Waterproofing CVS camera for underwater shots

Waterproofing CVS camera for underwater shots
It's extremely easy and CVS already gives you the majority of your waterproofing kit when you purchase the camera. Full HOWTO with photos can be found here (although I used a Ritz PV2 in the example - same thing, really): http://camerahacking.mine.nu/phils/demanufacturing/pv2/waterproof/

Oh what a neat idea... Wont try because I tossed the packaging yestderday and I kinda cant swim... :? Would pictures of fish inside the fishtank look better than through the glass? I might have to go get another camera for the packaging.. and perhaps make it into a macro mode camera.

Nice one binaryweaver! Gotta pick up another cam and give this a go (never saved the packaging). I wonder how water will affect IR shots! Perhaps I'll weight down the rig and use the self-timer + a fishing pole for some "deep sea" exploration! ;)

I would start off in a nice clean pool. My murky water shots during the "saran wrap" days were very disappointing. Imagine the CNN headlines though if it works for you: "BillW discovers Jimmy Hoffa using hacked CVS digital" :wink:

Should the waterproof casing leak, would one run the risk of discharging the flash capacitor in the water?

Sure it could discharge, but if you're worried about getting shocked, I don't think that would be a problem. The shor-*test*-('") path to ground from the - side of the cap would be the + side of the cap, not you. I guess the obvious disclaimer here is that you risk your camera by doing this HOWTO (or any of the other HOWTO's for that matter)

That sounds quite logical. I'll still -*test*-('") the enclosure empty for the sake of the camera, though.

i wonder if a plastic ziplock style baggy would work. an improvement to it would be to get one of them cheep little usb connectors for pcb designs (about 0.50 apiece) and mount that to the outside of the packaging with wires running to the inside of the camera, and use the little plastic protectors that come on the end of some usb cables, that way you could just mount it to your hub or directly to the computer without opening the case everytime.

I suppose you could design a waterproof connector externally. Ideally, you would need to add the battery recharging hack as well to avoid having to open the enclosure.

I brought 3 cameras in a pool with me today. Two were regular digital cameras and one was the CVS camcorder. The two digital cameras experienced issues where a small amount of water did get into the enclosure. The camcorder was fine the entire time and water did not get in. The cameras were sealed awhile ago and the camcorder was sealed a few days ago (don't know if that matters). I used a similar peice of plastic for the back of all three. When I peeled the plastic off from the back, all three peeled off easily without much effort. The camcorder was in my possession the majority of the time while the cameras were tossed around by younger swimmers. Maybe another material would be better suited for this application? Epoxy resin? Hot glue? Has anyone else tried this out yet?

Tupperware-style containers all claim to be "locking" and "strong" these days...you could make a window for the lens to look through with clear plastic and superglue, and you could use some flexible material similarly to allow you to press the buttons. The advantage of course would be reclosability without having to reglue it every time.

Tupperware-style containers all claim to be "locking" and "strong" these days...you could make a window for the lens to look through with clear plastic and superglue, and you could use some flexible material similarly to allow you to press the buttons. The advantage of course would be reclosability without having to reglue it every time. I'm following this thread because of an interest in scuba diving and snorkeling. For sure, the Tupperware would collapse and probably pretty early. I'm guessing at 10 feet. And I doubt the seal is going to hold up. It is fine to keep air from circulating in the refrigerator. But under pressure, my bet is it is going to fail quickly.

Tupperware-style containers all claim to be "locking" and "strong" these days...you could make a window for the lens to look through with clear plastic and superglue, and you could use some flexible material similarly to allow you to press the buttons. The advantage of course would be reclosability without having to reglue it every time. I'm following this thread because of an interest in scuba diving and snorkeling. For sure, the Tupperware would collapse and probably pretty early. I'm guessing at 10 feet. And I doubt the seal is going to hold up. It is fine to keep air from circulating in the refrigerator. But under pressure, my bet is it is going to fail quickly. If you want to do SCUBA you need something more heavy duty than either Tupperware or the plastic the camera comes in. I'd say what you need is an acrylic box. Cut the pieces, superglue them together, and make a screw-tight gasket. There's no reason you couldn't build a professional-quality SCUBA camera box with some work. The only real problem is buttons. How deep do you want to go with this? Withstanding 120ft is certainly tougher than 20ft... If you want really deep you probably need some sort of pressure system that allows the air inside the camera to be pressurized as you go down.

If you want to do SCUBA you need something more heavy duty than either Tupperware or the plastic the camera comes in. I'd say what you need is an acrylic box. Cut the pieces, superglue them together, and make a screw-tight gasket. There's no reason you couldn't build a professional-quality SCUBA camera box with some work. The only real problem is buttons. How deep do you want to go with this? Withstanding 120ft is certainly tougher than 20ft... If you want really deep you probably need some sort of pressure system that allows the air inside the camera to be pressurized as you go down. That is why the zip lock bag that is sealed with something extra is so attractive. If enough air was included, it would just compress. And you are only risking a $20 camera. You should be able to press the buttons through the zip lock bag. But there is no way I would try that with a $350 camera.

View Full Version: Waterproofing CVS camera for underwater shots