I am in the market for one of these and I have no idea where to start. Here is what I am looking for...

1. Video would look great on a 60" widescreen TV
2. Dont care if it takes stills or not
3. Reasonably priced (400-800)
4. Low light filming is good

Basically, I just want something that does a great job underwater with no frills. I dont see the point of spending a lot when I will only use a few times every year.

Any suggestions would be great.

No idea but I would look here.

Meredith i do not think you will find anything in that price range. If i remember correctly when i purchase my set up i got very lucky and found a housing for about 1200 dollars. My camera was other 600 dollars. You might find something used and old for that price maybe.

Meredith

You can probably find some reasonably priced housings for Sony and other manufactures by doing a web search. I would recommend an internal red filter with the ability to flip it in and out, without this the color is ok shallow but hardly any color at depth and also if you ever wanted to use lights at depth ( below 15ft ) the color would have a red tint with the filter in. I am sure you will pay more for the housing than the a fairly good camera. I have done underwater video for many years and have only used Light & Motion housings. The lower end L & M Stringray housing for many of the consumer Sony Dv camcoders is about $1700, not cheap.

I have to disagree with the 60in widescreen unless you Shoot HD or true 16:9 resolution. I just can't make myself appreciate SD on a widescreen even in the zoom mode, the fish will still look FAT.

James,

So what you are saying is that the non HD camcorders dont do widescreen?

Meredith

DV Camcoders shoot 4:3 ratio ( regular Tv ) , some will shoot 16:9 mode ( widescreen ) but loose resolution because of the croping on top and bottom and copying lines to get the width needed.. Bottom line is it looks bad when shot in 16.9 mode. There are anamorphic lens that will shoot true 16:9 but would probably never fit in an underwater housing. Another way is to crop and zoom a little with an NLE which looks better than when shot in 16:9 mode. There are DV Camcoders that shoot true 16:9 but are expensive, also there are the new HD camcoders.

Viewing 4:3 DV footage on a widescreen tv will be the same as watching regular 4:3 TV broadcast on a widescreen, a little fat.

Hi James,

not all DV cameras use cropping. The PDX10 (pro version of the 950) uses native 16:9 CCDs. But the camera is also more expensive (around 2500$).

"There are DV Camcoders that shoot true 16:9 but are expensive, also there are the new HD camcoders."

Peter

I think that is what I stated in the quote above. (G) There is also the low end HDV HDR-HC1 that uses 1/3" CMOS sencor instead of CCD's for about $1500 but I doubt a housing is available yet.

(-: Sorry, read your post too quickly.

BTW, I can really recommend the Amphibico Pehnom + Sony HVR-Z1 combination, but then we need to add a zero to all prices.

WOW. Maybe I will wait until the HD camcorders come down in price! Thanks for all the input, that is really what I needed to hear.

Sometimes you can find complete video camera and housing combos on ebay for a good price if you are willing to go the "used" equipment route. Myself I just purchased a Sony HVR-A1U and Amphibico housing for it for our May trip to Bonaire. I was going to get the HC1, but it does not have the manual white balance available on a single button, where the A1U can have a button assigned.

The Sony HVR-A1u and the Amphibico housing is a nice combination. I'm thinking about upgrading my backup camera, PDX10 to the HVR-A1U as well. (-: Anyone interested in a used PDX10 (PAL) with very low mileage on it?

Sony has a $500 rebate on the HVR-A1U thru the end of March. Purchased mine thru B&H Photo online.

The rebate was only on the NTSC version. We have PAL in Europe. But B&H is a great store.