I am making a water proof video camera housing. I’m using 6" PVC Pipe with some plexiglas on one end and a screw on cap on the other. Should be plenty strong and water-tight. But I am wondering about making buttons to control the record button and zoom. Right now I am thinking I will just turn it on and let it record the whole time, then just edit it later, tapes run 90min so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Any advice, ideas would be great.
get a camera with a remote and vaccume seal the remote in a bag before going out.
great idea, I actually hava remote already.
I made the same exact thing with 8 inch pvc and plexiglass. I used two layers of plexiglass. One fit inside the diameter of the pipe, the other fit the outside. I used a silicone caulk to seal it up. The first time I tested it, I put a dry paper towel in the housing and soaked it under water a lot. The towel came out dry as a bone. I then tested it for real in knee high water. I wrapped the camera nice and snug with a towel and put it in. Then I hit record and tightened the cap on. The end.
Now I will tell you the bad parts. I used a silicone grease on all the threads of the cap to make a tight seal. Which they did. However, when doing this I used a pipe wrench to tighten it on(to be safe). When you tighten it on your housing now has created a vacuum. VERY HARD TO UNSCREW! I had to basically rip my arm off trying to open it after taking out in the surf. Also, I left it on autofocus which was okay unless one little drop got on the plexiglass, then the drop is in focus and nothing else. The way I fixed that was to cover the plexiglass in RainX and to make sure the camera lens was pushed as close to the plexiglass as possible. Worked good. Another little problem was holding it. It’s a round piece of plastic, very slippery and an air bubble when trying to dip under waves. Also, when I would hold it I never was really sure if I was holding it upright. I fixed that by putting a sticker on the top and I would make sure when I was putting the camera in to align it with my sticker. Another problem was aiming it. Basically whenever I wanted to aim it I had to hold it in front of my face. If I my vision was blocked, I then knew the camera was taping it.
All these little problems are nothing to worry about, just be aware of them. I would say go for it. I had a lot of fun and I still have it. Let me know how it goes.
westmarine sells waterproof cell phone bags on a tether, we used one- perfect for the camera remote- be sure to bring the remote with you if you go to buy a bag, they come in a few sizes. check the westmarine website. just load the camera into the bag on pause or standby and you’re good to go. lens cleaner/anti-fog isn’t a bad idea either.
Ok building boards is not my strong points but building camera housings i have some experience with that. Yes the PVC pipeing with a screw cap is the best way to go just test it evertime before you use it as sand and hair will effect the seal.
As far as buttons go the remote in a bag is a great way to go as it usually gives you a lot of the camera functions. You can try using these plans they are fairly solid and incorporate a button.
http://www.wakeboarder.com/display.phtml?id=295
As far as water on the lens; yes mount your camera as close to the front port as possible. The best thing for keeping water off the lens is an apple. slice it open and rub it on the lens of the housing. the acid in the apple will break the tension between the glass and water and allow the water just to slip off. Plus you can take the apple out with you if you need to use it again(or you get hungry form all the swimming)
As far as holding on to the camera look at EPICAM housings they use two simple nylon straps around the front and back of the housing and then looser straps in between to slide your hands in.
Hope that helps and good luck let me know how it goes.
Not to complicate matters, but if condensation becomes a problem, you could add a pair of presta valves and charge the unit with nitrogen. (one in, one out as you fill)
…probably overboard, but this is how “explosion proof” ie; “sealed” camera housings are treated.
7/10
You could probably just put a dessicant in there if condensation was really a problem.
As far as the vacuum, is it possible that you put the camera in the case at the beach, in the sun… in the heat. Then tried to take it off after it was cooled by the water, or maybe even later in the evening at home? Next time try warming it up in the sun for a bit, or load it cool?
Good you have the remote, for those without it’s fairly easy to retrofit a waterproof switch inline with the normal on/off switch… then tunnel it to the outside of the shell.
Good ideas on the remote. That’s what I ended up doing with mine after I shelved the brass rods with o-rings etc. for an external control for on/off. I went for some rigid handles made of PVC. As a plastic is is very sensitive to heat. I used a junker toaster oven and heated 2 lengths of 1 1/2" PVC up. (I’d cut them to length and cross cut the ends on diagonal). Test your temperature and times in the oven, watch out for the fumes and if mama catches on, you’re on your own!
Heat 'em up, handle with care, string them on some large hose clamps, crank them down tight, and tuck the screw head of the clamp inside one of the handles. Once cooled you’ve got some nicely molded grips. Some Krylon paint and your in there.
Here are some pics:[url “http://www.thirdcoastsurf.com/test/Sony_HousingA.jpg”]Nikon 8mm Housing
Tom S.
Well, everything seems to be good so far, I have the main chaimber assembled. I am working on making a fixture to hold the camera in there.
My new ideas, thanks to some input here, are to mount the remote on the side of the housing and run a tube to make a “U” to direct the remote control path at where it will be recieved on the camera. Where I mount the remote will be a handle also. The other thing I plan on doing is mounting a pipe to work as a scope so I don’t have to hold the housing in front of my face, instead hopefully it will rest on my sholder and I will still be able to aim correctly. This scope will also work as the handle for the other side. I think I will just use big hose clamps to hold the stuff on.
Let me know what you think. I’m hoping to get it out in the water in the next couple days, before I get to that stuff, to test it out and see how practical that stuff will be.
Hopefully I get my boards back from the glasser soon, then the hard part, finding someone to film me.
I work around hose clamps all the time on cars…they can be very sharp! and after your skin’s been in the water I think I’d JB weld the handles on there before I’d use clamps.
For what it’s worth- Ikelite ( among others) sells controls that you can use with homebuilt housings - http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/control_parts.html
hope that’s of use
doc…
Doc: I couldn’t really tell from the drawings, does that inner shaft push out by turning the knob? …if so, that’s slick.
Droptow: For the “U”, are you talking a hollow tube, or a solid, like a fiberoptic. I’d have doubts against a hollow tube, unless you get creative… but theoretically you could make a solid tube work - if the remote is IR. Fiberoptics can trap a lightwave inside because the angle of the beam relative to the wall of the fiber is never great enough to allow it to escape… forgive me if you’re already aware of this. The problem is that every time that beam reflects off the side it loses about 4% of it’s intensity… my point, you need a strong beam to be able to work. Even in a short length of tube you could get a lot of attenuation. I dunno, something you’d probably have to just give a try to see. In the end it’s probably a lot easier to just mount it in line of sight… but it’d be pretty slick to have a fiberoptic control on your housing.
rkelly is right about a hollow tube vs. fiberoptics. We use fiber optic cable on land so that one remote can start and control several cameras at once, and it works fine. Should work in the water as well. We’ll have 10’ of fiber optics that gets pretty twisted and it still works. The key is to use quite a few strands and make sure your batteries are fully charged.
Cool stuff hydroglyder… you must have some sort of beam splitter(s)… partially silvered glass? I’ll try to keep this on topic… nope, sorry, lets talk physics:
Now that you mention it, there is a chance that the water could have an adverse effect on the fiberoptic. I believe the term is called ‘Total internal reflection’… and has a lot to do with refraction, as the lightwave tries to leave a more dense medium to one that is less. Up to some critical angle the light wave will both partially pass through the fiber wall (with some level of refraction) and also be partially reflected internally. After that critical angle it is “totally internally reflected” - minus the ~4% attenuation (see Quantum Electrodynamics, thank you Dr. Feynman). It’s been some years and I could be wrong, but I believe that the critical angle is a function of the two densities… if this critical angle is too acute the lightwave will keep partially refracting out, and the beam will attenuate rapidly. The densities of the glass and water could be close enough to cause a problem… or maybe I’m full of it… either way, I’d be interested to hear the results.
I haven’t messed with fiberoptics in years, and I’m sure this is a trival matter for techs in the field who have dealt with this 1000’s of times. I would think some paint, maybe even reflective, sprayed on the fibre would fix it. Regardless I’d say leave it plain, for experimentation purposes… if it starts having problems once in the water, you have a lead on it… let us know, and snap some photos… interesting project
I tested out my “U” shaped tube to guide the remote and it seems to work fine. I tried it with a couple different tubes and it works without fail. I will probably just go with that since I don’t have any fiber optics laying around. It will suck because I will have to waterproof the whole remote/tubing assembly, but shouldn’t be too bad.
I will post some pictures soon.
I don’t think the gizmo pushes out by turning the knob… but if it was something like the right diameter then all kinds of threaded gizmos could be attached to the end of the shaft to do that. Or gears, levers, chain or belt drives ( such as model robots use - very handy for focussing or zooming lenses ) and that sort of stuff. This looks more like a knurled knob attached a shaft and an o-ring seal setup kinda like the stuffing box on a boat propeller or rudder shaft.
I would imagine some of the small diameter ones, with an appropriate return spring, would make a nice shutter button.
hope that’s of some use
doc…
