Older Bentley Video Housing

[blackonblack]

Hi all,

I purchased a Bentley undewater video housing on ebay for $20 not knowing anything about it and now I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with it.

It appears to have a LANC controller build into it. The controller is a round switch with 4 magnetic positions (WW, S, T, and PA). I don't know what these stand for but I think T = zoom in.

I would like to put a new HD video camera in it and Sony, Canon and Panosonic still use LANC. I bought and tried an adapter for the 2.5mm plug so I could connect the switch to a new Sony but it did not seem to work. When I connected the cable the sony camera zoomed in right away with the controller switch in the neutral position.

I haven't tried the switch plugged into a Canon camera yet which doesn't require the adapter cable as Canon still uses the 2.5mm plug.

Anyways, I am posting this hoping someone can provide some information on this housing or switch with the hope that I can figure out which camera to buy and how I can control the most basic of functions using the switch built into the housing already (don't want to drill any holes in it).

Thanks,

Marty

 

[diversteve]

T=Tele - W=Wide Angle

S=Standby/Record

PA= Power and Auto/Manual Focus toggle. IIRC there was some sort of sequence you did to set one fixed manual focus point (full wide?) that was the default when you toggled A/F off. There was no way to alter focus in the housing.

Holding the joystick down in the PA position should power up/shut down the camera after a few seconds.

You have to hold the joystick in position for several seconds for it to react in T/W mode - it's a really slow LANC controller. The other functions should be just a quick activation.

Edit: I found a post of mine from 2004 on another forum:
http://www.videouniversity.com/foru...erwater_Video_F6/Quest_Video_Housing_P116905/

If there's a PA, then you have power on-off control and Autofocus on-off on the same joystick point. If it's PAB also then you have White Balance cycling as well. Pushing the stick once quickly cycles autofocus on/off, pushing and holding it 2-3 seconds then releasing allows cycling through your white balance settings and pushing and holding it till the camera shuts off works as previously described to turn the power off. Some Quest housings with dual joysticks also control the functions of a Citizen Datascreen Monitor and provide Near/Far focus control.

I used to have a Quest housing with the same controller. Quest bought Bentley sometime in the late 90's/early 2000's before going out of business entirely a few years later.

I used mine with a Sony CCD-TR700 Hi8 camcorder. IIRC when I bought my Sony HDR-HC1 I plugged it in and it worked - Maybe. Didn't experiment much as I bought an Amphibico housing at the same time and sold the Quest/TR700 2 months later. One weird little quirk with mine was that the electronics sometimes didn't work if the plug was in any position other than straight down.

 

[cjfox]

Panasonic consumer camras don't have a LANC. If the controls are electromagnetic, you can replace the circuit board with a programmable remote and control any function avalaible through the IR port.

 

[blackonblack]

Thanks guys. this is helpful.
There isn't a circuit board (visible). It must be built into the switch.

I thought about building one and replacing the current switch but I only want basic functionality so if I can get this one to work that would be the best solution for me.