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Surf housings are typically designed to be light weight, but rugged. Since surf photographers generally swim with the housing out of the water, the housings need to be as light weight as possible. These housings usually do not need to go deep, but do need to withstand the same wave abuse that their operators are subjected to.
They are generally rated at a nominal 10 to 25 feet, depending on size, and usually have reinforced corners to maximize the strength of the bond lines. Close attention is paid to the human engineering to cluster the most commonly used controls for ease of use. Handles must be rugged, and placed for best balance out of the water. Common configurations are one or two side handles, one side and one bottom handle, and fixed or removable pistol grip.
Shown below are examples of designs we have done, with some notes about the requirements and how they were met.
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This housing for a Sony HDR-HC7 Hi-Def video camera and Century 170-degree fisheye adapter is to be mounted by the customer on a composite pole mounted above the tail of a surfboard. It was designed to be a light, small, and rugged as possible. The front of the housing incorporates a 4” diameter dome lens for the fish eye to look through, and controls for On-off and Record. |
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This was a rugged housing made of polycarbonate for a
video recorder being used as a recorder, designed to be
worn in a backpack for a surf photographer in Spain. The
un-mounted helmet camera is the aluminum cylinder on the
left. There is a LANC to control the record function of
the system in the foreground. |
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This is a surfboard mount for a Eumig Nautica waterproof Super-8 camera. It features four suction cups, Velcro patches for use with a strap around the board for very rough conditions, a foam float, and a ring-shaped Record control that can be activated from front or rear. |
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A surf photographer from New Jersey ordered this housing for a Sony TRV-930 video camera with the option of using add-on lenses for wide angle and fisheye. He wanted to use it both above water and below the surface.
In order to have the best color saturation and retain the angle of view with the add-on lenses, we used a dome port. The square frame around the dome protects it without being in the field of view.
This housing not only has controls for Record, On-Off, and Zoom, and side handles, but it also has a removable pistol grip handle for use on a boogie board. |
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| This shows the above housing in custom cutouts in the foam of a Pelican case. There are also cutouts for charger, tapes, spare dome, the pistol grip (upside down, lower right corner), kit of spare parts, and Owner’s Manual. The Pelican case protects the housing during shipping, as well as in the field and in storage. |
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Designed primarily to be mounted on a surfboard, this Minolta Super-8 housing also has side handles and ring-shaped Record control.
The Record control needed to be held on constantly while filming, so a catch at the rear of the housing was installed to hold the string in position.
Note also the deep lens shade for working in bright sunlight. The Zoom control is on the top of the housing, and the Focus control is under the left handle. |
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This housing features a Run control for the right index finger, Zoom control for the right thumb, and Focus control on the far side.
Note also that the camera has a fixed pistol grip, so the housing had to be much bigger than otherwise necessary.
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Underwater Housings for Still Cameras |
Underwater Housings for Video Cameras
Surf Housings for Still Cameras |
Surf Housings for Video Cameras
Instrument Housings |
Telemetry Housings |
Other types of Housings
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