Let's roll!

Ordered online barely two days ago, this morning a box full of goodies was delivered at my doorstep :o)


• Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000 camcorder (642€), including:
+ DB-L50 3.7V 1900mAh lithium-ion battery
+ SanDisk Ultra II 2GB SD memory card
+ IR remote control
+ docking station charger
+ AC adaptor & power cord
+ USB connection cable & adaptor
+ HDMI connection cable
+ D-AV & S-AV connection cables
+ microphone adaptor cable (from 2.5 to 3.5mm)
+ lens cap
+ wrist strap
+ soft polstered pouch
+ user manual
− useless* DVD with MS Windows software

• SanDisk Extreme III 8GB SDHC memory card (60€), including:
+ MicroMate USB card-reader
+ neoprene pouch
− useless* mini-CD with rescue software

• Lowepro Edit 100 camcorder bag (16€)

• Velbon CX-480 video tripod (33€), including:
+ carry bag

Burntimes

Deep inside a cave is not exactly the best place to find out your gear is not delivering as promised on paper. Which is why I did another burn test, in order to check out the two light setups I plan on using in Mexico, i.e. HID 35 with TT 3 and LED 1000 with Flexi II battery. To my surprise both actually performed a lot better than expected!

	Flexi II	TT 3
HID 35	90'	200'
LED 1000	195'

With more than 3 hours of juice, I should be able to do two decent 90' cave dives in a day without need to recharge in between, or do some extended exploration diving without worries of ending up in the dark.

Luggage allowance

26/12/2007, LTU's online ticket reservation system not having informed me as to how much luggage I'm allowed to travel with, I called their service desk and got told I could check-in one anorexic bag of maximum 20kg. With a Top Bonus Service Card, costing only 40€/year, I would however be allowed a meager 10kg extra.

31/12/2007, My flight ticket seems to say I'm allowed 30kg, and that without having applied for the Top Bonus Service Card?

14/01/2008, A second call confirms that I can indeed check-in 30kg and have up to 8kg of hand-luggage, because I'll be gone more than 29 days. While that's good news, it's still not quite good enough yet. Technical diving gear weighs a lot, e.g. I had 43kg last time and want to bring even more this time!

Internet research indicating I could get a special allowance for dive gear, I sent two emails to LTU's service desk, requesting precise information regarding resp. check-in allowance and packing rules for dive lights. Hoping to get clear written answers to two simple questions, ten days later I got a rather confusing reply about my gear having been registered, together with a new but unchanged bill?

28/01/2008, Another call, another answer. This time I'm told I can check-in a healthy 30kg of normal luggage and an additional 30kg of dive equipment, besides 6kg of hand-luggage. Now we're talking :o) Heavy dive lights however must now be carried disassembled in the hand-luggage. Not only that, they must be declared before hand, separately from the dive gear. I even had to say how much they weigh and how big they are. So now my problem is that I've got more than 6kg of hand-luggage (2 lights @ 2kg/pc + 2 cameras @ 0.5kg/pc + 1 laptop @ 2.5kg). But if I read the rules correctly I think it should be possible to board with 8kg of hand-luggage when carrying a laptop, not counting small stuff like a photo bag?

— LTU luggage allowance

Every passenger has a baggage allowance of 20 kg (or even 30 kg for journeys exceeding 29 days) together with one piece of hand luggage (EU-rules) (max. 55x40x20 cm) weighing up to 6 kg (8 kg for Laptop) which is not included in the baggage allowance, as well as small items needed during the flight (photo bags, something to read, etc.). All other baggage is subject to the excess baggage rates. ...

— LTU special luggage allowance

... Scuba diving equipment up to 30 kg, belt w/o weights, tanks emptied. Please pack diving equipment separately. Light sources need to be disassembled and transported in hand luggage. ...

Dive computer

After switching on my Suunto Vyper dive computer to check its battery status, I got the long expected "low bat" warning. Not so surprisingly after 252 hours of computing under pressure during 259 dives, down to a maximum depth of 69.7m, since its purchase in April 2003. Not that I keep that tight of a record, it does that all by itself :o)


I've actually been keeping a spare battery kit (10€) since February 2006, not knowing when exactly it would demand more power. Replacing the 3V lithium CR2450 doesn't require any special tools or expertise, just a small screw driver and a bit of Fingerspitzengefühl.

boot 2008: TillyTec

Seeking illumination, I once more turned to TillyTec, maker of lights for divers venturing into darkness. The master himself wasn't there this year, but he did have a couple of shiny new insights to help his craving faithful to the next level of enlightenment.


Presented at boot were three new LEDs and one new HID. So instead of requesting a quote for a now seemingly dim old LED 500 & TT 3 set, I asked one for a bright new LED 1000 & TT 3 super set. And got a deal I just couldn't say no to (including: umbilical cable, diffuser lens, flexible video arm, attachment bag & strap, charger & plug, storage bag and a brand new LED W30 back-up light).

The LED 1000 has an halogen equivalent output of about 100W and should burn approximately 160' on my Flexi II battery. Whereas my HID 35 should last 180' on the TT 3, still TillyTec's most enduring battery pack. That makes both set-ups quite similar in output, color temperature and burntime.

Note that mixing light types is frowned upon by professional videographers, for whom similar just ain't good enough. For me however, this dual set-up is already a lot better than I'd thought possible given my budgetary restrictions and practical concerns.

boot 2008: UW-Fotopartner

One of my main reasons for attending boot this year was to get a look at various underwater video housings from different manufacturers, a handful of whom were present themselves besides being represented by several dealers eager to sell.

To name but the ones I had a quick look at: BS Kinetics, Light & Motion, Sealux, Silverfish, Subal and Top Dawg. Indeed, a quick look at their price tags, ranging from 1000 something to 3000 plus Euro, was usually enough to get me moving on without much of a second thought, nor much regret considering their rather bulky sizes and general tendency for being slightly overweight, e.g. from 3 to more than 4kg and that without camcorder. Still, there was some pretty cool engineering to be seen there.

Having casually blinked off each of the major-league contenders on my list, it didn't take long before I once more focused onto my one and only minor-league candidate: Epoque's EHS-1000HD. Its presence here at boot an unexpected surprise, as much so as the unexplained absence of its core companion, Sanyo's Xacti VPC-HD1000.

UW-Fotopartner's staff being rather clueless regarding photography in general as well as about their own products and their prices, I would have looked elsewhere but for the fact that nobody else already had this brand new Epoque housing on offer. So, after waiting several hours for Sanyo's supposedly-on-its-way Xacti and never getting a fair quote for the whole package, I just purchased the wanted EHS-1000HD. Together with a WAL of course. But without a VPC-HD1000.

Meaning I'm now the happy owner of an ultra-compact palm-sized light-weight affordably-priced video housing (76x124x143mm, 660g, 319€), without possessing the actual camcorder that fits into it yet. Actually, I haven't even tried, let alone seen, Sanyo's new Xacti! But then, it being that one or no one... and me absolutely wanting to make a movie... I had to play or get off the stage.

boot 2008: DAN

My diver insurance having expired, I renewed it on the spot at DAN's rather uninteresting boot stand: 68€ for a year's basic coverage and peace of mind. Because, well, you never know.

Insurances make a lot of money out of peoples insecurities & worries, but at least DAN puts part of its membership fees into dive research.

Battery test

For a quick verdict I connected my TillyTec HID 35 via umbilical cable to my Green Force Flexi II, turned it on, dumped it into a bucket of water and got 70' of bright white light out of it.

Considering the battery had been lying around for some time since I last recharged it, I guess that's not too bad. To be sure, I'll do another test later on, to check whether when freshly loaded it can still deliver its specified burntime of about 90'.

UPDATE: My HID 35 burned exactly 90' on a fully charged Flexi II.

Videoaktiv

The internet is an abundant source of information, but sometimes it's just nice to sit back and read a good article printed on old fashioned paper. So when I saw that Videoaktiv, in their December/January edition, was reviewing several camcorders I was interested in, I didn't hesitate too long before dropping the 7.5€ for the German magazine.


Better yet, in their latest February/March edition, still wet from the press, they're reviewing five camcorder underwater housings!

Video editors

Apple computers come with iLife, a multi-media suite of inter-related applications, one of which is iMovie, a user-friendly video editor that just might do the trick for me - especially in conjunction with its predecessor, which offers some more functionality.

QuickTime, Apple's free multi-media player can be upgraded to a Pro version (30€) for some added functionality like audio & video capture, editing, conversion, etc.

For more advanced editing, Apple offers ambitious amateurs Final Cut Express (199€) and professional filmmakers Final Cut Studio (1149€). FC Studio is definitely beyond my means and abilities, but FC Express might be an option for me as wannabe moviemaker.

Adobe's Premiere Elements (94€) is supposed to be a pretty good entry level video editing tool, but unfortunately there's no Apple compatible version, as there is for Photoshop Elements (88€). Premiere Pro CS3 (919€), just as FC Studio, is way too expensive for me. Note that professional grade video editing also requires some serious processing power beyond your average consumer desktop.

→ Video software for Macintosh

1080i viewing/editing issue

Sanyo's Xacti VPC-HD1000 being my number one candidate, I've cross-Googled it again and again to get as much elusive data about it as possible, finding out some rather disturbing facts along the way.

For example, it does not seem possible to view, let alone edit, Full-HD 1080i content taken with this camcorder on a Mac. At least not without some hacks and/or additional codecs (see: Steve's Digicams Sanyo forum or e.g. this Apple discussion forum).

I wrote Sanyo Germany an email asking them about this issue, but they just gave me a non-answer and forwarded me to Apple:

Sehr geehrter Herr, Wir danken für Ihre Anfrage und können Ihnen diesbezüglich folgendes mitteilen. Da die im Lieferumfang der Sanyo VPC-HD1000 Digitalfilm Kamera enthaltene Software, mit der Ausnahme von QuickTime, ausschliesslich für die Betriebssysteme von Microsoft ausgelegt sind, können wir Ihnen leider nicht die gewünschten Informationen bieten. Vielleicht kann Ihnen Apple, in dieser Sache, Näheres sagen.
Mit freundlichen Grüssen, Ihr Sanyo Support Team

Apple? Surely they must be kidding, Apple support basically consists of redirecting any problematic customers to its self-help group-therapy discussion forums.

On Sanyo's other Xacti VPC-HD1000 site, it does mention in small print that "1080i movie playback is not guaranteed" on the included QuickTime 7.1 movie player from Apple. So much for Sanyo Germany not knowing anything about this issue. (note that QuickTime is freeware and that the included version is not the latest)

So, I sure hope I can get my hands on a VPC-HD1000 soon, in order to take some sample material for further private investigation.

UPDATE: As mentioned in Steve's Digicams Sanyo forum, downloading and installing avc1decoder partially fixes this problem. That is, it enables viewing of 1080i clips with QuickTime and editing with iMovie '08, though the latter is not as smooth as with 720p clips.

Gear maintenance

Yearly pilgrimage to the nearest trustworthy diveshop in order to personally hand over my three Scubapro regulators for revision & maintenance, so as to be able to dive with a clear conscience later on.

When venturing deep into Yucatan's underworld, fresh air left far behind, it's not the time to doubt your life support gear and lose faith.

Google's search oracle pointed me to Munich, so that's where I went and found Tauchsport Manta, a small diveshop run by an elderly man, in whose hands I laid my trust. (DB Bayern day ticket: 19€)

Whereas most open water recreational divers already have a mouthful with just one set, as soon as you get technical, two sets are the basic minimum to get started. Add to that as many stages as required for the mission. In my case, at most one stage should probably do.

---

UPDATE: Having lost all trust in Tauchsport Manta after several regulator related incidents, this year I went to Gerda's Dive shop.

Here's what Gerda's technician wrote in the maintenance bill:

Bemerkung zur Reparatur: Letzte Wartung wurde Fehlerhaft ausgeführt. Es wurden O-Ringe vertauscht und O-Ringe eingesetzt wo eigentlich Teflonscheiben hin gehören. Teilweise fehlten die O-Ringe und Teflonscheiben ganz. Sitzhalter 1. Stufe beschädigt durch falsches Werkzeug. Schraubverbindungen teilweise Lose.

In short, he confirmed my worst suspicions: Whoever checked my regulators last time can not possibly have been a professional. And that's phrasing it nicely, considering the supposed internal state of things: unfitting replacements, missing parts and damage due to the use of inappropriate tools... Luckily, I can still blog about it.

Underwater housing?

Unless I get offered an irresistable Canon deal at Boot, nicely wrapped in a tight fitting underwater housing I haven't heard of yet, Sanyo's Xacti VPC-HD1000 camcorder, in combination with Epoque's EHS-1000HD underwater housing, is the only candidate fitting my bill.

However, Epoque's housing is not quite just there yet. Actually, it's not even on their website, though it was presented at DEMA two months ago. The good news is that online dealers are already offering it on their websites. Two of whom mention the end of January as expected availability date (see: ScubaCam & CamerasUnderwater).

UPDATE: Epoque Japan now has the EHS-1000HD on its website.

Voucher for boot

This morning I received a free voucher (worth 14€) for boot, courtesy from Andreas Voeltz of Top Dawg Germany, with whom I've been in email contact regarding camcorder underwater housings.

Lighting

Even good recreational diving lights, typically handheld and meant for open water night dives, rarely last much more than an hour, after which they need the rest of the night to recharge. Alkaline battery torches may last a couple of hours but usually lack the power to light up much of one's surroundings.

Cave dives in Yucatan's shallow underworld easily last 90', with 120' excursions not uncommon, especially when an extra stage tank is carried along. Meaning any light brought into that world of stone and utter darkness, better be extremely durable, robust and powerful. As you can imagine these little underwater stars don't come cheap.

Which is why I originally chose for one of Green Force's relatively affordable modular & expandable solutions: a TriStar Diamond (triple LED head) connected via an umbilical cable to a Flexi II rechargeable battery, thus allowing the heavy battery to be attached to one's harness belt, the light head small enough to be held in one hand together with a reel if necessary.

LEDs don't mind being bumped around a bit and burn seemingly forever, as in more than 9h on one charge for the above system. However, though pleasantly soft for recreational purposes, it didn't quite shine up to its promised minimal 30W output.

Two years later, at boot 2006, I got to talk with Tilly, maker of lights compatible with Green Force's. Being very disappointed by Green Force's misinformation, lack of improved models and having some reservations about their HID lights, Tilly had no trouble convincing me to try out one of his new power lights: a shock resistant TillyTec HID 35, with the halogen equivalent output of about 125W.

Combined with Green Force's Flexi II battery, TillyTec's HID 35 burns brightly at 5500°K for about 90'. Just enough for standard cave dives, but not for extended exploration dives.

So now I'm thinking of getting a TillyTec TT 3 battery pack, a 375€ investment, that should return enough juice for at least 180' per charge, i.e. twice as much as my Flexi II.

This would then free up my Flexi II for a new 321€ TillyTec LED 500. A secondary set-up able to provide an estimated 65W of halogen equivalent output for up to 300' per charge.

Fitted with flood reflectors and diffusers, I'd sure hope these 190W of combined power would provide enough illumination for some decent shootings deep inside the crystal clear water caves around Tulum.

Camcorder accessories

Even more than cameras, camcorders can be outfitted with all kinds of optional accessories depending on one's needs & wishes. In my case that list is long indeed, though reasonably kept in check here...

Camcorder

memory cards (min. 8GB, pref. SDHC class 6)

rechargeable batteries

battery charger

UV filter

polarizing filter

wide angle lens

video tripod

external microphone

headset (with microphone)

protective bag

Underwater housing

wide angle lens

red filter for blue water

magenta filter for green water

UW video lights (incl. tray, flex arms, reflectors, diffusers, etc)