The future of Aquatica zoom and focus gears

I am considering the switch from my D300 to my D7000 for underwater use. I have Aquatica brand housing, ports, gears, etc. And I just noticed that my two zoom gears for the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye would not carry over to the new AD7000 housing. I was seriously thinking of getting the AD7000, but to add $250-300 in zoom gears I already own (and recently purchased) is holding me back.

My question is this (and maybe Jean from Aquatica can chime in):

What are the chances that new generation Nikon cameras, say a possible D400, would be able to use my current zoom gears? Or will more future Aquatica housings utilize the new style gears that the AD7000 uses?

Thanks for any information.

The newer size is paving the way for the future, newer housing for Nikon and Canon will use this size, with some lens girth getting bigger and bigger, our older gear size (already one of the largest out there) was getting to its capacity limit, the newer ones are of a larger diameter in order to be able to adapt to anything Nikon or Canon can throw at us

Since we already had a wide opening to begin with, The ports bayonet remains the same, so ports and extensions will fit the same.

Cheers.

I find it interesting that your holding off buying a Nikon D7000 housing and camera due to the cost of different zoom gears that cost $125 each? Really at the end of the day arnt you going to sell off your D300 housing anyway and might just add the zoom gears with that sell off. That is what I did when I sold off my Aquatica D90 when I upgraded to the Aquatica D7000.

I prefer the nwer stle zoom gears especially for the Tokina 10-17mm as you dont have to worry about tightening those grub screws to hold the gears in place the new one just slips on and works.

Regards Mark

Thanks Jean for the prompt and thorough reply. I appreciate it. I've sold off extension rings in the past when I needed different ones for a new housing and ultimately needed them back again. I didn't want to sell my newly acquired old style zoom gears (I have both styles for the Tokina 10-17mm) if there was a chance they would be usable in future housings for bigger camera bodies like a D300 or D3 style DSLR.

Jim

The newer size is paving the way for the future, newer housing for Nikon and Canon will use this size, with some lens girth getting bigger and bigger, our older gear size (already one of the largest out there) was getting to its capacity limit, the newer ones are of a larger diameter in order to be able to adapt to anything Nikon or Canon can throw at us

 

Since we already had a wide opening to begin with, The ports bayonet remains the same, so ports and extensions will fit the same.

 

Cheers.

This begs the question: good as the D7000 is, is it really that much more useful in practice than a D300, rather than on paper?

Tim

It is when your D300 needs a new imaging sensor and you don't want to pay the $800 USD repair bill! I already have the D7000, bought it when the D300 went out for service. Now that I know the cost of the repair, I don't think I will be shooting with the D300 anymore. Thus, my question about the gears. Don't want to sell gears if they will work for a future model housing. From Jean's response, that doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

Jim

This begs the question: good as the D7000 is, is it really that much more useful in practice than a D300, rather than on paper?

 

Tim

 

Good to see your back into the UW side of things again Jim after your ear issues.

Cheers,

Jim.

Thanks Jim! Although I wouldn't say I'm back yet.

Hoping to get things ready though and get diving again on a regular basis!

Cheers,

Jim

Good to see your back into the UW side of things again Jim after your ear issues.

 

Cheers,

Jim.