only $300 more for dual 4500 lumen lights. these lights have 120deg beam angle are hybrid video/photo lights.

I personally feel the kit you linked is a pretty solid kit, I have been saving up for that kit for some time now. Also, keep in mind that strobes start at about $350-$400 per unit and you're getting 2 of them in your package.