We have developed two types of underwater cameras to meet various requirements.

Remote Control Camera

The first type of camera is remotely controlled with full pan and tilt facilities and an 18 times zoom lens. The camera is made from marine grade 316 stainless steel and is very tough. This is installed on a stainless steel tripod base which is fixed in position by weights and chains. The video and control signals are sent back to dry land via a fibre optic link.  An umbilical takes the 24 volt low voltage power and fibre optic cable back to dry land. The video and control signal can then be sent back to the control position via fibre optic cable, microwave, or satellite depending on the location. The distance that the camera can be from dry land is limited by how far the power can be sent without the voltage dropping too much although by increasing the initial voltage this restriction can be overcome. Finding a suitable submarine cable route is likely to be the main restriction on distance as the last thing you want is a lobster boat pulling up your umbilical.

A camera like this could easily be installed in a large fish tank or aquarium to allow visitors to get another view of the tank and to see what the fish see of the visitors looking in at them.

The camera is rated to a depth of 50 metres but if used this deep then underwater lighting should be used as well.  The camera does have excellent low light level capabilities and can use frame integration to catch all available light but unless extra lighting is installed you just won’t see much this deep.

We are using this type of camera for the Underwater camera on the Isle of May. This will have a 50 metre umbilical to get to the cliff top and then a further 50 metre length of conduit to reach the microwave transmitter. The underwater umbilical has a stainless steel overbraiding to protect it from being damaged by the waves and boulders as it leaves the water up the cliff.

Static Camera

The first type is the over the side of a boat type which can be towed along by a boat to view the seabed below or manipulated by a diver to point at things of interest like wrecks or sealife. These will generally be rated to 50 metres depth and have built in LED lighting. The camera can be connected to a monitor in the wheel house of the boat or to a video recorder. The results from these cameras can be excellent especially in shallower waters wher the natural daylight is quite strong. At 50 metres it is pretty dark and any turbidity and particulate matter tends to reduce visibility quite a bit.

This type of fixed camera could easily be used in a large fish tank or aquarium to get views that would not normally be achievable just by looking through the glass.

We have been using this type of camera for surveying the potential underwater locations for the Scottish Seabird Centre underwater camera on the Isle of May