need video advice

[Allison Finch]

My sister is looking to buy a nice (but not extravgant) video camera. She is going with me to PNG for a month. after diving, we have been invited to the highlands to visit the village of a friend. It is OFF the beaten path. There is not even a road to the village. No electricity or running water. She will be spending at least several days there where she was invited to a Mumu (pig roast) and a sing-sing. She would like to video this experience.
* It needs to be light and portable since she will be carrying everything in.
* It needs to have some sort of add-on extended battery since she will be unable to recharge.
* It needs to have a housing that works for it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[diversteve]

My sister is looking to buy a nice (but not extravgant) video camera. She is going with me to PNG for a month. after diving, we have been invited to the highlands to visit the village of a friend. It is OFF the beaten path. There is not even a road to the village. No electricity or running water. She will be spending at least several days there where she was invited to a Mumu (pig roast) and a sing-sing. She would like to video this experience.
* It needs to be light and portable since she will be carrying everything in.
* It needs to have some sort of add-on extended battery since she will be unable to recharge.
* It needs to have a housing that works for it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

To keep the weight down, I'd suggest one of the smaller Sony MiniDV camcorders, one of the HC series. They're lightweight, relatively portable and digital for easy editing. Also most(all?) of them are under $1000. Several of the housing manufacturers fit them, either with a dedicated or generic housing. If the housing weight is also a factor, maybe consider an Ikelite housing, they're probably lighter than some of the aluminum ones. And you could improvise a mount for a dive weight or two using the diveops weights if she didn't want to carry the Ikelite weight bar, most of them are detachable from the handles. Or the Top Dawg aluminum housings are fairly light, the advantage might be durability since you're going to be hauling it around with you post-dive.

For extended battery life, I saw someone shooting video with a belt pack once. Like these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=3722. Not exactly light though but probably great for extended battery life.

There's also those solar trickle chargers that are used with Satellite phone systems and laptops, all you need is a sunny day. I have no idea how they'd work to charge camera batteries though, you might need a small transformer or inverter to make it work with the battery pack charger. They're generally pretty small and compact though, most even fold up the solar panels for protection. Might be enough to recharge the batteries once or twice when she's at the village.

Steve

 

[bob1dp]

Buy extra batteries for the camera. Get the largest and most powerful you can find. Make sure they are all fully charged when you are going off the grid. Make sure the camera is powered down when not using it. I pull the battery to prevent accidental start ups. Don’t use the flip out screen unless necessary. It burns a lot of juice. Take a car charger with you. There may be vehicles with cigarette lighters available where you can get a boost. Keep your eyes open for lights at night. Lights mean generators. I haven’t tried the solar charging system. I hear they work pretty well and I bet they are expensive.

 

[Groundhog246]

I have a 'universal' charger I bought for mine that will chagre from a 12volt source (car battery). Picked it up an Ebay for about $25 and it works well. Also bought an extended life battery that gives over 3 times the run time of the one that came with the camera.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I offer my standard advice to all who are going to take cameras or camcorders under water...
"Never house a camera you can't afford to flood."
S

 

[dilligaf368]

I use a Sony CamCorder and get about 8 hours of taping out of the extra large battery. As the last post said, keep the screen off. Use only the eyepiece. I have an Iklite.
The best advice I can give is: film as slow as possible. Nothing is worse than a jittering cameria, just rent the movie : Borne supre. the camera shake is the worst I've seen since I started filming.
Invest in an AMBER lens cover. This will take most of the washed out blue and bring the other colors back. Filming at night yelds the best pictures with atif. light. The camera will only pick up the light you bring with You. The colors are outstanding. I know it is tempting to film EVERYTHING but it will eat the batteries.
Do not buy the Cameria that copies on CD. They really eat the batteries because the disc have to spin all the time. I am still hung up on using the super 8 video film because I get up to 6 hours/ tape. I don' t think the digitals are that advanced yet. Once they do I'll be all over them.
The Sony batteries do have a quick charge feature....15min of charge gives You one hour of video recording (if You don't use the monitor). After the first 15min though, You will get 1 minute of recording for each minute of charge. It is a great system and I've been using it for at least 5 years and hundreds of underwater use, not to mention topside for sports (flyfishing) backpacking ect.
Be VERY carefull, I have flooded the camerias (three) which ruins the adventure. I always cary two for work or a distant vacation. After entering the water tip the housing so a corner is low. look for leaks and look often. I always will tie the housing (without the cameria) to a line and drop it to the bottom and bring it back to check for leaks. It only takes a minute but You will be assured that the depth You are going will not effect the cameria.
My two cents worth.........Bill

 

[howard4113]

I have a JVC gr-dvm76u and housing:
http://www.jvcservice.com/store/Pro...p?part=WR-DV96U
The total price is is about $800 for the camera ($300 - ebay) and housing ($500) - and the whole system is a LOT more compact and lighter than most other systems. One other advantage is that the flip-out monitor is visible from the back and you do not need a separate monitor back. You can get big batteries that will power the camera for 2-3 hours or more even using the monitor.
I think this would be ideal for you - or a Sony mini-DV with similar housing.
I'd INSIST on a housing where the monitor is visible, however.

Mark

 

[drbill]

Strange- I was sure I posted a reply here a day or two ago, but no sign of it now. Did anyone else see it?

Sjspeck and others offered good suggestions. Definitely avoid the LCD unless absolutely necessary (overhead shooting)... it greatly reduces battery life. I get 8-12 dives (2-3 days) out of a larger battery assuming I don't have to crack the case in between to change tapes. Carry 2-3 of those larger batteries and you might have enough juice.

Would think the housing would be too much to carry for most people, but I've stuck mine in my backpack (with plenty of clothing around it for padding) and that worked fine.

Wouldn't think there would be any vehicles anywhere near by (no roads) to charge from, but who knows.

Dr. Bill

 

[Allison Finch]

drBill, I saw your message and wish it were still there. It had good info that I had not fully digested.
Dang!

 

[Groundhog246]

Another reason to avoid the DVD type. If anything happens that the camera doesn't shut down correctly, the disk is toast. Talked with a guy a while back who shot an entore wedding on a Sony disk based camera. Forgot to turn off changing batteries late in the evening and the entire days pictures were GONE!!!!! No recovering them. Yes, it was a bone headed move, but who hasn't done similar? With a tape, if the tape stops, you at least have everything up to that point.