Sea & Sea D60 housing

I am excited!

I have to get ULCS ball adapters and a new case that will hold this beast.

It's turning out to be more expensive than I had originally imagined.

This means that my UK Germany D30/60 housing is FOR SALE, with ULCS base tray and handles, pre-plucked rolling pelican case, 6" dome port, 2 flat ports (50mm and 100mm macro), port extender for 16-35mm lens, and zoom gear for 16-35 lens. I'll figure out a price and post it in the classifieds section.

Eric,

You better be....

Nice housing:) I use a Pelican 1650 to transport 3 strobes, 3 lens port NX standard, NX compact dome port and fisheye domeport plus all the accessories. I also use the case as a rinse bucket

So Eric,

What made you switch to this one?

Mike

To be honest, I'm not really sure. I really like the UK Germany Housing. Some of it had to do with the fact that I usually deal directly with Uwe at UK Germany, which is typically slower than dealing with the North American distributor.

I hopefully can reuse the ports, etc., if/when I upgrade again to whatever is next out there.

Nice housing:)  I use a Pelican 1650 to transport 3 strobes, 3 lens port NX standard, NX compact dome port and fisheye domeport plus all the accessories.  I also use the case as a rinse bucket

Allan -

Do you have pick n' pluck foam, or the padded dividers?

It looks like I'll have to pick one of them up.

Eric,

I have the padded divider set. I figured I'm better off with a padded divider set especially if you're carrying a lot of equipment.

The 1650 weighs 27 pounds. Just thought you might want to know that. It's not the lightest way to travel.

yeah. it's heavy! any other suggestions out there?

I suppose a packed, heavy-duty cooler might be better. It seems to be the way all the hawaiians I know travel. I used the 1610 for the UK Germany setup, which was 22 lbs. It was heavy, but manageable...

Or just take up knitting and forget the whole thing...not!

One of the claimed advantages of the new Storm cases is they are lighter than the Pelican equivalents. I bought the Storm 2720 and as best I can tell it is 2-3 pounds lighter than the Pelican of the same size. Storm cases come in sizes that are close matches to Pelican. Their yellow isn't as purty, though. I've tried the UK cases, too, but they aren't really lighter. You can always get a smaller case, but it's a balancing act between too small and too heavy.

Zarges makes aluminum cases that are genuinely lighter than the alternatives. The downside is they are pricey, don't have wheels, and will dent easily. The dents are unsightly but otherwise no problem for me.

I solve the "no wheels" problem by using a Porter case as a carry-on. It "unfolds" to produce a dolly capable of holding 200 pounds. I then use a Zarges (40859, huge, 14 pounds!) for my bulky stuff and the smaller Storm (2720, 17 pounds wheels removed) for my heavy batteries and chargers. These two bags weigh a combined 31 pounds vs 54 pounds for 2 Pelican 1650's. The wheel weight on a case is substantial and the pick'n'pluck is too. I try to use bubble pack and my wetsuits to reduce the foam weight.

You may not need such extremes, but my video lights alone weigh over 40 pounds. I'm hoping to pack my housed D100 in the Porter case when it finally arrives.

I think the Pelicans are nice cases, just too heavy.

I vote for more pics of the housing please.

Craig,

Are you getting the Sea and Sea housing for your D100?

Cheers

James

I second the vote for more pics of the housing.

As requested:

One thing that I find really neat about this housing (so far) is that the '*' button is accessible with your thumb (via lever) when you are grasping the right handle with index finger on the shutter lever. Since most D60 users switch between having focus on the shutter and on the '*' button, depending on the situation, it's great to be able to hit both of the buttons from the same hand position.

I used to have to grasp the UK Germany housing itself (it's small enough to do that) to reach both at the same time. It wasn't a big deal, but I felt bad not using the right handle.

The part of the shutter release that hits the shutter button is extremely thin, and will probably have to be replaced with something fatter.

James,

I'm in line on the first batch of Nexus housings. I leave in a week for Cocos. If it doesn't arrive, I'll cancel and wait until the next trip. At that point I'll reconsider the S2 as there will more options at that time. I haven't considered the Sea 'N Sea since this is the first I've really seen of it.

Eric,

I sure have a big case of dome envy. Who's that in the reflection? He sure looks pale. Does this use a captured O ring or a compression one? It has a shape that looks compatible with a captured O ring.

Craig,

Did you win the lottery? :-)

Cheers

James

I sure have a big case of dome envy.  Who's that in the reflection?  He sure looks pale.  Does this use a captured O ring or a compression one?  It has a shape that looks compatible with a captured O ring.

Who you calling pale?!

It looks like captured O ring, but I can't be sure.

The o-ring on the Dx3060 and DX100 is compression o-ring.

Pale? I can't even see a head!

No lottery, but I joined Dell in 1987. Sometimes timing is everything.

All the still housings seem to use compression O rings, but all the video housings are captured. L&M's D100 is captured, but it is L&M. Aquatica's 5000 housing is captured. Never ever had a problem with those.