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@@freepete1 It's a start - we got a lot out of this first run, but definitely need more lights and probably a selfie stick to give some distance between the rig and the diver pushing it

Awesome video, I watched it on my Meta Quest 3 and it was like being there. What did you use for lights? I took an Insta 360 x3 to Kilsby sinkhole, but with only one primary spot light in my hand, it was pretty grainy away from the surface. I guess you had it on a tray with two flood lights pointing left and right… then your own spot in your hand… and the lead diver tended to light up the area in front of you, and the trailing diver tended to do the same for the rear. Did I miss anything?

@@tylerls Pretty much - we planned for the camera to be in the middle so the lead and rear divers would illuminate in front of and behind the camera. No tray though - just a ball mount on the bottom of a one-handed float stick, then used a triple clamp to attach two floats either side of the float stick, with two cheap video lights attached to the floats. The whole rig looks & feels like a cross/crucifix - perfect when it needs to be pushed through a low & flat slot, but it doesn't throw enough light forward or back for all-round lighting. We need to figure out something that throws light more evenly - probably with a third or fourth light to fill the gaps - but keeps the current profile

@@soggywombat Thanks! I'm lucky enough to have two VTL13500P-MAX flood lights (long story) so I might try those with 270-degree dome diffusers and see how that goes. Maybe that'll provide enough coverage without being too uneven. Maybe it'll throw too much light back in the direction of the camera, and I'll have to block it somehow... Are you saying that your float stick had the camera up top, and a ball for the triple clamp and lights at the bottom? I haven't been able to find anything like that, other than maybe using a float arm with a ball on each end. I have an Insta 360 "invisible" selfie stick, so I've been playing with two ideas on how to include it into the mix: 1. Merge 2x two-way clamps into a four-way clamp by making the clamps share a longer bolt or rod. Then one way goes to the Insta 360 "invisible" selfie stick, one way goes to the camera, and the other two go to the lights. 2. Take a two-way or three-way clamp, remove the bolt it came with, and replace it with a slightly longer rod. I attach the selfie stick to the rod via a coupling nut... then pass the rod through the clamp where its bolt used to be... and through a wing nut to tension the clamp... and then into the camera mount. It might be very sleek if it works out. I'd have to think carefully about how I prevent the selfie stick and camera from unscrewing themselves.

@@tylerls Shame RUclips comments don't allow photos, but essentially yup - ball mount at the bottom of the float stick, then two floats with ball mounts to attach the lights, with all of it folded upward to be as close to the camera as possible. Been considering what to do with the invisible selfie stick too - current plan is to use a dual gopro mount with a threaded base that fits the selfie stick, and then have the lights hang off the bottom go pro mount while the camera sticks up above. We'll test a bunch of stuff out then probably publish an article with all the details on www.soggywombats.com.au

This was just a trial run in (relatively) open water using natural light, but the goal is to achieve a similar experience in the caves. Lighting is likely to be the biggest issue, but I'm putting together a rig at the moment with 2-3 video lights that will hopefully throw enough photons against the cave walls to give folks a real sense of what it's like being there :) - Grubby

@@soggywombat cheers for the reply, yeah lighting rig will be interesting I imagine! Good luck with it

@@freepete1 Hoping to share the first cave trial footage this time next week ;)

Toxic to breathe - the "air" above the surface lake is full of hydrogen sulfide

Lewy rather amusingly named an area at the Glencoe end of Mile Hill Road "The Wombat Holes" ;)

There's a satellite overlay here :) facebook.com/photo/?fbid=728655862718&set=pcb.728550468928