Hydrophone on Aquatica T2i Housing

I just purchased an Aquatica T2i housing with a hydrophone and have been testing it in my pool because I am leaving in a week on a dolphin trip. I plan to shoot video with this system. I am disappointed with the audio quality that I am getting. Has anyone had good results with the hydrophone on the T2i Aquatica housing? Can you give me advice on what I may be doing wrong?

I also have a Light and Motion Bluefin housing with an HDV video camera. I have used this system for many years, and the Light and Motion hydrophone has given me great audio of whales and dolphins. I have been testing the Bluefin in the pool alongside my Aquatica for comparison and the Bluefin is picking up a full range of sounds that the Aquatica hydrophone is not picking up. In fact, it seems like the Aquatica is mainly picking up the sound that can easily travel through the housing as well as the sounds inside the housing. With the Aquatica hydrophone, camera operation noises are loud and clear in the audio. It was performing so badly that I unplugged the hydrophone and tested the audio with just the camera microphone inside the housing, and that actually picked up a better range of underwater sounds than the hydrophone. I have checked to make sure that the plug for the hydrophone is plugged in tightly to the proper terminal on the T2i. My T2i only has two settings for sound.."on and off." I have it set to "on." I have also tested my T2i outside of the housing with an external microphone to make sure that the audio terminal is working properly and it is. It just does not seem logical that the hydrophone is performing so badly. The Aquatica hydrophone also does not pick up sound through air. (I think I read someplace that this is to be expected with this hydrophone.) The Bluefin hydrophone/microphone does pick up sound through air.

So I would like to figure out if a I have a defective hydrophone or if there is some other problem.

Should I install Magic Lantern on my T2i and play with the audio settings? Has anyone tried this for underwater audio?

I've tried Magic Lantern on the 5D2 and it was sorta useless underwater. The fact that the battery had to be removed was the main concern.

Now u have tested ur cam, haVe to tested the mic? Plug it into portable recording devicesl ike laptop and see if the signal is bad. If it's working then it's probably the agc shutting down the sensitivity because of the mic.

I think you are right about the agc shutting down the sensitivity because of the mic. I have now done more tests and have decided that I will not be using the hydrophone at all. I am picking up pretty good sound through the housing with the microphone that is built in to the T2i camera. The Aquatica microphone does not work at all in air. Underwater, it records limited frequencies of sound on one channel and hiss on the other channel, whereas the built in mic on the T2i (with no hydrophone plugged in) picks up a wide range of sounds and records to both channels of audio, even though it is mono.

I do have to say though, that I am getting great quality video from this Aquatica T2i system. The housing is very nicely designed, and is nice and compact in size. I am using a Tokina 10-17 lens behind a 6 inch port. Images are crystal clear and the depth of field is fantastic. This housing comes standard without the hydrophone. I added that on as an extra because I have had such great results with hydrophones in the past. Aquatica's other housings come standard with a hydrophone, which makes me wonder if they know that the hydrohpone does not work well with the T2i. I wish I had know this before adding the hydrophone to my order.

I still would appreciate input that anyone has. I would love to find a way to make the hydrophone work on this system.

Well the obvious question is whether you've checked with Aquatica? I doubt a mic would record hiss on one channel as a normal function. It could well be your mic is just not working. Send a sample audio file to Aquatica and see what they say. If you can't test the mic with another device then it's sorta difficult to trouble shoot.

I have e-mailed Aquatica but have not heard back. I will try to call them this week. As I said before, I am very pleased with all aspects of the housing except for the hydrophone.

Catalina, its a long weekend in Canada, we will be back to work on Tuesday, send me a PM at Jean@aquatica.ca and I will check with the service people as to what might cause this.

Thanks Jean! As I said, the housing is great and I am excited about using it on my trip next week. My only snag is the the hydrophone, so I am hoping you can help me troubleshoot.