Need help selecting HD video camera, housing and lights for grant

Hello all,

I'm new to wetpixel and James Wiseman directed me here to ask for some assistance.

I run a non-profit corporation and we are preparing to submit a grant proposal that will include money allocated to purchase an HD video camera to be used to film coral reefs and associated habitats. The most likely first location will be fringing reefs in the Philippines and then possibly Fiji or a nearby area the next year.

I have spent about 3-4 hours reading information on this website and others and I am actually further away from selecting an HD video camera than before I started reading. I was hoping some people could chime in with suggestions for a video camera to include in the grant. Here is what I know so far:

1. We need an HD video camera capable of filming about 45min-1hour per session.

2. We need an underwater housing to protect the camera

3. We need an underwater light to illuminate things well underwater. Most of our dives will be daylight dives, but some could be on cloudy days. If we could get a light that also works for night dives within our budget, that would be great, but it is not essential.

4. Our budget for the grant submission will be somewhere in the range of $5000-$7000, but we are waiting to hear back on the exact amount. This needs to cover the camera, housing, light(s), any required accessories, shipping, etc.

5. The film will be used to create educational videos primarily for the non-profit and also by K-12 students utilizing the footage. So quality will be important, but we don't need IMAX quality

Let me know if you need more info to make suggestions.

Thanks,

Brian

Welcome to wetpixel. I am new here also. It's a terrific place. I imagine it could be overwhelming if you're not very familiar with video or a lot of the terms.

From your description, you will be shooting HDV. I would suggest a Sony camera of some kind simply because of the LANC connection and simplicity.

The problem, as you are likely aware, is that you are under-budgeted.

I'd expect to pay about $2k-$2.5k for the lights.

I'd expect to pay about $2k for the housing.

And now, everything else needs to come from what is left.

Options might be:

Housing: http://marinevisions.com/stingray_hd.php

Lights: http://marinevisions.com/product.php?produ...at=0&page=1

Camera: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4754..._Camcorder.html

That would put you in the game without breaking the bank.

A few questions though. How are you going to download and edit the video? Do you have a computer and software already? How will you store the HD videos?

These are issues that some forget to address before purchasing.

If you want something budget what about:

Sony HC7 or Canon HV20 in an Ikelite housing

and chuck in some budget twin 50 W lights like this:

http://www.divelight.com/video.asp

They guy who makes them will make a fixing bracket for most housings too.

You might just scrape in price wise..

Or look at 2nd hand???

J

I'm sure you've done your reading and know that you'll need a software program for processing the footage you capture and a computer with adequate capability to run that software. Adequate capability will be different (meaning more speed, ram, storage etc.) for HD than you would need for SD. If you are limited on your budget, but can pick your dive days, you might find it better to put some of that grant money towards hardware and software and not buy lights. You can do a fair amount without lights, and if there is a place nearby that will rent lights to you thats an option for occasional use.

Thanks for the replies! I was thinking we were under-budgeted, but not much we can do about that. We will probably have to skimp on the lights and try to time dives during maximum sunlight.

We are planning on a laptop and software to edit the video. I actually know a fair amount about that, just nothing about underwater video equipment Well, almost nothing. We are looking to avoid 2nd hand if possible and we are still checking to see if the grant requires quotes for equipment.

Good idea on renting the lights, I will check with the local dive shops.

So is the Sony HC7 and Canon HV20 pretty much the best options for our budget?

Thanks for the suggestions and I welcome any more as well, with brand names and model numbers to look at it makes it easier to research these items.

Cheers,

Brian