Sea&Sea Housing for D200

Hello,

Just got confirmation from Sea&Sea that they plan to release new Housing for D200 in summer time.

==================================================

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your inquiry. Thank you very much for using SEA&SEA

products.

Yes, we are planning to release a housing for Nikon D200. It will be

around summer, but the date is not sure.

Best Regards,

***********************

SEA&SEA Products Ltd.

International Sales Division

http://www.seaandsea.jp

Phone:+48-256-2248

Fax: +48-259-4351

***********************

Pitty the dam buggers cant get around to making up some zoom rings for

sigma 10-20mm

tokina 12-24mm

Come on sea & sea get your fingers out and submit to demand.

I WANT THEM

regards

craig

I agre Craig, I also want a zoom ring for the Sigma 10-20

now there are two of us, perhaps now they will listen :-)

Do you guys have #56140, the Focus Gear Set for 105mm in the Custom Port?

If so, you might try the focus gear on your Sigma 10-20. I haven't specifically tried it, but I expect it will work.

As one of the larger housing and underwater photography manufacturers, I am puzzled as to why they have not released a housing for the D2x.

I wonder why??????

As one of the larger housing and underwater photography manufacturers, I am puzzled as to why they have not released a housing for the D2x.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I suspect that they didn't expect the number of D2X's that have ended up under the water. Now they would be very late to the party and Seacam/Subal/Nexus have gotten a lot of market presence. If Sea and Sea had made a D2X housing that followed in the footsteps of their F100 and F5 housings I would have been very interested, as my collection of ports would be compatible. And I suppose that in the big scheme of things there's not a HUGE number of D2X's underwater even now, I think Alex once estimated it at about 150-200 that he knew of. That's not a huge market to try and get into when you consider the complexity of the engineering necessary.

As it is, I hope they get the d200 housing out sooner rather than later, I really really want one before a trip to Cocos Island this July

I wonder how many Sea & Sea housings for the Canon 1Ds have been sold at all in the past. I don't know one who bought one. Maybe Sea & Sea doesn't see a market for those high end cameras housings anymore as brands like Seacam occupied the market as Craig said.

Sea & Sea seems to spend more effort in lower end DSLR housings today (Canon 350D / Nikon D50).

Julian

Yes Julian, but that is only now. In the past they had great housings for the F100 and F5, and I know many people that had those (I did too). Their 1Ds housing was a big mistake, they made it enourmous (a big heavy box really) and it was more expensive than the Seacam for 1ds! That's why it didn't sell.

Luiz

My guess is that Sea & Sea concentrates on the cameras with larger volume due to the size of the company (targeting high volume and that just happens to be the low cost DSLRs).

I don't mean to knock Sea and Sea or any manufacturer but I just wanted to say how I have experienced the complete opposite of your fustrations this week by dealing with Aquatica. I have a housing on the way (my first) from a pro who lives nearby. Aquatica looked it over and tested it, a long with many other questions they so graciously answered, I casked about some zoom gear that has not been tested and in the product line yet and they 1st told me they can custom make it no problem, then after further conversation they are going to send a trial one for me to test on my rig.

The other thing I really like is that all my accesories will work if I get a newer housing for newer bodies (as is the case for most manuf.) I hope to keep my lenses for along time but digital bodies have a short life, the other added bonus is the true 8" Aquatica dome. Some other systems have metric converted 8" domes and are actually slightly smaller domes in the 7" and change range which usually need diopters, often Aquatica housings don't. I am sure and have heard great things about Ikelite and other company's, (and of course personal preference in regard to operating a housing comfortably) but so far after all my research in housings and my decsion to buy an Aquatica housing, I am extremely impressed with Aquatica and how service oriented and helpful they have been.

I have no problem with Photobeat preferring the Aquatica system, but please don't start baloney rumors about different radius/diameters of the domes. We have enough confusion already over the systems............

There are lots of conversations about diopters and it never crossed my mind regarding starting rumors. I am passing on information relevant to the topics (learned from people much more experienced than me) and it seems like a logical and important point since some users need diopters and some don't with same lens setups, bodies and different housings, add to it housing manufacturers overseas using the metric system..... I see no baloney in this. I learned they make a true 8" dome and I don't have to question that. In addition my focus was complementing the company and my experiences, I am sure I would be happy with many of the housings out there diopter or not. BTW I also repeated some of this in a D200 post above and said some things I learned researching Ike which happened to be positive...just so ya know.

Everyone says how big their domes are. Aquatica and Ikelite say 8" and they are 8"

Subal and Nexus have different sizes, but they are called "170" if they are 170mm, etc. You get the picture. Seacam has the superdome which is 9"

I agree that there is no confusion and no need to start more.

Cheers

James

Sometimes facts can be more confusing than marketing BS...

The size of the hemisphere of a dome port is what determines the optical properties of that port, not the measurement of the part of the sphere that the housing manufacturer actually decides to use.

Photo beat, I'm afraid you've been influenced by creative manipulation of specifications that gives no actual insight into dome performance. Each individual port is unique, but I know for a fact that many of the 170mm Japanese ports you refer to are small sections of much larger spheres that have identical optical characteristics to larger ports that don't handle as well in the water. I'm not saying this is better, just different, and not as simple as it sounds.

Nexus and Athena both build "zoom ports" that are small, 150-170mm sectors of domes LARGER than 8", but are cut down to utilize only the amount necessary for the fov of the lens. These ports have the superior optical characteristics of the larger dome, and better underwater handling due to their smaller size and less positive buoyancy.

Nexus (FEP230) & Sea & Sea (NX Fisheye) have 9" domes too

Ryan,

Excellent explanation - thank you! It's the radius of curvature of the dome that matters.

Cheers

James

@photobeat:

The diameter has nothing to do with the question if you need a dioptre or not. The point “true 8 inch†vs. somewhat “7 inch†is completely misleading in terms of dioptre questions. Dioptre requirement is, beside some other points, determined by the dome's curvature radius, not the diameter. If you have an honest interest in dome optics in terms of dioptre requirement:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/dome-theory/

By the way, what curvature radius does the Aquatica “eight inch†dome have? Is it a complete 180° hemisphere or close to it like some others?

As you are referring to Sea&Sea and pointing out small differences in size, the big Sea&Sea dome glass has over 8 inch diameter and as it is not a hemisphere, the radius is even bigger than diameter/2.

Julian

I wasn't refering to any other manuf. at all. I was just what passing on information I picked up in researching some housings, I think the pro who I talked to told me in a very simplistic way rather than be confusing, as Ryan and yourself who can quickly go over my head (and I hope many others) with the complexities of this. Thanks for the information and please ignore my similar posts on this point. Reading the theory thread I guess it is hard to get that curvature radius information for the manufacturers for comparing. When you have the dome glass the UV filter, a diopter and maybe Alex's filter... its like how much glass is too much Jeez I wish I could just get a digital back for my Nikonos V and and overunder viewfinder.

@photobeat

Yes, you are right, that's the point. Manufactures tend to describe and advertise dome glasses with diameter only. And that can be misleading if you want to compare dome glasses. As Ryan said, a smaller dome diameter is often a cut out piece from a bigger hemisphere. For example the Seacam Super dome glass has 9†diameter, but the curvature radius is more close to 5â€. Meaning the origin hemisphere it is based on has almost 10†diameter. Same way with the "somewhat 7 inch" types which are based on a bigger hemispheres too. But I don't know about the Aquatica eight inch dome glass.

Julian