Sales

Shortly after returning from Mexico I sold my CamOne infinity & accessories at a fair price via Taucher.net. While satisfied with the underwater footage I got out of it in the darkness of the caves, the image quality of sunny above land takes wasn't quite good enough for me to want to keep it for any experimental action shoots.

A month later I let go of my Dive Rite reels and a Beaver lift-bag. Figuring I could use a finger spool as safety, rent a primary reel whenever needed and having no use for the salvage bag.

This month I also sold off my precious TillyTec LED 2000 VIDEO, TillyTec LED 1000 and three Scubapro regulator sets, based upon the improbability of a dedicated dive trip in my near future.

thin air - Sonthofen

Tulum - thin air

CamOne focus adjustment -vs- DiveBox lens replacement

[1] CamOne focus adjustment

By rotating the CamOne's optics about a quarter turn counter-clockwise it's possible to shoot underwater with the original DiveBox.

⊕ all modes can be used, e.g. 127° 1080p, 170° 720p & 4:3 photo

⊕ best possible IQ, if you find out the optimal focus adjustment

⊕ no extra costs

⊗ either sharp above or below water, i.e. mixed footage is not possible without changing the camera's focus

⊗ changing the focus requires fiddling with two tiny screws, which is rather impractical on the go, meaning one has to decide beforehand what shots are wanted

[2] DiveBox lens replacement

Though not yet available for purchase at the time of writing, I assume aquapixs will eventually commercially produce flat lenses to replace the CamOne infinity DiveBox's domed lens, if demand is there. The two flat lenses I got were prototypes to be tried at my own risk. I chose to buy a second DiveBox for this DIY modification.

⊕ both above and below water filming is possible in Full HD

⊕ no need to change the CamOne's factory set focus

⊗ only useable for 127° 1080p video, due to heavy vignetting in 170° 720p and photo modes

⊗ putting a wide angle behind a flat lens causes corner softness

⊗ somewhat narrower FOV due to refraction

⊗ replacing the DiveBox's lens implies modifying it, which should not be done too often, as the metal screws holding the lens in place would eventually wear out the threads of the plastic housing, and of course this solution requires at least one check dive to verify waterproofness, but that should be standard procedure anyways

⊗ additional costs for the flat lens and optionally a second DiveBox

Sun, sea, sand

One more time

For my last dive I wished for the moon. So naturally that's where we went, Richie leading me of course to its dark side, jumping right off the cavern line, then left, then right at the first T, turning around after 54' at a second T. Truly an amazing cave, with magnificent classical formations, low ceilinged passages, otherworldly strangely colored decorations, eroded tunnels and even a couple of old bones.

The diver behind the camera

Speleological video dive in Kalimba, challenging one's buoyancy skills, sinus equalization, body positioning and camera handling technique.

Tulum ruinas

I got there early enough to still have the place mostly for myself, not counting the many sunbathing iguanas. Entrance fee: 57 Pesos.

Nai Tucha

Nai Tucha is Maya for Monkey House. This cenote is several kilometers deep into the jungle and is the main entrance of sistema Tux Kupaxa.


Another fabulous underground system, full of splendid decorations. We went right at the T until a domed cenote with two small holes letting in some sunlight, roots reaching down from the ceiling into the water of life, lots of catfish and a few nesting bats. Great dive!

Temple of Doom

Splash in, through the Madonna passage, past the Fang and back after having used up a third of my nitrox. The best part here for me being the return to the dome area and the sun's streaming light rays.

Dark Side of the Moon

Getting there doesn't take quite as long as one might imagine. Even though you can't really rush it on the bump-it-up jungle track to Pet Cemetery, a well maintained cenote in the middle of nowhere.

Diving to the Dark Side of the Moon and back is over 100' of wonderful enjoyment from start to finish. Definitely one of the top dives around here, again perfectly led by Jeff, together with Gosia. Happy diver :o)


I only uploaded one special sequence, through a beautifully decorated passage, in Full HD, straight out of the camera (uncut, no editing).

For the first time I actually used up my CamOne's sugar-sized battery, shooting 50 clips. I never switch off the camera during a dive, but do have the LCD turn off automatically after 2 minutes, to save energy. Personally, I find the small LCD critical to compose & monitor shots.

A gulp of fresh air in between dives

Heaven's Gate

Heaven's Gate (shown in frame grab), petrified waterfalls, a gaping mouth, a fence of columns, ... are but a few of the many wonderful formations to be seen in Nohoch Nah Chich along the main line.

Fragile beauty

Fantastic shallow cave dive in Dos Pisos led by Jeff. He brought me to the south entrance, just a short walk down from the gearing up place, as opposed to the north entrance, which I dived in 2008 after a rather hot 21' hike through the jungle.


The knee-deep entry pool just continues below the cavern's apparent wall, remaining very low ceilinged underwater for quite a while before opening up somewhat. The special beauty here are the fragile stalactite forests drooping down and the many stalagmites growing up from the silty bottom. For 50' we carefully hovered through these otherworldly marvels of stone, before reaching the end of our jump section and turning around for another look on the way out.

A dark place

Having dried inside-out overnight, I was about to turn my wetsuit right again this morning when my eyes detected some movement in the suit. As I carefully checked, out came some weird but innocent looking insect. Too small. Still suspicious, I slowly bent some more neoprene, thereby revealing the actual alert tripping culprit: a small scorpion (2cm not counting its bent up tail). Welcome to Mexico!

Pickup truck fully loaded with three sets of gear & doubles, Richie, Gosia & I agreed to pay Jailhouse a visit, Richie absolutely wanting to show us the Swiss Syphon, despite my stated reluctance for dark places. I never felt at ease in Sistema Naranjal and suppose I never will, its stained walls absorb all light and extrude a somber mood.


With three Ts, a jump and another T it's a rather complex left-right-right-left-right path line to get to the sub-halocline Swiss Syphon, but the salt water passages there are quite something to behold indeed.

On the way back from the cenote, Richie spotted Gunni sitting in a roadside café, so of course I jumped out of the truck to greet my former boss of Aktun Dive Center, now fully into kite board surfing.

CamOne+aquapixs in Chan Hol

Great 90' cave dive in Chan Hol led by Jeff, who carried an extra video light for your visual pleasure. Chan Hol has some really cool tunnels, the perfect place for a staged lighting configuration.

Today I actually trusted my CamOne into my self modified DiveBox, i.e. the one with a flat lens prototype in stead of the original dome lens. This flat lens prototype was kindly sent to me for trial at my own risk by aquapixs, the German company that also makes the GoForFocus flat lens replacement for the popular GoPro. Whether they'll commercially produce flat lenses for the CamOne I don't know?

The two main advantages of this solution are that you don't need to change the CamOne's factory set focus and you can shoot both above and below water in Full HD. More about pros & cons in another post.


For the record: Importing & converting the 25 Full HD clips at only a 1/4 of their original resolution into iMovie 08 took 1h, for about 3.3 GB of raw material I collected this morning. Followed by about 90' of editing. Exporting the quickly cut together 2'48" selection of passages at 960x540 only required 6'. Uploading to & processing by YouTube demanded another 39' of patience for this 82.5 MB teaser.

[ 19.12.2018 ] new 1080p video uploaded to Youtube

Cave crawling

After three long days of room rest, another cave dive at last. Not just in any cenote, this time we went to my favorite: Kalimba. Upon entering & exiting the dry cavern to check the entrance pool I got tapped upon the shoulder by two bats, which I took for a good omen.

With me again to record the action: my tiny CamOne infinity in its original DiveBox, its optics now turned about 95° counter-clockwise for a small lets-try-it change, but I don't think its better than 90°?


The CamOne infinity, snuggly fitted in its DiveBox, was mounted on a Sea&Sea tray together with two TillyTec LED 2000 VIDEO lights.

Richie led for 50' into darkness, going left at the T, before I gave the turn-around sign with still more than 2/3 left of my nitrox mix, and headed back towards daylight. This shallow cave section, part of Sistema Sac Actun, gets tight here and there, requiring some finger crawling and precise maneuvering to get one's body & tanks positioned as required to fit through the various restrictions. Cozy indeed. I like!

Santa Fe

CamOne in Aktun Ha and Dos Ojos

Joined a cavern tour today to try out my CamOne below water, using the original DiveBox with domed lens, meaning I had to manually re-adjust the camera's focus by rotating its optical element, about 90° counter-clockwise, so as to get relatively sharp underwater footage.

Note that with this solution you can't have it both ways, it's either sharp above or below. Evaluating the Full HD clips I'd say I haven't quite hit the optimum setting yet, but it's hard to tell due to grain.

Playa Maya

Third beach session in a week's time, that's a personal record! Only to experiment with my CamOne's time-lapse mode of course. I wouldn't want to get a tan, I'm here as a daylight shunning cave diver after all.

Cuzan Nah

Private 99' cave dive in Sac Aktun lead by Richie, Robbie's jr. brother, whom we also met there with two swedish cave divers. We almost closed the beautifully decorated Cuzan Nah loop, but I had to call the dive shortly before. Coming out with more than 100 bar at the end.

Room of Tears

Upon arrival at Aktun Ha, a.k.a. Carwash, we're greeted in watchful silence by a small (<1m) but apparently well fed lagarto, enjoying a warmup sunbath by the cenote's edge.


After taking our time to gear up, Richi and I step straight into the cenote's refreshing 24°C water, perform a mutual equipment check, slowly descent to about 4m for some safety drills, then head for the cavern's entrance, where RIchi starts laying a continuous line towards the cave's permanent main line. About 20' later we pass Luke's Hope, another small cenote, now completely cleared from overhanging vegetation, thus letting in a lot more daylight than before. Then off we jump into a small hole and through a narrow tunnel in order to reach the Room of Tears, still as wonderful as ever. Having almost used 1/3 of my nitrox mix, I give the turn around signal after 37'.


Back in the cenote's entrance pool I tried to find the small alligator but couldn't see it. Maybe later? The good news is that my modified DiveBox remained dry this time, after having replaced the first flat lens prototype with the second one I got. So there's still hope indeed.

Tulum playa

After breakfast and a copious amount of sun lotion I grabbed myself one of Villa Matisse's Beach Cruisers and headed for la playa, even against a moderate wind an easy 25' ride, now that there's a nicely paved bicycle path all the way to the T-junction, where I turned left, following the road till a public beach section, used by local fishermen as anchoring site for their lanchas.

Having nothing to do I tried to shoot a time-lapse with my CamOne infinity securely wrapped around a washed up tree log using a small Gorillapod, thereby forcing me to stay at least half an hour in the blazing sun. Most of it turned unusable though due to fogging up of the housing's domed lens…

Temperature quickly rising and there being no free shade in sight, I soon saddled up again, biking back to el pueblo in only 20', now aided all the way by the refreshing sea breeze.


It's actually possible to go by foot, but only if you're crazy like a loco. By taxi, the official tourist price is 50 Pesos one way, i.e. about 3€.

Solo check dive in Aktun Ha

Went to Xibalba this morning to set up my gear. To my dismay my backup second stage, a Scubapro S550, is not functioning, despite having been serviced recently by Gerda's Dive Shop. Had to swap it with my R190, brought for stage diving. So much so for german Gründlichkeit. As you can imagine, I'm quite disappointed :o/

After lunch a taxi drove me to Aktun Ha, where to my surprise I got greeted by Miguel surfacing from a photo dive as I was about to splash in. Miguel was my cave guide four years ago. Small world indeed :o)

Friendly surface chat over, I took my time slowly diving around the shallow open water area, still clear of algae, just getting used to being underwater again with plenty of gear all over, before lining my way into the cavern zone to check my lights and also drop a little deeper to pressure check my two DiveBoxes. The original remained dry down to 18m, but the modified housing alas leaked, from the looks of it, through the hand-glued prototype lens :o(

At 4pm my driver picked me up again and brought me back to the dive center for 180 Pesos return, i.e. only 100 more than for mexicans.

DIY lens replacement

Replacing my secondary DiveBox's standard dome lens with a flat lens prototype took 25', carefully following the german manufacturer's step-by-step instructions. Now I just need to test my modified box's waterproofness, before trying it out with a camera inside.


Using a DiveBox with flat lens should allow me to shoot in Full HD (i.e. with a FOV of 127°) both above and below water, without needing to manually re-focus my CamOne infinity for each medium, as would be required with the original dome lens.

Note that this flat lens solution causes heavy vignetting in all photo modes (3|5|8MP) and in 170° videos (480p & 720p), at least in air!

---

UPDATE: My modified DiveBox failed its first test, from the looks of it the prototype lens leaked :o( The original remained dry down to 18m.

UPDATE: Yesterday I replaced the first flat lens prototype with the second one I got in about 15'. And today I'm happy to write that this one passed its first 70' submersion down to 18m.

Room #5

Sonthofen - Tulum

Door to door a 20h journey, leaving home around 7:40 to catch the 8 o'clock train (25€) to Munich's airport, arriving there three hours later as planned. Check-in, passport-control & security-check. Slightly delayed take-off and landing about 12h later, a little after 6pm local time in Cancun, after a rather long flight w/o personal entertainment system. Immigration stamp, luggage pick-up & customs control. Uneventful shared shuttle transfer (60$) to Tulum in about two hours.

51kg packed to roll

Last day delivery

Twelve days ago I unexpectedly received two flat lens prototypes for trial, upon which I immediately ordered a second DiveBox (30€) for my CamOne infinity directly from ACME, these not being readily available yet in online shops. Today, less than 24h before departure, DPD delivered the box at last, together with a spare battery (25€).

Bathtub trials

Just as GoPro's standard housing, CamOne's DiveBox suffers from blurry vision when used underwater. Unlike GoPro's HD HERO, it's supposedly possible to manually adjust the CamOne infinity's focus to get sharp underwater images using the original domed housing.

As there's nothing like trying it out one-self, I filled up the bathtub, pre-checked my DiveBox's waterproofness, put in the CamOne and gave both their first plunge together. For the record: with standard housing & factory-set focus, underwater footage is uselessly blurry indeed (screenshot from 1080p clip below to see for yourself).


Corrective action being required, I put on my reading glasses, got out a precision screwdriver, slightly unscrewed the two 1.5mm screws keeping the CamOne's optical element fixed in place and turned the lens counter-clockwise about 60°. Placed the camera snugly into the housing again and went for another dip. To my surprise that little twist already improved image quality quite noticeably, as in usable-if-need-be. Getting good enough focus, at least at close range, required several more twist-plunge-check cycles and, it being an overcast day, some more artificial light to reduce overall graininess.

In the end, I rotated the lens nearly 90° counter-clockwise* from the factory setting, i.e. a quarter turn, in order to obtain a relatively clear underwater image. Note that sharp below means blurry above!


So, definitely possible, but alas rather impractical on the go as this re-focusing involves fiddling with two tiny screws and requires some Fingerspitzengefühl. Whether in the middle of Yucatan's mosquito infested jungle after a sweaty hike, on a rocking salt sprayed boat before rolling back over into the sea, or, you get the picture, pretty anywhere near outdoor action, is not quite the right place nor time to open a housing and start screwing around with a camera. YMMV.

Meaning you have to decide beforehand whether to go for air or water footage, as shooting sharp in both mediums is not possible without giving the lens a spin. While acceptable for a dedicated above- or underwater cam, not being able to obtain mixed footage, not to mention one-take transitions, is IMO a very restrictive limitation.

Enlightened caveman?

Worn in these pictures: stainless steel backplate, harness, pouch with spare mask (not visible), pouch with arrows & cookies, small knife, safety reel, primary light source (TillyTec LED 1000 + Goodman handle + umbilical + Green Force Flexi II NiMH battery pack), two backup torches (TillyTec MPL 500 & 1500) and my video lighting setup (TillyTec LED 2000 VIDEO ×2 + Y-umbilical + TillyTec TT 3 NiMH battery pack). All together about 10kg of gear.

To be added: wings, double tanks, regulators, backup knife, mask, fins, wetsuit, primary reel and housed camera with armed tray.

Steinbock Konstellation

In plain english: underwater camera lighting support constellation (codename "ibex") to be tried out & adjusted as needed on location.

Flat lens prototypes

In my mailbox this morning: an envelope sent by a friendly company with two flat lens prototypes for my CamOne's DiveBox.


To be assembled, tested & used at my own risk. Returnable after review if not wanted. Feedback appreciated. [ to be continued ]

TillyTec MPL 500 & 1500 LED torches

After getting a TillyTec MPL 500 single LED torch as second backup at boot 2012 for my upcoming cave diving trip, I decided to trade in both my old Green Force Tristar Diamond head and TillyTec W30 backup light (plus some cash) for a new TillyTec MPL 1500 triple LED torch.

According to TillyTec the MPL 500/9010 has a 30W halogen equivalent 10° beam, delivering about 9000 Lux or 500>197* Lumen at 5500°K for about 3h at nearly 100% and up to 10h at diminishing output.

The larger MPL 1500/30010 has a 85W halogen equivalent 10° beam, delivering about 30000 Lux or 1500>370* Lumen at 5500°K for ca 1h.

Both torches are of course compatible and can be shortened in lenght from about 20cm (3x AA batteries) down to 12cm (1x 18650 cell).


The MPL 500 & 1500 are meant as hand-held torches, but an optional shaft clamp with velcro strap is available allowing Goodman-handle style finger-free use. And the MPL 1500's larger head actually fits into my TillyTec LED 1000 & 2000 flex-arm clamps, an interesting option especially for video using the 85° wide beam model, e.g. as short wireless version or together with a MPL-1 battery pack connected via umbilical cable for up to 4h of bright light.

Camera specs: CamOne infinity

☆ CamOne infinity action cam —firmware 1.05—

Sensor

• 1/2.5" 5MP CMOS

• photo: 4:3 ratio , 2592 x 1944 pixel , ~3MB/picture

• video: Full HD @ 30fps | HD @ 30|60fps

• ISO: auto

• WB: auto

Lens

• glass with fixed focus from 60cm to infinity

• aperture: F2.8

• FOV: 127° @ 1080p | 170° @ 720p

• replaceable & refocusable

Storage

• 2× microSDHC memory cards up to 32GB

Formats

• photo: JPEG

• video: MOV or MP4 (H.264 compression)

Special Functions

• photo bursts of 3|5 shots

• time-lapse photos every 3|5|10|30|60 seconds

• time-lapse video @ 1fps or 6|2|1fpm

• video loop

Features

• 1.5" TFT LCD

• built-in microphone (Mono, 48kHz)

• built-in LED light

• easy connectivity via micro USB & mini HDMI

• rechargeable 3.7V 800mAh LiPo battery

• 1/4"20 tripod mount

Size & Weight

• aluminum alloy *

• W:49 x D:34 x H:42mm

• 89g (incl. battery & 2 microSDHC cards)

* apparently the CamOne's no longer made in aluminum, but in plastic?

☆ CamOne DiveBox underwater housing

Features

• access to all the camera's functions & settings

• clear view of the camera's LCD

• action mount* & 1/4"20 tripod mount

• rated to -30m according-to-spec-sheet* ⚠ focus adjustment or lens replacement required for sharp underwater images

Size & Weight

• polycarbonate

• W:75 x D:42 x H:74mm

• 63g (w/o camera) | 152g (with camera)

HeKaSys - OneCam

Just ordered a CamOne infinity (224€*) from HeKaSys, enjoying an instant 10% discount as facebook friend :o) which I invested in two Sandisk Mobile Ultra microSDHC memory cards (8GB, Class 6, UHS-1).


UPDATE: Got my tiny new action cam delivered in less than 24h!

CamForPro - NoGo

GoPro coolness being priced well beyond reason and accessories not coming cheap, I asked several authorized dealers for an offer and got a good one from CamForPro which I accepted and paid for in advance.

• GoPro HD HERO2 Outdoor Edition
• GoPro LCD BacPac
• GoPro Battery BacPac
• GoPro Tripod Mount (×2)
• GoPro Grab Bag of Mounts
• SRP BlurFix Adapter
• XSories Hooded Silicone Cover

---

UPDATE: GoPro having unexpectedly released a firmware update finally enabling 3D with the HERO2, I've requested another offer including a second HERO2, 3D housing and some flat replacement lenses from aquapixs for sharp underwater footage in all dimensions.

• GoPro HD HERO2 Outdoor Edition
• GoPro LCD BacPac
• GoPro Battery BacPac
• GoPro Tripod Mount (×2)
• SRP BlurFix Adapter
• GoPro HD HERO2 Motorsport Edition
• GoPro 3D System
• aquapixs GoForPro flat glass lens (×2)

UPDATE: CamForPro suggests the Oculus solution for the 3D housing, which I shortly consider and reluctantly accept, it being 50€ cheaper.

UPDATE: After further investigating the aquapixs versus Oculus flat lens solutions, I re-iterate my desire to get aquapixs' glass lenses, only to be told that the new stock of GoPro cams has sold out again, with nothing coming in before March... upon which I cancel everything.

UPDATE: Having almost dropped 1310€ for a rather ambitious GoPro setup allowing single, dual and stereo camera takes both above & below the waves, including both BlurFix's flat lens port and Subspace's housing with domed port, besides aquapixs' flat lenses for the 3D housing, I'm now considering just getting one camera & housing, i.e. the CamOne infinity for 249€, which comes with built-in 1.5" LCD and supposedly has better handling. It's lens being manually re-focusable it should be possible to re-set the focus for either above or below water takes, without need for a scuba-specific housing. Considering the price difference that's an inconvenience I'm now more inclined to live with, besides accepting the arguably lesser IQ. That is, if aquapixs doesn't come out of the blue with a more practical flat lens solution for the CamOne's DiveBox allowing both above & below water shots...

boot 2012: GoPro

GoPro's represented at boot this year. With one underwater housing. Behind reflective glass. To be released soon. Expected retail price 60€. No HERO2 Diver Edition. That's it. Be cool. Don't ask questions.


Two diver mannequins were set-up with standard housings. Rather misleading if you ask me, considering these are blurry underwater.

Somehow I don't think GoPro takes divers seriously. Luckily, several 3rd party solutions have been available for a while as already posted.

What mostly disappointed me though, is that they had no 3D footage on display. Which I'd very much hoped for, so as to be able to check & discuss the possibilities and judge the image quality of such a setup. Supposedly the exposition hall's lighting's too bright for viewing 3D?

It didn't seem to bother any other 3D promotors. But hey, the new HERO2's are not 3D ready yet, so who cares. The required software update's supposedly due sometime soon. As most things GoPro. What's the hurry anyway, the competition's nowhere to be seen. Yet.

boot 2012: TillyTec

Tilly's booth was well visited as always, but I managed to get some personal time with the man himself for a friendly chat before getting down to business and buying a TillyTec MPL 500/9010 (99€ incl. pouch & trigger-snap), that is, a small hand-held 1-LED torch, equivalent to a 30W halogen light, as mandatory second backup besides my W30.


UPDATE: Traded in both my Green Force Tristar Diamond head and TillyTec W30 backup for a TillyTec MPL 1500/30010 3-LED torch.

boot 2012: Camaro

At Camaro's boot stand they were only showing off the new collection, but they kindly referred me to Atlantis Berlin where I got one of the last remaining hooded vests (89€) of last year's seamless production.

Gerda's Dive Shop

Day trip to Gerda's Dive Shop in Munich in order to have my Scubapro regulators checked, serviced & tested and get myself a new pair of Aqualung booties (40€) compatible with my Mares Plana Avanti fins.


By train it takes about 2h15 one way from Sonthofen to München HBF (21€ return with a Bayern Ticket, allowing day long use of any public transportation method). Quite a journey actually, but I like to see the people in person to whom I trust my life sustaining scuba gear.

---

UPDATE: Got an email from Gerda yesterday with a very detailed maintenance bill (238€) for servicing my regulators (two recreational sets, each consisting of one 1st stage, two 2nd stages, inflator hose & SPG; plus a third 1st stage with SPG). I paid immediately via online banking and today DHL promptly delivered everything at my door.

UPDATE: I'm in Mexico and my S550 second stage is not functioning!

UPDATE: Had my S550 checked by Marco from Scuba Price Tulum, who quickly found out that one of the two small O-rings on the white inner piston was damaged. Replacing it apparently solved the problem.

TillyTest

Having decided to journey to Düsseldorf for the annual boot fair, I thought I'd pre-check my lighting setup before visiting TillyTec again.

	Flexi II	TT 3
LED 1000	>180'
2x LED 2000	-NA-	>120'

My TillyTec LED 1000 still got 3h15 out of my Flexi II battery and my two LED 2000's burned for 2h15 on my TT 3 pack. Which should be enough for an extended stage dive or two dives a day w/o recharging.

I actually interrupted both burn tests before the batteries ran out of juice so as not to drain them completely. I've got no means to measure the lights intensity, but though not 100% at the end, I'd say they delivered enough throughout for practical purposes. Vamos a ver.

Recharging the Flexi II (4.5Ah, 12V, NiMh, 1000g) took about 4 hours, the TT 3 (9.0Ah, 12V, NiMh, 1625g) remained plugged in overnight.

Action cams

For my upcoming trip to Mexico, I'm currently investigating various action cams, as these offer a relatively affordable solution for wide-angle underwater videography, compared to a housed system camera, where just a dome port would cost me more. Not to mention that I could use it as B-cam later on for action takes too risky for a compact system camera, which I'm still hoping to get in the near future...

At the moment, GoPro's new HD HERO2 (350€) is my #1 candidate. Some of the underwater clips I've seen so far on YouTube look quite decent and IMO better than ones taken with an old HERO or some other competing products. That is, if a third party solution is used for underwater footage, thus requiring an additional investment, besides the optional LCD BacPac (100€) needed for compositional framing.

Price-wise ActionPro's SD20F (269€) is without a doubt a much better deal, it coming with a clip-on LCD module, laser pointer, remote control and waterproof case (cam w/o LCD, -20m), with an optional SCUBA housing (cam + LCD, -40m, 30€) available as cheap accessory. Spec-wise it seems to be equivalent to GoPro's previous HERO.

Another interesting alternative is ACME's new CamOne infinity (249€), with built-in LCD and supposedly exchangeable & manually re-focusable optics. Unfortunately, though coming with a waterproof DiveBox, there's no practical SCUBA ready underwater solution yet.

GoPro's main advantage in my case is the availability of several practice-proven underwater solutions like BlurFix's flat lens port (with interchangeable 55mm filters, 80€), Subspace Pictures' adapted housing with dome port (for a true undistorted 127° FOV, 252 CHF), UK-Germany's flat lens aluminum housing (rated to -100m, 499€) and Eye Of Mine's flat lens double-housing (for stereoscopic 3D, 190€).


With a bit of luck I might actually get a closer look at some of these options at the boot 2012 fair in Düsseldorf end of this month, which I intend to visit in order to gear up for my next venture into darkness.