It was high tide and a full moon that brought the clear water to Monterey. Fifty feet away, a raft of sea lions barked and cavorted as I assembled the Gates housing for Sony's VX2000/ PD-150 camcorder. This rugged, professional system features manual controls. Attached to the housing was a 100 degree super-wide lens created for Gates by Fathom Imaging. Flanking the housing was a set of NiteRider HID light heads set on flexible poppet arms.

In the water, a cocky sea lion began performing gymnastic maneuvers. I pointed the camera toward the animal and rolled tape in automatic white balance. The image was pretty green, but exciting. Composition was easy with the external monitor.

Down to Business

Now it was time to get serious. I settled back down and reset the white balance to the white sand of the bottom. Instantly the image turned from dark green to a beautiful blue, more in line with what I was experiencing.

With a combination of the aft controls I was also able to alter the exposure compensation value of the camera (Sony DSR-PD150) from the dark, saturated minus 2 that I usually shoot to a minus 1 value, more appropriate on this bright sunny morning. Next I kicked over to join the fun with more than 20 sea lions.

After 10 minutes I settled back to the bottom to test the close-up capabilities of the system. The HIDs added a pleasing glow to the colorful anemone before me. With the camera in manual focus I moved in to three feet and filmed wide, medium and close shots. For these shots I manually focused the camera, then zoomed out for the close shot. This established sharp focus for all three shots. This was easy to do with the zoom control within fingertip reach of the right hand. The feel of the controls quickly became intuitive. For information, visit www.gateshousings.com/VX-2000.html, $2,985.

Sea Lions, Rays and Whale Sharks

Here are a few tips that may help you get close to and film fast-moving marine life:

Preset and precompose your camera system for the shot you'd like to accomplish. Know your subject: The more you know about the mobility and behavior of the animals you are documenting, the more you are likely to be in the right place at the right time.

Be physically prepared: It's one thing to bring home images of sea slugs, and quite another to get great footage of whale sharks swimming against a strong current.

Finally, be sure to peek away from the viewfinder to enjoy the interaction with these wonderful creatures.