Hi Frederick
I live in Cairns, Australia shooting SD and HD here on the Great Barrier Reef mainly now. Put a camera in the water (in a housing naturally. ha-ha) and an almost magical thing happens.
First of all, the completely different environment the audience is now seeing will make them more willing to accept any difference in look as a normal underwater image. Add to that the light dispersion by the waves etc. and low contrast environment created by suspended particulate matter which softens or evens out the look so much that even consumer cameras start to look good.
I've been in production for almost 30 years and ran CCU's when cameras still had tubes (yes , that old!!). In my view, the big problem with video comes from the detail enhancement circuitry which artificially sharpens the image. Most video cameras are horrendously over-enhanced and then your TV compounds it again with it's own detail circuit when watching. This is what gives that trailing edge black line you see on objects especially in the highlight areas. As long as it's a 3 chip camera and you don't overexpose the highlight areas I think you can get away with an SD record.
Best of luck with the shoot.
Cheers
Norbert
