GEAR TESTS: RED-V Raptor Underwater Cinema Camera Review
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CRISTIAN DIMITRIUS Professional Filmmaker  |
During the Digital Shootout in Bonaire I had the opportunity to use for many dives the new Nauticam Housing for the latest RED flagship camera V-RAPTOR 8K VV that can record REDCODE RAW in 8K resolution up to 120fps. The housing combined with the camera creates a powerful cinema system that can expand the creative possibilities when shooting UW.
I used the camera to get high frame rate images of squids and tarpons feeding at night, up to 240fps in 4k and 480fps in 2k. The results were incredible! The housing is an evolution from the previous great dsmc2 housing. Very ergonomic, compact and despite having all the traditional mechanical controls, it comes with an innovating series of electronic controls that can access Iris+/-, Shut+/-, ISO+/-, WB on the left side of the housing and Pre-Record, FPS+/-, Playback, Play/Pause, Magnify and Tools on the top. These buttons also have backlighting, which was great for the night dives with the tarpons.
Despite being bigger than all DSLR or mirrorless that we had during the Shootout, this is probably the smallest and easiest to use cinema system on the market. I didn't have any problem achieving neutral buoyancy with some Nauticam floating arms, and balance with two trim weights at the back. The Nauticam Raptor housing uses the N120 Cinema port system, shared with Nauticam's other N120 platform cameras and I shot alternating between the 18-35 Sigma lens, and the Canon 24-70, both paired with the WACP-1.
Another great feature of the housing is the knob that can control the RF-EF Canon adapter with variable ND, allowing me to use the lens wide open for some shallow depth of field for some very cinematic images. In this case, I had no distortion in the corners due the combination with the WACP-1.
To monitor, I had both the the SmallHD 503 Ultrabright mounted in the external Nauticam NA-503-S and also the Portkeys BM5WR monitor on the back of the housing, both connected on the two SDIbulkheads available on the camera, something that I could not have in previous models. Battery was not a problem as I used a Anton Bauer Triton Micro 150 V-Mount Lithium-Ion Battery that lasted for all morning dives using the camera at its limit. I strongly recommend the Nauticam Red V-Raptor 8K VV Underwater Housing system for professionals working on big productions and from now on, it will be a main camera for all my wildlife work and I could not ask for a better system.
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