Only high quality equipment will give the best results possible. All the AquaPix team members use Sony HVR Z1 High Definition camcorders as they offer superb picture quality and are the only cameras on the market that can film in PAL and NTSC. This way we can please both our American and European clients.
Every camera is only as good as the lens you mount on the front of it and that's one of the reasons why we decided to go with a Gates underwater camera housing.
There are no electronics that can fail as Gates uses mechanical controls only. We have never been let down by our Gates systems. The high quality of Gates products and their excellent service and professionalism are superior. Our choice at AquaPix is Gates for these reasons.
Some projects have required us to film at night and inside wrecks and caves. To get the shots right you need a very powerful light source and an even spread wide angle light beam. Greenforce has developed probably the best underwater lighting rig for film professionals. The lights are extremely powerful and have no hot spots (concentration of light in one part of the picture) in your shots even with extreme wide angles. The Greenforce light system, like the Gates housing is also depth rated to 137 meters and the big F III battery packs will last for at least 3 hours.
When it comes to professional photography you will need a high resolution digital SLR camera. AquaPix has chosen the Olympus E300, as it delivers exactly that and more. Zuiko, a well respected lens manufacturer has developed the first true digital SLR camera lenses. Most competitors still use their old film lenses on their new digital cameras and lack the quality that digital cameras need to produce excellent shots. The Zuiko lenses are truly amazing with the best resolution in their price range. The camera itself has a supersonic wave filter that will clean the sensor of dust, and so for the first time in history this is no longer a dust issue in SLR photography due to lens changing in the field.
Gates and Fathom Imaging have developed probably the best extreme wide angle lens with an astounding 120 degrees field of vision, the SWP44. There is no vignetting (the round black corners that appear on the edges of the picture) and you can fully zoom through the whole range of the camera without any distortion or focusing problems. The housing is exactly what our AquaPix team needs, extremely reliable, depth rated to 450ft/137 m and virtually bullet proof as it is made of aluminium alloy instead of plastic like most other competitors housings. Andy Lange, a team member of AquaPix, has successfully taken a Gates video system to 500ft/157m!
At AquaPix we also use a variety of other accessories such as Vinten and Sony tripods, Petroff matt boxes, Tiffen filters, Sennheiser and Rode gun and radio microphones ...and the list continues ...
If you have more questions about how to choose equipment that will suit your needs, just send us an e-mail. Our professional cameramen and photographers will be happy to assist you in your choice.
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