A Dip in Lake Michigan

This month I'm working on a commercial for the Chicago Harbors and had my first opportunity to do underwater video/photography!

I shot with the Canon 7D in Aquatech's Sport Housing... a really cool piece of equipment.

You are able to take advantage of the 7D's video capabilities with some limitations. Keep in mind, the water housing is mainly used for underwater photography... this means all the button functions on the back panel are set up for photography actions rather than video functions. Therefore you pretty much have to set your camera to all the settings you'll need (white balance, ISO, etc) because you won't be able to adjust them once you get the camera inside the housing.

The biggest draw back is not being able to adjust your focus in the lens housing (most still photographers use auto focus, there's no auto focus feature while in video mode). I worked around this by opening up my aperture all the (because who needs shallow focus while in water). It still would be nice to make minor adjustments in focus, who knows, maybe they'll design a housing that features a back panel that's more conducive for the video functions of the camera!

Nonetheless, it was still a blast to work underwater and I look forward to the next, hopefully in warmer waters... not a frigid lower 50 degrees.

Recommendations:

- A good pair of goggles.
- Small flippers, to help you float. Large flippers made it very difficult to maneuver around and make minor adjustments.
- OR a life-vest to float on, remember, you're holding the camera with both your hands, so you are having to tread water solely relying on your lower body, which is quite a workout!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Jake
• Jacob
• Ryan
• Hamilton
• Austin
• Texas
• Film
• Lake
• Michigan
• Chicago
• Harbors
• Canon
• 7D
• Aquatech
• Water
• Housing