Why prices are doubled and tripled Slr housings?

It surprise me that specially from Europe prices are doubled and tripled in 5 years maybe I'm stupid but the last housings F70/80 series from Subal cost about 1100. eu now you paid about 3200 eu for the D70/80 not only Subal but almost brands running crazy I think.

I'm not a manufacture but I'd wager that it is because of a combination of a few things.

First look at the number of camera models out there that people are using underwater. At any one time they might have housings for as many as 4 canons, 4 nikons, 1 fuji, 2 olympus and 1 sony body.

This problem is compouned by the fact that in the digital age, each body is only in production for 1-2 years.

Now look back 10 years. Manufactures only supported 3-4 bodies and each body was in production for up to 5 years.

How does this translate into cost for the manufacturer. They must design and develop and tool for a bunch of different housings that will only be in production for a very short time. A specific model may only sell 100 units.

Then why are american housings so cheap? Well two reasons, first the american manufacturer, Ikelite, uses the same housing for every camera, they just drill the holes for the buttons in different spots. This strategy greatly reduces development costs.

And then there is that the US dollar is plummiting relative to the euro. This makes american products very cheap in europe, and european products very expensive in the US.

All true; but why do L&M housings cost so much?

All true; but why do L&M housings cost so much?

Hi Dave,

The L&M housings are a totally different animal compared to everything else on the market. The housing controls many functions of the camera through the USB port on the camera rather than using pure mechanical controls. There's a LCD display built into the back of the housing for the ROC system and to act as the primary user interface between the camera and housing. So there is a lot of development needed by electrical engineers and programmers to get the software and circuit boards designed for that purpose. In addition to the development cost many of the components like the LCD screen and electronic boards contribute to the high price.

The D300 Titan looks like it will have 2 different models available: $3800 for the standard housing, and $4449 for the "pro" model. It is my understanding that the standard housing will not have ROC or the LCD display built into the housing. This is how they are able to lower the price for the standard housing compared to the pro.

On another note, did you use to rep for Sea and Sea, or was it Oceanic??? I think I remember meeting you on the east coast when I was a part time dive instructor at Underwater World in Horsham, PA a few years ago.

Best regards,

Jim

...................... and we'll pay the prices!!

HI, all

I would just like to put my thoughts on this thread, the price of raw materials must

have gone up, also the cameras we use are much more technical as in that we want

to use all the controls so the engineering within the housing are much more advanced

so we have to pay for that, also most of the work is manual done by small companies

who pay alot of attention to very high quality products. Most manufacturers do not make

housings in mass production. We don't want to pay top money for poor housings .

Also as the new models of cameras keep turning up look how many want the new models??

keeping the pressure on the housings manufacturers. If we were only happy with what we have

got Just one more thing are housings readily available for all models at the

moment??? I did have a long wait for my housing & it is now only six months old.

Andy

HI, all

I would just like to put my thoughts on this thread, the price of raw materials must

have gone up, also the cameras we use are much more technical as in that we want

to use all the controls so the engineering within the housing are much more advanced

so we have to pay for that, also most of the work is manual done by small companies

who pay alot of attention to very high quality products. Most manufacturers do not make

housings in mass production. We don't want to pay top money for poor housings .

Also as the new models of cameras keep turning up look how many want the new models??

keeping the pressure on the housings manufacturers. If we were only happy with what we have

got Just one more thing are housings readily available for all models at the

moment??? I did have a long wait for my housing & it is now only six months old.

 

Andy

I thought that you'd had your D200 Seacam for ages!?

I've always known that the production run of any housing was now quite small, but was very surprised to find, talking to Steve at Ocean Optics, just how few housings any manufacturer actually makes. I'm sure that's why prices of DSLR housings have risen compared to the days of film.

The only way that production runs will increase, with economies of scale, is if the ***** camera companies stop changing the size of their bodies and the position of the buttons, or electronic controls become the norm.

I'd love a housing with a shelf-life of more than a couple of years!

Tim

B)

HI Tim,

only got my housing a week before Alex's Red Sea workshop this year,

with ordring it was about 4/5 months in coming as they are built in small

batches. I had only tested it in a pool without a camera in. So as you see

we can not get housing for the models at the moment without new ones coming

out.

Andy

Hi Dave,

 

The L&M housings are a totally different animal compared to everything else on the market. The housing controls many functions of the camera through the USB port on the camera rather than using pure mechanical controls. There's a LCD display built into the back of the housing for the ROC system and to act as the primary user interface between the camera and housing. So there is a lot of development needed by electrical engineers and programmers to get the software and circuit boards designed for that purpose. In addition to the development cost many of the components like the LCD screen and electronic boards contribute to the high price.

 

The D300 Titan looks like it will have 2 different models available: $3800 for the standard housing, and $4449 for the "pro" model. It is my understanding that the standard housing will not have ROC or the LCD display built into the housing. This is how they are able to lower the price for the standard housing compared to the pro.

 

On another note, did you use to rep for Sea and Sea, or was it Oceanic??? I think I remember meeting you on the east coast when I was a part time dive instructor at Underwater World in Horsham, PA a few years ago.

 

Best regards,

 

Jim

Sorry Jim, that was a joke.

I'm not a rep. I shoot a Subal housing. I have no qualifications except spending way too much money on UW photography gear. Of course I have no other vises except drinking beer; and in Australia and Canada that is considered a virtue.

I knew why the cost of the L&M housings. After reading this thread I looked at the current prices of Subal housings and was shocked by how high they have gotten. I just got a D300 so I was curious. Absolutely no reason to get rid of my Subal D2X housing except I hate traveling with such a large camera and housing.

When will the L&M D300 housing be available?

Thanks for all the info.

Sorry Jim, that was a joke.

 

I'm not a rep. I shoot a Subal housing. I have no qualifications except spending way too much money on UW photography gear. Of course I have no other vises except drinking beer; and in Australia and Canada that is considered a virtue.

 

I knew why the cost of the L&M housings. After reading this thread I looked at the current prices of Subal housings and was shocked by how high they have gotten. I just got a D300 so I was curious. Absolutely no reason to get rid of my Subal D2X housing except I hate traveling with such a large camera and housing.

 

When will the L&M D300 housing be available?

 

Thanks for all the info.

It looks like there is someone else with the same name in the dive industry:

http://www.divenewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx?newsID=9176

Strange, but I once has someone who had the exact same first, middle, and last name, living in the same neighborhood as me, and his phone number was only 1 digit off.

Back on topic, the euro is killing us with Subal prices right now and I don't see the dollar getting any better with the shape of the economy.

The L&M D300 is officially scheduled for March 31. Since Light and Motion are across the street from me, when I get a progress update I can let you know.

Best regards,

Jim

Great to see a question I have also been wondering about.

All valid points so far, but on the flip side there are also much more people housing their cameras compared to the film days.

And the one that I really struggle to understand is the huge price difference between say a housing for the Nikon D80 and that for the D200, there simply is not that much more work that needs to be done on the D200 housing compared to the D80 one.

Worse yet there is a David Burroughs in England who is an underwater photographer.

Jim, when I go to a meeting in Monterey I usually stop by Backscatter. That may be where you know my name.