Cave diving footage in 3D?

A couple of days ago Panasonic announced the development of a twin digital lens for its Lumix G micro-four-thirds cameras, allowing high quality 3D shooting. With a release date planned before the end of the year, that means I could possibly record my next cave diving experience in 3D... now wouldn't that be something?

Assuming of course that I can also get an appropriate interchangeable lens system camera and underwater housing at a reasonable price...


Mind though that actual lens specifications and pricing have not yet been divulged. Not to mention that capturing & recording 3D footage is just one side of our normal way of seeing things, with processing & editing and playing & viewing, other, as yet to be clarified, facets.

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UPDATE: Found a very informative article about stereoscopic 3D:
→ "A Beginner’s Guide to Shooting Stereoscopic 3D" by Tim Dashwood


UPDATE: Panasonic Lumix G 3D lens specification: 12.5mm (65mm*) F12 (fixed), stereo-base: 10mm, minimum-focus-distance: 0.6m.

UPDATE: Panasonic's GF2 & GH2 cameras can only record 3D stills with this lens, NOT 3D videos :o( Older MFT cameras won't support it at all.

Burn test

Even with two TillyTec LED 2000 light-heads connected, it looks like I can still get more than two hours out of my TT 3 battery-pack, though not quite at 100% towards the end. I actually just turned off the lights after 130' in order not to deep-drain and possibly damage the battery.

	Flexi II	TT 3
2x LED 2000	-NA-	>100'

LED it shine

TillyTec's fairly unique offer to upgrade almost any of its light-heads or battery-packs to a newer more powerful one is quite a clever business proposal and in my case an irresistible temptation deal.

I seriously considered upgrading both my HID 35 & LED 1000 to a LED 2000 SPOT & VIDEO resp., as suggested by Tilly at Boot 2010. Besides 50% more output, this new combination would not only improve my technical setup as needed for cave dives but also result in a better video lighting solution, the latter being my main reason to upgrade.

Better but not quite optimal yet. Which is why I chose to keep my LED 1000 both for recreational & technical diving purposes and only exchange my outdated-technology HID 35, not just for one, but for two LED 2000 VIDEO heads, i.e. one as upgrade and one new.

Thereby gaining a dedicated dual video lighting solution that, at least on paper, should provide well-balanced hotspot-free illumination. My only slight concern being whether twice 175W of halogen equivalent 110° diffused output will indeed be bright enough for my needs...

As I have no cave diving scheduled yet for the near future, I refrained from: (1) swapping my primary LED 1000 for a LED 2000 SPOT, (2) upgrading my backup LED W30 to a W40 and (3) getting a new second backup. Preferring to wait for the LED 3000 to come out this summer and see whether maybe a W50 comes out later this year, before already gearing up once again for another trip to Mexico.

However... TillyTec's LED 2000 VIDEO are currently on back-order and me having a recreational dive trip coming up soon, I was sent only one LED 2000 VIDEO and one LED 2000 SPOT with diffuser in stead.

While not quite what I'd finally decided upon after long deliberation, at least I'll have the chance to try out both versions of the LED 2000 with the option to keep or exchange which ever one I please later on.

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UPDATE: Sent back my LED 2000 SPOT last week in exchange for a second LED 2000 VIDEO as originally requested and got it promptly delivered today, no questions asked.

I did not get to test the LED 2000 SPOT as a focus light, but for my videography purposes, it has too much of an hotspot, especially at close range, even with diffuser. The LED 2000 VIDEO on the other hand is just perfect for my needs, without any noticeable hotspot.

→ close-up videography of critters illuminated by one LED 2000 VIDEO

Olympus PEN E-PL1

Olympus just announced an new µ4:3 system camera: the PEN E-PL1, together with a polycarbonate housing rated to -40m, making this its first MFT model worth considering (housed set for about 1250€ RRP).

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UPDATE: Onderwaterhuis.nl has a pretty good deal for only 999€, incl. PEN E-PL1 camera with standard 14-42mm zoom and PT-EP01 housing with flat-port & PPZR-EP1 zoom ring. And, for those like me who'd rather take down Olympus' M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4-5.6 zoom, Zen Underwater has made a wide-angle befitting dome-port for 490€.


Note that though the PT-EP01 housing officially has a fixed flat port, it can be replaced fairly easily, as demonstrated by Zen Underwater and soon also by Athena, with several ports for various MFT lenses.

boot 2010: TillyTec

There's nothing like seeing and handling things one-self, so once again I pilgrimed to the huge boot fair in Düsseldorf. Primary target this year being TillyTec's LED 2000 and newly announced LED 3000 heads.

The standard LED 2000 has a 175W halogen equivalent 10° beam ideal for tec diving. Of particular interest for me though is the non-focussed version with a more diffused 110° wide beam meant for videography.

So now I'm seriously considering upgrading both my HID 35 and LED 1000, to resp. a LED 2000 SPOT (with additional pop-on diffuser) and LED 2000 VIDEO, as suggested by Tilly.


Whereas the LED 2000 has seven LEDs, the LED 3000 will use only one super-power LED with 250W halogen equivalent output! Plenty of light indeed, but alas way too focussed for use as video light.