I am new to diving and am looking at getting into video underwater.
My first bit of advice is to make sure you really enjoy diving and also get your skills down before purchasing anything (you may already be there, so you can ignore it
)
My question is that since I am a newbie, and do not currently intend to make video a career, is there a big difference in the quality I would receive from HD vs. SD? I realize that one is 640x320 while the other is 1920x1080p/i. What I am asking is because of the water, would the actual quality between the two be enough to make me want to purchase a HD camcorder like the Sony SR12 or Canon HF10, along with their respective housings and lighting, or should I start with an SD camcorder. The prices are quite a bit different from what I see for the housings, and I will only be diving on vacations (although that is basically 5-6 weeks per year).
I would be taking the video in tropical locales such as the Andaman Sea (Thailand), Diego Garcia (snorkelling only), Florida, Cancun, etc. I believe the average vis would normally be around 65-100 ft.
Any responses would be appreciated. Thanks.
I think I am going against the trend here, but I like having the HDV camera as oppossed to DV. Of course a couple of things to keep in mind is your budget and also travel concerns, how big a rig do you want to carry? (Though again you can get good smaller SD cameras)
Keep in mind what others said is true - there are are SD cameras that will blow away the consumer HDV cameras, HDV is not true HD and having a housing that can be used with many cameras is a plus down the road for switching out cameras.
You may be able to find a good 3 chip SD cameras (some used ones out there and there are housings) but you need to shop for them and really take a good look at the specs. If your choice is either HV10, HV20 or the Sonys from the HDV side of things, or a SD camera in the similar price range you are usually better off with the HDV.
With computers so fast nowadays it is not that difficult to edit the material or change it for use on DVD or the web. Though some may perform better or worse in low light/noise you can still get alot of very good shots. 16:9 shooting and video is the way things are heading (though some SD cameras can do 16:9) so (at least to me) 16:9 now looks more "normal" to me. Also if you want to drop the HDV clip into an SD timeline and crop out areas you can get quality that is better than SD.
HDV is usually 1440 x 1080 on the Sony's etc, though some shoot 1920 x 1080.
You may want to do some searching for UW video shot with some of the HDV cameras. As Drbill mmentions in good light and close they can give very good results. I have also gotten very good results with range outside the 3-4 foot range with natural light. And it looks really good on my television when it is all said and done.
But remember Ansel Adams shot with a Brownie, so it is not just the equipment, it is getting to know how to use it.
Either way you go, UW photo and video is a blast, so have fun