For sale: full underwater HD video kit: Light and Motion Bluefin Pro / Sony HDR500XR

[rramaley 5]

Sorry correction it is an HDR 550 XR

 

For sale: US$3000 or best offer. Gear located in Sydney, Australia. Happy to ship worldwide but freight will be added to final agreed price.

 

• Light and Motion Bluefin Pro housing: includes 3.2 OLED monitor, external manual control knob (can be programmed for focus, aperture, exposure, etc), one touch white balance, internal flip colour correction filter, flat port
• Sony HDR550 XR camera (Australian plug) with original box and accessories (with 240GB hard drive)
• Spare extended life battery for camera (NP-FV100)
• Fathom 90 lens
• Flip macro diopter
• Light and motion housing float
• Housing tripod mount (tripod itself not included)
• Monitor shade
• 2x Sola 1200 video lights (US charge plug)
• Hand strap for sola light (if you want to make it a dive light)
• 2x Locline arms
• 2x large foam floats for arms
• Spare parts: orings for housing, replacement handle threads
• Various tools needed for camera (allen keys, tool for removing / tightening handle threads)

 

Purchased approximately 3 years ago, the camera housing from Scubapix in Australia, the lights from Backscatter in the US. Total purchase price of all gear was US $10,000. I haven't used the camera for about 6 months as I have been using my new 5dmkIII but have confirmed all is in working order.

 

Condition of kit: normal wear and tear, continues to take excellent video. Anything that is in less than very good condition is as follows:

• buttons on the handles are slightly sticky (e.g. zoom buttons) but that is easily remedied by a good soak or if you want you can disassemble the handles and do a proper clean.
• the wet / dry microphone does not work but I presume it could be repaired at a L&M service centre if it is important to you (I never needed it...).
• acrylic on back monitor is slightly scratched in a few places but it doesn't impact ability to see what you are filming and it is barely noticeable underwater.
• Fathom 90 lens has a minuscule ding which can probably be rubbed out by toothpaste if you give it enough elbow grease, but since it didn't impact my footage at all, I have not spent a lot of time trying to do that.
• The plastic bodies of the charging plugs for the solas have cracked (really thin plastic!) and have been glued or taped - they still work fine but if you want pristine plugs or Australian instead of US version, I'm sure you can get from a Light and Motion Sola dealer.

Attached photos should give an indication of scratches, dings, wear and tear...

 

Below are links to a number of videos I created using this camera. It is a very good camera for both wide angle and macro, great colours and crisp focus. At significant depth the white balance gets a bit finicky and the low light performance is not stellar but that's where the video lights come in...

 

https://vimeo.com/61169972

https://vimeo.com/50522064

https://vimeo.com/46614651

Edited June 7, 2014 by rramaley

[Mantala 0]

Still on sale?

[Mantala 0]

Hi Rebecca,

 

Is your equipment still on sale?

 

Small question: when was the last time the equipment was cleaned/serviced by light & motion?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best regards.

 

Muriel Hombroise

 

 

[rramaley 5]

Yes still on sale. I have replaced and cleaned the handle, lens and back plate o-rings myself, the camera hasn't reached a point where I felt a full service was necessary.

[Mantala 0]

Few additional questions/

1. you said "buttons on the handles are slightly sticky (e.g. zoom buttons) but that is easily remedied by a good soak or if you want you can disassemble the handles and do a proper clean." How do you disassemble the handle? Is it easy to clean? Can you remove the buttons one by one to clean it?

2. How do you download pictures from the cam to the computer? USB cable or other?

3. As this housing is not sold and produced anymore by light and motion, how do you eventually find some spare parts?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance.

MH

[rramaley 5]

Hi MH,

 

1. There is a tool that comes with the camera to loosen the handle threads and remove the handles from the housing. The handle cover itself can then be disassembled with an allen key. The buttons are found behind the circuit board but you have to be careful as the board is held in place not only by 3 screws but also two pins that then have to rethread through the circuit board when you reassemble. You can then remove the rings holding the buttons in place to clean them. I've just opened the handle to have a look and the button set up is slightly different from my other L&M housing I had previously so I'm asking my dealer about how to properly remove and clean these buttons.

2. The footage is downloaded via USB cable (I'm providing the cable with the camera)

3. My understanding is that I can contact my (or any L&M) dealer to provide spare parts. I would imagine that after a number of years, they might stop carrying certain parts, but this camera is not that old and likely shares common parts with housings that are currently in production - so the important parts like orings and handle batteries shouldn't be an issue. To be sure, I have contacted my dealer to see what he says so I will get back to you on this.

 

Regards

Rebecca

[Mantala 0]

Hi Rebecca,

Thanks for your answers.

Looking forward to reading your L&M dealer response.

 

Regards

 

Muriel

[Mantala 0]

Hi Rebecca,

 

- Any news from L&M on how to clean properly the handle buttons?

"The buttons are found behind the circuit board but you have to be careful as the board is held in place not only by 3 screws but also two pins that then have to rethread through the circuit board when you reassemble. You can then remove the rings holding the buttons in place to clean them." : Does that mean that I can cautiously disassemble the two pins by myself to access the buttons or do I need to have that done by a light and Motion service technician?

Any little picture of the inside of the handdle?

 

I have myself an old bluefin and by experience I regularly had the 2 following frequent problems:

1. the replacement of the small battery inside the handle (easy to do on your model?)

2. and the circuit board of the monitor which was defective. (Any problem of this kind on yours?)

 

Thanks

Best regards

 

Muriel

 

Muriel

[rramaley 5]

Hi Muriel,

 

I spoke with L&M, they say they are able to provide all spare parts for this model and expect to be able to continue to do so "for a while longer" (~2-3 years?)

 

L&M will do a servicing of handles for US$75 each and the full camera for $500. It has to be done in the US (no service centre in Australia) so if you want that, we can negotiate it within the sales price and I could mail the camera to you via the US for a servicing. It is up to you.

 

After looking at things, the buttons on the handle are a bit difficult to access - L&M says you could it yourself if you wanted to but it is a bit tricky. I'm soaking the handle now so I think it really won't be necessary to do (was only the "W" button).

 

The batteries (there are 2 in each handle) are quite easy to replace in the handles - you just unscrew the cover with the allen key and the batteries are right inside. And no, I do not have a faulty circuit board.

[rramaley 5]

As I thought, the wide angle sticky button has been solved through a long soak. Everything is still for sale. US$3000K OBO....

[rramaley 5]

Sold