One for the new Moderator

Welcome Craig. Here's one to start you off.

OK I have quite a dated Sony Cam SCE 100. I have found a company that can make a housing for it. So do I spend on the housing for the dated cam (which I love but only half mega pix res) or do i buy a new 1.5 megapix9or better) cam with housing. Tough one I know. Reason I like the old cam so much is that it is the only Sony with an LCD screen at the back (similar to the Sharp Viewcam) which is very useful, esp at a nice big 3". Thoughts?

Mark

are you planning on using the cam for photo or video? if it's photo then even a newer 1 or 1.5 MP camera will be disappointing I feel... if it's purely for video then you'll need lights and lens/dome in addition to the housing. How much are you being quoted for a custom housing? (I presume it's something made locally?)

I used the SC100 in the L&M Mako housing when it became available. Interesting story there. The SC100 was discontinued before the housing made it to market!

The SC100 offered good performance in its time and the small size travelled well. Like is always the case, the size of the rig is a trade-off. Big cameras and housing handles better underwater but are a burden to travel with. The big screen of the SC100 is nice, but sighting through it requires you tilt your head awkwardly or hold the camera away. If you hold the camera away it is harder to shoot smoothly. That's true of any monitor-back camera. Top mounting is nicer.

I would imagine that the new, small cameras offer better low light performance and longer battery life in addition to features such as high resolution stills. The SC100 has a bigger screen for its size than you'll find elsewhere. If I were you and I really wanted a smaller rig, I'd consider trying to find a used Mako SC100. IT would be cheaper than a custom and would work better.

I don't have mine any longer but I'm friends with the person I sold it to. If you like I can ask if he still has it.

You will get better results with a navigator and TRV-900, though. It has a flip-out mirror for the screen that works well and is still pretty small. The TRV-900 will offer much better performance.

Here's one for sale on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4&category=1300

HTH

James

Oh great that Ebay listing will ship to Canada. Is that my phone I hear ringing Mark? LOL

The housing I tracked down forv the SC100 is as follows http://www.usvh.com/DV100.html

The cost is about $1100 which is not that bad a price. I take on board all your points thanks. I'll have to give it some more thought.

Mark

Regarding the USVH housing for the SC100...

It's a nice housing, really good ergonomics, and the camera is amazingly good in low light and at rendering reds underwater. I know because we make the housing and I've used that camera a number of times. I wish SONY kept using that CCD chip in its later cameras. It is a digital camera with a minimum lux rating of only 2! The first time Stan Waterman saw that camera being used (in our protoype housing) he was amazed at how well it did in low light. He actually thought the user got some special footage from SONY to fool him. Anyway, the screen in the back is very handy and we make the housing long enough so the LCD can be tilted up slightly.

Having said all that... no other camera will fit in that housing and you'd find it nearly impossible to replace the camera if something happened to it.

We did some side by side testing underwater with the SC100 and a PC100 (sold in 2000) and the image and overall color is better in the PC100. SC100 wasn't as good at blues and yellows and overall sharpness (small differences). Based on further tests the video images from the TRV30, TRV50 are even better than the PC100. and as others have mentioned, the photos can print larger too. In a few weeks we'll be seeing the TRV70 and in March will be the TRV80. The only thing they appear to have that's any real improvement over the TRV30 and TRV50 is they are both 2.1 megapixel. With the 1.5mp you can print a 5 x 7 inch photo at 200 pixels per inch that looks very nice so the TRV70/80 should be about 30% larger. Here are some samples of photos taken 10 days ago in Cayman Islands by my wife with a TRV50.

http://www.underseavideo.com/photos.html

Also keep in mind that housings from us and LMI allow you to have a LCD in the back of the housing so the LCD in the SC100 is not too unique in a housing.

-Warren

USVH

Warren,

It is so refreshing to get such an unbiased and informative response direct from a manufacturer. I still have not yet decided whether to upgrade or not.

Thanks anyway.

Mark