Subal Video

I shoot a Nikon D200 in a Subal housing. This may sound like a silly question but...

Since I've spent close to $10K on photo and dive gear this year and want to stay married....

Is there any reason that I can't build a mount for my Sony mini-dv camcorder, slap on one of Alex's auto magic filters, turn it on, seal it up in my subal housing and dive with it? ( knowing I'd have absolutely no control except to turn it off when I open it back up )

Assuming the answer is yes, would I use my dome port or a flat one? Where would I put the zoom for the best results?

I can clip and zoom in Final Cut and even in iMovie. Not looking to get on National Geographic Video, just ADHD and looking for something else fun to do on a dive trip.

I see no reason why you can't do this if there's room in the housing, and with great quality ports like Subal you might get nice results.

Use your dome port for general and wide angle use and your flat port (if there's room for your camera behind it) for macro use.

To avoid distortion with the dome port you may want to make your mount adjustable forwards/backwards so your camera's lens is at the "centre" of your dome.

With the dome port keep your zoom on maximum wide.

With your flat port set your zoom depending on your subject. Probably you'll want maximum wide with that but if you want to shoot some small stuff then you might want to set it at say 70% zoom. Be careful of full zoom though as you'll be really limited on what you can focus on, if anything.

You may want to experiment with using either auto focus or manual focus. With the flat port you'll probably want to use auto focus. Manual focus may work better with the dome port, especially in mucky water. You'll have to determine the optimum focus distance for your setup through trial and error. Try something like 3-5m first and see if it gives you a good enough depth of field.