As video-editing software becomes easier to use and cheaper to buy, more divers are looking to take their camcorders underwater, and the Seapro range of housings offers a simple but effective design that can house most makes of camera.
£1,195
The starter SP1 housing, at an affordable £795, is a basic tube design and comes with a flat port. The next model up is the SP5, costs £975 and replaces the flat port found in the SP1 with an Optolite one, while the top-of-the-range SP7, which we tested, uses a larger tube design, making it possible to view the camcorder's own monitor screen inside the housing.
The concept is a simple but highly effective one. A HE30 aircraft-grade anodised aluminium alloy tube is sealed at each end with a one-inch (25mm) thick clear Perspex disc. The rear Perspex plate is detachable and allows the installation and removal of the camcorder, while the front plate is fixed and houses the appropriate port for the corresponding lens to film through. The housings will accommodate the majority of camcorders on the market - you simply specify which model you have and the manufacturer, Greenaway Marine,
positions the baseplate and two standard controls (power up and video run) to suit. Should you require extra controls, these
can be specified when ordering - add £55 per knob
to the price.
If money is tight, the SP1 will
get you started.
However, viewing is through a small viewfinder and the flat port will both make the lens appear longer (less wide-angle coverage) than it is and reduces depth of field. The SP5, with its Optolite port, corrects the lens issue, so your wide-angle remains wide and everything from 1cm to infinity is in focus when the lens is on its widest setting, but you still have to use the small viewfinder. The SP7 has both the Optolite port and allows you to use the camcorder's own monitor open at about 45 degrees - if budget allows, go for this model.
When we tested them in the water, the weight of the housing and camcorder was a little negative - a perfect weight. The first control powered up the camcorder and the top control got us rolling. Keeping the whole system as still as possible, I managed to get two films of around 25 minutes each in two dives before the battery required charging.
The camcorder coped admirably in shallow water with the blue-water filter attached, but any deeper than 5m required manual white balance, and I would recommend anyone considering one of these housings to go for a manual white balance control.
One criticism is that a few minutes of footage had a couple of red dots in them. This was due to the reflection of the camcorder's run light in the front plate - if I owned a Seapro housing, I would switch off the record light on the camera if that was an option or cover it with tape.
The standard housing is rated to 85m and there's a deep-water variant that's good down to 200m. It's hard to fault these housings, and if you go for the SP7 version, Greenaway can supply the camcorder as well for as little as £1 extra.
DIVE SAYS…
Easy to use and gives good-quality footage
Value 9 Performance 8
