We took our new sony cam out for its first test run this weekend. While I'm a bit disappointed with the quality with all default settings; we did run into a nice little turtle that was more than willing to "model" for us.

http://www.littlebrothermedia.com/photos/videos/turtleSweetDreams_0001.wmv

Now it's time to fiddle with the settings for next time.

well, i did watch it...

i don't even know what controls are available on a sony cam so i can't suggest anything - maybe a color filter?

Tim, is there some kind of bump on the turtle's shell near the left rear flipper? Or is it just in the play of light? It almost looked raised?

Tim, You've got a nice steady hand with the camera. Really something special about encountering a turtle! Thanks for sharing!

As bob suggested you need some color correction. There are two easy things you can do...easy if your camera and housing provide the functions:

• Get a red (mine is actually orange) filter. My Light & Motion Bluefin housing has a lever I can use to move the filter in and out.
• Adjust the white balance. Here's how I do it:
  • Above 15 feet, red filter out, point camera at sand and adjust white balance,
  • From 15 feet to about 25 to 30 feet, I use the red filter; point camera at sand and adjust white balance.
  • At 25 to 30 feet I adjust the white balance (at sand) for the last time before going deeper.
  • Below 35 feet I do not adjust any more as my Sony VX2000 camera usually fails to give an acceptable balance, and there is no way to undo it without going shallower.

Tim and Roger, very cool!! Thank you for sharing!!

Lisa, Roger has some great dive videos. I like to watch them during breaks at work...very relaxing

Tim, nice work on capturing the turtle.

Becky, Yes indeed there is a bump on the rear-left of its shell. I'll have to have a better look at the original video and see if we tell what it is.

Roger,

Thanks for the suggestions. I managed to find the manual and give it a read. There is a "Color Slow Shutter" setting that I am going to give a try next dive. The description says "When you use the CSS setting you can record an image brighter in color even in dark places." Depending on the results there, I'll start fiddling with the white balance.

I was initially a little disappointed because my old sharp mini-dv recorded much better video on its default settings despite it being 5 years older and having a 1.3megapixel ccd versus the sony 3megapixel.

On the otherhand, I gave the tape to jenny and she edited it on her computer with the better video editing software and the result was much, much better, (no blurring, fullscreen quality).

Guess that is what I get for using the cheapie built-in windows program.