DIY UW housing for Canon t2i - advice appreciated

[_marin]

I got an e-mail from Zago that their sealing boots will function 30m underwater and that the switch will be fully protected so I'm gonna go with simple pushbutton switch and their sealing boots.
These ones Zago Designs and Manufactures Switch Sealing Boots - Toggle, Pushbutton and Rotary Switch Boots
I'm gonna try and contact APM to see what they say about their boots since they look promising as well Full Pushbutton Panel-Mounted Switch & Potentiometer Boots from APM

Also, I bought used Ikelite 6" dome with 5503.50 port so I'm really excited about this project!

 

[CuNanoTube]

Should not be too difficult, you just may need to settle on automatic or a pre-set shooting mode.

Those look like peizo switches, they are the best for underwater use, but most are expensive and some need driver circuits. It might be easier in that regard to have a micro-controller running the controls and your switches running to the controller, you could then use less buttons and have functions controlled by combinations of buttons.

 

[lucca brassi]

Those look like peizo switches

Why it looks like piezo ? :blinking:

I got an e-mail from Zago that their sealing boots will function 30m underwater and that the switch will be fully protected so I'm gonna go with simple pushbutton switch and their sealing boots.

I would NOT count to much on sealing boots .... they are just SECONDARY protection !

 

[the_dragon_no1]

i have buildt a few slr housings... and you say you cant afford a second hand old ikelite housing or something ? ... well, belive me, if you build one from scratch, its not gonna be cheap anyway.. you will probably end up adding stuff to it, rebuilding, and soo on... it's gonna cost !

I finaly figured that out, and got myselft a second hand vintage ikelite film camera housing from ebay, a few small mods to it, and it worked perfect ! Also, then you got all the buttons, just have to re-config then abit, no problem !

Now i got a nice fully working housing, with a new sea & sea strobe, new focus light, base plate, two handles, and macro AND dome port, for under 500$ !!!

soooo, my addvice.... Go for a re/build, not complete build :cool2: Been there, done that !

 

[_marin]

...and you say you cant afford a second hand old ikelite housing or something ?

Oh no, I wasn't saying that I cannot afford second hand Ikelite housing but the other one that Lucca mentioned.
What kind of mods did you end up doing?
I decided on building from scratch because I will get materials and work for a very low price plus I like to do stuff like that and learn a thing or two. But I know things could fail so I'll test everything throughly before I put camera inside.
Lucca, so you wouldn't go with boots? The APM's boot with double thread that mounts directly into panel looks promising because you screw the boot on the push button and it's sealed and very small amount of air remains inside and then you screw that together into the panel and you can basically seal that completely so it sounds like the switch could be very well protected inside?

I had one more idea: imagine a push button switch that's almost level with the mounting panel like this
and the mount panel is plastic. And then you take silicone rubber and put it over the panel and glue it firmly using 3M Scotch-Weld primer. And that's it - you have completely sealed front panel and you push buttons trough silicone rubber. Do you think it would work?

 

[lucca brassi]

all you have to do is to build a ''piston'' like Matt Gieselman | Fixing sticky buttons on underwater camera housings with magnet
from link above I give you 102MG15 - HONEYWELL S&C - MAGNET, HALL EFFECT, 12.2X7.9 | Farnell Republika Slovenija to get similar like this

and on other side you put hall switches without penetreting housing
A1101EUA-T - ALLEGRO MICROSYSTEMS - HALL EFFECT SWITCH, SIP-3, 1101 | Farnell Republika Slovenija

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on other side you can buy piezos http://www.e-switch.com/Portals/0/Series_Pdf/PV5.pdf also with metalic buttons and looks like on camera housing you give it . With sealing threads with some marine sealent might work PV5S64019 - E-SWITCH - ANTI-VADAL PUSHBUTTON SWITCH, | Farnell Republika Slovenija

 

[_marin]

all you have to do is to build a ''piston'' like Matt Gieselman | Fixing sticky buttons on underwater camera housings with magnet
from link above I give you 102MG15 - HONEYWELL S&C - MAGNET, HALL EFFECT, 12.2X7.9 | Farnell Republika Slovenija to get similar like this

View attachment 121603 and on other side you put hall switches without penetreting housing
A1101EUA-T - ALLEGRO MICROSYSTEMS - HALL EFFECT SWITCH, SIP-3, 1101 | Farnell Republika Slovenija

The problem is that I don't know how to build this and what are potential problems but I'll try to learn more about it. What is the distance between magnet and switch when it's ON and OFF? So you say I could put switch in plastic - completely seal it and than turn them ON by putting magnet close to them? How strong magnet must be? Any type of magnet is ok or must be something specific?

EDIT: I saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR8YqUy3n8M&feature=player_embedded so I'm guessing any magnet is ok. Now I have to wait for the reply from the guy who produces remote control electronics for the camera if Hall Eff Switch will work. That would be great! I found Menu Button Assembly from SeaLife http://www.sealifepartsdirect.com/list.php?action=accessoryPage&model=BC so I could put D42 magnet on it and hopefully everything would work as it should!

 

[lucca brassi]

The problem is that I don't know how to build this and what are potential problems but I'll try to learn more about it. What is the distance between magnet and switch when it's ON and OFF? So you say I could put switch in plastic - completely seal it and than turn them ON by putting magnet close to them? How strong magnet must be? Any type of magnet is ok or must be something specific?

for distance you should made some experiments before , magnet should be weak and south orientated (important ) . Hall switch you could get in high , medium and low sensibility . ( look on Hall Effect Unipolar Switches Melexis: Hall-effect Position Sensors | Sensorless BLDC Motor Drivers . In datasheet is describet how strong magneteic field you need )


http://bildr.org/2011/04/various-hall-effect-sensors/

 

[_marin]

Time for an update!
Everything is going as planned. Big thanks to Lucca for pointing me in the right direction with Hall-effect switches. I found an Alkaten tube, ID 140mm - OD 160mm that fits Canon 550D perfectly. I have Ikelite 6" dome port and latches for closing. Electronics for remote control will arrive for the weekend and all I need is an o-ring and glass panel for back side. Also, I bought 2 I-Torch Pro Video 4 lights. As soon as I start actually working on it, I'll post photos. Scheduled test-dive (without lights) is around June 25th somewhere near Rijeka in Adriatic. Keep your fingers crossed

 

[_marin]

Well, I went diving and everything held except for the glass. In retrospect, I understand what I did wrong: I used triplex glass - it's a 2 layers of glass with polymer binder between them. Instead of using one piece of 6mm thickness I used 6mm triplex which is actually 3mm+polymer+3mm and of course, first layer broke at 15m depth and then very soon the second one. Lesson learned. All other o-rings held fine. Since then I ordered aluminium tube for housing because plastic I used for this one is not that great for working with. I will also use 10mm thick plexiglass instead of 6mm triplex. Also, I managed to figure out how to control my camera with hall-effect switches and magnets through 5mm thick aluminium tube Big thanks to Lucca once again. Hall-effect switches are great.
A few photos of my first plastic housing: