Re: U/W housings

[P3D Ronald J Beck <rbeck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From my experiences with U/W housings, there is no such thing as "not 
costly".  The lowest priced housing I've had experience with is the Ewa 
U/W "flexible" housing.  Basically it's a heavy duty bag with a glass 
plate for the lens, a glass plate for the viewer and a glove you place 
your hand in so you can work the controls.  If the lens port were large 
enough, it would be conceivable that a Realist could be used with this 
housing.  However, attaching a strobe (necessary for U/W work) would be 
very difficult.

A custom made housing (available from Ikelite) would probably be the best 
bet to get a Realist under water.  However, you could probably buy 10 
Realists for the price of one custom U/W housing!

The greatest problem with building a U/W housing for the Realist is the 
advance knob.  Most 35mm cameras have a thumb lever wind mechanism which 
can easily be moved by a zig-zagged shaped metal bar attached to a lever 
outside the camera.  The Realist would need something that would fit over 
the wind knob.  You'd also need a zig-zagged shapped bar to cock the 
shutter, one to press the shutter release button, and one to press the 
wind lock.  Acutally, except for the wind knob, the rest would be pretty 
standard stuff.

The rest of the adjustments (shutter speed and f-stop) should all be set 
at the surface for the strobe your using and not change during the dive.  
Actually, I can pretty much visualize what a U/W housing for a Realist 
would look like.  Maybe I should start looking for some parts to put one 
together (starting with the Realist :-)).  I know there's at least one 
book or instruction set out there on building your own housing.  Hmmm.... 
an interesting summer project with all my "extra" money :-) :-).

Anyway, I hope this helps and good luck in your search.

Regards,
Ron Beck

> 
> Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 18:16:42 -0400 (EDT)
> From: P3D Vincent G. Macek <vmacek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Underwater stereo
> Message-ID: <v01540b00afbcb27b6c04@[207.69.149.58]>
> 
> Did I see something a few digests back regarding an underwater housing for
> a Realist?  I can't imagine how one could accomodate all the steps
> involved.  Is there any kind of set up for any stereo camera that's not
> hugely esoteric and costly?
> 
> Vince Macek
> 
> 


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