Macro and underwater teaser

[Arnt Mollan]

Hi. A short teaser for my new DVD about the Brown Trout and the Mayfly. Lots of underwater and macro shots. Some rarely seen happenings, and some Norwegian nature of course. I hope you like it.
YouTube - DVD Ørreten og døgnflua, The Brown Trout and the Mayfly

[John Abbey]

that was totally fantastic..I am curious, were the macro shots of the eggs shot in an aquarium or was this all shot in the wild? loved the long timelapses as well. What cameras were you using for this? you rock..John

[Andy Wilkinson]

Just watched it on my retina display iPod Touch and it looks fantastic. Going to watch it again on a big HD screen. Brilliant images!

[Markus Nord]

Arnt, that was fantastic... Same question here... Macro shot in an aqarium or in the wild?
I would like an DVD...

[Arnt Mollan]

Thank you for your kind words. The Brown Trout eggs are filmed in an aquarium. In the wild the eggs are burried down to 2 feet in the gravel. Those who are not burried, will soon die from predators.
The rest is filmed in the wild. I have used several cameras. Sony HVR A1 - Z1 - CX11 and EX3. The small cameras are used in remote controlled underwater housings, homemade. Time-lapses in this tesaer done with a cheap Nikon Coolpix 5700 with extern controller - D200 and EX3. The DVD can be ordered from my website MollanMedia lager naturfilm, reklamefilm og websider, if you want a closer look.
Thanks.
Arnt

[Cees van Kempen]

Dear Arnt,

Great performance! Out of curiosity: did you use the EX3 for macro shots? If yes, with what lens?

Cees

[Mat Thompson]

Hey Arnt

Excellent stuff. The footage shows a fantastic mix of material and technique! Music doesn't do it for me but this is always very subjective.

Mat

[Mark OConnell]

Some beautiful shots there!

[Arnt Mollan]

Thank you, all of you.
Cees: I have used EX3 with the old trustful Nikon 55 Macro, and a Tamron 90 Macro. The Nikon is brilliant at f8, usful at one step up and down from f8, rest of the f-stops on my version is unusable. The Tamron is very sharp at f4 - f8, usable at f11, and I dont use the rest. But the opics is not the problem. The problem is to get a steady macro shot, and moove the camera into the right position up i trees, in bushes and close to the water. And windy conditions. I am sure Mat have experienced some of the problems in his awardwinning beetle film.

[Hubert Hofer]

It's been a long time since I have seen such quality filming technique.
Absolutely stunning. Congratulations.

[Cees van Kempen]

Originally Posted by Arnt Mollan

Cees: I have used EX3 with the old trustful Nikon 55 Macro, and a Tamron 90 Macro. The Nikon is brilliant at f8, usful at one step up and down from f8, rest of the f-stops on my version is unusable. The Tamron is very sharp at f4 - f8, usable at f11, and I dont use the rest. But the opics is not the problem. The problem is to get a steady macro shot, and moove the camera into the right position up i trees, in bushes and close to the water. And windy conditions. I am sure Mat have experienced some of the problems in his awardwinning beetle film.

Thanks Arnt for your reply. Will give it a go with my EX3 and macro lens as well.

[Buba Kastorski]

Originally Posted by Mat Thompson

Music doesn't do it for me .

yeah, same here, but the footage is just outstanding!
thanks for sharing!

[Alastair Traill]

Quote: - The problem is to get a steady macro shot, and moove the camera into the right position up i trees, in bushes and close to the water.

Hello Arnt,

Congratulations, great material, great teaser, I hope your sales are as good.

I am interested in your comment on the 55 mm Micro Nikkor. I have never had a close look at the effect of aperture change and I am surprised it is so critical. It perhaps explains why my work with Nikon lenses can be dubious at times and OK other times.

I appreciate the problems with macro shots. I had some success with a special lightweight tripod and a PD150 but the increased weight of the EX3 with its greater macro ability makes it much more difficult.

You may be interested in my rather unlikely system that is evolving fast. I have a project on leaf litter and get involved with animals like beetle larvae at ground level.

Recently I made a very small and very low-level tripod with a ball-head. This can be set up on the ground however small changes in position can be tedious. To overcome this problem I have now made a small table with 4 legs that can be quickly adjusted to provide a smooth level surface that is somewhat larger than the tripod base. This means I can slide my tripod to the left or right, or closer to or further away from the subject. Height changes can be made by raising or lowering the table using the adjustable legs (~1 cm to ~ 40 cm in the prototype). Now that I have a level surface to work with I will probably replace the mini tripod with a simple adjustable wedge that reduces the height even more and will make set up easier.

The table is made from PVC, aluminium (that I will get anodized) and stainless steel. It could be set up in shallow water without adverse effects. The system is light weight and portable, I carry the camera with the mini tripod attached to the camera baseplate and the table weighs 2-3 kg.

A picture of the camera and mini tripod can be seen in the Convergent Design site ~ page 4.

[Cees van Kempen]

Alistair,

Can you please explain what you mean with Convergent Design page 4. Looked at their site and do not manage to figure out what page 4 is. And I am trully interested in your solution.