Hello to all!

I am thinking about upgrading my kit from a GoPro to something more professional, I am diving 99% of the time in the Mediterranean Sea from 0 to 60 meters.

I found some interesting deals on the GH5 mk2 and the GH6, and both fits on the Easydive Leo3 I am planning on buy with two 15’000 lumens lights.

Do you have any suggestions on which one to choose, some drawbacks to be aware of, or recommended lens?

Many thanks to all!

Ciao Alessio,

first of all welcome to the forum.

I am a long time Panasonic user. Now I use a "vintage" GH5 and a GH5 MKII in Nauticam housings.

From the video point of view it is one of the most long lasting cameras I have ever seen. Except for the AF, it is still very usable. Given the incredible success of the GH4 and GH5, it seemed that Panasonic was destined to stay in the underwater market, but the failure after not introducing phase detection AF in the GH6 brought it back into oblivion. On the other hand the GH7 is still one of the best video cameras due to its completeness of features and codecs. It even records in Prores Raw internally. Unfortunately the magical moment has passed.

Returning to your question...

If you want to buy a used GH5MKII, there are many opportunities around. Complete kits with Nauticam housing. IMHO some prices are crazy but you can negotiate and I think the sellers will come to their senses when the kit stays unsold for months.

The choice of lenses and ports depends on your taste. What do you shoot? In what environments?

Regarding the Easydive housing if you search here on the forum you will see that there are practically zero results. Ask yourself a question and give yourself an answer 😉

In the father of all forums, WetPixel, there are a couple of interesting threads that summarize the pros and cons of these housings but if you do not have an old account it is not possible to read them, nor to sign up. It is abandoned to itself.

https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/63744-anyone-with-experience-with-easydive-leo3-wi-housing/

https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/66750-easydive-leo-3-wi/

Personally, even if it is an Italian housing, it never convinced me for video. At your fingertips you only have the most important functions but when I checked you couldn't have the Back button focus function. Out of the water is heavy and it is inevitably bulky: it's the price to pay for being able to load a Sony A6500 or a nikon Z8. The display could be very far from the back and you could not mount a commercial external hdmi monitor wirhout a pricy hdmi-sdi converter because by default they foresee a SDI bulkhead only. Very odd.

Regarding their lights...

They are really well made but I have never seen one around except in Italy. Again, is there a reason for this?

What do I need adjustable color temperature for? The color temperature needs to be around 5500K full stop.

They have the advantage of having adjustable light intensity via a dial and not through the damned buttons.

The shape is particular but in water they weigh 400 grams. What if I want to make them neutral independently of the float arms? Good luck.

Edited August 12Aug 12 by Davide DB
Typo

Grazie mille for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I can't access the WetPixel threads.

To answer your question: I shoot in the Mediterranean, mostly Liguria and Tuscany, from the surface to around 60 meters. My main interest is wide angle video, but I will also need to get close-up stills for some conservation projects.

On the Easydive, the reason I was considering it is that I found an appealing package deal: housing, 16" dome, external monitor, SDI converter, float arms, and two 15k lights, all together for what seemed like a fair price. On top of that I would just need to service it (as with any second hand housing, I think) and buy the GH5 II adapter.

In all the Easydive reviews (I know, a bit biased) they say all major functionalities are mapped, including the focus ones. The bulk out of the water, and underwater too, definitely gives me pause though. As for the neutral buoyancy issue with the lights, I don't see it as a major issue for now.

A few of my diving friends use Easydive, all with Sony bodies, all the Leo3 WI (the smaller housing). Some of them mentioned that past 85-90 meters their Nauticam housings started giving them trouble, have you ever experienced something similar, like stuck or unresponsive buttons?

Surely I have a lot to think about, upgrading my kit will not be cheap, neither with Easydive nor with Nauticam 😄

I try to reply below.

No. A Nauticam housing is guaranteed for 100 m and upon request there is a spring kit for 150 meters.

I took all my housings well beyond 100 meters without any problems. Only with the GH5 I had some issues with the BB focus lever which no longer worked below 80 meters. Curiously, two friends with the same housing had the same problem as well.

We noticed that Nauticam designs housings for 100 meters, but then they do not test them individually, and every now and then some spring does not work.

Nauticam wanted us to send the housings to HK for service and possibly install the 150 meter kit for a significant cost. We got very angry because if the housing is guaranteed for 100 meters it must work full stop.

Holy Pietro Cremone intervened and replaced under warranty the springs of the BBFocus lever and other buttons.

However, we are talking about rare problems, and the Italian distributor is really reliable and very kind.

Regarding the kit for sale.

Are you talking about a kit in Rome with the BlackMagic video assist monitor? 😇

A 16 inch port does not exist I think. Maybe 16 cm/160 mm.

I see that they have ports of 9/12/16/24 cm. Most of them look like domes. I doubt they work well with rectilinear wide angle lenses, and if you shoot video, I do not think you will use an 8mm fisheye. It might be fine for a static frontal shot with the subject in the center, but panning or side tracking shots cause seasickness.

Which lens do you plan to use? We are spending a lot of money so the combination lens/port must give you the best results.

Curious about these ports, I played a bit with their automatic lens/port combination choice feature, and based on my experience and the knowledge base here on the forum, there are several things that do not add up for me. Too many combinations are accepted as good.

According to them, a 7-14mm or an 8-18mm extreme rectilinear lenses can be used interchangeably with 160 and 125mm ports using the same extension ring. Even if not recommended, they also suggest 95mm ports 🤔

In FF terms, we are talking about a 14-28 and a 16-35mm. Nauticam recommends a 6"/150mm acrylic port for the 7-14mm and a 180mm glass port for the 8-18mm.

Our FF friends are forced to use a 230mm or hold their nose with a 180mm.

Yet if I change housing and choose FF Sony A1 and the 16-35mm, it suggests 160mm and 125mm ports to me. There is something I am missing. Maybe @Chris Ross can help me.

https://www.easydive.it/en/accessories/ports/cristal-glass

Regarding the monitor, a SDI monitor is perhaps perfect for a professional perhaps, but with an SDI output it has no way to mount any of the most common monitors currently on the market.

In short, a housing like this is difficult to resell except to another lover of the brand and only in Italy.

Yes, exactly, it's the kit in Rome with the BlackMagic Video Assist. 😊 The kit has the 16cm dome port.

At two-thirds of the asking price, do you think it's worth it? I'm still on the fence about committing to the bulky Easydive versus going with a second hand Nauticam. (Do you happen to know someone selling it perhaps? 😄) That actually ties into my other question: will a Nauticam housing for the GH5 family still be sellable in 5 years?

For lenses I was looking at either the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 or the Olympus 7-14mm f2.8. Yes, it does seem odd that they claim basically every lens works with every dome, that was one of the things that made me a bit suspicious too.

Thanks again for taking the time to break all this down.

1 hour ago, Alessio Peluso said:

That actually ties into my other question: will a Nauticam housing for the GH5 family still be sellable in 5 years?

Look, right now a GH5 kit is an expensive doorstop. This is why I tell you that you can negotiate a great price on the ones for sale.

Lenses and ports instead keep their price quite well.

This is the reason why the dream of a universal housing attracts so many people.

If I were you I would look for a used GH6/7 housing. There is a Spanish one for sale for a long time. Ah my budget!!!

1 hour ago, Alessio Peluso said:

For lenses I was looking at either the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 or the Olympus 7-14mm f2.8. Yes, it does seem odd that they claim basically every lens works with every dome, that was one of the things that made me a bit suspicious too.

For Nauticam the 12-35mm and the cheaper Lumix 7-14mm both use the 6 inch 15cm polycarbonate port. I sold the 7-14 and I have the rest. I can assure you that edge quality is perfect even at F5.6 for the 12-35mm while for the 7mm at F8. I rarely used it at 7mm for moving shots. The perspective is too strange.

The Olympus 7-14mm F2.8 is bulky and more expensive. IMHO it doesn't worth.

So let us say that the 16 cm Easydive port is ok if placed correctly. My doubt is that from the photos they look like ports with an almost perfect portion of a hemisphere of the same diameter as the port while my 6" dome is a portion of a much larger sphere.

Regarding the monitor. I repeat that SDI is a solution seen only on Easydive and cinema housings. But the whole world uses M16 and M24 bulkheads. Impossible to buy a normal monitor and mount it on that housing without modifying it. From the photos I also see that they use what looks like a Fisher connector similar to those used by rebreather monitors. A unique solution in the world. By the way one of the most problematic connectors for maintenance.

The BlackMagic Assist 5 inch is the smallest of the series and seems to have only 300 Nits of brightness. Ok for deep dives but absolutely insufficient for shallow dives just a few meters deep even in the Mediterranean. For my old 500 nits old monitor, fora project in few metersof water I had to build a full sunshade 20 cm long. Now I have a Weefine WED-5 Pro that can be seen even without a sunshade. The new generation of displays starts from 1000 Nits.

I think the housing for that monitor is also a custom Easydive. I am not aware of any commercial product for that monitor. Let alone with a Fisher connection.

14 hours ago, Davide DB said:

I try to reply below.

No. A Nauticam housing is guaranteed for 100 m and upon request there is a spring kit for 150 meters.

I took all my housings well beyond 100 meters without any problems. Only with the GH5 I had some issues with the BB focus lever which no longer worked below 80 meters. Curiously, two friends with the same housing had the same problem as well.

We noticed that Nauticam designs housings for 100 meters, but then they do not test them individually, and every now and then some spring does not work.

Nauticam wanted us to send the housings to HK for service and possibly install the 150 meter kit for a significant cost. We got very angry because if the housing is guaranteed for 100 meters it must work full stop.

Holy Pietro Cremone intervened and replaced under warranty the springs of the BBFocus lever and other buttons.

However, we are talking about rare problems, and the Italian distributor is really reliable and very kind.

Regarding the kit for sale.

Are you talking about a kit in Rome with the BlackMagic video assist monitor? 😇

A 16 inch port does not exist I think. Maybe 16 cm/160 mm.

I see that they have ports of 9/12/16/24 cm. Most of them look like domes. I doubt they work well with rectilinear wide angle lenses, and if you shoot video, I do not think you will use an 8mm fisheye. It might be fine for a static frontal shot with the subject in the center, but panning or side tracking shots cause seasickness.

Which lens do you plan to use? We are spending a lot of money so the combination lens/port must give you the best results.

Curious about these ports, I played a bit with their automatic lens/port combination choice feature, and based on my experience and the knowledge base here on the forum, there are several things that do not add up for me. Too many combinations are accepted as good.

According to them, a 7-14mm or an 8-18mm extreme rectilinear lenses can be used interchangeably with 160 and 125mm ports using the same extension ring. Even if not recommended, they also suggest 95mm ports 🤔

In FF terms, we are talking about a 14-28 and a 16-35mm. Nauticam recommends a 6"/150mm acrylic port for the 7-14mm and a 180mm glass port for the 8-18mm.

Our FF friends are forced to use a 230mm or hold their nose with a 180mm.

Yet if I change housing and choose FF Sony A1 and the 16-35mm, it suggests 160mm and 125mm ports to me. There is something I am missing. Maybe @Chris Ross can help me.

https://www.easydive.it/en/accessories/ports/cristal-glass

Regarding the monitor, a SDI monitor is perhaps perfect for a professional perhaps, but with an SDI output it has no way to mount any of the most common monitors currently on the market.

In short, a housing like this is difficult to resell except to another lover of the brand and only in Italy.

165mm port seems a bit small for 7mm lens, I know that I used the Panasonic 7-14 a little in a Zen 170mm dome - there were two issues with it, first to prevent vignetting the entrance pupil was placed a bit forward of the centre of curvature which is down in side the extension it was also established that at least for stills a 170mm dome was a little small at 7mm focal length. I expect though that video it will be less critical, it's hard to pixel peep the corners in a moving image. The 12-35 will be much more forgiving.

As for extensions, the 7-14 f4, 7-14 f2.8 and 8-18 all use different extensions with the 180mm dome in Nauticam,

The Nauticam 180mm dome has the same problem, anything wider than 8mm (for m43 - 16mm FF equivalent) requires you to place the entrance pupil forward of the optimal point to stop vignetting.

For a wider lens I would suggest either the Panasonic 8-18mm or the Olympus 8-25mm f4. Be aware that the 7-14mm f2.8, 8-18 and 8-25 all require you to assemble the camera into the housing then mount the lens then mount the extension/ports as they will not fit through the n85 port ID. This is where Isotta is a better option for m43 as it uses a 102mm port system for m43 and these lenses fit through and can be installed from the back of the housing. Unfortunately they only do a GH5 housing and only have 16mm bulkheads. You also don't need the very pricey N85-N120 adapters.