I suspect you first need to decide if you want a HDV tape based camera, or a non-tape camera. There are many pros and cons for either choice, and perhaps reading some of the prior threads may help you decide. My personal choice was for a mini HDV tape based camera, as I am from the old school and like having tapes as a "backup", and i liked the maturity of the medium and the maturity of several supporting editing systems out there.
After making that decision, then you have to find a housing being made for your tape based or non tape type of camera. Try looking at Ikelike, Light and Motion, Amphibico, Gates websites to help you narrow it down further as to which camera to select. Like I mentioned prior, you dont want to buy the camera, then to discover that no housing is made for it. In general, there are the more "high tech" housings, the ones that have infrared systems, batteries, electronics, LED rear screens, and fancy controls and all that that many people are pleased with. Dont get me wrong, some people really like all this stuff. Personally, for me, I'm again old school "keep it simple" guy and hard headed and a tinkerer and I wanted an all mechanical housing with no electronics, so that I could perform any field maintenance now or several years down the line. (I'm the type of guy that rebuilds my own regulators (yes BTW I am factory certified) rebuild my old still camera housings, etc.)
I also learned from the threads here that having access to White Balance control is very useful.. that also led to narrowing down my choice of camera housing combos. Not all cameras support manual WB setting. Nor do housings.
For me.. all of this lead me to choose the Gates line of housings. I'm not saying that my choice is the best, but for my personal likes and desires, for me I ended up with a Sony mini HDV tape based HCR HC7 videocamera and a Gates HC7 housing.
Then there was a decision to make about which quality grade of ports/optics.. once again, in this area you "get what you pay for". Plastic vs Coated Glass, or wider, all drive prices. I couldnt in my mind justify paying $2500 for a dome / port when the camera is only worth $1000... so I went mid range in cost here.
And then there are lights. Same thing there, you get what you pay for. Brighter =more cost. HID is a mature system, but many folks today are excited by the new LED lights. However with any new technology, early adopters typically pay a price premium.
I also wanted a system that I could completly "carry on" and not put into airline checked luggage. I'll save the chcked baggage for items I can "rent" or easily purchase if lost, like diving gear and clothes.
I suppose driving all of this is the budget and is an important aspect. The wife wasnt going to let me get away with a nicer 3 chip broadcast quality videocamera.. I am not a "pro", but then again I wanted enough quality and access to controls to produce decent results for friends and family.
In the end, this year I was able to put together the HC7 camera, Gates HC7 housing, Fathom Glass WP25 port, Sunray 1000 LED lights, carrying case, extra redundant chargers, extra light batteries, a flat port, acromatic diopter for macro work, and a few other odds n ends and my total budget was around $7,000 USD give or take. All fits in one single most all airlines carry on approved Think Tank brand Airporter International rolling carry on bag. (just barely). I had already purchased the camera a year ago, however there is now a HC9 replaciing the HC7. Its essentially the same basic camera, with very few minor changes, but the biggest attraction to the HC9 is its black exterior. Most think that is minimal but in reality for underwater use is nice. You'll find that a black camera behind a dome port causes fewer lens barrel reflection problems. (also discussed in some of the prior threads here.) So if I were buying a camera today, I'd be getting the HC9.
Now I'm dealing with upgrading my video editing, and DVD authoring software. LOL. Another fun topic to learn about...
