Steve, my A1u comes today I hope. Cant wait Mark
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mdmbike to scuba:Looks like something from Star ship trooper . 17,500 wow! do you think they will take a check Mark
Cool, decided on a housing?mdmbike to scuba:Steve, my A1u comes today I hope. Cant wait Mark
sjspeck:There's a few HC1's on eBay also. Around $12-1300 or less if you want to bid. I shoot an HC1 and just recently looked at the HC3 in a store so here's my random thoughts:
The fixed viewfinder on the HC3 might be problematic w/o an external monitor depending on your housing back. And nobody's selling an HD monitor yet except Gates.
The top-loading feature on the HC3 is a good idea. I get tired of having to remove my camera from the mounting plate to change tapes.
I noticed they dropped the tele-macro and expanded focus buttons. They're useful for macro work. Amphibico(and others) provide a manual control for them on their HC1 housing.
Stills are up in resolution, 4MP vs. 2.8 for mine. But I'm not sure how the flash on the front of the lens barrel is going to work, I'm thinking there will be some reflection off the front port of some housings. Pure speculation on my part though.
There's no external mic jack on the HC3 so forget using it with an external u/w microphone.
hth,
alo100:Besides the Gates housing, if I try to add a monitor at back of Top Dawg what kind of detail about the spec (of the monitor) shall I look for?
Is this http://www.mediasub.com/Video_e.htm going to work as well?
Also, about the Gates, would it have enough room for me to add a regular wide angle within the housing?
limeyx:The LCD does not letterbox, so I am actually capturing outside the sides of the LCD in 16:9 mode. This means I pretty often get my buddies fins/heads in frame even though they do not show on the LCD.
drbill:One reason I prefer diving solo when I'm videotaping (which is all the time)... unless of course it is my lovely dive buddy's neoprene clad legs I want in the picture!
limeyx:I am actually partially considering selling my SD camera and housing, and getting the TopDawg and HC5/7 -- I think I could almost do it for no cost to me.
Only problem is the TopDawg would have no monitor -- not sure how practical that is, and it's only really rated to 150 I think, although I am suspecting you've had yours deeper.
alo100:Also, about the Gates, would it have enough room for me to add a regular wide angle within the housing?