Has any one yet tried this camera with any lens in the nose? I am not yet certain which will fit but I’d be interested in any perceptions.
Hi @ogopogo, welcome to the forum 
This isn’t something that I’ve tried, but you’re welcome to download the CAD model for our 4" enclosure and check the fit for yourself with models of the camera + any lenses you’re interested in
Note that the optical centre of the camera+lens should be as close as possible to the focal point of the dome, to minimise visual distortion.
I have tje PI HQ camera installed and am awaiting delivery of the lens. It will be a bit before I am ready for sea. I started this project a couple of years back but had to set it aside for other priorities. I am back to it now as a very amateur hobbyist and will send pics as soon as I can enable this portion of the ROV. Thanks for your suggestion.
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Your results may be different than mine, but I tried using the HQ camera underwater and was a bit disappointed in the results. My use case is slightly different than what most people on these forums are doing – my cameras sit on the bottom, not mounted on a ROV, so you might get different results from that as well. I am also comparing it to the GoPro which I do find to have a much better quality overall, so perhaps I’m spoiled. But here are two video stills from a GoPro and from the HQ camera:
GoPro:
HQ Camera:
The HQ Camera was sitting about 2-3 ft to the right of the GoPro camera. The main rocks visible in the HQ camera image (and in the center right of the GoPro image) I’d estimate are about 8-10 ft in front of both cameras. The red box in this image shows roughly what is visible through the HQ camera as seen from the GoPro – the GoPro has a much wider depth of field.
The white triangles in the HQ camera image are bubbles that are stuck on the front of the window the HQ camera is showing through. Not sure why they are triangular - perhaps something to do with the sensor pixels? I do get bubbles on the GoPro window from time to time, but they are round, not triangular.
Overall the HQ camera doesn’t seem to compensate for the loss of reds underwater as well as the GoPro does, so the colors tend heavily to the cyan. And as you can see the HQ camera doesn’t have quite as dark blacks as the GoPro. Perhaps these can be compensated for via settings for the HQ camera that I haven’t played around with.
—Lawrence
Many thanks for your info Lawrence. It is my intention to use the HQ in the nose for guidance and attach my go pro session 5 externally if i can find a suitable case for it. It will be a bit yet before I am done with the build but hope to be able to check some “almost” real world photos with both before my brain gets too old to finish the software installation. I almost forgot to ask which lens you were using on the HQ?