need video advice

[ScubaDuc]

Skiers do it all the time. And I don't think the airlines even charge extra for it. Or at least they didn't use to.

What you really need to devise is some sort of universal housing mount with an adjustable clamp on one end. Then borrow a pole/gaff from the boat to clamp it to. Just deal with the up/down motion as best as you can. Saves carrying a pole...

I did see a video housing somewhere that had a port for a coax cable so you could feed the images remotely back to a video monitor on the boat. Maybe an armored cable version would work. Otherwise how would you know what you're filming. Of course if a Great White takes a liking to your housing, I'm guessing it's pretty much a write-off anyway.

I guess you could also try something like this: (maybe only once if you're chumming in the area - LOL) http://www.aquavu.com/av_spoolsc100.html

I don't know how you'd trigger a still camera either, R/F signals probably wouldn't penetrate the water. What about a really long cable release? I wonder if you could use a piece of braided steel rubber house (like the stuff used on h/p car engines) as an outer protectant and run the cable down through the center to a gland in the camera housing. Your end wouldn't have to be sealed if you could keep it out of the water. You can buy the glands from Ikelite.

Later Edit: I just happened to see cables/glands and a pole mount on the Equinox website:

http://www.underwatervideohousings.com/misc.shtml

I really love the little camera fish...I am sure it wont last long in Gansbay though! Some folks have put one of those mini wireless cameras in a surfboard and then towed it to film a great white attack...Man, you should've seen them teethmarks on the board!

All in all, specifically for great whites and gansbay conditions, it is probably better a fixed pole. Viz is generally not that great and you would want to keep the camera about 2 feet from the snout as the sharks comes in for for the chum. I do not think one would have the time to even peak in a remote monitor. Someone else will be yanking the rope bringing the chum close to the boat. You shouldn't let the sharks have the bait, otherwise they may associate food with people.....Bad Kharma!

Crocs and Hippos are other instances where a pole would be handy...

Regretfully, in EU we have 20 Kilos (about 50 lbs) luggage allowance....Essentially my diving gear so I have to be mindful of what I pack or rent some of the gear - something I don't usually like to do in third world countries -

On the plus side, I've got over 200K air miles so it looks like a trip to the South Pacific is getting really close....If I can ever manage to take a whole month off!

I was in Maui this past November but I was not impressed. Except for turtles, there isn't much fish left and there are no Tiger sharks dives. Bummer, I will have to go back to S. Africa for the Tigers...They are actually a lot more inquisitive than the great whites and will come to give you a close up look. Also, it seems to me that dive operators in the US are afraid of liability and keep the dives really LAME but perhaps I just have not found a good one.......

 

[diversteve]

I was in Maui this past November but I was not impressed. Except for turtles, there isn't much fish left and there are no Tiger sharks dives. Bummer, I will have to go back to S. Africa for the Tigers...They are actually a lot more inquisitive than the great whites and will come to give you a close up look. Also, it seems to me that dive operators in the US are afraid of liability and keep the dives really LAME but perhaps I just have not found a good one.......

I have heard there's Tigers off Olawalu but I can't verify that, we've either dove the Kihei shore or out to Lanai with the Whitetips. And it's not something I've inquired about, I prefer not to dive with any shark bigger than me - except for Whale Sharks. If you ever make it to California, there's cage diving with the Great Whites off Guadalupe Island - from San Diego: http://www.sdsharkdiving.com. And maybe from Cabo San Lucas aboard the Solmar V to Socorro Island/Revelegados Archipelago - liveaboard only. They o/w dive with the Hammerhead schools and the occasional Tiger from what I've read.

I guess we've now completely hijacked the topic of this thread. So I'm ending my comments here.

Dive safe,

Steve

 

[Allison Finch]

What do you guys think of the JVC GR-D230? Ikelite has a nice housing for it. B&H has it for approx. 520.00

OK, we're digressing from my original questions. Can anyone offer an opinion on this camcorder?

 

[diversteve]

OK, we're digressing from my original questions. Can anyone offer an opinion on this camcorder?

Sorry about that.

I played around with this camcorder for a minute at a store a few weeks ago. I have to say that what initially caught my eye was that I thought it was a DVD-Cam, it looks just like one. I don't know why they'd do that, except maybe all JVC's are now sharing the same housing? And I admit the shiny metallic blue appealed to me.

What I liked about it was the 10x optical zoom and the option to shoot stills to a standard memory card - for the price. What I didn't like about it was having to open the LCD to get to some of the controls. I just thought that was a nuisance. Although it's not just JVC, everybody's doing it now. And imho, the 500x digital zoom is a toy to be left turned off. Since I was at the store, that's about all I can comment on, I've never actually used one.

There's a review of it at camcorderinfo.com. I'd say it's a mixed review, good performance for the money, their only real negative comment seemed to be that the port covers were kind of shoddy. Here's the review:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/JVC-GR-D230-Camcorder-Review.htm

For u/w video there's no ability to adjust the white balance once you've housed it - if that's important to your sister - since it's done on-screen. Or any of the other functions under the LCD - although as I remember none of them were particularly useful while shooting u/w video. An Ikelite housing can't provide that functionality anyway. Which is why a lot of people shoot with Sony products and electronic housings, they have camera control through the LANC port.

Steve