Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Sharks of North Carolina’

Diver and underwater photographer, Hal Wells of Hollywood Divers has travelled the globe capturing images of sea creatures. Hal has literally trained thousands of people on how to dive, and he takes divers to some of the most amazing dive sites on the planet.

Hal talks about one of his dive trips on a sunken U-Boat, surrounded by tiger sharks in North Carolina. An experienced dive master for TV commercials, music videos and films, Hal talks about his Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and his shooting setup.

“There are no other structures, or islands, off this part of the coast. It’s just a wide expanse of open ocean bottom. So the way light behaves out there is completely different to some places you might go diving. Because there are so many variables in waters like this, you really need a camera with wide dynamic range and high white balance and forgiving color science.”

“My go-to camera is the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K or 6K in a Nauticam housing with dome port. That’s the really cool thing about camera technology these days, it’s so small and lightweight. Ten years ago you would be carrying a camera around in a massive underwater housing weighing 60-70 pounds, which really slows you down. In this footage, you can see me following a sand tiger shark in slow motion. In reality I was swimming as fast as I could just to keep up with it, to get the shot.”

“With other styles of cameras, I could never have gotten that shot. Sharks are super skittish, so if I had been on an underwater scooter, they would have swum away because of the annoying propeller noise. So the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is perfect for underwater cinematography, in my experience.”

“I get asked all of the time which is the better camera for underwater cinematography: the Blackmagic 4K or 6K? It really depends on what you’re shooting. When you're closer to stuff and you want depth of field and you want to follow focus from one small part of the reef to another, then the MFT 4K is the version that really matters.”

“But if we were in a kelp forest, and you’re shooting up through the kelp into the sun, you’re naturally going to clip in the highlights. Well, I would use the EF 6K version of the Pocket Camera, because of the way that sensor handles the highlight roll off. This is where we get to see more of the separation between the two cameras, other than their resolution differences.”

“I think both the 4K and 6K Pocket Cameras are really good tools for underwater shooting. I am using these cameras exclusively.”

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
18.96mm x 10mm Sensor (Four Thirds)
13 Stops of dynamic range
4096 x 2160 (4K DCI) @ 60 fps
Blackmagic RAW
Generation 5 color science
Extended Video LUT
ISO 3200
6,000 – 10,000 Kelvin
Panasonic Lumix G Fisheye 8mm f.3.5 
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f.2.8 PRO Lens
Nauticam Underwater Housing