touch screen underwater??

Hi,

I'm actually not new to diving but very new to all the equipments and stuff. Was wondering are there any equipment around that allows use of touch screen underwater?

and will you be for use of touch screen underwater?

pros...reduced openings and movements of buttons, screen allows better visibilty when using etc

cons... hmmm flat?

Thank you.

Cons ... Housing would have to be thin enough to allow for resistive touch elements to work.

Simple handling under water could change settings etc. I can't imagine a good use for touch underwater.

I thot it will be useful especially in lowly lit environment like underwater to have lighted interface.??

The LCD on digital cameras is already lit up. Most interfaces are done through buttons which have orings to prevent flooding. Simple, but effective. The housing concept is great because most maintenance is done by the user.

BTW...the challenge with lit up LCD screens isn't darkness its in bright sunlight.

A optical side beam "touch" display might work underwater. Works by creating a X/Y grid of light, typically IR. low res but should work for simple preprogrammed keys.

I believe some researchers used this for training dolphins

Curtis

Ikelite does provide touch screen controls on some housings as per following:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/sony_pc1000.html#down

http://www.ikelite.com/web_two/sony_hc1.html#seedown

Sorry Ike but I'll stick with my original assessment. That looks like a nightmare underwater. Anything that requres that level of dexterity underwater would never become a standard. Push buttons, dials and levers are so much easier.

Curtis,

I suppose in theory that would work. There are two drawbacks. Obstruction of the IR beam by water particles would render the display inoperable. Secondly, your grid would have to be spaced generously enough to allow fat fingers (thumbs) control of 1 button at a time. You would also have to have some kind of internal cable which attached to the camera. Finally the camera itself would have to be able to accept such an input. Its a creative thought but in reality the good old buttons will rule the underwater world.

Gary

cool pple! yup actually i'm a final year design student from singapore. my thesis subject is actually to design an underwater image capturing device. Ya have been struggling with the buttons, felt i'll be pushing it a bit too much if i asked for touch screen esp to the depth of 40m and beyond.

anyway another issue i was hoping to get feedback on is the exisitence of cables in underwater. do u all think it will post any issues? on safety etc? or is it common to carry cables ard when diving?

In practical terms, touchscreen is impractical, especially if you are wearing gloves. Ambient light is an issue as is the size of the touchscreen to housing requirement. It's like some video screens that are exclusively touchscreen. Crap, you need a stylus to activate if you have fat fingers. What Ike offers is a practical way to use touchscreen, even if you think it looks complicated. On the contrary, most mechanical knobs are simple to use and require minimal practice to get the hang of it. IKE is merely answering a touchscreen concern with a reasonable solution.

Joe