Underwater Aquarium camera?

[korin]

Has anyone had any luck building (or purchasing at a reasonable price) a PoE camera that can remain submerged in shallow water and would be small enough to be relatively unobtrusive in a 75 gallon freshwater aquarium?

I want a "fishcam" and feel like it would look best if it were actually in the water rather than attached to the outside of the tank. I'd like it to be viewable at night and I imagine the IR would reflect off of the glass if it were outside. It would also need to be able to focus on objects that are between 3' and only a few inches away.

Any suggestions?

 

[bp2008]

Most cameras are designed to survive natural precipitation, not complete immersion in water 24/7. It might work for a few days or weeks, but the slightest leak (quite possibly around the RJ45 connector which you'd have to submerge) will eventually build up and fry the camera. You might have to find something very specialized and that would cost.

I recommend a camera outside pressed right up against the glass. Of course being so close, you'd either need to put it on a narrow end of the tank or get an extremely wide angle to see much. I've been pretty pleased with this fisheye, though it is absolutely not waterproof, not even outdoor-rated actually.




You can get inexpensive IR illuminators to project light in from the sides and/or top if you want, and just turn off the camera's built-in IR.

I wonder if fish would be affected by IR at all.

For focusing up close, a varifocal lens would be ideal, though most fixed-focus cameras can be refocused if you break the glue on the lens threads. If you're lucky you won't need to refocus anyway.