Newbe UW Video Recommendations

[Lancer4545]

I have been considering taking the plunge and buying an UW video system and having no knowledge on them at all I hope some of you more experience guys and gals might be able to save me a lot of messing around.

What I am looking for is a housing for a Sony VX2000 cam or something similar/better. It will have to be capable of depths to 150m. The reason I am looking at the Sony is it seems to be a very popular cam and used by many users and I need HD quality. I have seen a few housings, but being a novice don't know much about the differences from one to another and hope some of you can point me in the right direction.

I don't want to buy a new system as I may or may not continue down this path and don't want to have a huge investment sitting on the shelf or having to sell it later for a fraction of what I paid for it.

Thanks.

Lance

 

[ronscuba]

150m ? That's really deep. It might limit your housing choices.

 

[diversteve]

It would have to be Gates or Aditech. The Gates is good to 150M, the Aditech 200M.

For those kinds of depths, you'll need a metal housing, most of the poly housings - Ikelite, Ocean Images, Equinox etc. are only good to about 200'. The other two major metal housing mfr's - Amphibico and Light & Motion, are only rated to 100M.

A VX2000 isn't HD, it's 3CCD MiniDV. So if you need HDV, look at the newer Sony's. There's a fairly good deal on the HDR-FX7 now but the Gates housing is pricey - ask ronscuba - he owns one...lol. They're about $4400 US.

You might also consider the Gates HC7/HC9 housing. It's around $2K new (depends on the port chosen) I think I just saw a used one being advertised here. Same 150M depth rating as their bigger housings. The camera is 1CMOS HDV and can be bought here for around $1K US.

 

[ronscuba]

I think the OP has a unique situation. Beginner to UW video, but wants to go very deep. The Gates housings are rated to go 135m. I like my FX7 but it's expensive and not what I recommend for a beginner.

 

[Lancer4545]

Thanks for the replies. It has made my researching a lot easier.

I was looking at the HC9 as it has a Hard Drive as opposed to tapes and then found it has been superseded by the XR500.

Not only is the XR500 packed with higher end features but it is a fair bit cheaper too.

I see there are a couple of housings available for it but somewhat more expensive than those for the previous models I was researching. With a bit of luck Gates will release a manual housing for it otherwise it will be an electronic controlled one and there goes the saving on the camera!!!

Thanks again the input has been invaluable. I will report back when I have made my final choices.

Regards,

Lance

 

[diversteve]

I was looking at the HC9 as it has a Hard Drive as opposed to tapes and then found it has been superseded by the XR500.

The HC9 is an HDV tape based camera.

Not only is the XR500 packed with higher end features but it is a fair bit cheaper too.

Really? There in Australia? Here the HC9 is $200+ cheaper than the XR500.

I see there are a couple of housings available for it but somewhat more expensive than those for the previous models I was researching. With a bit of luck Gates will release a manual housing for it otherwise it will be an electronic controlled one and there goes the saving on the camera!!!

Looks like they are: http://www.marinevisions.com/Gates-XR520V-500V-Underwater-Video-Housing.html

 

[ronscuba]

Just curious, what do you plan on recording at 150 meters ? What kind of lights do you have ? Will you do any recording at other depths ?

 

[Lancer4545]

Hi Ron,

Just back from a UW film trip and had a good chat with the guys using the cameras and they have cleared up a lot of my questions.

To answer some questions......

I have some deep wreck expeditions planned for 2009 and I am wanting to bring back a video record of the wrecks. They include, Princess of the Orient in 125m, Britannic in 125m, USS Lagarto and Japanese WW2 wrecks in the gulf of Thailand 80m (leaving next week on this one) and there are some others not yet finalised.

I am going using 2 x TillyTec HID45 lights they are awesome and give extremely good burn times.

Thanks for all the replies.

Regards,

Lance

Here is a pic from the shoot......I am the safety diver

 

[Former TillyTec USA]

We got more videos on our website

tillytec.net/videos.html

 

[Izu]

also looking to take the plunge for an underwasser video camera/housing however my needs are recreational only. seek something reasonably priced, small, light and hopefully good to 40m or so for travel. advice appreciated, thanks.