We're thinking of spending a couple of weeks in Hawaii scuba diving. As travel videography is my passion, I plan to video our explorations. I have a VX2000 but, frankly, I'm less than excited about taking a $2200 camera 50 feet deep into salt water.

I can't afford to buy a proper housing for the VX2000, so I was thinking about renting one. Does anyone have any idea whether these are available in Hawaii, and how much they cost to rent (preferrably, by the week)?

Alternatively, I was thinking of using my old TRV20 for the underwater stuff, and making a housing myself (I did this many years ago with an old TR600 -- you can see the results here: www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/9862/housing.htm). The only problem is I would lose the very features I bought the VX2000 for in the first place -- great low-light sensitivity and well-saturated color.

I'd welcome any suggestions, shared experiences, etc.

I'd check the rental houses near home as you need to make certain everything works before you dive.

Alternatively, I'd guess you can rent underwater rigs in Hawaii as part of the 'normal' tourist stuff. Although I doubt they would be VX-2000's.

The saturated color at 50' will be blue-green, won't it? Unless you haul along your own light source.

I'd guess there are web sites around for underwater videography. The Google search term, 'Underwater Videography,' turns up 12,500 returns. 'Underwater Videography Forum,' brings up about 2,500 hits. Somewhere in there will be the jewel you want.

Things will be a little blue at 50', but you can correct it fairly decently in post. You get much deeper than that, you definitely need lights. Most of the high end housing manufacturers make housings for the VX2K, so there probably is a good chance of a rental shop having one available in Hawaii. I wouldn't count on it, though, without calling them first. You might also be able to contact a couple of the housing manufacturers and see if they know of any of their units in rental there. If you do find a rental unit, it would probably be a good idea for somebody familiar with it to mount the camera, check out and lubricate the O-rings and all that good stuff. It's always a risk when you take a camera underwater, so there are no guarantees. I sat on the bottom at about 90 feet in Cozumel one time and watched my Nikonos fill up with water because of some gunk in the O-ring.

But it was a grand view from down there except for the small part subtended by the camera, eh?

I gotta go back.

Yeah, Cozumel diving is great because of the current. You get dropped off where you want and just drift along the walls, etc.