DIY Video Housing a success...

[willydiver]

Thanks guys for the great comments and interest. I wouldn't have known how to begin the project without the help of others on this board, Scott's board, and the Airspeed Press book. Ol' Pops did do a fine job on turning the lenses for me, for sure. Thanks.

Thank you for the information on the color correction lenses! I'll check with those guys and see what my options are.

I agree that it's much better not to open the camera housing while on the boat. Using the remote is a great idea. The only problem is having to open the housing to put in new tapes or change the battery pack. I only get ~60 minutes of video with the recording speed set to max quality on those little tapes. You definitely have to be careful not to drip water into the housing while you're working on it. I keep two small pouches of dessicant in the housing, also. I think this helps to keep the inside of the lenses from fogging, too.

Thanks!
Will

 

[Jarek]

Just want to ask if anybody would be interested in buying a home-made basic video housing very similar to the one that "willydiver" build. No controls just turn the video camera "ON" lock it inside the housing and go diving. With today's computer video editing technology it is so easy to clean your video afterwords.
I am mechanical-engineer and i work for the company with full machine-shop
( mills,lathes,cnc-mills and more ) my company is capable to make allmost anything.
So if there is anybody that wants to have a basic housing for his camera just let me know and we can make you one. As of now I am working on 2 housings for sony Handycam DCR-PC109 one for myself and the second one for sale. "Willydiver's" camera parts total cost was allmost $300 ----------- i think the one i will make will be for sale for $400 + shipping. Soon i will post some pictures of the housing that it is made right now. Later on i am planing to add controls to the housings. Great forum ----------- keep it up !!!!!!!!

 

[nwbrewer]

What about using one of these to house the remote control unit? May require putting in more foam, or some kind of spacer in it to help hold the remote depending on the size, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

http://www.otterbox.com/products/pda_cases/index.htm

Jake

 

[diversteve]

What about using one of these to house the remote control unit? May require putting in more foam, or some kind of spacer in it to help hold the remote depending on the size, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

http://www.otterbox.com/products/pda_cases/index.htm

Jake

From the otterbox faq:

Q: To what depth are the PDA cases waterproof to?

A: Although we don't recommend diving with the PDA case, they are waterproof to 3 feet (1 meter) of depth. But they float, so you should not have a problem if your PDA case goes overboard before you have a chance to pick it up.

It's because they're technically only water-resistant. There's a flexible membrane under a plastic cover that you lift when you want to touch the PDA's screen with the stylus.

 

[diversteve]

Also, didn't show the 2lb. lead weight I had to zip tie to the bottom of the handle for ballast. That made the camera slightly negative. That's what I wanted becasue I'd rather have it sink to the bottom than float up to the surface if I lost a grip on it.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it appears that you might have room under the camera mounting plate for a 2lb. softweight. Might be more streamlined.

I'm curious as to why you want it slightly negative. Mine is just slightly positive at depth - not enough to cause any strain keeping it down while filming. I try to actually trim it to neutral if conditions allow - my logic being that if I drop it it floats up to the surface and can be recovered, (it's bright yellow) as compared to sinking deeper than is recoverable. This idea came from Equinox, if you pull the quick release pins on their handles/weights the housing floats up. Of course with a good lanyard, this is a moot point anyway.

 

[willydiver]

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it appears that you might have room under the camera mounting plate for a 2lb. softweight. Might be more streamlined.

I'm curious as to why you want it slightly negative. Mine is just slightly positive at depth - not enough to cause any strain keeping it down while filming. I try to actually trim it to neutral if conditions allow - my logic being that if I drop it it floats up to the surface and can be recovered, (it's bright yellow) as compared to sinking deeper than is recoverable. This idea came from Equinox, if you pull the quick release pins on their handles/weights the housing floats up. Of course with a good lanyard, this is a moot point anyway.

sjspeck,

That's a good idea on using a soft weight in the space under the camera plate. I'll grab one and see if it works.

As far as making the camera slightly negative, my rationale is to have the camera sink rather than float. Reason being, if it get's away from you at 90', you don't have to swim up after it, taking a chance on an unscheduled/ uncontrolled ascent. The currents are very strong offshore here. If the housing could float and it decided to slip out of your grip unexpectedly, you might fnd yourself on a dash upwards to grab it before it disappeared. Of course, the fact of the matter is the camera is very close to neutral with the 2lb. weight, so it doesn't really get away from you that quickly. Best solution is to get it to as close to neutral as possible, I guess.

I guess to sum it up, my idea is that you might as well have it sink to the bottom (where I'm at usually while diving) where I can just pick it up. Hope this made sense!

Thanks,
Will

 

[Padipro]

Why not neutrally buoyant? Like Sj said if it's neutral you don't have to chase it anywhere if you let go of it. With a little trial and error it's not that hard to do.

When I had finished assembling my housing but before I had installed the controls and painted it I put the camera inside and put the housing in a bucket of fresh water. I dive mostly in salt water so I knew it would take a little more weight to sink it when I was in the ocean then I was going to add. I then placed weight on top of the housing until it just sank. Then I cut a piece of the same sized PVC tube I made the housing from in half from end to end and blocked off the ends by gluing flat pieces of PVC to the ends. This formed a mold of the inside of the housing. I lined the mold with heavy duty aluminum foil and then estimated the size of the weight I could fit inside the housing under the camera and marked the foil with a line so I would know when to stop adding lead to the mold. I cut up a 5 pound weight into little chuncks placed the chunks in a stainless steel mesuring cup and melted it with a propane tourch. When the lead cooled I popped it out of the mold trimed it up to fit and glued it to the inside of the housing. Of course I didn't use all 5 pounds and this wasn't enough weight so I used 1 inch diameter solid brass rods for the handles. These were only long enough so I could cover them with bicycle handle grips. I drilled and tapped one end to install a SS stud which would allow me to attach it to the housing. By this time it was nearly perfectly weighted but I found something I didn't think of. With the battery mounted to the back of the camera it put some weight aft of the center line of the housing and caused the housing to float backend low. I went to a local auto parts store and bought some tire balance weights, the kind with the double sided tape on them and I stuck them inside the front of the housing. A few ounces and the housing was exactly neutral and floated level in the water. If I had to let go of the housing it would stay exactly where I let go of it. I also got one of those lanyards for cameras, the kind that has a short strap with a QD on it but also has a longer coiled cord so when you unclip the QD you have enough cord to use the camera but when the QD is connected the camera stays close to you. With that installed and the housing properly weighted I could let go of it at anytime and not have to fight with an overweighted or underweighted log hanging from a D ring on my BC.

IMO neutral is the best, less hassle, no fighting the camera, you can let go of it during the dive and not worry about.

 

[Spoon]

that looks professionally done. i love that handle, whats it made off? im trying to make my own diy tray for my digicam, still looking around

 

[ChillyWilly]

Thanks for all the good ideas,

The parts list has helped me a lot and the website ( www.macmaster.com ) is awsome, you can find anything there all you need is creativity.

I also got an idea from another website and I'm working on a diving friendly modified models of the one on this site. I'm not adding any controls as of yet but maybe in the future. Here is a link so you guys can get more ideas. Keep in mind that this is designed for wakeboarding and with some minor changes you can make it for diving, I would definately not use glass unless you can get a nice think piece of tempered glass that you won't risk breaking underwater.

http://www.wakeworld.com/articles/2003/housing.asp

Thanks again WillyDiver for the list of parts, those clamps seem really nice.

 

[murphdivers286]

Thanks for all the good ideas,

The parts list has helped me a lot and the website ( www.macmaster.com ) is awsome, you can find anything there all you need is creativity.

That link took me to a Bed and Breakfast Inn.