Cheap Underwater Housing and Camcorder...
Hey guys, I was thinking about getting a new cheap camcorder prob within the $300-$500 range along with a cheap underwater housing. I thought this was the best site to ask for suggestions, reviews from your own experiences, or w/e. Anyway, I have one pick which is the Sony DCR-DVD 108 DVD HandyCam camcorder. http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId=11039400 I also found this site for a housing that can fit it. http://us-dc1-order.store.yahoo.net/...5OfE2x.4fVvw-- Let me know if these are good. Or any other suggestions, sites for the camcorder with housing that can accompany it or w/e. Thanks guys. Git 'R Done! Let's get another swell!!!
You generally get what you pay for. . .
In camcorders, $200 - $300 is usually cheap, but $500 is not necessarily cheap, especially if you plan to risk it in a really cheap water housing. $295 is a really cheap water housing, equivalent to the EWA marine closable baggie housing, not really a housing, but like I said, a fancy/expensive baggie. I have a EWA housing for a still camera and it seals at the top with a double bar clamping device. Not the most secure or watertight thing I've ever seen and condensation is a real problem, not to mention that the housing is oversized and it's really hard holding the camera against the glass port. The less you have to think about in the water, the better.
The Ikelite (http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/videoone.html) plexi housings are far more secure, and far pricier. I priced one at $600 for a Canon ZR 800 ($300 camcorder) Maybe what I'm saying is better to spend more on a better housing than the other way around. If the housing leaks even a little, there goes a pricey camcorder and the tapes that were in it.
Consider this about a DVD camcorder, in order to get the footage off the DVD, I believe you have to "finish" the DVD in the camcorder, which renders the DVD un-reusable. The cheapest camcorders right now are the miniDV models because they're not the latest model, and the most expensive ones are the flash memory card models.
You pick. Just make sure your housing has a way of holding it VERY steady- not at all easy to do while floating in the water, even on a bodyboard.
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Here are the pics!!!! Good Stuff.
So I took the time to make a sweet housing that we tested down to 50'..... I think it would go way way further but that's as deep as we could go out on a fishing boat. (It's where we stopped where the birds were bombing and the rockfish were biting :) Anyway, here they are
as uploads somewhere on this post.
All we have here is a simple 4" drainpipe with a custom cut piece of 1/4" plexiglass epoxied to the front. If you're wondering how we operate the camera, we use a waterproof bag superglued to the camera housing to hold the remote to it so we can still push the buttons and have full functionality. It's pretty sweet and pretty cheap and you can trust it to get slammed a few times!!!! Hopefully we'll have some videos up soon... we're still editing and putting in some sweet jams but you'll see them soon :)
