Filming · Bucketlist Tours
Why I Use the Equipment I Use
One camera, one lens, and one number that moves.
I have to admit I have no way to count dinoflagellates the way scientists do. I do not have the equipment for it, and I will not publish a number I cannot measure.
What I have is a fixed camera, my eyes and my own body. I have used all three to gauge the bay the same way for years.
The sensor
Working with marine life filmmakers taught me what this subject demands. I shoot on a camera with a 12.1-megapixel, full-frame, back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor.
Twelve megapixels sounds small. That is the point. Fewer, larger pixels on a full-frame sensor each gather more light, and light is the only thing in short supply out there.
The lens
The lens matters as much as the sensor. I use a SIRUI Night Walker 16mm S35 cine lens at T1.2, wide open. It was the largest usable aperture I could get.
It is a mechanical lens, so the aperture cannot drift between shots.
Focus
Manual, always. Autofocus never finds its target in that darkness, and without focus there is nothing to film. I set it by hand and it stays set.
What stays locked
- Shutter: 1/30
- Frame rate: twenty-four frames per second
- Aperture: T1.2
- Focus: fixed by hand
What moves
Only the ISO. And because it is the only thing that moves, it tells me something.
| Night | ISO reading |
|---|---|
| Peak, La Parguera | about 80,000 |
| Peak, Mosquito Bay, Vieques | about 80,000 |
| Less bright nights, Vieques | up to 140,000 |
| Most nights, La Parguera | 160,000 to 200,000 |
| Hardest conditions, La Parguera | about 240,000 |
What the number does and does not mean
A camera is not a microscope. ISO does not tell me how many cells are in a litre of water, and it does not replace scientific sampling.
It answers a smaller question: under these conditions, how much amplification did my camera need to record the light?
Same instrument, same settings, both bays. That is the reason I am comfortable saying that at its peak, La Parguera practically matches Vieques.
Why the usual advice fails
Most advice online assumes a phone or a consumer camera and a long exposure. A long exposure blurs anything that moves, and here everything moves: the water, the swimmer, the boat.
Why I made the investment
It is a large investment for an operator of my size. I put it at the service of the one place where I feel time stops.
It is small next to what the bay gives me back.