Just joined from the UK

Have just joined up because I love diving and have been taking underwater photos (small Nikon with housing) and would like to move on to video.
Have just got back from a short dive break in Redang, Malaysia. The diving was good fun, but unfortunately the visibility was poor, twice soupish!
Usually dive in Cayman Islands/Bonaire/Grenada, but loved the new fish in the South China Sea. Have dived in Maldives and Mauritius in the past, but not for a decade or so.
If anyone has advice on (low-budget) underwater cameras/video cameras and underwater housings, it would be gratefully received.
Many thanks!

Best low budget is something used off E-bay.

Welcome to the SMN Community!

Thanks for the welcome and I'll check ebay!

Welcome Jenjan,

I'm new here also. I do all my camera shopping on ebay

Joe

Some of these digital point and shoot cameras take amazing videos for what they are being shot with. My Kodak EasyShare V 1253 takes surprisingly decent on land videos......Canon has lots of economical housings for their digital point and shoot cameras. I wonder how well their pocket digi-cameras shoot video.

I think you might be talking about some of the Bonica underwater cameras and video cameras. I don't know much about their cameras, but I have looked into their video cameras. They are really inexpensive vs other options out there, and the products look to be made well. The downside, is that the video resolution is similar to youtube video. So if you are just looking to upload video to share, then it might be the perfect option.

I have also seen many divers make their own housings using PVC pipe and other materials bought at the hardware store. There are plenty of how to web pages on making these. It is going to cost you about $100 to make it, and there will be no controls (basically you will have to press record and adjust your zoom before you seal the housing), but for the cost that may not be a problem. You can use just about any old video camera you have around. You can find some cheap refurb video cameras for about $100 on ebay, so for $200 you have some decent quality U/W video.

The next step up looks to be about $1500 for an ikelite housing that comes with a JVC video camera.

So you have the $200 option, the $700 option and the $1500 option. Of course you can spend more, A LOT MORE if you want.

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Originally Posted by jenjan

Thanks for the welcome and I'll check ebay!

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Be careful on ebay, a lot of the housings for sale are for outdated cameras. The other issue is many of them are no longer in condition to be used for diving. I found this out first hand with an ikelite housing I bought off ebay. The metal the housing was made of started to oxidize slightly, but just enough that water was able to pass through the o-ring. Parts for older models are very difficult to get if you can get them at all. AND many of the companies that made housings are no longer in business, so NO parts on them. There are some great deals to be had on ebay, but just be careful, don't buy someones garbage.

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Originally Posted by acelockco

Be careful on ebay, a lot of the housings for sale are for outdated cameras. The other issue is many of them are no longer in condition to be used for diving...... There are some great deals to be had on ebay, but just be careful, don't buy someones garbage.

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Thanks for the advice - I'll be careful. My brother bought a housing for his Canon off ebay for $100 - it was brand new with guarantee, just that his camera is an older model. He was pretty chuffed.

Hi Jenjan, welcome to our little space on the web.

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Originally Posted by lottie

Hi Jenjan, welcome to our little space on the web.

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Thanks for the welcome Lottie. Are you based at Anse Chastenet? If so, lucky you - I'm now a rather unattractive shade of green! It's on my list to visit, but unfortunately can't get away at the moment during the cooler winter months due to work commitments. My travel agent also said the hotel is rather run down and is in need of a workover, so we've delayed our visit yet again. One day we'll make it!