5 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

I've had the idea for a simple and lightweight monitor housing for a while now. About five years ago, I was able to turn it into reality together with the German underwater housing manufacturer UK-Germany. At that time, underwater monitor housings already existed, but they were either extremely expensive, large, and heavy, or mostly based on recorder monitors.

But I only wanted a simple monitor, a sort of viewfinder replacement.

For the monitor, I chose a simple product from Feelworld, as I absolutely had to have normal buttons on the device. We initially wanted to create our own cable solution for connecting the underwater housing to the monitor housing, but that was too complicated, so we opted for HDMI connectors and cables from Nauticam.

The monitor housing is made of POM plastic and was milled from a single block. The front is made of Plexiglas.

This is exactly what I am about, but I don't have the machines to do it, I was thinking in something like a cheap old plastic housing for a compact camera where I can adapt a monitor. Your one looks great and profesional.

22 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

I've had the idea for a simple and lightweight monitor housing for a while now. About five years ago, I was able to turn it into reality together with the German underwater housing manufacturer UK-Germany. At that time, underwater monitor housings already existed, but they were either extremely expensive, large, and heavy, or mostly based on recorder monitors.

But I only wanted a simple monitor, a sort of viewfinder replacement.

For the monitor, I chose a simple product from Feelworld, as I absolutely had to have normal buttons on the device. We initially wanted to create our own cable solution for connecting the underwater housing to the monitor housing, but that was too complicated, so we opted for HDMI connectors and cables from Nauticam.

The monitor housing is made of POM plastic and was milled from a single block. The front is made of Plexiglas.

This is amazing! What size of battery can you fit in that housing? And Feelworld model?

On 10/22/2025 at 9:52 AM, foetusmachine said:

Options are 709, 2020 and P3.

Awesome! I would be terrific - if you had time - if you could show us the differences on screen. It could be a room scene with window and something behind it (garden, tree, anything) and shot by iPhone in HDR (default) and posted to YouTube so it would show HDR mark after posted. So it would be HDR video. It could also help you to determine best practice while underwater. With my Shinobi I found PQ mapping having the most dynamic range but HLG mapping keeping screen brighter. On my Sony A1 that is. I will try to do something like that later to show example.

17 hours ago, atus said:

This is exactly what I am about, but I don't have the machines to do it, I was thinking in something like a cheap old plastic housing for a compact camera where I can adapt a monitor. Your one looks great and profesional.

Thanks for your feedback. In my case, the milling of the case was also done by a specialist.

I might have a case from the series for sale soon. I can inquire and clarify the prices if necessary.

1 hour ago, RomiK said:

This is amazing! What size of battery can you fit in that housing? And Feelworld model?

When it came to the battery, it was clear from the start that I could do at least two or three dives with one battery. For this reason, we decided on a maximum size of NP-F750.

This allows me to do three or even four dives.

The Monitor is an FeelWorld Master MA5

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In the meantime, I'm considering whether I should create another series or another prototype of a case. Preferably even more compact. On paper, there are various approaches, including solutions using a smartphone instead of a regular monitor, connected to the camera via USB-C, and apps like Monitor+.

On the other hand, various products are now available. I just took a look at the new WeeFine WED-5 Pro a few days ago. It's a cool piece of equipment, also quite compact, and at around €1,200, the price is still reasonable.

My monitor case cost just over €1,000, including all the necessary sockets and cables, although the parts themselves were very expensive.

I would be interested in a housing which was JUST a passive monitor. No need for any sort of control.

I've been looking for a Weefine phone case with ruined electronics to see if I could turn it into a monitor housing by installing a cable passthrough at the depth sensor.

4 minutes ago, Grantmac said:

I would be interested in a housing which was JUST a passive monitor. No need for any sort of control.

I've been looking for a Weefine phone case with ruined electronics to see if I could turn it into a monitor housing by installing a cable passthrough at the depth sensor.

A solution with such a case and a smartphone or a simple display is certainly worth considering. However, most monitors available on the market won't work with such a case because they're too thick and have a battery on the back, which takes up space.

A smartphone seems simple at first glance, but at closer glance, problems like the operation become apparent. You should be able to open an app, etc. I've tried a few things. I've now come up with a solution through dry testing, consisting of an older iPhone and a mouse controller that can be used to control the iPhone. The cable connection is via USB-C from the camera and via an adapter to Lightning.

As soon as I have some more time, I'll pursue the project further and create a test case with the 3D printer. If that works the way I envision it, there might be a version for real-world use.

3D printing would probably need some sort of fiber reinforced filament.

An older compact camera housing seems like a good idea as well.

22 minutes ago, Grantmac said:

3D printing would probably need some sort of fiber reinforced filament.

There are people selling entire ports made of printed PETG. I do similar designs with ABS. No fiber needed.

2 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

A solution with such a case and a smartphone or a simple display is certainly worth considering. However, most monitors available on the market won't work with such a case because they're too thick and have a battery on the back, which takes up space.

A smartphone seems simple at first glance, but at closer glance, problems like the operation become apparent. You should be able to open an app, etc. I've tried a few things. I've now come up with a solution through dry testing, consisting of an older iPhone and a mouse controller that can be used to control the iPhone. The cable connection is via USB-C from the camera and via an adapter to Lightning.

As soon as I have some more time, I'll pursue the project further and create a test case with the 3D printer. If that works the way I envision it, there might be a version for real-world use.

I thought about similar issues to add my phone as an external monitor, no controls needed. My current idea is to get a Divevolk housing, which allows to operate the phone (benefit to set some stuff even in weird angles). Approach would be to drill a hole in the housing, cut an M16 thread, add an M16 cable gland, route a USB cable through it, done for the phone housing, camera side just needs a cable gland for the USB C cable. Sounds too easy in theory, my biggest concern is on checking if the case then still is waterproof, as there is no vaccum check available for the Divevolk housing (at least not that I'd be aware of).

I'm to happy with my current setup to invest in a Divevolk housing just to drill a hole in there and risk flooding my phone. Maybe someone has an old Divevolk housing to spare? Tools I have, also the needed 15bar tested cable gland (already built a DIY USB C bulkhead for polecam photography, works quite nice). Total cost should be around 300-350€ without phone (housing, cable, cable gland, o-rings/resin to waterproof everything).