Xacti waterproof Camera - long term real world test

snooks said:
How wide is the wide angle? and finally does it have a socket for an external mic?
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2 very pertinent questions.
I suppose the video answer is that you don't need wide angle as you can paint the scene. That doesn't help with a camera mounted on a static clamp though. Film and video cameras have historically shied away from wide angle as
A) the film format is so small that designing a zoom lens with a back focus much longer than the focal length (retrofocus) is very complex (ie: expensive).
b) a moving camera orientation with extreme wide angles has a sick-making effect on verticals in the image.
 
good point lakey

Lakesailor said:
2 very pertinent questions.
I suppose the video answer is that you don't need wide angle as you can paint the scene. That doesn't help with a camera mounted on a static clamp though. Film and video cameras have historically shied away from wide angle as
A) the film format is so small that designing a zoom lens with a back focus much longer than the focal length (retrofocus) is very complex (ie: expensive).
b) a moving camera orientation with extreme wide angles has a sick-making effect on verticals in the image.
Click to expand...

of course I knew that was the reason as opposed to my answer about the size of the boat

but he is correct about painting the scene

its not about the width of the lens its way you wave the thing around

- fnaa fnaa

D
 
I was inspired enough by your ktl vids to go out and buy a little waterproof HD camera myself and give it a go, Dylan. After looking at the Xacti and umming and ahhing as usual I eventually went for the new Kodak Playsport. I can't quite remember why, but it is a cute little thing about the size of an iPhone and very easy to use. I bought a little mini gorilla pod for it as well, which wraps handily around pulpits, bimini frames, bass guitars, children, cats, anything that's a handy camera platform. Apart from farting around with it a bit I haven't done much in the way of sailing vids yet but will do as soon as I can. I have used it for gig videos on a few occasions and it's very good. First impressions are the HD 1080 and 720p pictures are great, it's waterproof to 3m (a bit more than the Xacti) and it is passable in lower light situations. Not having a swivelling screen is a bit limiting though - can't do the DW trick of talking to camera and still seeing yourself which is a nice feature of the Xacti. The zoom is a bit fierce and I notice a definite step judder half way through the zoom, probably a processing artifact as it's a digital zoom. Other than that it's very neat and handy and I hope to post some modest amateur examples at some point, just don't expect ktl quality :D

If you do do a video workshop I'd be interested too.

Neil
 
dylanwinter said:
external mike on a waterproof camera!

surely you are asking for the moon on a stick there snooks - how could you engineer such a thing?

D
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Well I was after a weather proof HD camera for work, to shoot the Yachting Monthly videos of the new boat tests and practical films we shoot as well as an exciting project we have planned that will need video. Obviously I work in far from idea conditions with lots of salt water around, but I don't want to have to carry all my stills kit, a laptop and two different hd video cameras.

We obviously want to improve the image quality, but we also need to improve the sound quality.

As for engineering, it would just have to be a screw in waterproof mic socket that would connect to a conventional mic socket. Just something to stop the water entering the interior of the camera

I wasn't expecting to shoot audio underwater ;)
 
audio

snooks said:
Well I was after a weather proof HD camera for work, to shoot the Yachting Monthly videos of the new boat tests and practical films we shoot as well as an exciting project we have planned that will need video. Obviously I work in far from idea conditions with lots of salt water around, but I don't want to have to carry all my stills kit, a laptop and two different hd video cameras.

We obviously want to improve the image quality, but we also need to improve the sound quality.

As for engineering, it would just have to be a screw in waterproof mic socket that would connect to a conventional mic socket. Just something to stop the water entering the interior of the camera

I wasn't expecting to shoot audio underwater ;)
Click to expand...

all the audio on the film was recorded on the on-board mike. Its great as long as you keep it out of the wind

I have knocked up a fleece wind gag that kind of works.

I also have a small SD audio recorder from Edirol (£200) that will fit in my subjects pocket - or my own come to that and you can synch the sound up afterwards. Very easy to do as long as you remember to do a sybnch clap at the beginning or end of the sequence where you want the sound.

Its what I do when doing commercial jobs in difficult conditions. GHowever, its entirely possible that I get more post production time than a finacially hard pressed sailing magazine is prepared to devote to the boat tests.

The fact that you can put the xamera thing on a tripod and hang it down in the wash or wake of one of your most excellent power boat reports will allow you to get some shots which are otherwise impossible.

Dylan
 
dylanwinter said:
aslabend said:
Dylan,
ever thought of selling an afternoon of your time teaching sailors the basics of how to shoot short films on their yachts? Maybe a small money making scheme.....
Click to expand...

great idea

when

where

and how much would you pay

D
Click to expand...

D,

I think you should come clean and explain that shooting the video is around 10% of the time and effort that goes into the finished film!

(OK, it varies a lot, but surely always less than 50%?)
 
10%....I think you are being generous if you are wanting to do a proper job. Saying that I rarely do a proper job....

http://www.youtube.com/user/CO32Concerto


Still you need to be able to record good material to start with.

Dylan, how about swapping a day's winter sailing for you and the boss (SWMBO) in exchange for some basic filming tips. I'll provide the boat, the Solent and the pork-pies :-)
 
After some research, and following on from a Pentax Optio waterproof camera, I have invested in an Olypus Tough with 14Mb , waterproof to10m and shockproof for a 2m drop.
It also has HD capability and a 4Gb internal memory. Looks a similar spec to the Sanyo but nothing to show as I am still learning to drive it!
Have I done the right thing??
 
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not in my opinion you didn't

saltwater_gypsy said:
After some research, and following on from a Pentax Optio waterproof camera, I have invested in an Olypus Tough with 14Mb , waterproof to10m and shockproof for a 2m drop.
It also has HD capability and a 4Gb internal memory. Looks a similar spec to the Sanyo but nothing to show as I am still learning to drive it!
Have I done the right thing??
Click to expand...

not if yu want to film stuff that moves. If you want to film stuff that doesn't then you did the right thing. It will do a great job of the stills.

Yours is optimised to do a great job - and then they say "and it can do video"

just as the people who make the sanyo say "and it can do stills". Well it can... but its a movie camera.

Internal memory is useless for video - 8 gb - a frame 1080 x 1920 29.97 times a second

I am sure your results will prove me wrong -

Dylan
 
good offer....but better plan

Georgio said:
10%....I think you are being generous if you are wanting to do a proper job. Saying that I rarely do a proper job....

http://www.youtube.com/user/CO32Concerto


Still you need to be able to record good material to start with.

Dylan, how about swapping a day's winter sailing for you and the boss (SWMBO) in exchange for some basic filming tips. I'll provide the boat, the Solent and the pork-pies :-)
Click to expand...

that is a great offer and a good plan

but it has one fatal floor.




while you can bribe landlubbers with offers of a sail

it smuch harder to do with a man who already has a boat

unless you have a truly exceptional boat that is

I have a boat - afloat and waiting to sail as soon as I get a gap in my real work.

bring your pork pie and good beer to my boat in wells for a tide and I will give you a one on one lesson for a day.

Anything you shoot you can use anything I can shoot I can use for the website series

what shall we say.....



well you suggest a price.

Dylan
 
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saltwater_gypsy said:
After some research, and following on from a Pentax Optio waterproof camera, I have invested in an Olypus Tough with 14Mb , waterproof to10m and shockproof for a 2m drop.
It also has HD capability and a 4Gb internal memory. Looks a similar spec to the Sanyo but nothing to show as I am still learning to drive it!
Have I done the right thing??
Click to expand...

HD Video is ~ 2Mpixels - the thing to be wary of in buying a stills camera for video is how it processes the 14 Mpixels it has into the 2 Mpixels you want .
 
in short

st599 said:
HD Video is ~ 2Mpixels - the thing to be wary of in buying a stills camera for video is how it processes the 14 Mpixels it has into the 2 Mpixels you want .
Click to expand...

don't expect a still camera to do a decent job of moving images

and dont expect cam corder to do a decent job of stills

that doesn't stop both marketing departments pretending that their camera breaks the rule

However, I am almost certainly wrong

D
 
dylanwinter said:
that is a great offer and a good plan

but it has one fatal floor.




while you can bribe landlubbers with offers of a sail

it smuch harder to do with a man who already has a boat

unless you have a truly exceptional boat that is

I have a boat - afloat and waiting to sail as soon as I get a gap in my real work.

bring your pork pie and good beer to my boat in wells for a tide and I will give you a one on one lesson for a day.

Anything you shoot you can use anything I can shoot I can use for the website series

what shall we say.....



well you suggest a price.

Dylan
Click to expand...

ahh, you spotted the flaw in my plan!

To be fair I would take you up on the offer if it wasn't for the 415mile round trip.

Back to the origional subject - thanks for the info on the Xacti I was thinking about geting one for a trip to the Azores next year. Is there an option to charge on 12V without using an interter?
 
so you looked up the distance first

Georgio said:
ahh, you spotted the flaw in my plan!

To be fair I would take you up on the offer if it wasn't for the 415mile round trip.

Back to the origional subject - thanks for the info on the Xacti I was thinking about geting one for a trip to the Azores next year. Is there an option to charge on 12V without using an interter?
Click to expand...

amazingly you werre happy to propose that I did the 415 miles getting to you

you must think me a very slow witted man

send picture of both wife and boat before I decide




that aside

you can buy a 12 volt charger from amazon - about £12

if you enter through keepturningleft then I get 2 or 3 per cent to waste on making films about sailing around Britain

or ebay

I use a 110volt inverter and then use the mains charger - which is designed to work off 110 and 240

i can't tell any difference between that and a 12 volt direct - and being an anorak I had the avometer over it

is all revealed in one of the films

I also suggest you buy a cheap tripod from maplins

well worth having

Dylan
 
aslabend said:
Dylan,
ever thought of selling an afternoon of your time teaching sailors the basics of how to shoot short films on their yachts? Maybe a small money making scheme.....
Click to expand...

Would be quite an interesting project. You'd need to examine:

* In front of the camera
* Framing, Eyelines, Rule of Thirds etc.
* Lighting
* Sound
* Using the camera
* Focus
* Aperture, Shutter speed
* White Balancing
* Sound
* Pans, focus pulls etc.
* Editing
* Using a non-linear editor
* Codecs and settings
* fades, wipes, etc.
* Grading
* Using atmos
* Distribution
* Codecs to use for Youtube etc.


Good place to start:
http://www.bbctraining.com/onlineCourse.asp?tID=5914&cat=2781
 
all in one afternoon

st599 said:
Would be quite an interesting project. You'd need to examine:

* In front of the camera
* Framing, Eyelines, Rule of Thirds etc.
* Lighting
* Sound
* Using the camera
* Focus
* Aperture, Shutter speed
* White Balancing
* Sound
* Pans, focus pulls etc.
* Editing
* Using a non-linear editor
* Codecs and settings
* fades, wipes, etc.
* Grading
* Using atmos
* Distribution
* Codecs to use for Youtube etc.


Good place to start:
http://www.bbctraining.com/onlineCourse.asp?tID=5914&cat=2781
Click to expand...


making films is easy

shoot it

upload it

job done

it takes no time

can't think why anyone would ever consider attempting to charge for something so easy

D
 
I expect I shall get a bashing here but I really don't think you need to know all that stuff to produce pretty satisfying films for home consumption.Half the fun is doing it yourself!
I bought a camcorder & have managed to produce my own sailing memorabilia & edit it using Windows Movie Maker.........very enjoyable & if I can do it really it can't be that hard!
The hard part comes when you want to make films 'of a more personal nature'........the cost of hiring models can be very prohibitive. (only joking!) :)
 
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