Відео

Thank you so much, Stephen. We are very glad to hear our videos inspire others whether it be from a diving, underwater conservation, marine study or even a content creator perspective. Our first videos from Aruba and the early Curaçao stuff were all shot with GoPros. You can do amazing things with those. :-)

Great eyes, John! I hadn't noticed that; but went in for another look and it does, indeed, look a bit odd. I then looked at a few other resources as well as online photos and it appears they typically do have a downward turn at the belly just in front of the anal fin; although some are more pronounced than others. Nice observation! With respect to the manta, we have seen a few Facebook postings; but have not (yet) had the pleasure of seeing a manta live on Bonaire. Someday... :-)

May the force be with you!!​@@TropicLens

I can't believe that guy is still hanging around!

Indeed, it was sad to see. Fortunately, the water temps are cooling down now. (I moved back to my 5mm wet suit last week!) The algae is starting to come back and the corals are looking a bit healthier. :-)

I see what you did there... ;-)

Thank you Dakic! :-)

No, no...thank YOU for your footage. It was nice to see a different perspective from a different camera and I am sure others will appreciate that as well. There are so many tools and ways to communicate the beauty of the underwater world. Let us know when you're coming down next and there will be a table at Rum Runners for four waiting... :-)

Thanks Kamal. We are too! Let us know when you will be available (e.g., if you have any scheduled boat dives or other excursions) after the 24th.

Oh... the Philippines are on our list to visit sometime! Thank your for the kind works Patrick. As for the spreadsheet, it felt good to dust off those skills. :-)

Thank you Robert! You will love Curaçao! We've done lots of videos on the sites over there; but there are certainly a few better sites for a dive/snorkel combination. Piskadó is great because of the turtles; but I recommend getting there by 7 and be in the water by 7:30 or 8 at the latest...not only from a parking perspective, but the cruise ship tours hit the beach in earnest by 9 (and then it's a madhouse!). If you head west for Pisakdó, Lagun is very nice plus there is a dive shop there and a restaurant with an amazing view! We also enjoy Tugboat beach; but that was a bit busy as well when we went in Feburary. There is a ton of life in the shallows and the wreck is only 5-10 feet below the surface depending on the tide. And definitely explore under the pier! Finally, and there isn't snorkeling here; but if you get a chance to dive the Superior Producer, take it. It is a tremendous wreck! If you're interesting in hiring a local dive guide to have a buddy (not sure if you're a solo diver); Daan at Rebel Diving Curaçao is excellent. She will take you just about anywhere on the island and knows where most of the critters are.

@ thanks for your reply…great advice…cheers!

I am sorry Lim; but I don't have an Android phone.

Yeah, blast from the past. :-) The general point was that it isn't the easiest thing to put on...especially backwards!

Thank you Walter! :-)

Thanks Shiqi! Both situations apply, really. I have made dives where both my Kraken batteries ran out (at night), but then saw something I wanted to shoot. Having access to the phone’s flash/light can help in a pinch. Also, if you accidentally press it while trying to use Assistive Touch and don’t realize it’s on, the light goes on whenever the phone is recording which drains the battery faster.

Yes, it will. ;-)

I certainly agree that a better/faster solution for charging would be great...especially when on long two-tank boat dives! That said, rotating the phone would put the lens on the lower right side and since 85-90% of people are right handed, that is where they probably hold the housing and fingers might get in the way of the lenses...if they don't use the handles. Also, I suspect some users may think a lens at the bottom of the housing is a bit awkward. However, there are a couple of options that might work for you. First, Divevolk came out with a dual-handle tray that allows the housing to pivot without removing it. While I am not a particular fan of the preformed metal handles (I prefer the rubber coated, textured handles from Ultralight), I understand and appreciate that option as a solution. Second, you could get a slightly longer tray and position the housing more to the left handle. Both options should give you plenty of room to open the tray door and slide a USB cable in for charging and/or offloading images. Happy to hear others' solutions as well.

@@TropicLens what I meant is that they could change the design of the housing to make charging and data connection possible.

Ahh, like a little accessible port? That would be interesting.

Well, it will cover appetizers, anyway... ;-)

The try set up is from Ultralight, Sam. Specifically, the bar is part # "TR-DM2" and the handles are part # "TR-DH". You can order them directly from Ultralight or check other places to see if there are any sales going on. (I picked mine up from Backscatter several years ago.) Also, the handles don't come with arm mounts, so you'll have to purchase the appropriate mounts if you plan on using lights.

Thanks Jimmy!

Thank YOU for watching! :-)

Yeah, the bait balls have been nuts this year! We haven't really explored Sweet Dreams yet, so thanks for the tip, Chris. We're always on the lookout for nice sandy entries. :-)

Generally, I have Divevolk's red filter on all the time during the day. (No filters at night, except when fluoro diving, where yellow is used.). The shallow footage does come out a with a bit more red than I would like; however I use FCPX in post and that cleans it up nicely. With respect to other tools, both the Final Cut and BlackMagic apps have a customizable slider to adjust the color temperature and BlackMagic also has some presets as well. Also, I do use my lights quite a bit during the day. Early in the mornings, under a ledges and cloudy days all require some help to bring the colors out. Finally, great idea about the color filter video! I have two physical filters (Divevolk/Backscatter) and it would nice to methodically test those against the in-camera tools. Will definitely add this to the list. :-)

@TropicLens thanks for the info, I'll try to play with the other camera app, but black magic won't install on either of my phones (too old) and i don't want to spend another$800 to get a new phone... I'm going to try to cnc mill a piece myself to clamp around the housing to give me the mounting points that should already be there. What software would you recommend to change color temp in post, or is it even possible? I'm not familiar with fcpx.

@@starhawke380 I completely understand about a new phone expense! 🙂 And kudos to you for having the ability to manufacture a part you need! I wish I had the knowledge, skill and tools to do that sort of thing. It would be interesting to see pics when you finish that. With respect to post production, I use Final Cut Pro on a Macbook. (I guess I should stop referring it to FCPX, since X is for ten and they just released 11.) Another, probably equally sophisticated, tool is Davinci Resolve. Both require a bit of a learning curve. An easier route might be the Dive+ app. I know some divers use it and the color correction looks very good. That said, as with all apps, make sure to check the developer/privacy information in case any of the specifics concern you.

Bonaire is a great place to dive. That said, if there time flexibility, waiting a few months until the bleaching subsides would provide a better reef experience. :-)

I had a dive shop in the Chicago Suburbs (Dive Rite In Scuba) make a couple for me. I really like having the protection for the camera and lenses from home all the way into the water. They help keep sand away from everything on the walk in/out for shore dives and offer some protection when the housing is in a rinse tank with other gear.

Salt Pier is awesome. Did you see the Atlantic spadefish? It's been hanging around for the last month or so.

Thanks!

@@TropicLens your welcome

If you liked that, Vista Blue coming shortly! :-)

Hello Melanie & Patrick! We are happy our videos have inspired you both. There are a lot of ups and downs in life, so being on the positive side of that equation for others feels good. To that end, we have been lucky enough to meet a few divers through the channel and are always happy make new friends. Send us the dates and your contact information through the Contact Us form at TropicLens.com and we can try to get something scheduled. Travel safely! :-)

Thanks! That said, it's kind of easy when there is so much good diving. :-)

Thank you sir! Hope this scratches your itch until you make it back down. :-)

Glad you enjoyed it Sonya. You'll have to come down to experience it in person sometime.

I bet you are excited! Travel safely. We have you in the calendar for Friday, if that still works for you. Drop an email to info@tropiclens.com and we can exchange info. Looking forward to it!

Hope you guys made it down here safely John. Drop an email to info@tropiclens.com with your contact information (email, WhatsApp, etc.) and we can connect.

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the kind words Vanessa! Once you start feeling comfortable with unguided diving, it opens a lot of opportunities and flexibility.

@@TropicLenswe have arrived to Bonaire! We got here yesterday and did our first unguided drives at Buddy Reef. Tomorrow we start our Advanced Diver course. We are hoping to do a night dive afterwards. If you’re available to meet up sometime this week, let us know. 😊

Glad you made it to the island! Our first unguided dives on the island were at Buddy as well. It is a great site with lots of support. (And lunch at Blennies is good too.) Hope the course is going well. How long are you on the island? We already have three dives planned with visitors/friends of the channel and one day needs to be spent on house stuff with our builder. Send us your info through the contact us form on TropicLens.com and we can see about meeting up.

Curaçao definitely has some great snorkeling as well. There are many shallow areas to explore and some of the entries are arguably easier than Bonaire. I see you're commenting on the Playa Piskadó video. If you go there, I strongly urge you to get there by 7. Parking will be plentiful and you should have an hour or so relatively unbothered by (other) tourists. Starting around 8 - 8:30, it can become quite crowded (beach, pier and water). Tugboat can be the same way. Director's Bay is a great spot for snorkeling. Lagun in Westpunt is also nice. There are too many to mention. :-)

Thank you so much Vanessa! We are glad they are helpful. We always enjoy meeting new people and have made some terrific friends through the channel. That said, November is a very popular time with the northern folks. :-) We currently have two sets of friends on the island now, another coming on Wednesday and another the following week. Some may (will probably?) be gone when you arrive; so feel free to ping us when you're on the island. Travel safely!

Now that I am working on the second month, I am thinking about adding a graph to show trends. This is turning out to be a very interesting side project.

It will definitely be interesting to see what the data shows over time, that's for sure. Friday sounds great!

Thanks for the input Kristina. The Shore Dive Collection videos will always have the names of the sea life. (We get a lot of positive feedback on that.) I don't recall if you've included your websites before. Feel free to send over. With respect to the Divevolk, I highly recommend one. Not sure about the "but" in that sentence, though. The new Seatouch 4 Max Plus version handles that and they make a tray for the Platinum version as well. (That one was a little tight for me and I will be posting a short video on that in the next week or so.) Leslie still dives with a Nikon/Nauticam combination, so we feel your pain on the size/weight of a larger housing. Both options have benefits, but if you're happy with your pictures, that's all that matters! :-)

We're glad you found our site and equally impressed by the variety, complexity and diversity of the underwater world. The symbiotic relationship of algae and coral (which, unfortunately is getting stress tested again with the warmer waters) is a marvel and we love watching cleaning stations...from juvenile wrasse all the way down to tiny shrimp advertising with their wildly waving antennae. It's been an extremely fun/educational journey and we can't wait to see what new creatures we meet every dive.. Thank you for joining the ride with us!

Thank you so much Rebecca! Indeed, Bonaire is where its at! :-) That said, the bleaching has started, so perhaps springtime might be better. :-(

Thank you Walter! I appreciate the kind words. :-) There are just sooo many things you can do with the housing.

Thanks enotkvit! Actually, I haven't heard about using such modeling for color correction. That might be fun to look into. :-) As for other usage plans, I don't have anything concrete at the moment. I suppose the first project will be to map out a full dive site. It seems ambitious and I still have the monthly Best of... videos and The Shore Dive Collection videos I still want to do; so we'll see. I will definitely keep playing around though. Please share if you get an opportunity to try it out. I would love to see other projects as well.

I actually created a video specifically on the float. (ua-cam.com/video/bBiSH0C4PbA/v-deo.html) But, if you just want to skip to the sources, there are two options: Dive Right In Scuba at info@diverightinscuba.com and Tomi Nieminen at nemonieminen@gmail.com. Hope this helps.

That macro lens is Divevolk's +8 Close-Up lens. I don't believe they sell that anymore which is unfortunate, because it is an awesome lens. I dive with it every time. You might still be able to find one at a third party retailed; but they are getting snatched up. Good luck!

Thanks!

Thanks Chris. Literally, every time we went back, we'd lake a look on the north side of the sandy shallows. Finally!!! We actually saw another at a different site last week. :-)

Thanks John. I believe we can fit you in. :-)

Glad you enjoyed it. :-)

Thank you so much Daniel. We're glad you guys enjoy them. :-)

Thanks Chris. Someone pointed out that one of the Atlantic bird squid clips shows it had captured a needlefish and was swimming around with it! Sometimes we film something fantastic and it turns out even better. :-)

I saw that comment and rewatched it. That was a great catch on his part!