Monitoring with Sony at DVinfo.net

Craig Coston · November 5th, 2009, 11:52 AM

I was wondering if anyone has rigged up any sort of monitoring for the Sony housing above. I have the housing and use it with a Sony HC7 camera with wide angle, and it's always a crapshoot trying to frame my shot, as I can't see the stupid little mirror assembly unless I'm down in the water with the camera. Given that I filming in very cold rivers, that is not an option.

I was thinking of using a combination of a wireless video transmitter/receiver:
Audiovox ACA300 Wireless 2.4GHz transmitter/receiver at Crutchfield.com

with some cheap video glasses:
View Category

I don't need high quality, just to see enough to frame the shot. Anyone have any simpler options before I go this route? I don't even know what the signal with the above setup will do when passing through water. I'm usually no more than a couple inches below the surface, so I assume it should still work.

Mike Sims · November 5th, 2009, 02:14 PM

Craig- If you are only shooting in a few inches, why not consider a low tech solution? Build a box periscope to see the LCD. I’ve shot underwater with one (with the camera above the surface) with surprisingly good results. It’s just a box with two mirrors at 45 degrees; it doesn’t need to be water tight. Just a thought.

Craig Coston · November 5th, 2009, 04:48 PM

Do you think I could build one that folds up? I usually have the underwater cam in a backpack and have to lug it around while covering sometimes miles of river while filming fly fishing. Something bulky wouldn't work well... also, I just added a Raynox 5050Pro wide angle to the camera, and it pushes about 1/3 of the LCD past the mirror, so I can only see 2/3 of the LCD anyway when looking straight into the mirror.

I am thinking that I need either a monitor that is very thin and can sit above the camera in the housing or to try the setup I listed, but I want to exhaust all options as far as thinking of a way to do this before actually proceeding and spending money.

Mike Sims · November 5th, 2009, 05:43 PM

Yeah, for that kind of use you’d have to build something pretty robust and unbreakable. Your solution is pretty low cost anyway. Let us know how it works out.

Sam Mendolia · November 6th, 2009, 10:39 AM

Hey Craig,

we had a similar situation, here at work, totally different circumstances.

One thing we tried is similar to what Mike has suggested.
One unit we tried belonged to a micrscope, but was built like the periscope, mentioned.

This unit is designed to get you farther away from the scope. You might find something used in a used medical supply shop, or Edmund Scientific.
It was small, but you could add sections to it, and still focus on the screen.
It was the diameter of about 2cm, for the optical hole, and 3cm, that mounted to the actual scope. the diameter of the tubes are about 3.5 cm.

The lengths of the tubes vary.
If you are handy, you might be able to fashion something out of PVC and some mirrors.

okay, know you've added to my list of gadgets to try and build.

We were testing out looking at an LCD screen, and the image was a few millimeters across, we got great looking results, but they came up with a much smaller version, but still based on the original idea.

Gotta love doctors who also are engineers, and will actually listen to the minions.

Craig Coston · November 6th, 2009, 01:37 PM

Sam,

I'm trying to envision what you are describing. Does the end result end up like an eyepiece/viewfinder? I need something that I can maintain peripheral vision as well, so I can follow the fish above water while glancing at the device that is created for framing purposes. It would be hard to reframe if looking just through a viewfinder device if the fish went out of frame... hard to find it again quickly.

November 5th, 2009, 11:52 AM	#1
Craig Coston Major Player Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bakersfield, CA Posts: 232	Monitoring with Sony I was wondering if anyone has rigged up any sort of monitoring for the Sony housing above. I have the housing and use it with a Sony HC7 camera with wide angle, and it's always a crapshoot trying to frame my shot, as I can't see the stupid little mirror assembly unless I'm down in the water with the camera. Given that I filming in very cold rivers, that is not an option. I was thinking of using a combination of a wireless video transmitter/receiver: Audiovox ACA300 Wireless 2.4GHz transmitter/receiver at Crutchfield.com with some cheap video glasses: View Category I don't need high quality, just to see enough to frame the shot. Anyone have any simpler options before I go this route? I don't even know what the signal with the above setup will do when passing through water. I'm usually no more than a couple inches below the surface, so I assume it should still work.

November 6th, 2009, 10:39 AM	#5
Sam Mendolia Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 217	Hey Craig, we had a similar situation, here at work, totally different circumstances. One thing we tried is similar to what Mike has suggested. One unit we tried belonged to a micrscope, but was built like the periscope, mentioned. This unit is designed to get you farther away from the scope. You might find something used in a used medical supply shop, or Edmund Scientific. It was small, but you could add sections to it, and still focus on the screen. It was the diameter of about 2cm, for the optical hole, and 3cm, that mounted to the actual scope. the diameter of the tubes are about 3.5 cm. The lengths of the tubes vary. If you are handy, you might be able to fashion something out of PVC and some mirrors. okay, know you've added to my list of gadgets to try and build. We were testing out looking at an LCD screen, and the image was a few millimeters across, we got great looking results, but they came up with a much smaller version, but still based on the original idea. Gotta love doctors who also are engineers, and will actually listen to the minions. __________________ I was told I have no vision, but boy do I see great!

November 5th, 2009, 02:14 PM	#2
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	Craig- If you are only shooting in a few inches, why not consider a low tech solution? Build a box periscope to see the LCD. I’ve shot underwater with one (with the camera above the surface) with surprisingly good results. It’s just a box with two mirrors at 45 degrees; it doesn’t need to be water tight. Just a thought.

November 5th, 2009, 04:48 PM	#3
Craig Coston Major Player Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bakersfield, CA Posts: 232	Do you think I could build one that folds up? I usually have the underwater cam in a backpack and have to lug it around while covering sometimes miles of river while filming fly fishing. Something bulky wouldn't work well... also, I just added a Raynox 5050Pro wide angle to the camera, and it pushes about 1/3 of the LCD past the mirror, so I can only see 2/3 of the LCD anyway when looking straight into the mirror. I am thinking that I need either a monitor that is very thin and can sit above the camera in the housing or to try the setup I listed, but I want to exhaust all options as far as thinking of a way to do this before actually proceeding and spending money.

November 5th, 2009, 05:43 PM	#4
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	Yeah, for that kind of use you’d have to build something pretty robust and unbreakable. Your solution is pretty low cost anyway. Let us know how it works out.

November 6th, 2009, 01:37 PM	#6
Craig Coston Major Player Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bakersfield, CA Posts: 232	Sam, I'm trying to envision what you are describing. Does the end result end up like an eyepiece/viewfinder? I need something that I can maintain peripheral vision as well, so I can follow the fish above water while glancing at the device that is created for framing purposes. It would be hard to reframe if looking just through a viewfinder device if the fish went out of frame... hard to find it again quickly.