Make Underwater Camera

- Do they make underwater camera housings for vintage cameras?
Hi, I recently learned to Scuba Dive, and have had an ongoing interest in photography. My favorite camera is a Pentax K1000 from around 1972 and I was wondering if they ever made underwater housings for them that could handle the pressure of at least 60 ft. or more of water? And also where I mighty possibly find one. Thanks!

A The flexible bag type of housing as suggested won't be suitable for scuba depths. Sorry to say but its unlikely you'll find a rigid housing for that model unless you can find someone getting rid of one on the Wetpixel forum; http://www.wetpixel.com/forums/ Do you want DSLR or compact? There will be quite a price difference!! Cameras Underwater have a good range of compacts & housing packages; http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/d_stills/packages.html The trouble with compacts is that the shutter lag time can be rather slow and the IQ at higher ISO's tend to be worse than DSLR's. In either case you'll need an external flash. Compact cameras built in flash tends to cause backscatter (white dots in the image) because its on axis. External flash on an arm avoids this problem. Rigid housings are made for specific camera models (so the buttons line up with the control buttons outside) and in addition you'll need different ports to accommodate different lenses - this is why the price mounts up with DLSR's!! The housing for a DSLR body usually costs as much as the camera! I have a Nikon D100, Sea & Sea housing, compact flat port, dome port and dual Sea & Sea 110 strobes - total cost (not including camera) was around £4000 when new. You will find that you get acceptable results with a compact provided you shoot close (a good rule of thumb anyway for underwater photography, to reduce the water column). A good book to read up on is this one; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Underwater-Photographer-MARTIN-EDGE/dp/0240521641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277571272&sr=8-1

- Whats the best way to rig an underwater camera viewfinder and controls?
Im using a watertight army surplus ammo case with a plexiglass window put in as an underwater camera housing to make underwater videos. Anybody reccomend a good camera for under 500 with the ability to plug in a wired or Lanc controller? any other suggestions for this project?

A I don't specifically know that. Both adorama.com and bhphoto.com carry quite a bit of underwater housings and equipment. You might want to check their sites for a compatible combination.