Nauticam USB-C bulkhead mini review

[Chris Ross]

Before my most recent trip last year I purchased the Nauticam USB-C bulkhead for my OM-1 housing which uses the M24 bulkhead on the housing.  The setup consists of an M16 bulkhead and a specific M24-M16 adapter that is machined so that the right angle USB plug will fit through.

 

In summary it works as advertised, I can charge the camera without breaking the vacuum and also download images.  Download is a little slow compared to using a card reader it seems the limit is set by the camera interface. I achieved around 28 Mb/sec, while I can achieve 150 Mb/sec with my card reader.  Battery charging seems to be about the same as plugging the camera directly into a charger.

 

I got the bulkhead as I shoot the Canon 8-15 with metabones adapter, which requires placing the camera in the housing then assembling the lens from the front placing the dome over the installed lens.  This takes some time to pull apart and re-assemble, so being able to charge and download without opening is one less thing I need to deal with each evening after diving. 

 

Here is a couple of photos of the bulkhead installed, it seems to be a high quality cable. 

 

 

and externally the bulkhead uses a sealed cap similar to a vacuum valve to protect the USB terminal inside.  It is sealed so holds a vacuum if the cap is removed.

 

Overall I'm happy with it as it does what it's meant to do.

 

 

 

[Floris Bennema]

Sounds great, I am jealous.

 

My Olympus M5 III has a micro USB connector so I considered to buy the bulkhead and add a USB-C to mini USB connector. But I gave up, likely it will to take to much space with the chance that the cable will get squezed when closing the back cover. Brr, an extra chace of leakage. 

 

Nauticam, please make a mini USB bulkhead.

[Chris Ross]

19 minutes ago, Floris Bennema said:

Sounds great, I am jealous.

 

My Olympus M5 III has a micro USB connector so I considered to buy the bulkhead and add a USB-C to mini USB connector. But I gave up, likely it will to take to much space with the chance that the cable will get squezed when closing the back cover. Brr, an extra chace of leakage. 

 

Nauticam, please make a mini USB bulkhead.

You could likely get one from Dive and See, but they are quite expensive.  Assume you have confirmed it will charge through the USB connection.  I think my EM-1 MkII wouldn't do charge via USB.

[Floris Bennema]

Thanks for the information, I'll think about the Dive and Sea one, double price...

And yes, the EM5 III will charge once it is switched of.

[Nemrod]

I got one of these and stupidly I did not realize that it was a USB-C and my A6400 is a mini-USB. The NA6400 can use a booster battery pack underneath the camera and I can stuff the wiring and adapter below the camera in place of the booster pack. The booster pack keeps my camera running for often a full four long dives. This is with the LCD screen running full time and using the onboard flash for sync. I do have a UWT board trigger but it just never really worked reliably, actually not very well at all, thus I use the camera flash for syncing my strobes. Which of course eats battery thus my desire to have an alternative means of charging my camera battery without opening the housing. I have two booster packs and they are going strong still so I guess I am okay for the time being. 

 

 

Edited Friday at 04:37 AM by Nemrod

[Sokrates]

I got this and must say its one of the best bits of kit. Specially with mirrorless cameras (i have A7RV) using so much battery, i can comfortably charge from power bank on boat.

Only issue i have is download speed. Maybe i have a sunday version of the cable or something.

When i plug my laptop into the port, download is very slow. When i take out camera and plug camera directly to laptop with same cable as previously, speeds are 4-6x.

Edited Friday at 07:15 AM by Sokrates

[Dave_Hicks]

Fortunately I don't feel the need for this accessory.

 

I have not found battery life to be an issue with the Nikon Z8.  Battery life was called out often in the early reviews and spec crawls when it first came out so it was an initial concern. But it has been a non issue so far. I've done dozens of 3-4 dive days with 400-600 shots on one battery. I honestly don't even pay attention to the battery gauge most of the time unless I am going in to a high action environment like sharks or sealions.

 

Does this sound consistent with other Z8 shooters?

[JohnD]

6 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Fortunately I don't feel the need for this accessory.

 

I have not found battery life to be an issue with the Nikon Z8.  Battery life was called out often in the early reviews and spec crawls when it first came out so it was an initial concern. But it has been a non issue so far. I've done dozens of 3-4 dive days with 400-600 shots on one battery. I honestly don't even pay attention to the battery gauge most of the time unless I am going in to a high action environment like sharks or sealions.

 

Does this sound consistent with other Z8 shooters?

Well, my Z8 has not been in the water yet, so cannot answer your question, yet, but I did purchase the USB bulkhead.  There are times in the past when I would have liked to do a battery change but was on a boat or a beach where it just seemed unwise to open the housing due to water, salt spray, blowing sand, etc.  I am often diving from small boats filled with dripping wet divers and all kinds of wet gear getting moved around.  Other times I want to leave the camera soaking between dives or overnight and have to dry it before opening the housing for a battery change.  I have a waterproof power brick I take on dive trips anyway for other purposes so the relatively inexpensive bulkhead seems like a good addition to me.

 

Certainly if I am doing lens/port changes anyway, it won't matter.  Not at all a necessary accessory for most of us, but potentially handy.

 

[humu9679]

@Chris Ross That looks great. A cool bit of kit.

[crowie]

I’ve had one of these for about 9 months and now go an entire dive trip without opening my housing.

[tank]

"It is sealed so holds a vacuum if the cap is removed."

 

Does this mean that if ever the o-ring of the cap fails or the cap is not put back correctly, the housing will not flood? Will it fry the camera by shorting the usbc port?

Looks like a very useful accessory, but I'm wary of another failure point.

[Sokrates]

2 hours ago, tank said:

Does this mean that if ever the o-ring of the cap fails or the cap is not put back correctly, the housing will not flood? Will it fry the camera by shorting the usbc port?

Housing will not flood.

USB-C port will short atleast Canon R5, dont ask how i know 😉

[TimG]

1 hour ago, Sokrates said:

Housing will not flood.

USB-C port will short atleast Canon R5, dont ask how i know 😉

Ouch

[Chris Ross]

5 hours ago, tank said:

"It is sealed so holds a vacuum if the cap is removed."

 

Does this mean that if ever the o-ring of the cap fails or the cap is not put back correctly, the housing will not flood? Will it fry the camera by shorting the usbc port?

Looks like a very useful accessory, but I'm wary of another failure point.

Yes it means it will short the connections.  Like the vacuum valve cap you should maintain this o-ring , occasionally a little bit of grease and  check for contamination.

[Chris Ross]

On 3/8/2025 at 1:13 AM, JohnD said:

  I have a waterproof power brick I take on dive trips anyway for other purposes so the relatively inexpensive bulkhead seems like a good addition to me.

 

 

I should add that the bulkhead, in common with any sort of cable bulkhead is waterproof because of the o-ring in the cap.  This one is vacuum tight meaning that water won't get inside but the salt water can short out the connections in the plug and will also destroy the terminals by corrosion.  So I wouldn't be opening the cap unless there is a dry area where you can charge without risk of salt water dropping on things. 

[tank]

6 hours ago, Sokrates said:

Housing will not flood.

USB-C port will short atleast Canon R5, dont ask how i know 😉

 

I'm using an R5 as well. Not too happy with the battery life, so this will be a very welcome addition 🙂 Shorting the camera by the usbc port I guess will still be a lot cheaper repair vs flooding the camera 🥲

 

3 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

Yes it means it will short the connections.  Like the vacuum valve cap you should maintain this o-ring , occasionally a little bit of grease and  check for contamination.

 

If I'm not mistaken, if you flood the vacuum valve, it's ok, as long as you don't release the vacuum? I don't use other  bulkheads as well, so I don't know exactly how it works. Wouldn't this negate the purpose of the vacuum? where you'd just need to trust that you greased and installed the oring and cap properly without a way to check it i.e. vacuum? or is maintaining the bulkhead cap relatively risk free vs the housing oring?

Edited 19 hours ago by tank

[Chris Ross]

4 minutes ago, tank said:

 

I'm using an R5 as well. Not too happy with the battery life, so this will be a very welcome addition 🙂 Shorting the camera by the usbc port I guess will still be a lot cheaper repair vs flooding the camera 🥲

 

 

If I'm not mistaken, if you flood the vacuum valve, it's ok, as long as you don't release the vacuum? I don't use other  bulkheads as well, so I don't know exactly how it works. Wouldn't this negate the purpose of the vacuum? where you'd just need to trust that you greased and installed the oring and cap properly without a way to check it i.e. vacuum? or is maintaining the bulkhead cap relatively risk free vs the housing oring?

Not exactly,  the o-ring in the cap is your primary protection.  The press button vacuum valves can be pushed in by water pressure if you are deep enough, maybe 30m deep or more.  The old style Nauticam valve that you screwed in to seal I don't think will leak but the valve will have water inside which will get into the housing when you release the vacuum. 

 

On the topic of bulkheads they are vacuum sealed  and need to be tight against a 200 mBar differential pressure.  Are they good enough to be tight against a 3 bar differential at 30m depth?  Maybe? - maybe not?  The actual USB connector is not resistant to salt water corrosion. 

 

The o-ring on the cap works by screwing the cap on and as it lowers it tends to push away debris, if you only leave the cap off when vacuuming or releasing the vacuum, the chance of contamination is low.  I think checking the o-ring briefly before re-installing the cap is enough, you might want to add a miniscule amount of grease before a trip or once a year or something like that.   A piston style o-ring such as this needs some lubrication to be able to slide past the sealing surface cleanly.  Many people probably get away with not being too careful - but it certainly is a risk that can be mitigated with a little care.

 

On the topic of shorting - best avoided of course.  Just blow or wipe away any water droplets before you open the cap.  When charging find somewhere clean to keep the cap, a ziplock if you are on a boat and somewhere dry to leave the housing.  Don’t leave the housing somewhere where it can be splashed while charging it.  Opening it to charge while on a Zodiac or similar open boat would be asking for trouble.

[tank]

I think I overcomplicated the last post/comment 😬

 

Basically, I'm afraid that I'll short out the camera because I replaced/maintained the cap of the bulkhead incorrectly, without having the benefit of checking the installation of the cap with the vacuum. Is it difficult to flood the bulkhead cap? Afraid of flooding it, not really splashes, etc.

Sorry for the many questions. Really interested in purchasing this if my fears/concerns are unfounded 😁

[Chris Ross]

31 minutes ago, tank said:

I think I overcomplicated the last post/comment 😬

 

Basically, I'm afraid that I'll short out the camera because I replaced/maintained the cap of the bulkhead incorrectly, without having the benefit of checking the installation of the cap with the vacuum. Is it difficult to flood the bulkhead cap? Afraid of flooding it, not really splashes, etc.

Sorry for the many questions. Really interested in purchasing this if my fears/concerns are unfounded 😁

 

I think the risk of a problem is very low, a little bit of awareness is needed is all I'm suggesting. 

 

Just be careful to dry the cap before removing, check the cap and o-rings for contamination before re-installing it.    A tiny, tiny smear of grease once or twice a year - that's it.  A blower bulb is quite useful for clearing water droplets away and moving any grit that you find. 

 

I raise this as I see people being very casual around opening their housings and can see that translating to these caps.

[Dave_Hicks]

2 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

 

On the topic of shorting - best avoided of course.  Just blow or wipe away any water droplets before you open the cap.  When charging find somewhere clean to keep the cap, a ziplock if you are on a boat and somewhere dry to leave the housing.  Don’t leave the housing somewhere where it can be splashed while charging it.  Opening it to charge while on a Zodiac or similar open boat would be asking for trouble.

[JohnD]

Although anything that provides an opening into a housing is a potential failure point, I suspect the vacuum and optical bulkheads are pretty safe.  Still, a little bit of care and caution is warranted.  I am surprised to hear a usb such as that we are discussing could short and damage a camera unless it was wet while charging.  But I don't know.

 

I would feel that removing, protecting and reinstalling the bulkhead cap is much less risky and easier to protect than opening the back of the housing.  If it is an environment where removing the USB cap is particularity risky then I would certainly worry about opening up the back of the housing.

 

For the USB, only a small area needs to be clean and dry before removal and has been mentioned, the cap can be placed in plastic baggy while off and a similar baggy can be placed over the bulkhead area while charging to minimize contamination.  I don't think it is necessary but you can also buy silicone USB-C dust plugs that would perhaps reduce the risk of a problem in the event of moisture in the cap, I suppose.

[tank]

Thank you for the inputs! I'll pick one up soon 🙂