Camcorders, Housings and Lights.

[Rainy]

Hi Guys Just purchased Sony's Hdr Hc7 with Amphibico's new housing to suit with their Hid Lights. Just finished having play in pool the lights are excellent. Had a small problem turning it off a couple of times I had pushed the Mode and Trigger either one twice and the camera locked on. None of the other functions worked. Waited till the five minutes where up and the camera turns off automatically. Any ideas how to solve the problem.

Thanks Cliff

 

[scubadrewvideo]

Do you have mechanical or electronic controls?

 

[diversteve]

Had a small problem turning it off a couple of times I had pushed the Mode and Trigger either one twice and the camera locked on. None of the other functions worked. Waited till the five minutes where up and the camera turns off automatically. Any ideas how to solve the problem.

I'm not clear on what you're doing. If you Hold Mode down and hit the trigger twice while shutting it down, it should still shut down. I know I've done that once or twice. Are you holding Mode down while hitting the trigger twice? If so and it's locking on, might want to call Amphibico (or your dealer) as it sounds like something's not right with your electronics.

Hitting Mode twice fast by itself should just toggle between modes. Does it have anything to do with how fast you do it? I occasionally toggle through Modes quickly - usually when I'm in the wrong one and something exceptional happens - and I've never had that problem.

At least it shuts down eventually....

Do you have mechanical or electronic controls?

Amphibico's are electronic. This is the housing we're discussing:
http://www.amphibico.com/amphibico/...3658227533074488940&ctid=1000013&pdid=1000183

 

[hortoni]

Just a thought but do you have a tape in the camera? I noticed the functions didn't work right in mine without a tape in.

 

[Rainy]

Took the new camera for a couple of hours of diving today. Hid Lights lasted the 120-130mins and where excellent but every now and again it they wouldn't turn on both out and in of the water. Sometimes it went into a extra click going into the on position and turned on this happened on both lights. And only did it on the odd time. Housing has electronic buttons quite hard to push /very stiff just wondering if this is the norm. The still camera is brilliant not as good as My OLY 5050 but very close. The lights are only good for close up which is to be expected can't wait for a night dive. The standard battery for camera lasted 100mins and the housings 2700mAh batteries lasted only 60mins as I had to surface and change batteries just after I dived in. The housing has a low battery warning light but its inside the housing, they could have put a external light.
Still playing around with my unit I will also get in touch with my dealer here in Australia. I appreciate your suggestions and please keep them coming.

Thanks Cliff

 

[Rainy]

PS: Tape has been in camera

 

[ronrosa]

....The standard battery for camera lasted 100mins and the housings 2700mAh batteries lasted only 60mins as I had to surface and change batteries just after I dived in. The housing has a low battery warning light but its inside the housing, they could have put a external light....

60 minutes isn't much. I dive a lot in the Caribbean and most of my dives last longer than 60 minutes.

 

[hortoni]

Rainy,

The battery that comes with the HC7 is the NPFH60. I purchased a NPFH70 online as a backup and it lasts 2-3 times as long. The dimensions of the 70 battery are fine to fit in the housing. I have been told that the massive NPFH100 battery pack won't fit in that housing but the 70 should provide almost 3 hours of record time. You still have to deal with swapping batteries for the monitor between dives but at least you won't have to pull the camera out of the housing to change it's battery.

 

[helimvee]

Sony HC3
Ocean Images housing with electronic and manual controls. W/A lens
No lights ... yet

This is my first UW video housing so I have nothing to compare it to.

The HC3 works very well UW and on land.
The housing seems a bit big until you get it UW then it sits very nicely, although it took some adjusting to get the weight set so the housing would float level.
The clear back piece makes it very easy to check for leaks.
The electronic controls are a bit tricky with cold water gloves.
The manual controls take some practice, but there is no getting around that until/if Sony changes the camera.

When the housing arrived, there was a problem with dirt in the lens - actually bits of what appeared to be the black housing material. They only appeared when the camera lost focus and then tried to lock onto the bits of black housing material inside the lens.

Jim at Ocean Brite and Keith at Ocean Images were very helpful in getting the problem resolved very quickly.

Andrew

 

[Norseman1]

I have a Sony PD150, Gates PD150 housing, Fathoms Super Wide Angle Lens, and Niterider dual 10W diffused video lights with NiMH battery pack.

Used mostly for deep wrecks and walls. The entire package is as compact as a system like this can be. It dives and shoots superbly.