MBARI’s mission is to advance marine science and technology to understand the changing ocean and disseminate this knowledge to the community at large. Partnering with a well-established commercial vendor helps MBARI transfer technology innovations to the global market. In October 2019, MBARI enlisted DeepSea Power & Light to develop the new underwater 4K camera. DeepSea Power & Light has extensive experience with glass camera domes at pressure and understood the challenges for developing a camera for MBARI’s deep-diving ROVs.

“The creation of a new deep-ocean video camera system of the highest quality has significant technical challenges—and risk!” said Chaffey.

Designing a deep-water 4K camera required careful consideration about operating under extreme conditions—the deep sea is an unforgiving environment that is cold and under crushing pressure. Since MBARI’s ROVs conduct hundreds of dives each year, reliability was also important.

Achieving the performance goals for the camera required a large, precision optical dome port that was larger than any commercial housing available for these depths at the time. The DeepSea Power & Light team had the expertise and tools for simulation, manufacturing, and validation needed to successfully produce a novel deep-water housing.

DeepSea Power & Light engaged Fathom Imaging to contribute the optical design, which was critical to realizing the full capabilities of the 4K format. To achieve high-resolution and low-distortion image targets across the camera’s telephoto and focal range, Fathom Imaging was tasked with the design of a bespoke optical adapter.

“Each partner’s area of specialization addressed the three major technical challenges: packaging the camera, designing the necessary optical lenses, and designing the deep-sea pressure housing and glass dome systems,” explained Chaffey.

Over the last two years, the camera’s ambitious design took shape. The result of this collaboration is the MxD SeaCam—a first-of-its-kind 4K underwater imaging system.

The MxD SeaCam camera was first deployed on MBARI’s ROV Ventana for a series of test dives in the fall of 2021. The camera is now in active use for science operations on MBARI’s other ROV, the Doc Ricketts. The first few expeditions utilizing the MxD SeaCam have already proven rewarding, providing high-quality video to fuel MBARI’s research.

“4K gives us much higher resolution for studying the structure of the animals we investigate, particularly the transparent species,” said MBARI Senior Scientist Bruce Robison, who studies life in the midwater. Many of the creatures that live in this vast expanse of water deep beneath the surface and far above the seafloor are notoriously difficult to film. “4K lets us see the fine details of how these animals are put together and how all the individual parts work, individually and together.”

During an expedition in November, Robison and his team had the fortunate opportunity to record the rarely seen giant phantom jelly (Stygiomedusa gigantea) in 4K. This stunning species is more than one meter (about three feet) across and trails oral arms that are 10 meters (33 feet) long. It is too large to collect, so researchers depend on video observations to study its natural history, behavior, and ecology.