Recommended housing for Sony HDR-CX550

Does anyone have experience with the Aquatica HD Wave housing and Sony HDR-CX550 camcorder? I am considering buying one but can not find much user experiences with this setup. One thing I like is that you can use the excellent LCD screen on the CX550 when diving. I am also considering Amphibico Dive Buddy and L&M Stingray Plus. Any hint and tips will be appreciated.

Thanks

Does anyone have experience with the Aquatica HD Wave housing and Sony HDR-CX550 camcorder? I am considering buying one but can not find much user experiences with this setup. One thing I like is that you can use the excellent LCD screen on the CX550 when diving. I am also considering Amphibico Dive Buddy and L&M Stingray Plus. Any hint and tips will be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Personally, I find that using the camcorders flip-out monitor on the side of the camcorder underwater is too awkward. Kind of puts you in a strange eye / camera / subject alignment. Works OK for macro but gets awkward for larger topics. A monitor in line with the lens is more intuitive.

I'm a big fan of L&M (3 housings in 7 years as the camcorders have evolved).

Regards

Peter

I have a HDR-CX550V and Stingray: great combo! I considered the Aquatica too (cheaper), but then I had second thought, not like Sir Peter because of the display (which might be an issue, I dunno, but considering that this is what the Gates housing is using too, it's probably fine once you are used to it - I used a similar configuration in my previous housing), but because of the controls. This multitude of buttons on the screen are not naturally positioned for access while diving (I only tried them on the surface though). The L&M handles work on the other hand like a charm and after a while you don't need to check which button you are pressing...

Of course, once you have the housing, you need to consider the optics. The WA 90 (which I have, like Sir Peter), is great but expensive. The Aquatica comes with a WA lens, which is a plus...

My 2 cts,

X.

Does anyone have experience with the Aquatica HD Wave housing and Sony HDR-CX550 camcorder? I am considering buying one but can not find much user experiences with this setup. One thing I like is that you can use the excellent LCD screen on the CX550 when diving. I am also considering Amphibico Dive Buddy and L&M Stingray Plus. Any hint and tips will be appreciated.

 

Thanks

I am new to underwater videography and already own the HDR CX550 and the housing I am considering is Amphibico Underwater Video Housing - Dive Buddy EVO HD Elite II Series for around 1500.

I am only a snorkeler so I am looking for a small case and electronic controls that balance well underwater and the price is in my price range.

Has anyone used this housing and can comment??

I have an XR550 in an Aquatica wave housing and I am thrilled with it. I find it easy to use the LCD screen is not an issue certainly better than the Ikelite mirror idea. The one touch white balance is a godsend and I have yet to find a function that I can't access underwater. The housing handles are adjustable this makes all controls on the LCD screen just a reach of the thumb away. I have also puchased the screen hood which makes viewing you LCD screen much easier in shallow water They come standard with a wide angle lense so no expensive add ons. I have coupled mine with a pair of Light and Motion Sunray 2000x lights, making it a very neat little package. This is my fourth video housing all from different manufacturers and I have found a steep learning curve with every one of them. It all boils down to researching and choosing the housing that best suits your needs.

Happy hunting

Rob

What about Manual exposure?

I think it is an issue to bear in mind when you are comparing housings.

Does Gates or Amphibico housings have manual exposure control?. I haven't been able to find out this specification searching in their websites.

The Aquatica comes with a WA lens, which is a plus...

My 2 cts,

X.

What kind of glass is their WA lens? Does it equal to the quality of the Fathoms lens?

Steve

What kind of glass is their WA lens? Does it equal to the quality of the Fathoms lens?

Steve

I actually don't know. I never tried it and just had the word of one of the Aquatica representative at the Long Beach Scuba show that it was a full zoom through and distortion-free lens. But they had no video to show, so I don't know what this claim is worth...

Here is a link to some video clips shot on the Aquatica HD-Wave,

http://www.youtube.com/user/petsinag#p/u/15/wx7YveHKdqQ

Video-Joe

Aquatica Team

Does anyone know this one?: http://patima.nayana.kr/xe/2912

Does anyone know that one? http://www.aditech-uw.com/en/uw-still-digi...hs-xl-sony.html

Does anyone have experience with the Aquatica HD Wave housing and Sony HDR-CX550 camcorder? I am considering buying one but can not find much user experiences with this setup. One thing I like is that you can use the excellent LCD screen on the CX550 when diving.

I have owned the new Aquatica HD Wave housing for almost 6 months now. I am using the housing with a Sony MC50E camera that is a "pro" version of the 550. I have used the camera/housing on about 40 dives sofar. You can view some of my videos on http://vimeo.com/r4e

Mainly I am quite pleased with the housing. It has a nice rugged feel. The grips are excellent and adjustable. I like the wide angle lense and its protective soft cap. For a metallic housing, it is relatively low weight. With air travel I really appreciate this. The housing is (relatively) small enough to hang from a D-ring. The housing comes with a useful red filter which has turned out quite useful. However, I would need an additional filter for our greenish water as well.

Something I particularly like is the LCD screen on the side. The big benefit is that this is pointed slightly upwards. This is extremely convenient whilst diving in (proper) horizontal trim. I do not need to bend my neck 90 degrees to see forward (and thru the viewfinder of a camera/housing of different construction). It is easy to take shots very close to sea bottom/flora with this LCD view finder. Also, I do not hesitate pointing the camera slightly upwards for the some of the shots. These are great benefits of the tilted LCD screen. I purchased a sun shade for the screen, but, finally did not install it because I would loose some of the maneuvaribility.

The housing is slightly negative. But on its own it will not settle flatly on the seabottom. The rear will rise up.

I have to somewhat criticize the following features:

- For some reason the manual control has a very tight tolerance. Consequently the manual adjustment might not work at all and I need to reposition the camera again (and again) in the housing before it touches sufficiently the small metallic manual adjustment knob of the camera. I guess this could be adjusted, but, I do not have the right tool. Due to the unpredictability of this adjustment I have continued to use autofocus. The autofocus of the camera is fast and under most lighting conditions is ok, but, it easily goes focus hunting in the dark.

- The lever that activates the manual adjustment (by depressing the center button of the adjustment knob) has also a very tight tolerance. This wasn't a problem at shallower dives, but, with deeper ones, the housing compresses a bit more against the O ring and consequently the button could be activated by slightest movement or get stuck even permanently. I solved this problem by shaving a bit off of the mechanical rubber finger, and, thereafter this has not caused a problem.

- The housing consist of two halves that are held together with two latches that a have security locking system. Whilst testing this on land, I learned that the security mechanism of one of the latches could be released by an inadvertent pull on the latch (e.g. getting caught in a line or something) and the latch would spring open. In order to avoid this possibility I learned to secure = cover both latches with duct tape. Apart from the comments I receive from buddies, this works now perfectly.

- The housing covers most, but, not all of the camera functions. I miss the camera top button "Photo" which would allow taking a photo whilst recording video. I would also like to have a single button for WB. Now this requires five clicks (click "anywhere" on the screen to activate other choices, select menu, select WB, select WB setting, select OK). This is more a feature of the camera, but, with a suitable electronic control (instead of mechanical ones), I guess this could be one-button.

- The power button protrudes on a corner of the housing. Consequently on longer boat trips there have been cases where the power switch has rolled on and drained the battery before the second dive of the day.

Something that I have not tried yet underwater is the low light setting of the camera. But, that too has to be searched from the menu.

All in all, I would grade the housing as good/very good. A single-button WB would raise the grade.

- The lever that activates the manual adjustment...

Perhaps I should add, that the availability of the manual adjustments via the housing is a definite plus. So despite the initial trouble, I am looking forward to make more use of this feature. The manual controls allow you to adjust Focus (from 0,2m upwards but I am not sure if this is to scale underwater), Exposure, Iris (1.8-9.6), Shutter Speed (-4...+4 whatever that means), AE Shift (-4...+4), WB Shift and Reset manual settings. The latter is quite important because the camera seems to remember the settings despite powering off/on. However, if you plan to use the manual settings as a combination, you have to be quite careful of clicking the controls in the right sequence.

Some of the deciding factors in purchasing this housing were (and still are):

- Wide angle included as standard. The 90 degree FOV is very convenient.

- Reasonable weight and housing fitted exactly to camera (vs generic tube type housings)

- Support for a reasonably priced but relatively sensitive prosumer camera

- Almost comprehensive support of camera features via housing controls

- Support for the manual controls of the camera. This I did not find on other housings.

One of the most difficult questions in selecting the video housing was pondering mechanic vs electronic control. I appreciate the possibility of having large electronic controls available to your thumb. There are many housings that fulfill this well. The Aquatica housing is almost as good as this by having the record and zoom in/out buttons within reach of your left thumb. Something what I initially would have liked would have been the smooth zoom button of the camera itself allowing very slow zooms. In practise, I have not missed this feature as you can perform the same swimming and consequently I almost always keep the zoom at fully wide angle. Now I perform my zoomout with back kicks - which is quite identifiable on video;-)

I'd love to hear from some folk who are using the Amphibico housings. Rick Allen of Nautilus Productions has been using them for years and loves them and I greatly respect his opinions but would love to hear from others.

Steve

I'd love to hear from some folk who are using the Amphibico housings. Rick Allen of Nautilus Productions has been using them for years and loves them and I greatly respect his opinions but would love to hear from others.

Steve

Me too Steve.

I have been looking at the Amphibico Dive Buddy EVO Elite II for my Sony HDR-CX550 but there are no reviews that I have been able to find.

I need to upgrade to a better housing before I leave for Belize in early June, I currently use the Sony housing that is rated only to 17 feet since I

only snorkel but the husband will be diving so we need a better rated housing.

Maybe someone will chime in with some info.