That's a great question. My impression, from what I witnessed is that there isn't any deadly fight going on, merely chasing. If you google "squid reproduction", it will appear that very little is known about the life cycle of these animals. However squids don't live long, and most likely only mate once. Most dead squids I saw were holding on to a shellfish or a stone (probably misled for a shellfish), suggesting they must exhaust themselves so much during mating (and they are indeed frantic during that time), that they must be seeking food right after. I suppose they can't find as much in shallow water where they reproduce, than in deeper water where they live, and that turns the whole episode into a fatal one?
In this particular shot, autofocus. My housing only gives me access to manual focus via the left handle push buttons, so manual focus is very impractical to use. I found macroshots to be particularly challenging (to me) as the depth of focus of the macrodiopter/cameral lens combination is pretty shallow. Add to this that my short distance vision is getting bad and that will explain why I rely on autofocus for those shots. Sometimes I come back with things which are hopelessly blurred!
@Hookbuzz Thanks for the kind words. I am happy with the VL1300, although I initially intended to buy the Sola 1200 (they were out of stock when I was trying to buy them). For macro shots, one such light is pretty much all you need. For wide shots, you never have enough!
@Hookbuzz As far as the lens is concerned, it is actually not a fisheye lens. The HX5V has a wide-angle lens (I think a 26 mm DSLR equivalent) with slight barrel distortion (hence the fisheye effect), which disappear once you zoom a little.
@Hookbuzz So far I haven't played too much with settings with the HX5V (which I use topside) so the contrast is set automatically. I edited this video in FCE and did not specify anything particular for the output. However, I recently learned that videos uploaded to RU-vid have their contrast automatically enhanced, thus clipping the bright and dark end of the histogram. I guess that's what you might be seeing in the the video. I am planning to look into that for future uploads...
@JWPCoolen Yes it is, although the company that runs it (and its sisters, Elly & Ellen, the rigs shown in sped up motion towards the end of the video) went out of business at the end of 2010 (Google Pacific Energy Resources for more info). You can see some workers on the rig around 1:54.
I just got the cx550 and the stingray plus but no lights until now I have been shooting with the sea life and editing with i-movie. I am now really wanting to hit the water after seeing your video. keep up the good work
