First let me say I have ZERO experience with UW pics or video....I purchased a fairly cheap housing off Ebay with the thought of being able to video from time to time. It is in good shape and is PP6SPCE50. The camera the housing it is made for is old and junk. I contacted Equinox and since I am not the original owner they will not modify the housing to fit another camera. Soooo, I either have a cool flower pot or I figure out a way to fit another camera. I am not willing to spend more than $500-600 on a camera and parts to make this work......
Here's a little thinking outside the box.
Rather than try to find a camera that will align properly why not simply replace the front port with a flat port?
Go to a plastics supplier and get a piece of clear poly the same thickness as your back port. See if they'll cut you a round disk out of scrap. A good local industrial supplier - WW Grainger is one that sells/ships nationally - will have similar latches as yours for about $10 apiece. Or re-use the ones from your old port.
You'll need to work out grooving the plex somehow for an o-ring.
A flat port option is sold by almost every housing mfr. - they're often used for macro. Until recently they were standard on the TopDawg and L&M Stingray line - still are on the TD. It also works fine for conventional shooting. This opens up your options to just about any small-format HD camera out there that fits in your housing.
(Answered assuming that the existing port will still be used)
2. if I set a new camera I am guessing it would have to be aligned to the apex of the housing lens?
Center of the lens should be in the center of the existing port. Otherwise you may get optical aberrations around the edges of the frame.
3. How close do you set the camera lens to the housing lens?
As close as possible w/o touching - if it touched the trapped air could fog. Farther back could lead to vignetting - the edges of the port appear as a black ring on your footage as the lens sees the edge of the port.
Some housings allow for the addition of a thin filter on the camera lens so you do have maybe 1/4" of flexibility. Some ports also develop internal light reflections if the lens ring is silver and it's too far back - you see little star effects reflected onto the back side of the port that the camera then records.
4. How much is zoom actually used in UW video?
Realistically less than you would think. Most footage is shot at wide angle - you just move closer if necessary. I've shot entire tapes never using the zoom. Of course when that Manta/WhaleShark swims by 60' away you'll wish you had it...
5. What controls are needed beyond zoom, power and start/stop?
Manual/AutoFocus toggle is a common option. Especially if there are particles in the water big enough for the auto-focus to hunt on. It's annoying to have the focus continually change in those situations. Especially when your subject is farther away.
Manual White Balance is another but you probably won't be able to do that with your setup - you need to see/touch the monitor in the housing. White Balance adjustments can be done in editing also.
Equinox currently provides a default set of:
Manual controls-Power on/off. Record start/stop.
Zoom-Wide/Telephoto, Photo and Memory
fwiw, Ikelite sells their control rods, including waterproof glands separately. A tapped hole is all that's needed to install one. They're hardened though so hard(er) to bend.
Camera Control Parts. They also sell clamps.
Housing Parts
6. What is the best way to seal the control knob holes? Where would one find these parts.
Drill them out to a standard size, tap the holes and use a tapered compression fitting. Home Depot or any hardware store sells them.
I had a coax cable hole in the back of an old housing for remote surface viewing. I used a brass compression fitting and a little teflon tape to seal it permanently - in two years it never leaked. You need to be careful not to over torque it on a poly housing. Total cost was under $20.
There's also an on-going thread in the DIY forum by people who fabricate their own housings, ports, handles etc:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/101940-diy-video-housing-success.html - May find some help there as well for stuff like sourcing replacement o-rings etc.
A simpler option would be to remove the old controls and seal the openings. Install the camera, turn it on and seal it and go dive. Newer HDD HD models record for upwards of 3-4 hrs. per battery if you get the extended batteries - their HDD's can store 25+ hrs. of HD footage. Leave it on wide angle and auto-focus. Shoot everything then import/edit only the usable footage later. Carry the remote and stop/start the camera prior to diving. Some of the simpler housings like the Nemo and Shellicam are used this way. Although if you could install some basic controls that would be preferable.
hth,
