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

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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.

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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.

Online flight reservation

Booked myself a flight from Munich to Cancun with airberlin (902€ return). Not as easy & stress-free an online formality as it should be, requiring an additional 15' phone call to clear an unexpected 40€ seat-reservation surcharge in my bill, despite this being a free service for "topbonus Service Card" members (79€/year) - which I applied for so as to be allowed an extra 32kg of dive luggage free of charge, besides 30kg of check-in and up to 8kg of carry-on, including laptop.

Flight details:

06.03.2012	AB7414	13:05	München	Cancun	18:05
02.04.2012	AB7417	19:40	Cancun	Düsseldorf	12:25+1
03.04.2012	AB6031	14:50	Düsseldorf	München	16:05

PS: A month ago I could have booked direct flights both ways for 965€ return, but today those same flights would have cost me 1435€!

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UPDATE: Having received my "topbonus Service Card" by mail, I dutifully registered my dive bag & lights online as required, only to once again get an extra bill of 150€ despite this being a free service.

UPDATE: Finally got an email from airberlin apologizing for any inconveniences possibly caused and blaming a faulty registration. Supposedly the erroneously charged 40+150€ will be reimbursed.

UPDATE: Looks like both surcharges have been booked back.

Price quotes

It took a month to get all the info I requested via email, but now I have all the quotes needed to organize my next trip to Mexico.

Xibalba Dive Center replied quickly to my enquiry with an acceptable offer: 20 cave dives at 85 USD/dive when doing two a day or 110 USD when only doing one (including guide, transport & doubles filled with nitrox, but excluding cenote entrance fees).

→ Xibalba Dive Center

Xibalba now also has its own hotel, but it being priced over my budget as solo traveler, I tried, tried and tried again to contact Villa Matisse in order to check room availability & prices. Not getting any response whatsoever, I reluctantly googled my way through virtual space to some other decent looking guesthouses, the more affordable and well rated of which would cost me 70 USD/night when staying for at least 3 weeks... a bit too rich for my wallet.

→ Posada Luna del Sur

After several attempts getting connected to Villa Matisse, I finally managed to talk to Señora Lourdes, who promised to write me back, which she did several days later, with a pretty good deal: 2500 Pesos per week incl. breakfast, when staying for nearly a month. Currently, that's only about 140 EUR or 180 USD/week. Thereby bringing me back on track to realize my fifth trip to Tulum. That is, if I can still book an affordable flight from Munich to Cancun.

→ Villa Matisse

Medical checkup

Being over 40 and prone to ear troubles, I decided to have a full medical checkup (75€) before booking my next cave diving trip.

Luckily the doctor gave me the OK sign and associated paperwork after checking my hearing, blood pressure, lung function, heartbeat (electrocardiogram), throat, nose & sinuses (scan).

His advice being to put a drop or two of oil in my ears, half an hour or so before each dive, as preventive action against infections.

GoPro HD HERO2

GoPro just launched a new version of its popular action cam: the upgraded HD HERO2 now comes with an improved F2.8 glass lens (2x sharper), 11MP 1/2.3" CMOS sensor (2x more pixels) and image processor (2x faster), offering three FOV options (90°/127°/170°), from 30fps in Full-HD up to 120fps in WVGA quality, 10fps bursts, timelapse, selftimer, 3.5mm mic & mini HDMI ports and supposedly soon also a Wi-Fi BacPac for wireless remote control & streaming...


Sounds pretty promising indeed, except that it still suffers from the same problem as its predecessor: the housing, while rated to -60m, has a curved lens optimized for above water shoots, resulting in rather blurry underwater videos [see FAQ]. Meaning an adapted or custom made housing is actually needed for diving, ranging from 30€ for a DIY replacement lens to 499€ for an aluminum housing rated down to -100m. GoPro's supposed to release its own flat lens housing soon?

Not to mention that for proper compositional framing, an optional LCD BacPac would be needed too. Upping the price tag to about 540€ (GoPro HD HERO2 Outdoor Edition @ 350€ + LCD BacPac @ 100€ + BlurFix adapter @ 80€ + tripod mount @ 10€). Not cheap, but then again, just getting a dome port for e.g. a housed compact system camera with wide angle would cost almost as much if not more.

→ GoPro HD HERO2 action cam
→ aquapixs GoForFocus flat replacement lens
→ Eye of Mine flat wide lens housing
→ Snake River Prototyping BlurFix adapter (flat 55mm wide lens port)
→ Subspace Pictures underwater housing with dome port (127° FOV)
→ sub zero flat lens housing
→ UK Germany UK-PRO flat wide lens aluminum housing (-100m)

→ interesting reviews of the GoPro HD HERO and HERO2

Funding?

Having no regular income, project funding is no longer as selbstverständlich as it used to be. Meaning I've got to be even more selective about which trips I choose and what gear I invest into.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to make up my mind about a new camera system, my requirements being well above my current budget.

Cave diving footage in 3D?

A couple of days ago Panasonic announced the development of a twin digital lens for its Lumix G micro-four-thirds cameras, allowing high quality 3D shooting. With a release date planned before the end of the year, that means I could possibly record my next cave diving experience in 3D... now wouldn't that be something?

Assuming of course that I can also get an appropriate interchangeable lens system camera and underwater housing at a reasonable price...


Mind though that actual lens specifications and pricing have not yet been divulged. Not to mention that capturing & recording 3D footage is just one side of our normal way of seeing things, with processing & editing and playing & viewing, other, as yet to be clarified, facets.

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UPDATE: Found a very informative article about stereoscopic 3D:
→ "A Beginner’s Guide to Shooting Stereoscopic 3D" by Tim Dashwood


UPDATE: Panasonic Lumix G 3D lens specification: 12.5mm (65mm*) F12 (fixed), stereo-base: 10mm, minimum-focus-distance: 0.6m.

UPDATE: Panasonic's GF2 & GH2 cameras can only record 3D stills with this lens, NOT 3D videos :o( Older MFT cameras won't support it at all.

Burn test

Even with two TillyTec LED 2000 light-heads connected, it looks like I can still get more than two hours out of my TT 3 battery-pack, though not quite at 100% towards the end. I actually just turned off the lights after 130' in order not to deep-drain and possibly damage the battery.

	Flexi II	TT 3
2x LED 2000	-NA-	>100'

LED it shine

TillyTec's fairly unique offer to upgrade almost any of its light-heads or battery-packs to a newer more powerful one is quite a clever business proposal and in my case an irresistible temptation deal.

I seriously considered upgrading both my HID 35 & LED 1000 to a LED 2000 SPOT & VIDEO resp., as suggested by Tilly at Boot 2010. Besides 50% more output, this new combination would not only improve my technical setup as needed for cave dives but also result in a better video lighting solution, the latter being my main reason to upgrade.

Better but not quite optimal yet. Which is why I chose to keep my LED 1000 both for recreational & technical diving purposes and only exchange my outdated-technology HID 35, not just for one, but for two LED 2000 VIDEO heads, i.e. one as upgrade and one new.

Thereby gaining a dedicated dual video lighting solution that, at least on paper, should provide well-balanced hotspot-free illumination. My only slight concern being whether twice 175W of halogen equivalent 110° diffused output will indeed be bright enough for my needs...

As I have no cave diving scheduled yet for the near future, I refrained from: (1) swapping my primary LED 1000 for a LED 2000 SPOT, (2) upgrading my backup LED W30 to a W40 and (3) getting a new second backup. Preferring to wait for the LED 3000 to come out this summer and see whether maybe a W50 comes out later this year, before already gearing up once again for another trip to Mexico.

However... TillyTec's LED 2000 VIDEO are currently on back-order and me having a recreational dive trip coming up soon, I was sent only one LED 2000 VIDEO and one LED 2000 SPOT with diffuser in stead.

While not quite what I'd finally decided upon after long deliberation, at least I'll have the chance to try out both versions of the LED 2000 with the option to keep or exchange which ever one I please later on.

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UPDATE: Sent back my LED 2000 SPOT last week in exchange for a second LED 2000 VIDEO as originally requested and got it promptly delivered today, no questions asked.

I did not get to test the LED 2000 SPOT as a focus light, but for my videography purposes, it has too much of an hotspot, especially at close range, even with diffuser. The LED 2000 VIDEO on the other hand is just perfect for my needs, without any noticeable hotspot.

→ close-up videography of critters illuminated by one LED 2000 VIDEO

Olympus PEN E-PL1

Olympus just announced an new µ4:3 system camera: the PEN E-PL1, together with a polycarbonate housing rated to -40m, making this its first MFT model worth considering (housed set for about 1250€ RRP).

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UPDATE: Onderwaterhuis.nl has a pretty good deal for only 999€, incl. PEN E-PL1 camera with standard 14-42mm zoom and PT-EP01 housing with flat-port & PPZR-EP1 zoom ring. And, for those like me who'd rather take down Olympus' M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4-5.6 zoom, Zen Underwater has made a wide-angle befitting dome-port for 490€.


Note that though the PT-EP01 housing officially has a fixed flat port, it can be replaced fairly easily, as demonstrated by Zen Underwater and soon also by Athena, with several ports for various MFT lenses.

boot 2010: TillyTec

There's nothing like seeing and handling things one-self, so once again I pilgrimed to the huge boot fair in Düsseldorf. Primary target this year being TillyTec's LED 2000 and newly announced LED 3000 heads.

The standard LED 2000 has a 175W halogen equivalent 10° beam ideal for tec diving. Of particular interest for me though is the non-focussed version with a more diffused 110° wide beam meant for videography.

So now I'm seriously considering upgrading both my HID 35 and LED 1000, to resp. a LED 2000 SPOT (with additional pop-on diffuser) and LED 2000 VIDEO, as suggested by Tilly.


Whereas the LED 2000 has seven LEDs, the LED 3000 will use only one super-power LED with 250W halogen equivalent output! Plenty of light indeed, but alas way too focussed for use as video light.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

Still on the lookout for a new underwater photo & video solution, there's currently only one option that kind of fulfills my handful of requirements without costing a fortune: Panasonic's µ4:3 Lumix DMC-GF1 in a 10Bar housing rated to -60m (housed set for 1490€).


Micro-Four-Thirds system cameras have interchangeable lenses and relatively large sensors in fairly compact mirror-less bodies. That is, near DSLR image quality and HD video in a relatively small casing.

So far however, only Panasonic & Olympus have presented µ4:3 cameras & lenses. Meaning the selection's still rather limited, though slowly expanding and quite promising.


Most importantly, several third party manufacturers have already started developing housings, e.g. 10Bar, Athena, Nautilus & Seatool.

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UPDATE: Inon's X-2 housing can now also waterproof the GF1 to -75m.