Fuji S2 and Aquatica housing

Hello! I am the proud owner of the Aquatica housing and Fuji S2 camera. Overall I am very happy with the performance of the setup. However, I need advice on adjusting the controls on the housing.

First, the camera works flawlessly. Some of the controls on the housing are not engaging the buttons on the camera. I have gone around it by putting several layers of the isolation tape on the camera buttons which seems to solve the problem. Also, the exposure compensation switch is not engaging the corresponding button on the camera.

I have sent the housing without the camera to Backscatter and unlike their usual imecable service, this time around the problems were not solved and it took a long time many phone calls and extra money for the express shipping to get the housing back.

My questions are: First, has anyone had these kinds of problems with the housings and what solutions did you find? Second, does anyone know of other reliable repair centers other than Backscatter - Subaquatic center in Salinas, that service the Aquatica products well?

Once again, my experience with Backscatter is overwhelmingly positive on average, this is the only time I have had a problem with them.

Thank you very much in advance for adivce.

Sincerely,

Eugene Golts

Eugene,

I used to have a similar camera and housing and, while I did have some problems, I did not encounter the same ones as you. For more definitive answers to your questions and suggestions on how to rectify the problems, I would suggest contacting Jean Bruneau at Aquatica ( jean@aquatica.ca). He has always been very helpful to me.

Ken Sutherland

I have similar problems with my Aquatica/S2. The main problem with mine is with the on/off and shutter release. They don't line up perfectly. To get around the issue, when I install the camera in the housing I tighten the screw that holds the camera in place, but not fully. Then I shift push the camera to get the best alignment and then tighten fully. It's not perfect but I've learned to live with it. I don't have an issue with the exposure comp.

I sent mine back to Aquatica when I first got it and they were able to fix it somewhat but it still doesn't align perfectly. According to Norma at Aquatica there were variances in the specs for the S2 and that was the source of the S2 problems. Some bodies fit perfectly but others did not. I tend to believe them because my other Aquatica housings are/were fine. My D200 housing fits like a glove.

BTW, I have and still use the S2 and housing. I like it for macro and it's nice to have real TTL.

It looked like Fuji changed suppliers of some of the controls throughout the production life of the S2Pro. I remember having three S2Pro bodies and trying to get them to work in a Seacam housing. Two aligned perfectly with the housing, straight out of the box. The third camera did not and very thin spacers had to be placed under the push button controls on the housing (which was easy enough a these are now supplied by Seacam!) to get everything operational! There is no doubt that this was camera variation and not the housing - the camera which would not align had a later serial number on it too. So be aware that if you buy another S2Pro body it is best to check it with the housing before you buy it or you could be in for a frustrating time.

I would suggest recontacting Sub Aquatic with the issue, and I would send the camera along with the housing so that they can tweak it to work, as mentionned the S2 camera had physical variation over their production lifespan. So they may have a different generation camera body than yours. BTW this is the only camera model to my knowledge that had this issue. And I agree with Larry about the TTL, Kudos to Fuji for keeping TTL simple and efficient. I had two of thoses for a while and loved them, mind you now I love my D200's, and am already falling for the D700, guess i'm a sap when it come to camera relationship.

Ask for Devon and explain your case

Thank you everyone who responded. I will contact the Sub Aquatic and will post the reply. Again, thank you very much for the advice.

Sincerely

Eugene Golts