l & M uw monitor adjustment

hi all,

thanks to the people responsible for restoring wetpixel. I had just got a reply from Barrett at L & M when the whole show went on the blink.

I hope he is still reading this forum. To answer his question re my HC1 in a Stingray 2 housing-I got that housing and adapted it to accommodate the hc1 long before there was a dedicated housing. I only have one little technical hic-up. how do i adjust the monitor brightness or is this feature not compatible with the hc1. No matter how I press that brightness control the monitor remains the same ie. just a little too bright..

thanks HH

HH have you tried emailing LMI directly?

Barrett's info:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showuser=6624

Eborac-

Do you have the Monitor Back on your SRay II, or the top-mounted one?

I have both on my SRay, that I now use as a "backup" rig in case something were to happen to my Bluefin.

But I remember distinctly that there is a difference in brightness in the two monitors. Also, the top-mounted one (that gets the video signal from the cam via the bulkhead) does NOT have any controls to change brightness, etc.

Have you tried adjusting the brightness on the cam's built-in display and see if it has any effect on the external monitor of the SRay?

Also, interesting to know that you've been able to fit a HC1 in that housing. Makes sense. How did you do that? Different tray? Modifications to it? And does the cam's optiocal axis end up being aligned with the SRay lens? What about vignetting with various L&M lenses? (e.g, macro, superwide, etc).

And, I assume you use the cam mainly in "auto" mode, in terms of controls, dials, sliders, etc. Any probles with those?

Eager to know... :-)

hi nickdiver,

appologies for the delayed reply-have been out of range ie. no telephone/email links.

Firstly, I got the stingray 2 because when I needed a housing for the hc1 in a hurry there were none available. the optical axis was exact on the camera tray however, I did fit a bracket for the lens barrel to sit firmly. the first lot of footage seemed ok on a normal tv . when viewed on the mac book pro it l also appears ok. the uw lens is the standard l&m 75 mm. another point to consider is that the turbicity of the waters here in torres strait is far from ideal. as I mentioned before, the only hick-up is not being able to adjust the monitor brightness despite the fact that there is a monitor brightness button. I am seriously considering placing a flat port onto the stingray for above water and rainy weather and wet conditions on the boat and getting a dedicated housing with a good monitor for diving.

regards HH

Hi Eborac.

Thanks for elaborating on how you managed to fit your HD cam into the StingRay II, really good to know.

I may give it a try in a few weeks and see if I could use it with my rig also. Of course, the new FX7 is about to come out, so I may wait a couple of months and see if L&M are coming out for a housing for this new puppy. If they do, it'd represent a great alternative to the FX1 in a Bluefin HD housing, which is just too big and too heavy to take around as a carryon.

Looks like you're shopping for a new housing for your HC1; not a bad idea, sicne it'll give you better lens coverage, and a few more manual exposure controls. I think you can probably leave the SRay as is and use it topside without needing any dome port, etc. The standard lens work pretty well even on land, in my experience. Perhaps a bit reddish, even w/out the filter, but you can probably color correct it in post.

Have fun!