Alain Bernard of France is seen from underwater as he enters the water to set a new world record of 47.60 seconds during the 100m freestyle in the men’s semi-finals at the European Swimming Championships in Eindhoven March 21, 2008 (Photograph by: Wolfgang Rattay).
It is of course not possible for a photographer to be in the pool during a swimming competition, but that doesn’t stop a determined photographer getting the picture!
I have worked on this problem over a number of years, and got it down to a fine art. It is necessary to pre-position an underwater housing containing a regular Canon EOS 1D Mark 2N with (usually) a 15mm fish-eye lens. When the swimmers hit the water or swim over my camera, I release the shutter via a waterproof cable. The data is transferred from the camera to another housing containing a Canon transmitter that transfers the images from the camera to my laptop.
Above: Setting up my equipment at Eindhoven
Within seconds of the end of the race I am in a position to transmit the photographs to our desk operation in Singapore. The desk then immediately moves them globally.
Above: Setting up my equipment at Eindhoven
The underwater pictures of Alain Bernard were out on the wire four minutes after the Frenchman set a new world record over the 100m freestyle. In my mind this is a world record too, because I appear to be the only photographer - using a remote controlled underwater camera like this - who has worked out how to achieve consistent results with this notoriously unreliable set-up. Therefore I don’t need to wait for a couple of hours for the competition to end before jumping into the pool to retrieve my CF card, as do the other photographers
In the competitive world of sport photography, just like the swimming competition, seconds count. An hour is a life-time.
Above: At the end of the day, washing off the chlorine in my bathtub.
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Hi James,
- Posted by Wolfgang RattayI am more than happy to clarify this.
As per earlier, the Canon transmitter can not be used in wireless mode.
Due to the density of water - no matter if it is just two inch deep – wireless transmission quits working. The unit has to be used in wire-mode in order to work from the pool.
The other big issue to be solved with Canon’s Mark 2 is the firewire signal that comes from the camera. Unfortunately fireware does not travel over more than approx. 1.2m of cable length. Therefore the unit that “translates” firewire into normal “LAN-language” has to stay close to the camera. In my underwater setup a 0.5m long custom-made waterproof firewire cable goes from the camera housing to the second housing that contains Canon’s WFTE-1 transmission unit. The transferred image data is then filed over the second cable - the red one in the picture – to the ftp server. Previously mentioned - it is a specially treated regular CAT-5-LAN cable. Therefore we can view, acquire and edit the images from underwater within seconds after they have been taken. Cheers Wolfgang
hello, this is fascinating but i hope you can clarify one point for me. the canon transmitter uses short range radio waves, which do not pass through water. in a comment above you say that the transmitter is on the end of a 70m cable, but if this is the case why is it in a waterproof housing ? i would be grateful if you could clarify this point. very good work and thankyou for the informative blog entry !
- Posted by James Madelinhere are two interesting sites for Mr. Mollycoddle,
- Posted by Wolfganghttp://www.spruecheportal.de/warmduscher .php and
http://www.helmutniklas.de/private/weich ei/weichei.html
too bad it does not translate well into English. A short suit helps to stay warm and healthy (for two weeks of competition) when I am checking the camera position (sometimes up to 3 to 4 times) before I like it for next day`s competition.
Most of the times the best swimmers - the ones you want - are competing in lane 4 (and 5). OK, most of the times. In Eindhoven one final was won in lane 8.
- Posted by Wolfgang Rattay[...] —-end—- Thanks: [Reuters] [...]
- Posted by Underwater Camera Rig Sends Photos Around the World in Seconds | Submiter - science news,breaking news and digitas newsOf course you still have to know under which swimmer (the one who’s gona win) to position your gear if you want to get “the” shot.
- Posted by OlivierHello bloggers,
- Posted by Wolfgang RattayI am a bit overwhelmed by the feedback and interest on this. It is not rocket science. Of course water is to dense for wireless x-mission. I am using a regular Canon WFTE-1 transmitter on a 70m long regular CAT-5 LAN cable to transmit the data to my server. The transmission unit is in the second waterproof housing which is designed by Uwe Kiehl to hold a common flash unit. Since Uwe and me built the set in 2006 for the Budapest European swimming championships it is working fine. Uwe will confirm - fumbling around with the tiny little firewire cables is far from fun. Keep the fingers crossed the cable and the slightly modified Novoflex off-the-shelves mounting tools are chlorine-resistant enough to work fine in the near future. Cheers Wolfgang
very interesting article, i am working on the same setup.one question, is it mandatory to wear a winter protection siut in a heated pool? cheers Mollycoddle
- Posted by Mollycoddle[...] Reuters.com: How Did He Shoot That? Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
- Posted by Reuters.com: How Did He Shoot That? at Yellowecho.com[...] Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2008/03/2 6/how-did-he-shoot-that/ [...]
- Posted by Underwater Camera Rig Sends Photos Around the World in SecondsI think you should have a look ( Donald Miralle (GETTY), (www.donaldmiralle.com) You will agree he,s the Nº1, sure. And you did,t mention the Master (and Pioneer): Heinz Kluetmeier.
If they did,nt transmit from the water yet is becouse they don,t need so. They are working this way for years, and they are very modest.
Emilio Lavandeira
- Posted by Emilio[...] As Bernard entered the pool on his way to making history, Rattay managed to capture one of a kind images and beamed them around the world in minutes thanks to a custom set up that combines a Canon EOS 1D Mark 2N with a 15mm fish-eye lens, waterproof cable and a transmitter sends everything to a waiting laptop. From there, the images were worldwide in minutes, which is far faster than any of Rattay’s soggy bottomed competitors. “I don’t need to wait for a couple of hours for the competition to end before jumping into the pool to retrieve my CF card, as do the other photographers,” he said. What’s the fun in that, Rattay? You afraid of a few cannonballs? [Reuters] [...]
- Posted by Underwater Camera Rig Sends Photos Around the World in Seconds by GizmoDevil[...] många gånger har du inte undrat över hur en världskänd fotograf tagit en bild? How Did He Shoot That? är Reuters blogg som behandlar den fototekniska biten av bildskapandet snarare än den [...]
- Posted by Hur plåtar’n? Wolfgang RattayAbsolutely great picture, tools and idea - thank you Wolfgang -
- Posted by Klaus Bothe[...] How Did He Shoot That? | Blogs | Reuters.com (tags: reuters photography photos swimming gear) [...]
- Posted by The Last Minute Blog » links for 2008-03-30So he got the pix to his editor in no time at all? What’s a few minutes. Besides, who’s watching who won, anyway?
Not all folks are swimming enthusiasts in this world. There are other more pressing things in life.
- Posted by KenI think the point is not that he has an underwater housing but that he can get the pictures immediately. A standard wireless photo transmitter will not work underwater. So he has a solution that gets him the pictures ahead of everyone else.
- Posted by Cerium[...] As Bernard entered the pool on his way to making history, Rattay managed to capture one of a kind images and beamed them around the world in minutes thanks to a custom set up that combines a Canon EOS 1D Mark 2N with a 15mm fish-eye lens, waterproof cable and a transmitter sends everything to a waiting laptop. From there, the images were worldwide in minutes, which is far faster than any of Rattay’s soggy bottomed competitors. “I don’t need to wait for a couple of hours for the competition to end before jumping into the pool to retrieve my CF card, as do the other photographers,” he said. What’s the fun in that, Rattay? You afraid of a few cannonballs? [Reuters] [...]
- Posted by Underwater Camera Rig Brings Upskirts to the Swimming Pool by GizmoDevilcool shot and great idea to get it.
http://www.golfnorwich.com/
- Posted by http://www.golfnorwich.com/[...] speed is great, and so is the shot, but there is very little new in the way of technique. read more | digg story SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “How Did He Shoot That?”, url: [...]
- Posted by How Did He Shoot That? | Brad's Tiny World