Camera experience - GOOD
Good morning again. I had promised SeaHag this post some time ago, but have found myself too busy lately. I have no previous experience with underwater cameras so I was not too sure what to expect with the cameras we were using with the SMART dive team during Dan's record breaking dive. The team does own (paid for) three cameras that have been used on various missions before this dive.
To be clear we had one new camera pass through our hands, from SEVU, for the weekend that had been used by another group previously as a demo camera. Talk about a good way to get the product out for people to see and become familiar with. Good free publicity.
I worked as a support diver on the three nights that Dan was in the water. We had a submarine theater where people could watch Dan through windows and where we also had televisions set up with two SEVU cameras. The lake is spring feed and is relatively clear to the other lakes around the area. My first impression of the camera is that it did not see as far at night as I would have thought. I guess I thought the IR would cut through the water more. The picture was clear though and you could see what the camera was 'aimed' at. When I dove later I was surprised myself that I could not see as far as I would have thought myself underwater! Big experienced dive team member huh!?! I am used to diving in murky lake water, not the pretty protected spring lake.
Both cameras worked flawlessly during the dive and were on the whole time, before and after the event as well. They seem very well constructed and tougher than I thought they would be. We carried the mini 50 around and got close-ups of the fish and the crowd back through the windows which they really liked.
On the last day I stayed late through the morning until Dan came out of the water. This was my first day dive and experiences with the camera. Having gotten used to the range at night I was more surprised with the quality performance in the water with sunlight overhead. On this last day we had the largest crowds and Dan really hammed it up with the cameras and playing with the children through the windows. As I looked in the windows from the water I could see people huddled around the TV area staring in awe. It was great to be shareholder watching all this and knowing how much the products had assisted us over the weekend. That water was cold and the cameras allowed us to minimize support diver fatigue by keeping them out of the water for longer periods of time.
I still do not know a lot about underwater cameras, but I do know that if the secureview cameras perform as well they will easily rival many surveillance systems already in place in town. Target has some very nice cameras with excellent zoom capabilities in the store and mounted on the front of the building. This Target was recently built and the wiring was already put in place for the existing security system. As great as it is there is no camera coverage out into the parking lot either there or at the Wal-Mart store. The parking lot system would be a great addition to their capabilities and of course the wiring out to those distant locations is key.
I would like to echo those sentiments previously stated that cameras in a parking lot depict activity and generally only show a general description of suspects, not face shots. Many good cases have been made where video fills in the void and helps identify suspects using the various ideas discussed before.
We have some good product going here folks.
AI
