A couple of points.
First of all, I shoot an HC1 which is the A1U's non-pro audio cousin (mine doesn't have the assign button either) I guess my first point would be that any of the newer HDD/SDD cameras will have significantly longer record times than the A1U since HDV only allows for an hour recording per tape. I have 220 min. batteries but stil have to change tapes hourly. Even at the highest resolution, some of the HDD models shoot hours longer so battery time becomes the limiting factor. My point is to minimize the number of times you have to open your housing during a divetrip. A lot of what you pay for with the A1U is related to audio - you remove the entire audio add-on to fit the camera in
any housing first. So be sure you're not paying a lot for stuff you don't need.
With all respect to Video Rookie, the A1U is a 5 or 6 year old camera now. The newer Sony or Canon models have superior imaging sensors. My HC1 (and the A1U) have a 1.12MP sensor, the new Sony XR500 has a 4.1MP sensor - not to mention hours of recording time since it's HDD. fwiw, Sony does not even sell a tape model at Sonystyle.com this year.
There are affordable housings out there that allow you to touch the LCD screen which eliminates the need for the assign button control. Equinox(I believe), Ikelite, Ocean Images and others make them. The latest word is that the Sony CX-500/520 have Manual White Balance built back into the electronics, someone is selling a housing that does that now. Or there are options like the aluminum $1200 Patima, which although it has it's own problems (it's heavy) has twice the depth rating of the Equinox, allows full camera control - you put the remote in the housing and push the buttons from outside - which paired with an HDR-HC9 (if you want tape) or an XR500/CX500 will be significantly cheaper than the A1U combo you've found.
If cost is a big factor, one new option is the Canon HF200/HF20 ($549/$650+ retail, paired with their WP-V1 housing. It has limitations - 130' max, no MWB in the housing, but it does have a lot longer record time with 3GB cards and the camera has electronic underwater red compensation - which is why you Manual WB to begin with. The camera has a 3MP sensor. You do trade some record time, but with the HF200 it's 2hrs. 55mins. at MXP (24MBPS) resolution - double at FXP - with a 32GB SDHC Class 4 or higher card. Both are HD 1920x1080 resolution. And if you just want to view your video on your HDTV - it has an HDMI output. The A1U is component.
For comparison, HDV (tape) is recorded at 25MBPS, MXP AVCHD is 24. Most of the new Sony's (afaik) record at 17MBPS.
Did I mention the WP-V1 housing is currently selling for $400 at Abe's of Maine. And it's tiny. My buddy just got the HF200 for xmas, he's buying the housing this week. It even takes a w/a external lens if needed. There's a thread here discussing it.
Or any of the new Sony line paired with the HD6 should be significantly less than the A1U combo you've found. And yield much better image quality and much longer record times. I noticed that Equinox sells the HD6 for $899 on their website. The retail price of the CX520 is $999 from Amazon - it records 460 mins. in the highest HD resolution - over 900 in the next highest. Or there's the CX500 which does 1/2 the time for $869. Tradeoff with it or the Canon combo is you'll need a fast core-duo processor for editing AVCHD files. So $1900 out the door - no tax through B&H unless you live in NY.
Another option is the one on B&H's page directly above the one you found, the Canon HFS-10 with the Equinox HD6 housing - for $1974 (b4 Jan 1/16) IMO the HFS-10
smokes the A1U in image quality - it may be the best 1CMOS camera out there now - it has something like an 8.5MP sensor.
If my housing wasn't Sony proprietary, I'd be seriously considering it. As it is, I'm looking real hard right now at the Sony XR-500 as the HDD cameras have longer record times than their SSD equivalents - 870 minutes is long enough for me - if only I didn't have to change the batteries, I wouldn't open the housing all week...lol.
Another consideration is video capture time during editing. With tape it's one to one. I recently read somewhere that someone with the HF200 posted that his transfer time for 32GB's (3 hrs) of recording - was under
1 min through a $50 external CF reader on a core-duo PC.
So a lot to consider, hope I haven't confused you further. Bottom line for me is that the A1U/Equinox package would've been a good deal about 5 years ago when the camera itself was about $3K - not so much anymore.
I'm also a University student, would the academic portal at B&H offer it cheaper?
Ask [user]henryp[/user]
