Old video equipment - is it worth anything

[certified in 1976]

I bought this in the early 1990's when it was state of the art. It hasn't been used for years. It took excellent quality video, I think at least as good as my Go-Pro. The camcorder still works although the batteries are dead. Its a top of the line Sony V-710 Hi-8 in its day with a Amphibco u/w housing with the expensive domed lens. I have no idea what anybody would offer me for this, if anything. It's just taking up space so I'd like to find it a new home. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[diversteve]

not really...

i occasionally see the housings on ebay but they don't seem to sell.

After your series of cameras., Sony moved the lens position so there's not any newer cameras that line up - even if someone just wanted to use it with no controls. The electronics won't work either since over a decade ago Sony dropped LANC support (which your housing uses) in favor of their Multi Input connector - I have a 2003 Amphibico housing and mine won't work with their new cameras either.

Here's a similar model currently listed for $99 at auction - AMPHIBICO V95 UNDER WATER SCUBA DIVE SNORKEL VIDEO CAM CORDER HOUSING | eBay I don't think anyone will pay that though.

It's nowhere near the resolution of your Gopro either - which is shooting in 4K (4000x3000 pixels) or 1080P (1920x1280) if you have an older model. Hi-8 is 640x480 pixels at best - some models at the time were 320x240.

The housing is aluminum, maybe that's worth $20 to a recycler? It's pretty heavy right?

Anyone who buys it can still buy Hi-8 tape on Amazon. Probably find the batteries online also.

 

[JamesBon92007]

not really...

i occasionally see the housings on ebay but they don't seem to sell.

After your series of cameras., Sony moved the lens position so there's not any newer cameras that line up - even if someone just wanted to use it w/o any controls. That won't work either since over a decade ago Sony dropped LANC support (which your housing uses) in favor of their Multi Input connector - I have a 2003 Amphibico housing and mine won't work with their new cameras either.

Here's a similar model currently listed for $99 at auction - AMPHIBICO V95 UNDER WATER SCUBA DIVE SNORKEL VIDEO CAM CORDER HOUSING | eBay I don't think anyone will pay that though.

It's nowhere near the resolution of your Gopro either - which is shooting in 4K (4000x3000 pixels) or 1080P (1920x1280) if you have an older model. Hi-8 is 640x480 pixels at best - some models at the time were 320x240.

The housing is aluminum, maybe that's worth $20 to a recycler? It's pretty heavy right?

Anyone who buys it can still buy Hi-8 tape on Amazon. Probably find the batteries online also.

I still have my Sony 8mm video camera and it still works but, of course, it needs a new battery. I also have a Canon AE1 Program with some expensive lenses and a housing that I built for it and the whole thing amounts to an interesting conversation piece now. It's on a shelf right next to my Super 8 movie camera in it's housing. My darkroom equipment is taking up a lot of room in my garage and there are several complete darkrooms on Craig's List at any given moment. I do not feel very compelled to start over again so I just bought a cheap, imitation GoPro and take my stills from screen captures of the videos.

 

[USdiver1]

Old video equipment is kind of like buggy whips. Old technology that isn't coming back, and really isn't missed by most.

I feel your pain as I have an old Nikonos, you know an U/W camera that uses 35mm film. As my kids say, what's film?

 

[JamesBon92007]

Old video equipment is kind of like buggy whips. Old technology that isn't coming back, and really isn't missed by most.

I feel your pain as I have an old Nikonos, you know an U/W camera that uses 35mm film. As my kids say, what's film?

On Wednesday I had a conversation with a DM who owns something like ten Nikon film SLRs who heard a rumor that film is coming back. I won't hold my breath

When it comes right down to it it took me about a dozen 3-minute rolls of Super 8 film (plus developing) at a total cost of about $13 per roll to get about four minutes of good shots. More recently I paid about $42 for a digital sports video camera and it will record almost an entire dive without spending any additional money and the quality is far superior (plus it has bubble sounds) and I can watch it on my TV and don't need a projector so I would say we are making some progress.

 

[USdiver1]

We used to use the Nikonos for commercial work. As time was always of the essence, we were regulars at the one-hour photo shop, so much so that we even dated the girls who worked there. We would charge the vessels the approximate cost of replacement of the camera equipment for each underwater job, as the photographs really were part of our business model, they allowed the Master to verify that we had accomplished the work that we had been tasked to do. My Nikonos paid for itself many, many times over... so I got that goin' for me, which is nice. Never golfed with the Dalai Lama though.

 

[Squish]

I'm a film photographer with an overactive darkroom....I'd be glad to take film cameras, especially Nikonos cameras, off your hands.....

 

[JohnnyC]

I've got a Nikonos V and an RS. Film isn't dead, it's just a little rare these days. Personally I feel like a film camera is something that you can still use to great effect underwater, a film camcorder, not so much.

Still photos are pretty easy, shoot, develop, scan, edit, and you're done. Footage is a much more intensive work flow to get something useful. Hell, I don't even develop my own 35mm anymore, only 120. I pick up the negatives, throw them into Lightroom and it's all sorted. Takes very little time, and results are fairly instant. Not so with film. And with the advent of the ubiquitous GoPro, having already digital footage you can drop into any editing program without the need to capture sort of puts film camcorders out to pasture.

 

[JamesBon92007]

One of the few things that I didn't do was develop my own color film. I just didn't shoot enough of the stuff and, if I recall correctly, one batch of chemicals was enough for six rolls. When I was on Maui a few years back I could just drop off my film at Long's Drug Store and pick it up the next day. Then I didn't have to worry about my film being ruined by X-Rays at the airport. Can you still do that? Supposedly Ektachrome 100 will be back sometime this year.

 

[GlenElectronic]

I've gone through upgrading 4 different UW video cameras and housings during the last 20 years. Currently using a Sony HD camera shooting 1080i with a Light and Motion housing. I've been eyeing a 4K video camera, but that means new UW housing and ports. It gets very expensive very quickly.

Your Hi8 system is antiquated and the image quality is poor compared to today's tech. Particularly when you see the quality coming out of GoPro cameras with a red filter.

Anyway, as previously stated, old video tech has limited value. Get what you can. You might be better off donating it and taking the tax credit (its what I did on a complete video post production studio).