NAIBdiver1
Contributor
My video rig is quite heavy and cumbersome out of the water. I have an Ikelite housing, two batteries and two lights. Often, especially on live aboards, during a surface interval, I like to snorkel around and film or all of a sudden there’s a pod of dolphins or whale sharks and it’s in the water as quickly as possible to film at the surface or just below. I’ve wanted something that I could just grab and jump in the water.
While looking around on EBay, I found what I thought just might do the trick. It’s a snorkel housing. Sony SPK-HCC. The housing is rated to 17 feet. Its construction is molded plastic. So I bought one on EBay and gave it a test run at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD where I’m a volunteer diver. Oh, I forgot to mention that I use a Sony HC-3 and have two of them. So now I have a housing for the actual diving and one for snorkeling.
The SPK-HCC fits quite a large number of different SONY cameras and comes with various adapters to accommodate different model cameras. According to the Sony website they are no longer available, but I have seen a number of them new on EBay. The housing itself weighs around three pounds.
First off, you cannot white balance or manual focus. You’ll have to make your settings and put the camera in the housing. Since its intended use is shallow, I don’t see any problems using all the auto features built into the camera. The controls on the top of the housing are easy to use and are very accessible. One BIG problem is that it is BOYANT!!!. I added a 3pound soft weight (there was actually room inside the housing for the camera and a three pound soft weight bad) and it was still somewhat positive.
The video I shot at the aquarium at times is a bit shaky, (there is actually quite a bit of current going on) and admittedly needed to be WB’ed. There are neon and florescent lights at the aquarium, but this wouldn’t be a problem in natural sunlight. But I wanted to share the first outcome.
The beginning of the video (rays), this exhibit is eight feet deep. The area where the majority of the other fish where shot, that exhibit is sixteen feet.
I did test the housing for leaks in the bathtub before trying it out in the exhibits and had no leakage.
Ok, if the weight of my luggage permits, I’ll be taking this snorkel hosing on my next dive trip – Turks and Caicos during Christmas.
Video Link =>NAIB 01Aug08
NAIBDiver1
While looking around on EBay, I found what I thought just might do the trick. It’s a snorkel housing. Sony SPK-HCC. The housing is rated to 17 feet. Its construction is molded plastic. So I bought one on EBay and gave it a test run at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD where I’m a volunteer diver. Oh, I forgot to mention that I use a Sony HC-3 and have two of them. So now I have a housing for the actual diving and one for snorkeling.
The SPK-HCC fits quite a large number of different SONY cameras and comes with various adapters to accommodate different model cameras. According to the Sony website they are no longer available, but I have seen a number of them new on EBay. The housing itself weighs around three pounds.
First off, you cannot white balance or manual focus. You’ll have to make your settings and put the camera in the housing. Since its intended use is shallow, I don’t see any problems using all the auto features built into the camera. The controls on the top of the housing are easy to use and are very accessible. One BIG problem is that it is BOYANT!!!. I added a 3pound soft weight (there was actually room inside the housing for the camera and a three pound soft weight bad) and it was still somewhat positive.
The video I shot at the aquarium at times is a bit shaky, (there is actually quite a bit of current going on) and admittedly needed to be WB’ed. There are neon and florescent lights at the aquarium, but this wouldn’t be a problem in natural sunlight. But I wanted to share the first outcome.
The beginning of the video (rays), this exhibit is eight feet deep. The area where the majority of the other fish where shot, that exhibit is sixteen feet.
I did test the housing for leaks in the bathtub before trying it out in the exhibits and had no leakage.
Ok, if the weight of my luggage permits, I’ll be taking this snorkel hosing on my next dive trip – Turks and Caicos during Christmas.
Video Link =>NAIB 01Aug08
NAIBDiver1
