Gates UW Housing & Sony Camcorder

[RSoper]

Hi There :

I am considering spending an extorsionate amount of money on a Gates underwater video housing, and a Sony digital video camera. Does anyone have any experience of these products? The whole thing is going to cost me approximately 2500 Cayman Island Dollars, from Cathy Church's shop on Grand Cayman. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated before i take the plunge, i only know one person who knows anything about underwater video, and he seems to think the products and price offered are good.

I know absolutely nothing about underwater video, so any advice would be appreciated!

Cheers - Bob

 

[ChrisA]

If you have a Sony camera, the next big decision is if you want mechanical or electronic controls on your housing. This is kind of a big deal as they operate diffently and there are pros and cons each way and people who will argu either way. so DO make sure you understand the pros and cons of each. Gates uses manual controls. If manual is what you want then Gates is first rate.

Hi There :
I am considering spending an extorsionate amount of money on a Gates underwater video housing, and a Sony digital video camera. Does anyone have any experience of these products? The whole thing is going to cost me approximately 2500 Cayman Island Dollars, from Cathy Church's shop on Grand Cayman. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated before i take the plunge, i only know one person who knows anything about underwater video, and he seems to think the products and price offered are good.

I know absolutely nothing about underwater video, so any advice would be appreciated!

Cheers - Bob

 

[ronrosa]

Hi There :

I am considering spending an extorsionate amount of money on a Gates underwater video housing, and a Sony digital video camera. Does anyone have any experience of these products? The whole thing is going to cost me approximately 2500 Cayman Island Dollars, from Cathy Church's shop on Grand Cayman. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated before i take the plunge, i only know one person who knows anything about underwater video, and he seems to think the products and price offered are good.

I know absolutely nothing about underwater video, so any advice would be appreciated!

Cheers - Bob

Sony makes great comcorders and Gates makes great housings. $2,500 could be a good or bad deal depending on:

Which Sony camcorder ? Which Gates housing ? How old ? What condition ?

I use a Sony TRV900 and Gates Diego housing. I'm totally satisfied.

 

[B.Goodwill]

Hi There :

Its a Gates housing for a Sony PC105, the cost of $2635 US Dollars. Both the cam-corder itself and housing are both brand new.

Cheers - Bob

 

[Michael Schlink]

I prefer L&M and electronic controls BUT Gates makes a great housing also an advantage over elec. controls is that if you do flood the housing will be OK maybe a good feature when replacement parts and service are far away??

 

[Michael Schlink]

Oh and Gates has coupled up with Niterider lights which are fantastic

 

[B.Goodwill]

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately we don't have a huge amount of selection here in Cayman, so it is pretty much a case of "taking what you can get" unless you are willing to pay for a trip to Miami, or know eneaugh about it all to order over the net.

 

[ronrosa]

Hi There :

Its a Gates housing for a Sony PC105, the cost of $2635 US Dollars. Both the cam-corder itself and housing are both brand new.

Cheers - Bob

That looks to be about standard list price. Gates make housings for that camcorder with the LCD open and closed. Which one is the shop offering ?

While you could probably find a cheaper deal over the internet, any dollars saved would be offset in shipping costs and lost service/support your local shop will provide.

 

[rubbachicken]

hi there
have you had any thought's as to video lighting
if you plan to travel with your gear, carrying scuba gear and U/W video equiptment is as you will know very heavy, i have noticed that others use dive torches as video lights, i'm going to be midifying my UK light canon to work as a video light, to save the weight of having both, a torch and a video light
sorry if this is too obvious, but it has been on my mind for a while, to do for myself

 

[Hank49]

Hi There :

Its a Gates housing for a Sony PC105, the cost of $2635 US Dollars. Both the cam-corder itself and housing are both brand new.

Cheers - Bob

I have a Gates housing and a Sony. I learned from one mistake I made. Get a model that looks through the lens of the camera for shooting and doesn't use the video display screen. With mine the design has me looking at the display screen in the housing and it uses batteries about 4 times faster.