underwater cam

Any camera that outputs NTSC will work with a NTSC monitor.

You have to take it out of the housing and use only the board for which you will build your own enclosure. Why paying for the camera housing an cables since they are useless and add time to your project?

I would buy directly a board with a sensor and lens like the one below (search for "camera board").

Keep in mind that the price of this board should reflect the image quality. The one below is listed for less than $10, the image will not be very good, but it will work.

And here is a much better sensor, that will render a much better image, especially in low light and it is not that expensive at $22 USD:

SONY IMX225 D-WDR 1200TVL 1/3" CMOS 960P AHD 0.0001 Lux Starlight Board Camera

Minimum illumination - 0.0001Lux


Here is a sample movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3IpP3dwZ7E

Thanks for your input speo.
The reason I was favoring the security camera was because it has the A/V jack that is compatible with my DVD player and the 12 volt jack is the same as what I have in my shack.
The board camera looks to use a different setup, would I be able to easily convert this for my setup?

It is not a different set up, just a different connector. All cameras and all monitors will have 3 wires for video (regardless of the connector type):
=> red goes to battery positive
=> black goes to battery negative
=> yellow is signal from camera and goes to signal monitor

Below is a diagram.

If you don't have to power your monitor from the same battery with the camera, only 2 wires will go to the monitor: black and yellow (the yellow RCA connector)

this is great
what sensors do you suggest we use for this
was looking at e bay amazon there is so many
??

[URL= http://a.co/epHE0VF ]My Webpage[/URL]
lol
how about this one

just need to get the 100ft cord should still be all under 100$

Thanks again speo.

I am reluctant to recommend a certain sensor, because I am not up to date with the best options / prices available on the market.

Find a sensor you like on eBay, read the specs, google for reviews, search for a video sample (not from the seller) and then decide.

For example, I found "SONY IMX225" on eBay for $22 USD, I found good reviews online and a pretty good video sample. I could choose this, or I can search for a better, more expensive one

Also, keep in mind the lens numbers. A smaller number like 2.8 means wider field of view that will show you a wider area and the fish will look like it is further (smaller). A larger number like 6 mm will show a narrower field of view, "zoomed" and will show a fish like it is closer.

Personally i like to see a wide field, opposed to a narrow field. Mine is 3.6 mm, but I would like to try a 2.8 or even lower. When you go very low, the image might be a little bit distorted, the fish-eye effect.

Also, before you install the board in the case, make a test in a room, hook it to a large tv and make sure the camera is focusing at the distance you want. Place objects at different distances and turn the lens left - right until you see the most clear image on the object that is placed at the distance you want.

Here's the home made rig i put together last year:



https://youtu.be/b8SzrqgIteU
[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/b8SzrqgIteU[/YOUTUBE]

Along with some underwater footage of it in action in some deeper waters 80+ feet:

https://youtu.be/xgEbqv4k6pc
[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/xgEbqv4k6pc[/YOUTUBE]

Although it works amazingly well with no issues so far, I'll be building a new and improved version this year with the goal of making it more efficient so it last longer on a charge, higher quality image, fully dimmable lighting, and added DVR (digital video recorder), with added wifi video transmitter so you can beam the video to your android or iphone in realtime and use that as a secondary screen if you like.

Why would i build another if the first one works so well? Because i can! :-)

Here's a link to the thread i created last year about this project:
Original thread discussing this DIY camera and WiFi Sonar setup

This post has been edited by ThorahGuy on Nov 21, 2017 - 03:50 pm