Diving professionals from Deep Explorers used a Fujinon XS13X3.3BRM wide-angle lens to document an historic dive off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., in June. The company gathered data on the wreck of the USS Monitor, a U.S. Navy warship that has been resting 230 feet down on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for more than 150 years.
Deep Explorers produced a series of video segments, entitled “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” which were posted on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site during the expedition. A Sony PDW F350 XDCAM camera paired with the Fujinon XS13X3.3BRM lens served as the primary topside camcorder for recording interviews and stand-ups of divers and scientists conducting research of the wreck and its surrounding marine habitat. All footage was edited on location using a combination of Apple Final Cut Pro and PC-based Adobe Premiere Pro CS3.
“Outfitting our topside camera with the XS13X3.3BRM Fujinon lens gave us stunning pictures,” said Deep Explorers executive producer Dan Crowell. “We were thrilled at the picture quality when we first began shooting, and the ultra-sharp Fujinon glass produced stellar results. We also found the lightweight lens performed well in low and changing light conditions.”
The videos chronicled the unique challenges that were part of the expedition 16 miles off the North Carolina coast. According to Crowell, conditions were often far from ideal during production. At some points, dive conditions were too treacherous to allow exploration of the wreck.
“There were times when we could not dive, so we had to make the most of our topside segments,” Crowell explained. “The weather was an obstacle for much of the week, so the segments shot with the Fujinon lenses were thrust into the forefront.”
At just 15x8 feet, the confined space of the boat deck could have been an obstacle, but the Fujinon wide-angle lens was able to capture the action.
“The Fujinon XS13X3.3BRM allowed us to shoot on a relatively small boat and make it appear much larger,” Crowell said. “We got extremely positive reactions from viewers as well as from people who were with us on the boat.”
The project was produced in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of the Marine Sanctuaries and Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Science.
