ROV Design 101 - Cameras

10 Tips for seeing FROM the Abyss

1. Cameras are the most important sensor on the ROV, select with care.
2. Bandwidth may limit the available options for tethers/telemetry.
3. For copper tethers <300m, PAL/NTSC/Compressed HD, <3 cameras.
4. Fiber tethers can handle any model, and lots of them, but some to consider are HD IP, HDSDI, 4k, 8k, GigiE, and other low/no compression/low latency. Tether length is no longer a problem, even 10km or more.
5. Camera to screen latency should be less than 200 milliseconds for general use, and less than 100milliseconds for manipulator work or precision flying.
6. Ambient light is best, but there isn't much, so light sensitivity is important.
7. ROV lights should be placed as far from the camera as possible.
8. Image enhancement software and photogrammetry can be useful tools, so use good quality cameras and low compression where possible.
9. Record everything, all the time, or you'll miss valuable data/big fish.
10. Don't stress about color temperature, diffusion, etc. The ocean is a hard place to film.

The camera in the photo is one we made custom in 2012 for a 2,400m dive in the Mediterranean, with a Sony HD "block camera" and HDSDI converter. The window is sapphire and the housing stainless steel.