Gates Deep Komodo Underwater Housing
Reflecting after the first sea trials of the Gates Deep Komodo Underwater Housing.
The dive boat 'Asante' speeds across the San Pedro Channel towards Catalina Island.
Onboard, 8 divers that come from all walks of life. Some professional underwater cinematographers, a lead engineer from RED Digital Cinema, the President of Gates Underwater Products, and other working professionals in the filmmaking community.
All of us brought together by our love for the ocean.
It gave us a rare invite-only opportunity to get the new Gates DEEP KOMODO housing in the water, and in the wild, for its first sea trials...
Another thing we had in common, for most of us it had been months since we last had a dive. Just like the rest of the world our typical routines and activities, careers, and life has been on hold, canceled or been somehow affected by the global pandemic. We have stayed in and stayed safe. Now that it was time to get out there together again we all did so with care, concern, and compassion. Masks on and smart about how we interacted.
To say that we were all excited to be out on the water and to go diving again is definitely an understatement.
Not only were all of us salty dogs dried up and in need of our scuba fix but we've all been anticipating this new housing from Gates since RED Digital Cinema announced their new camera: KOMODO. Since the RED One's release in 2007, Gates has had a close relationship with RED. Partly through engineers, developers, and the support team. This close relationship has allowed Gates to get an early jump on the housings they have made for each one of RED's camera offerings. All the while, allowing Gates to develop secret weapons like the REDmote control interface. That control interface has not just been improved upon in the DEEP KOMODO but it has been reinvented and with the creation of Gates Command/Control Module. More on that later.
RED Komodo
The RED KOMODO is a powerful little beast. With 6K resolution, global shutter, and a tiny footprint. The body dimensions are about four inches by four inches. The RED Komodo weighs in at a featherweight 2 pounds. It is truly a masterpiece of design and engineering. Being the smallest camera RED has ever released did not mean it is a lesser offering to the professional cinema industry. Quite the opposite.
Gates Deep Komodo Housing
As our crew of test pilots got their first glimpses of the GATES DEEP KOMODO HOUSING, it was apparent how the small footprint was. The RED KOMODO camera size directly translated to a small housing. Much smaller and so much lighter than most of us are used to seeing for professional cinema camera housings. And like the RED KOMODO, the Gates Deep Komodo Housing's small form factor did not mean that it compromised or sacrificed in any way. Again, quite the opposite. The Deep Komodo housing itself is also an absolute marvel of design and engineering. The setup of this new housing is not only quick and easy but the entire setup slides out of the housing in a matter of seconds. You can then attach it to a dovetail or use it to get a quick topside shot in a pinch. You can use the RED KOMODO's top LCD for framing and rough focus. Wouldn't be an ideal topside setup but the fact that you can go from inside the housing to outside and workable so quickly is incredible.
The DEEP KOMODO is the most streamlined and hydrodynamic of all Gates housings I've operated.
The GATES DEEP KOMODO is a cinema seeking torpedo
The monitor is discreetly tucked into the back of the housing with a slight tilt up for optimal viewing. The monitor integrated is the Atomos Shinobi. A very affordable 5" SDI monitor with a magnificent picture and a vast array of onboard tools for focus and exposure assist, etc. It has a nice bright picture which is very important for underwater work. On the topic of monitors: an interesting advancement RED went with on KOMODO is a built-in top display/touchscreen/control panel. Anyone with any experience shooting big sensors with high resolutions knows they would not use this small onboard monitor for critical focus. The fact that it's even there, giving you live video feed, full GUI, menu navigation, etc is amazing. When in the Deep Komodo housing you can access the menus on this top screen. The tactile pushbuttons have the same build quality as you find on the other Gates Housings. These top buttons will take you pretty much anywhere you need to get in the camera's menu options. But that wasn't enough for the folks at Gates. They designed the previously mentioned Command/Control Module. This sits sleekly on the side of the housing. This new module will be full of useful presets and help you navigate menus and operating activities faster and easier than using the top control interface. This same RCP based controller may also be offered as an alternative to the REDmote control interface you find on some other Gates housings.
The quick crossing to Catalina literally flew by
Everyone got a quick tutorial on the housing from John Ellerbrock. The before we knew it, we were at our first dive site. Finally, we all donned our dive gear that had been laying lonely and dry in storage too long. We jumped in with great anticipation. We had two Gates DEEP KOMODO Housings to pass around. Each of us taking turns on experiencing this powerful new little housing. The Deep Komodo perfectly trimmed and balanced, gliding through the water with absolute ease. We also passed around 2 DEEP WEAPON Housings and a Pro Action. We had lots of gear and we had lots of fun. After getting our inevitable fill of Garibaldi in the kelp shots, we found ourselves pointing the armada of cameras at each other. Now the filmmakers were filming each other, filming simultaneously.
RED Komodo Underwater Footage
The footage coming off the RED KOMODO looks outstanding. For a detailed look at how the RED Komodo Underwater footage was graded and edited, read this excellent article by LightPost Media & Training. After diving this housing, it really got me thinking about how great this little juggernaut is. Flopping in and out of chase boats, trying to catch fast animals will be a breeze now. I can drop the fully built kit with extra parts, lens, and batteries into my camera backpack. I can now hike that housing into the hard to reach spots. Not to mention wearing that same full backpack onto planes as your carry-on item. A.K.A. fully built RED camera in the housing with easy to fly capacity batteries. Well, that is whenever it gets easy for us Americans to fly anywhere again...
In a time of dealing with so much restriction and a lot of things coming to a stand-still, it has been so invigorating and inspiring to see these massive new leaps of innovation from RED and Gates. And so damn good to get out there to dive and shoot with friends again.
Click the video below to watch the first RED Komodo Underwater footage shot on the Gates Deep Komodo Underwater Housing.
Text by Sean Ruggeri.
Images by Rich Manley and Aaron Kroger
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