housing for Sony HC1

[jason21]

Hi all,
does anyone have any experience of the Sony HC1 with u'water housings? I'm thinking about the Light and Motion Bluefin or StingrayIII at the moment, but very open to suggestions! Does anybody know if there's any way of accessing the touchscreen functions via a housing?
Cheers, Jason.

 

[yceltikci]

Try Ocean Images Housings...

www.oceanimagesinc.com

Yener.

 

[crpntr133]

I would second the OI. OI is very good at replying to email questions, L&M is pretty good at replies..the others suck.

As far as the white balance via LANC, I don't think anybody has gotten that yet. Some have gone to a manual control.
On another board I have seen where guys have taken the rig down and THEN turned it on to white balance it. If you wish to balance several times during a dive then you would have to turn the unit off and back on.

 

[jason21]

thanks for those comments. I'll check out OI.
cheers, Jason.

 

[uwvideodude]

check out Equinox they just released one with and lcd monitor for under 1500.00/usd
www.dive-equinox.com

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Of the manufacturers making housings for the HC1, I would highly recommend the L&M or the Gates. Gates would be the #1 choice as they are the ONLY manufacturer that allows access to the manual white balance control on the HC1!!! That is a huge benefit...and the quality of their housings and ports is top notch as well. The L&M housing allows access on the A1U but not the HC1...I do not believe OI or any other manufacturers have achieved this.

 

[Shasta_man]

OI housing does have a mechanical control access to MWB.

There's also been a lot of churn about whether anyone is actually using MWB rather than a preset.

 

[jason21]

that's great info dudes. Thanks. I'll definitely check out the gates and oi models then. I've just been looking at the undersea video housings homepage - www.usvh.com - and they have a housing for the hc1/a1u with electronic control of manual white balance. Not entirely sure yet though whether it works for both hc1 and a1u...

 

[crpntr133]

Electronic controls for the while balance...NOPE. If you look around you will find that it is all but impossible since Sony moved to the touch screen. Some of the Hi-Def cameras do have it. (PC1000?) I too have heard a lot about the preset issue. The information that I have seen about turning the unit off and back on again at depth does support that it is actually reseting the while balance.

USVH is suppose to be one of the better ones but I have been waiting months for a reply to my question so I scratched them off my list. If they can't reply to an email now then I don't need them in the future. There were also a couple other items that I really didn't care for, I have passed.

Jason, Here is another board that has tons of info.

 

[diversteve]

that's great info dudes. Thanks. I'll definitely check out the gates and oi models then. I've just been looking at the undersea video housings homepage - www.usvh.com - and they have a housing for the hc1/a1u with electronic control of manual white balance. Not entirely sure yet though whether it works for both hc1 and a1u...

crpntr133 is right. Although the USVH website indicates that their housing has white-balance capabilities, it doesn't for the HC1. Warren - USVH's owner - has posted elsewhere that he doesn't believe any electronic housing will be able to do that. And it appears Warren's right, here's L&M's statement on the subject:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10919

There's also a good thread on the HC1 stickied at the top of the forum.

As far as L&M - read the fine print, the Bluefin doesn't support MWB either.

O/I alludes to being able to control it with an add-on manual control for the assignable button but only for the A1, not the HC1. Since you can program MWB onto that button - otherwise it's a 3-4 menu process on the touchscreen.

Amphibico is only supporting it on the A1 also, with a $200 add-on button for the EVO - or you get it if you buy the EVO Pro for $1000 more. But still only for the A1.
And it's a mechanical button on the housing, not part of the control handle.

So far this is what I've found for housings:

Electronics:

Amphibico Dive Buddy EVO HD - or EVO PRO HD
L&M Bluefin HC1
L&M Stingray III - Not sure if it fits in one of these due to lens/port alignment.
L&M Stingray Sport
Also Top Dawg II - I saw this combo on eBay. Which makes sense since it's physically an L&M Stingray Sport.
USVH MiniDV
Ocean Images HC1 housing
Ocean Images Dolphin Pro
Sea & Sea VX-HC1 Pro

Right now I'm leaning towards the Amphibico EVO. With an O/I Easy-View monitor. I can't justify $1400 for the Amphibico monitor when the housing is only $2K. Although I've recently read some bad reviews of Amphibico's controls on the uwvideo Yahoo group board so now I'm undecided. I think my next choice would be the Dolphin Pro with a back monitor. Or the USVH with extended controls. IMHO the Bluefin is overpriced and the Stingray/Top Dawg doesn't have pushbutton control handles.

If you want touchscreen control, Ikelite has an HC1 housing with control rods that appear to contact the screen, it's hard to tell from the picture. They also have 3 buttons to control the buttons in front of the t/s on the HC1.

And there's the Gates of course. I'm sure it does everything, just way beyond what I want to spend for a housing. And I'm an electronic fan myself.

LMK if you find any other good options. I'm buying in the next week or so. A big part of my decision is based on transportability on aircraft so size is a factor in my decision.