Streaming underwater camera

December 10, 2013 6:00 PM

I am looking for a streaming camera intended to be permanently mounted underwater, that ideally can be viewed at anytime on your iPhone. Help? Ideally it is not insanely expensive.
posted by corn_bread to Grab Bag (11 answers total)

Response by poster: Note: I don't want a DIY project. It should be already built.
posted by corn_bread at 6:03 PM on December 10, 2013

The lens will need cleaning every 7-30 days, depending on where it is, water temps, turbidity, etc. It's constant work.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 6:12 PM on December 10, 2013

Response by poster: Patapsco Mike, do you know of such a device that is already in existence? I don't care about cleaning it.

Also, this is for saltwater.
posted by corn_bread at 6:14 PM on December 10, 2013

If you don't require a permanent, built in power source, check out the GoPro Hero 3+. They have an iPhone app that allows you to control and view video from the camera remotely through a wifi connection. I think the range is about 600 feet. Great little camera if you require it to be mounted in tight or awkward spaces. It is about $400 though...
posted by supertramp at 6:17 PM on December 10, 2013

i don't think wifi works underwater, you're going to want something cabled
posted by TheAdamist at 6:22 PM on December 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

One set up for easy remote viewing? No- but it's been done lots of times by lots of people for a short time. It's a real PITA keeping it up, and I've not seen many that were in place more than a season or two. I hope some people will show up here and prove me wrong!
posted by Patapsco Mike at 6:35 PM on December 10, 2013

When we setup a fish cam at the Minnesota State Fair, we rigged a Marcum underwater camera to a USB capture device and streamed that through Justin.tv. Not remotely out of the box, but it wasn't too much work.
posted by advicepig at 6:43 PM on December 10, 2013

i don't think wifi works underwater, you're going to want something cabled

And to add to this point, since the camera will be in salt water, the camera really needs to be cabled. The reason is that saltwater is highly conductive, which means that it will disperse the signal and attenuate the wave. WiFi waves (2.4 Ghz) can go through about an inch of saltwater before dispersing.

I suppose you could have the camera cabled to some sort of wireless transmitter that is stationed out of the water, and then have that connected to your home wifi network. Maybe something here would do the trick.
posted by Tanizaki at 6:46 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Your probably going to need power too, so full wireless isn't going to work. How close to the camera will you you have power? Can you have a computer there too?
posted by advicepig at 6:49 PM on December 10, 2013

Obviously not a pre-made solution, but this could be done pretty easily for under $100 with an ethernet webcam, a waterproof box and power-over-ethernet...
posted by mrrisotto at 8:02 PM on December 10, 2013

Here are some fantastic cameras used in ROV operations. You'd have to integrate (engineer) them into an existing system, but let me tell you, they kick ass. The cameras would require a tether for live operations.
posted by oceanjesse at 6:33 AM on December 11, 2013