D-SLR for Shooting Video?

[arkstorm]

Arkstorm,
Don't cheap out on yourself when you are buying a housing. I help an awful lot of shooters get their cams and housings for less than where they can buy most any place and, as a result, I have learned a thing or two along the way. Without mentioning brand names, the Acrylic housing you might be considering has, for a great number of years, been the subject of complaint after complaint regarding fogging after bringing a cam from the warm topside to the cooler temps underwater, thus preventing you from shooting video or stills. A good housing will not do this and is well worth the extra money spent to avoid the frustration and buyer's remorse of having spent a lot of money anyway and not being able to use the system until the condensation/fog disappears.
Steve

Isn't that why you drop a desiccant packet in the housing and put the camera in the tub on the boat ride out? I've used many an acrylic housing for stills and never had any substantial problem with fogging in warm water.

 

[Tienuts]

Arkstorm,
Don't cheap out on yourself when you are buying a housing. I help an awful lot of shooters get their cams and housings for less than where they can buy most any place and, as a result, I have learned a thing or two along the way. Without mentioning brand names, the Acrylic housing you might be considering has, for a great number of years, been the subject of complaint after complaint regarding fogging after bringing a cam from the warm topside to the cooler temps underwater, thus preventing you from shooting video or stills. A good housing will not do this and is well worth the extra money spent to avoid the frustration and buyer's remorse of having spent a lot of money anyway and not being able to use the system until the condensation/fog disappears.
Steve

I'm not a fan of acrylics housings either, but simple physics tells us that when we assemble and seal our cameras/housings in a cool, dry environment (like an air-conditioned room) fogging will not be an issue, as there is no humidify in the housing to create fog. This is regardless of what the housing is made from.

 

[sharksdelight]

Arkstorm/Tienuts,
"I've used many an acrylic housing for stills and never had any substantial problem with fogging in warm water." You should not have any problems, substantial or not. And who wants a bunch of those things jumping around inside the housing anyway. I guess you must tape them down. Never once had to use a desiccant packet in 20 years and only once, back in 88 had a problem with condensation when I didn't pay attention. I can't say that I know physics, simple or otherwise, but I know the issues that shooters frequently have. The one thing I never, ever do is to bring my cam gear into any air-conditioned room or salon. When you do that and bring it out into the warm/hot outside I can almost guarentee a condensation issue every time. If not within the housing, within the camcorder itself. You'll see this when you get that little warning icon on your cams view finder. This happened to me in 88 with a Gates housing and an old hi-8 Sony 101 which was the top of the line in those days. I learned from that and after having to wait over an hour for that warning icon to go away, I never repeated that mistake. However, one trick I learned when filming a promo for a resort in Northern Costa Rica when we had no choice but to bring the cams/housings into the air conditioned resort room was to put both the cam and housing in separate zip lock plastic bags (large bags they were) and then put them outside for 15 minutes. Doing so quickly acclimated them to the outside temperatures. No scientist here but it's a practice that, when needed, works.

If you are on a PC, you might want to consider switching to a proper NLE like Edius or Premier Pro.
You will certainly want more ram than just 4 gigs. I would recommend ram from Crucial as theirs is of high quality. Not all ram is built the same. CS5 Premier Pro is now 64 bit and will utilize all your cores and as much ram as you can hold. Here is a recent article I wrote covering the issue:
Behind the Scenes of Adobe CS5
Steve

 

[arkstorm]

If you are on a PC, you might want to consider switching to a proper NLE like Edius or Premier Pro.
You will certainly want more ram than just 4 gigs. I would recommend ram from Crucial as theirs is of high quality. Not all ram is built the same. CS5 Premier Pro is now 64 bit and will utilize all your cores and as much ram as you can hold. Here is a recent article I wrote covering the issue:
Behind the Scenes of Adobe CS5
Steve

Steve,

Great article. I've seen your work before, it is very impressive.

Actually, the system I just picked up with 4gb of RAM and a Core i5 is a 27" iMac (I went to the dark side - wink,wink) so no more having to fumble through PC's inadequate video editing architecture.

Free iMovie does a better job on this machine than anything I could pay money for on my PC. But when I'm ready to lay down some dough to upgrade my editing capabilities I will certainly consider CS5.

 

[arkstorm]

Arkstorm/Tienuts,
You should not have any problems, substantial or not. And who wants a bunch of those things jumping around inside the housing anyway. I guess you must tape them down. Never once had to use a desiccant packet in 20 years and only once, back in 88 had a problem with condensation when I didn't pay attention. I can't say that I know physics, simple or otherwise, but I know the issues that shooters frequently have. The one thing I never, ever do is to bring my cam gear into any air-conditioned room or salon. When you do that and bring it out into the warm/hot outside I can almost guarentee a condensation issue every time. If not within the housing, within the camcorder itself. You'll see this when you get that little warning icon on your cams view finder. This happened to me in 88 with a Gates housing and an old hi-8 Sony 101 which was the top of the line in those days. I learned from that and after having to wait over an hour for that warning icon to go away, I never repeated that mistake. However, one trick I learned when filming a promo for a resort in Northern Costa Rica when we had no choice but to bring the cams/housings into the air conditioned resort room was to put both the cam and housing in separate zip lock plastic bags (large bags they were) and then put them outside for 15 minutes. Doing so quickly acclimated them to the outside temperatures. No scientist here but it's a practice that, when needed, works.

Keeping in mind that condensation inside a housing is a function of two variables: moisture of the air trapped inside and temperature...

Whenever I can, I set up the housing in a dry, air conditioned environment. If the room is very cold, condensation will occur on the outside of the housing when it is exposed to the humid air outside the room, but that is a non-issue. Keep in mind that the air inside the housing is now sealed at whatever humidity level was present inside the air conditioned room and air conditioning dries the air, so the air trapped inside the housing will be as dry as possible.

Nonetheless, if that air now sealed inside the housing is damp enough and the water its going in is cold enough, condensation will form. But that is true regardless of whether the housing is acrylic, aluminum, or another material. That is exactly why I find it advisable to assemble the rig in as dry an environment as possible and to throw in a desiccant pack just to be safe.

I generally don't have to tape the desiccant packet inside the housing. I can usually find a spot to tuck it where it won't move. Our Olympus housing even has a specific slot for it.

I suppose that I don't know whether the desiccant is absolutely necessary, especially in warm water, but I always use it anyway out of habit and training.

As far as condensation forming on the inside of the camera, I suppose that is a possibility, especially with older models. But it is my understanding that newer ones are pretty well sealed. I have never experienced fogging inside the actual camera. But again, if that were to happen, it wouldn't matter upon the housing material, acrylic or otherwise.

 

[arkstorm]

Arkstorm/Tienuts,
"I've used many an acrylic housing for stills and never had any substantial problem with fogging in warm water." You should not have any problems, substantial or not.

I should clarify that the only fogging I ever experienced was on the outside of the housing which isn't really a problem at all.

Come to think of it, I never once had a problem with fogging inside my acrylic housing.

 

[Dominic Nuesa]

I have a panasonic hvx205 and a canon 7D. I chose to bring my 7D down to the water with me mainly because of lens interchangeability. You should also consider resolution, low light level performance and memory capacity.

My sea&sea is basically fog proof. Never had a problem with condensation.