From September 12 to 19, 2026, a group of divers spent a week on Bonaire with one goal: to get better at underwater video. The Underwater Video Workshop Bonaire 2026, run by the Underwater Video Academy, had the UWACAM camera app as its main sponsor, and the DIVEVOLK flag went up on the dock with the group. In the water, smartphone rigs built around DIVEVOLK SeaTouch housings worked alongside traditional camera systems all week, and the photos from the workshop show what those rigs looked like in real use.
A SeaTouch 4 Max Platinum on a full video rig: twin handles, two float arms and two lights. Underwater photos by Andreas Plimpton.
A Week Built Entirely Around Underwater Video
Most dive trips treat filming as a side activity. The Underwater Video Academy has taken the opposite approach since 2022, running on-location workshops that focus entirely on underwater video. Bonaire has history with the format: underwater cinematographer Matthias Lebo hosted a week-long underwater video workshop on the island in 2022, and the 2026 workshop certificates carry his signature as organizer.
The academy says many of its guests come back year after year, and the group is made up of committed scuba divers and image makers. That makes for a demanding audience. The participants already know how to dive. What they want is help turning dive time into usable footage: steady shots, controlled light, clean color and clips that cut together into a story.
Matthias is a familiar name to DIVEVOLK readers. He has described how testing SeaTouch housings turned into a long-term workflow, and how he co-created UWACAM, in his own DIVEVOLK story. Divers who followed our Maldives underwater videography masterclass will recognize the format: a small group, daily dives and a lot of time spent on technique.
Smartphones and Cameras on the Same Table
The group photo on the dock sums up the week. Participants in the official yellow workshop T-shirts gather behind a table of rigs, with a UWACAM banner reading "Capture Ocean Beauty. Effortlessly." across the front and the DIVEVOLK flag in the middle.
The table is worth a closer look. At least three DIVEVOLK smartphone housings with red filters over the lens port sit next to traditional camera housings, a dome port in a neoprene cover, action cameras and video lights. Nobody was asked to pick a side: smartphone rigs and dedicated cameras went into the same water, filmed by divers working on the same skills.
What the Rigs Looked Like
The underwater photos show that participants did not treat the phone as a point-and-shoot. Some SeaTouch housings were mounted on twin-handle trays, with carbon float arms on top to offset the weight and a video light on an articulated arm at each side. A coiled lanyard kept each rig attached to its diver.
This is the same layout many underwater filmmakers use with a mirrorless camera, scaled down. Arm segments joined by ball-joint clamps let each diver move the lights forward or wide depending on the subject, and the float arms help the rig sit level in the hand for smoother pans. The DIVEVOLK dive lights range covers lights for this kind of setup.
Other participants went lighter. One diver filmed with a SeaTouch 4 Max+ on a compact frame with a single handle on top and a short arm below, which works well for shooting in portrait orientation and moving quickly along the reef.
Running the Camera Through the Touchscreen
Every SeaTouch housing in these photos is being operated the same way: with a finger on the screen. The housing is button-free, and its touch membrane passes each tap and swipe through to the phone's own touchscreen, so the full camera app stays available at depth. In one frame, a diver tracks a fish over the reef with the live view filling the screen.
Another photo shows what that access means in practice. With the UWACAM settings menu open on a SeaTouch 4 Max+, the diver can reach EV, ISO, frame rate, tint and a grey card white balance control, alongside other shooting options, without ever opening the housing.
Shooting in landscape, the same interface puts lens selection (0.5x, 1x and 5x) and the on-screen record button within reach of the diver's thumb. For video, being able to switch focal length mid-dive is a big deal. A wide establishing shot and a tighter detail shot can come from the same pass along the reef. Our full UWACAM guide walks through these PRO controls one by one.
Color Straight Out of the Water
Water filters out red first, which is why unprocessed underwater footage so often looks flat and blue. The underwater photos in this recap were finished with UWACOLOR, UWACAM's adaptive underwater color processing, and the screens in them show the live scene the divers were framing as they filmed. Several participants also fitted red filters to their DIVEVOLK housings. If you want to know how the processing works, our explainer on how UWACOLOR handles underwater color covers it in detail.
Bonaire as an Underwater Classroom
It is easy to see why the workshop keeps coming back to Bonaire. The island is widely regarded as one of the world's best shore diving destinations, which means more time in the water and less time on boats. The surrounding sea is protected as the Bonaire National Marine Park, established in 1979, and covers the waters around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire from the high-tide mark down to 60 meters.
The park is managed by STINAPA Bonaire, which asks divers to leave pointer sticks and gloves behind, avoid touching or removing anything, and keep good buoyancy. Those rules matter even more for videographers. A rig with lights and float arms is bigger than a bare camera, and holding a steady shot near the reef only works if you keep your position without making contact.
The Short Film Competition
The workshop also included a short film competition. The certificate from the Underwater Video Workshop Bonaire 2026 Short Film Competition shows John Turpin taking 2nd Place. It is signed by Matthias Lebo as organizer and carries the UWACAM, DIVEVOLK and Underwater Video Academy logos, among others. In the photo from the ceremony, John also holds a boxed SeaTouch 4 Max Platinum.
A short film is a good test of everything practiced during the week. Good clips are not enough on their own. They have to be shot with editing in mind, with enough variety in angle, distance and movement to carry a sequence. That is exactly where a well-balanced rig and quick access to camera controls pay off.
Build a Similar Rig
The SeaTouch housings in Bonaire were the SeaTouch 4 Max+ and the SeaTouch 4 Max Platinum. To put together a setup like the ones above, start with the SeaTouch 4 Max kits, then add lights and arms as your filming develops. If you have questions about phone compatibility or rigging, you can contact our team directly.
Thanks to the Underwater Video Academy, Matthias Lebo, UWACAM and every participant who brought a SeaTouch along to Bonaire.
Underwater photography: © Andreas Plimpton.
