Which Camcorder?

[cavefish]

Just so you know: My Epoque EHS-1000HD housing flooded after only seven dives, thereby totally ruining my Sanyo HD1000 camcorder. On a subsequent test dive the housing remained dry... Just bad luck or is Epoque's underwater housing prone to leaks? Your bet is as good as mine. But it sure looks like I'm not the only unlucky one judging from posts in other forums. FYI I've done hundreds of dives with a Sea&Sea DX8000G, so I'm not new to taking a digital camera underwater.

I've thought of two possible causes for the leak:
(1) An unseen impurity on the main O-ring? Even though I didn't see any before (obviously) nor after the fatal flood.
(2) An improper closure of the housing? All clamps were properly closed but the housing being made of plastic it could actually have been slightly bent out of shape... e.g. by a silica bag causing a pressure point somewhere?

Other points to be considered:
- Despite its relatively compact size, the Epoque EHS-1000HD is rather bulky and very uncomfortable to hold.
- Fitted with a WAL this housing becomes very front-heavy.
- Inside the housing, the HD1000's auto-focus becomes very noisy, rendering any underwater tone almost useless (unless you shoot in locked focus mode).
- Epoque's screw-on WAL is a pain to remove & replace underwater. Personally I much prefer e.g. Sea&Sea's quick & easy bayonet system, but alas that's not an option in this case. Still, I recommend using a WAL.

As for the actual video quality, I think it's quite acceptable for such a small camcorder. (sample video while cave diving)

YouTube - TillyTec HID35 & LED1000 (demo)

[The Publisher]

Sooner or later everyone I think everyone will have a flood in a housing with a single o-ring main seal.

My video rig has dual o-rings which gives me some peace of mind.

I had a small pocket digicam flood out.....had I been paying attention I could have surfaced in time as the case was clear. I cleaned it up, worked the next trip, and this time I bought a replacement digicam for it on E-bay that was only $80, something I am far more willing to part with.

Join the club!

Oh, nice video!

[dsziede]

I start with a housing I like and work backward to the camera. Current is a Sony PC120 in an Ikelite housing. Ikelites run USD 1000-1500. There web site will tell which models they support.

Ikelites are mechanical, so you can't swap cameras. The controls won't match up. That's why I keep using an out of date camcorder.

That said, try the housing. If it works for you, then get the camera.