loopy

G'Day - a simple question, but one I'm sure that's bound to both open a can of worms and get plenty of "depends", but.... What is the cheapest system of digital video camera + housing that is available at the moment? Thanks in advance, Brad

Mate good luck with the trip, I'd be interested to hear how it goes - I've recently bought myself a D70 and I'm searching around for housings now at the moment. I'm also tossing up the SB-800 vs Inon decision... :?

Actually I just noticed on the Subal site, they're bringing out another housing for it... has anyone seen this?

Well yeah, that's why I was looking at the 5400, because I thought I missed the bandwagon for the 5000... are there any issues order an american camera from aus? Like maybe the power pack or something has a different connection?

Ah bummer - cheers mate. Are there any housings which can fit an external wide angle?

They way I understand it, there's a hassle with housings for this camera, because none of them can fit the wide angle lens in? Has this problem been solved?

So maybe a high end 1ccd? I think also because it'll be predominately used freediving, size would be an issue as well (in terms of drag) - I know it sucks taking even an MMII down to 25m or so because of the drag. Would you be able to recommend a good camera/housing combo that sounds like it would be able to handle what I wanted to do? I'm definitely very pro- flexibility and the potential to upgrade... changable ports and filters would be a must. Thanks again!

Well that will save me a lot money, thanks Say though we were making a video that had footage combined from both surface and top side... 1ccd would still be good enough?

Craig - thanks again! I can see there's a lot more to this than I first thought... I was talking to a mate today who does a little underwater videography, and he mentioned that the 3ccd cameras might be a bit of an overkill for what I wanted to do? What I had planned was to have a digital camera (I'm insisting on digital because it's 1000000x easier for me to edit) that I can get some underwater footage with, and maybe turn that into a dive video to sell. Because of the commercial aspect of this, I immediately thought that I had to have a 3ccd, but he seems to think that the quality of standard mini dv cameras today is such that a 3ccd would be an overkill when a standard cam is only a third or so of the price? Would you agree with this? The videos I was planning on making weren't inteded to be cinema quality or anything - I wasn't out to make the next blue planet (I imagine the cameras they used there must have cost tens of thousands!), but just a similar sort of quality to what you'd see in a dive video you picked up from the dive shop. Thanks again for the help - and incidently, when I'm looking at still cameras and housings, I usually use dpreview.com to check camera reviews and digideep.com for housing reviews... are there equivalent sites for video camera housing reviews, and digital video camera reviews? Cheers, Brad

I've just had a read through the thread on mechanical vs electrical controls, and it seems each has its benefits... I'm thinking I need to take a step back again and look and see which particular housing/camera would suit my needs. So so far, I'd require: * Wide angle port * macro port (optional, but I'd like to have that flexibility) * 3ccd camera (ie broadcast quality) * Electronic controls (upgrading is important, as is not flooding the housing on a failure) * Ability to integrate a monitor What kind of system would fulfill these needs? Thanks in advance, and cheers for the interesting discussions! Brad

Cheugny, thanks heaps for that! Going off their RRP (hopefully can get it cheaper) it looks like I can get the cam, the housing and wide angle port for around $AU5000 (about $US3600)... that's no strobes, but it sounds a good price for a decent kit that's good quality...

ah, thanks Craig, good point... it'll be used mostly freediving, so a wide angle port is pretty much essential... cheers

I'm kinda looking at the moment for a 3CCD digital video cam... I've got my eye on the panasonic MX500, but I've heard it has problems in low light? It's by far cheaper than the Sony's, and I have a mate with a 1CCD panasonic which is great... has anyone got any experience in this, or can recommend what they consider the best 3CCD cam at the moment for underwater videography? Cheers

G'Day, Wonder if anyone has a good tutorial on using genuine fractals, or can explain the process? Cheers

Righto, stupid question, but what are these genuine fractal things? Is that like a plug in for photoshop? If so, can anyone recomend a good web based tutorial for them? Thanks again PS Great shot with the 10D!