Caves of the Mojave

[davantalus]

Over Thanksgiving weekend a buddy and I visited some caves in the Mojave desert with members of the Southern California Grotto. We had a fun trip and got some great video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ossTJb25HRA&hd=1

For what it's worth. I would totally quit my dayjob to make epic videos, following you folks around some mysterious supercave.

[self-deleted_user]

Wowwwwww

Nifty shooting, nifty editing, overall amazing. You should make a full length cavemovie and get something good out there about /real/ caving

I loved it!

[NZcaver]

Excellent job. You should submit that to the NSS video salon.

What camera equipment were you using?

[pub]

Very creative Dave! It's good to see some of the SoCal members that have visited us here.
Yeah, you should have submitted this to the video salon but the deadline was 1 May

[davantalus]

Wowwwwww
Nifty shooting, nifty editing, overall amazing.
I loved it!

Thanks! :)

You should make a full length cavemovie and get something good out there about /real/ caving

Dunno, then we'd have to Sanctum someone in an underground lake and reliable caving buddies are hard to find. Actually... I could think of one maybe. ;)

What would you want to see in a "real" cave movie? Storyline? Planning? People yelling at each other? Ice axes? (I just bought one!)

You should submit that to the NSS video salon.

Ha! Maybe next year. I'm so far behind in editing I shot that nearly 6 months ago. Newer footage is stronger.

What camera equipment were you using?

Canon 5d Mark II + 16-35 f2.8 mainly (It makes focus easy). A few shots with a 24-70 f2.8. And one shot with a 70-200 f2.8IS II + teleextender. I'm a wedding photographer if that helps rationalize the gear.

I just picked up a hotshoe mic and video light that I'm excited to see footage from... but it was a real drag crawling around in a mine with all that stuff hanging off my camera this weekend.

[NZcaver]

What camera equipment were you using?

Canon 5d Mark II + 16-35 f2.8 mainly (It makes focus easy). A few shots with a 24-70 f2.8. And one shot with a 70-200 f2.8IS II + teleextender. I'm a wedding photographer if that helps rationalize the gear.

I just picked up a hotshoe mic and video light that I'm excited to see footage from... but it was a real drag crawling around in a mine with all that stuff hanging off my camera this weekend.

Very nice. That would explain everything being tack sharp and suitably wide with minimal distortion. I'm impressed.

The nice CPS reps were up here doing a local promo a few months ago and kindly loaned me a 5D MkII, but unfortunately they wanted it back. Great to shoot with, but I'm a total novice with the video features. I found it rather difficult to focus manually and accurately while moving and zooming hand-held with my 70-300L. One of the other guys had a really nice body-harness gimball mount which seemed to work really well with a wide lens, but I can't imagine wearing that into a cave.

Kudos for dragging your entire setup with you. My 40D isn't often allowed out in the dark, but I'm certainly no stranger to dragging inconvenient amounts of other camera equipment through caves. Anybody who has ever caved with me can probably attest to that.

[self-deleted_user]

I dunno by real cave movie one where peeps don't act stupid and there are no crazy hodags running around haha. I guess you'd need some sort of build to a climax but I dunno how to do that if everyone keeps their heads and people tie their hair back when rappelling! I'm not a writer, I pretend to take photos but that's about it LOL. I did Nanawrimo one year, tried the 2nd year but fell behind since I was gone for 2.5 weeks of November so I didn't finish. And I never did finish the script I was working on for script frenzy about pirates and ninjas and murder!

Oooh wait there you go, have a pirates vs ninja war in a cave! Battle to determine the best once and for all!

[davantalus]

I found it rather difficult to focus manually and accurately while moving and zooming hand-held with my 70-300L. One of the other guys had a really nice body-harness gimball mount which seemed to work really well with a wide lens, but I can't imagine wearing that into a cave.

I'm not sure that gets easier either. I'm still getting the hang of focus pulling. Especially given each lens is completely different. Nice thing about the 16-35 is that it's at Infinity by the time your more than a few feet away. I generally leave it there unless someone gets too close.

Kudos for dragging your entire setup with you. My 40D isn't often allowed out in the dark, but I'm certainly no stranger to dragging inconvenient amounts of other camera equipment through caves. Anybody who has ever caved with me can probably attest to that.

I have a (much cleaner) 40d too. Fortunately the low light performance isn't great or I would take it instead. Then you wouldn't have my movie. :)

have a pirates vs ninja war in a cave! Battle to determine the best once and for all!

Perhaps you've talked yourself back in a circle to ice axes and hodags?

[tncaver]

It looked like a real cave video to me. I recently saw a commercially made movie that was no where near as good as this video.

[self-deleted_user]

^agreed

I just want a full length one! I could watch that for hours...and the narration was done really well too.

[davantalus]

I just want a full length one! I could watch that for hours...and the narration was done really well too.

Thanks Sungura! My friend who narrated just accepted a job in another state... I'll have a hard time finding a replacement. :P

You know there are others you can watch too. ;)

I had a chance to show this (and a few other movies I've made) at the grotto meeting two months ago and it was really rewarding! The thing that impressed me the most was how everyone laughed in the right places... there's a common understanding that you have to have to "get" some of the material I guess.

I'd recommend it to any of you who show your work to friends (and the internet) but not your own grotto. :)