Peruse these pieces of diving history in our photo gallery while they wait for their moment to shine in our museum. They are destined to go on display in the real world, but you can view them now.
The Austrian made Akustische housing for Leica If, IIf, and IIIf cameras was designed with input from Austrian underwater photographer and explorer Hans Hass.
Bolex-Paillard introduced the Swiss make housing for Bolex 16mm motion picture cameras.
La Spirotechnique who worked closely with Jacques-Yves Cousteau designed this camera.
When the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze scuba unit went into production in 1865 divers were walking on the sea floor and not using fins, which were introduced in the following century.
Al Giddings manufactured this camera for Nikon and Canon cameras.
This vintage housing is of unknown origin and houses the Graflex Series-C reflex camera.
In 1949 Hans Hass filmed his classic movie Under the Red Sea with this camera.
French naturalist Louis Boutan’s experiments in underwater photography lead to the publication of his first book on the subject in 1900.
The majority of Boutan’s experiments, which indentified most of the major problems of underwater picture making, were done in the 1890’s at the Arago Marine Laboratory at Banyuls-sur-Mer, on France’s Mediterranean coast.
Belgian engineer Jean Guy Marie Josef de Wouters d’Oplinter designed the La Spirotechnique Calypso Phot.
This was the first model of Aqua Lung regulator to be imported into the USA from France, and arrived in 1948.
Le Roy French, owner of Bamboo Reef dive shop, designed this hosing in the mid 1960's.
Following the popularity of the French Calypso Phot, the Japanese camera manufacturer, Nikon, purchased the rights to produce the camera under the name Nikonos.
Dimitri Rebikoff joined Club Alpin Sous Marin in the late 1940’s and began building underwater housing and developing underwater lighting systems.
German engineer Richard Weiss (with input from Hans Hass for whom the housing was named) designed the Rolleimarin housing for Franke & Heudecke, Fabrik Photographischer Prazisions-Apparate.
In the early 1860’s in Espallion, France, Benoit Rouquayrol developed a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) for rescuing trapped miners.
Herb Sampson applied for a patent on his motion picture camera housing.
The Sea Net Company was located in Los Angeles, California and during the 1940’s and 1950’s was an early manufacturer of free diving and spear fishing equipment.
This single hose, two-stage, demand regulator was manufactured and marketed by E.R. Cross from 1948 to 1953.
French underwater photographer Henry Broussard designed the Tarzan housing for the French Foca camera.
Under The Red Sea was Hass’s second English language book.
Lloyd Bridges of the hit TV show Sea Hunt played Vic Powers in this movie that was produced by Ivan Tors.
New York manufacturers Wollman & Schmidt built housings that incorporated a cam lock system for sealing the rear cover.