New HDV Consumer vs. Used Prosumer 3CCD

Hello all. I'm a working videographer and instructor in the Red Sea. Mostly I am recording videos of DSD's and Intro Scuba dives but spend all of my spare time putting together natural history docs for an eventual web project I'm working on. I've been using a great set-up consisting of a Canon HV30, Ikelite housing, Fathom WP-80 glass, Sunray 2000 lights and a lot of custom built flotation foam that makes the whole set-up the size of a Phenom (and perfectly balanced too)! I've learned to make it work for me but there are monitoring issues with the Ike housing that make fast action and certain angles very difficult to accomplish. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the way underwater shots look on consumer HDV cams. The colors always have a sort of washed out look...

For around $8,000 I can get myself into a Blufin Pro housing with an XR/CX 500 (consumer cam) and Fathom 110 glass and be able to control my Sunray 2000's from the handles in a very compact, travel-friendly set up... OR, I could focus on looking into some of the used 3CCD set-ups that have been popping up lately. For the same price or significantly less there are Blufin/Z1U's, Phenom/FX1's, ect.. with all the bell's and whistles.

My priorities are professional looking colors and sharpness, smooth/steady shots and great monitoring capabilities. My main output will be to the web. Will I notice a big difference if using an older "Pro" system over a newer "Consumer" system? How are these older cameras/housings likely to hold up? And at how many hours would you not consider buying one? Since I live in third world areas 10 months of the year I cannot easily fix things. Will an FX1 with Amphibico wide glass look significantly better than an XR500 with Fathom 110? Will I get those deep blues I'm hoping for? Travel size and weight is not necessarily a major concern.

I'm off to Sudan in the morning so I won't be able to reply for a few days but thanks in advance for any opinions you may have!!

I'm probably not experienced enough to give a useful of a response,

I started out with a Sony VX1000 3CCD with amphibico housing..... Over the years I have used a few small cams like the sony HC7 in small housings.

I've just upgraded to a sony V1P and I'm waiting on my equinox housing to arrive from the states. I'm of the mind set that it's better to have a great Camera in a good housing, than a good camera in a great housing. Depends also on how much filming you want to do above water.

I like the control you get over a semi pro camera especially out of the water, yet they also have reasonably good auto settings.

Also depends on how much you are going to travel, the size of a Z1 / V1 / Canon XHA1 a fair bit bigger than a consumer cam. I still reckon the picture will be better from a 3 chip cam especially in low light.

People do get caught up having the latest and greatest but I have sold HDV footage to networks and they are stoked with the quality as long as it is shot well. In fact my last client was convinced that I had shot some footage with a Sony Ex1 not a Canon XHA1 (due to supplying it in ProRes). Also most of client work is supplying projects either as SD DVD or for web and HD Web where again a 3 chip HDV setup will be fine.

just my 2c worth.

Jon

Yeah, I'm not too worried about travel size because I'm based in Egypt right now and in my experience 3rd-world airports have never bothered to check how much luggage we have. I went down to Sudan last week and despite Sudan Airways claim on their site of 20k check-in/5k carry-on, I watched people check in twice that without hassle and I carried on my monster camera bag (33k!). If I was traveling to/from the states, it would be a different story.

After some more research I have gotten my heart set on a Panasonic HVX200/ Gates set-up. Everything I've seen from that camera underwater is exactly what I'm looking for. Now I just have to wait for some used units to pop up in my price range while I continue shooting HDV with my HV30. If I had been paying attention, there was a perfect set-up in that range that sold a few months ago... Thanks for your advice guys!

Sounds like a great idea, I would give some of the companies that rent a call and see what they have, I know Joe Holley from Marine Visions and also Mike from H20 Pro's have a decent rental / second hand market... maybe also Pete Mooney from Scubpix... I'm sure some of them will chime in if they have something. Advantage of getting it from a dealer is that it will be in decent and trusted condition as opposed to a independent seller.

PM sent.

PM sent.

There we go, I knew one of you guys would get in quick