I've done some searching but can't seem to find anyone who rents housings, only sells. Anyone have any ideas?

(Sorry Chris if this belongs in the "Special Interest" forum...)

Thanks in advance!

The old sony HCR housings work okay with the HV20. It's not a rental but it'd be about as cheap.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=91813&highlight=hv20+sony+underwater+housing

Hey thanks Matt... I assume from reading the thread you meant HCB? I will take a look and try to find one.

On a side note... La Caterina is one of our favorite places ever... We used to live in SC but now live in Montana...

I've got a couple gutted HCB shells (electronics are out, and you'd need to cobble up a camera mount to the sled, but...). PM me if you want me to check them for watertightness, I'm fairly sure there's one that would be serviceable. Remember they are only rated for around 17 ft depth.

Sent ya an email, Dave...

Mark, La Caterina is my wife's favorite too.

I think you'll be happy with the HCB housing. There is no ability to zoom or adjust anything once the camera is in the housing short of putting the rc in a plastic bag. It takes about twenty minutes of practice to figure it out.

Dave is right, they are rated to 17feet but I've cheated on that. For the price, they're very sturdy. I cliff jumped with one a couple times and also have done a little whitewater float/filming. Not a scratch.

Cliff jumped with your camcorder in a plastic housing rated for 17 ft. ???

I'd be afraid the camcorder would break off the mount, the housing would crack or the O-ring would jar loose.

Matt is hardcore! I am psyched about using this thing. I think I'll pick up some of these for the remote:

http://www.thewaterproofstore.com/aloksak4x7.html

Underwater video is a fun hobby. I video many of my scuba vacations. You'd be surprised how good the footage can look if you have a decent housing.

The Sony HCB might be fine for a shallow dunk or 2, but if you plan on snorkeling or scubadiving, you'll need a much better housing.

Ron, I'm going to be snorkeling in a few weeks in Hawaii, but I don't anticipate going much below 10-15 feet. I'm hoping to get SCUBA certified some time over the next year or so and will look at upgrading then...

You'll have fun. For shallow snorkeling it should work fine, although you will probably have to do some color correction in your editing program.

If you do get scuba certified and enjoy it, you will get hooked on doing video. Some of the things you can see underwater are amazing and getting it on video make it that much better. Sharks, turtles, manta rays, dolphins, etc., all recorded in HD with our little over the counter camcorders.

Hey Dave, any luck on finding one of those housings? Thanks!

Hi Mark -

crazy weekend here, I've got to pull a couple out and make sure they are watertight, and I'll be e-mailing you!

Dave

Thanks Dave! We don't leave for the islands until the 9th of March...

just an fyi to hopefully help you out a bit:

whatever depth you are going to be video'ing stuff, set the white balance for that depth. this will take a tremendous amount of the blue cast out of your video. just remember to change your MWB if you change recording depths again.

Thanks for the info Justin.

Dave, any luck on those housings? :D

Hi Mark -
emailing you right now! Got two HCB that are watertight without electronics!

Sweet! Thanks Dave. Hopefully we can get this thing to me before I leave...