Housing the D7000 users responses

I have the NA-D7000, not the V version, like you said, but the standard version has many of the same features. I actually bought the standard version a few months ago because it's less bulky and I never shoot video underwater. I ended up saving $500 over the "V" because a certain retailer was clearing out the "old" version.

Simply put, I love my housing. That being said I will point out one of the very few problems that I encounter when using the NA-d7000; I'm not sure about the new push button latches that are being implemented on all the new Nauticams. The simplicity of the design is great, however, in my experience, after the first few dives, one of the buttons sticks quite often. When it gets stuck, it takes about a minute or so to wiggle out of its hole. This is annoying because when it is stuck, the latch is not completely closed on the housing and if the latch were to be bumped the housing could potentially pop right open. I have to make sure I hear the click of the latch and test that it is secure every time I close the housing, which is not a big deal, but a little annoying. This is probably just my housing and might even be fixable if I were to send it to a Nauticam rep., I just use it quite often, and don't want to hassle with sending it in.

So if one of my latches sticks early on its life, I just wonder how the design will hold up after years of use.

Probably my only other complaint is the spacing of the shutter and aperture control knobs from the handle. I have smaller hands so it is a bit of stretch to comfortably control these without taking my hand off the handle. I think the V version improves this though.

Paul, the D90 housing was meant as an entry level housing, it was fairly stripped down control wise so that the price could be made more affordable (and there is a substantial difference between the D90 and D7000 housing for the record), the D7000 is an all together different design, the ergonomic placement and layout design has been paid a lot more attention

I dont believe your initial comment here is correct. In what way was the AD90 different to that of say the AD300 or even the S? apart from it housing a more advanced camera at the time of design, and how did the time of availability differ to the AD90 and the AD7000? When I bought the AD90 the only other competition out there was the Ikelite & Sea and Sea. As soon as Nauticam reared its lovely head, Aquatica seemed to have upped their game to the max just to keep on the market as a competitor, the price was raised to compete with Nauticam instead of the former and a few new goodies were thrown on that seemed not to be not fully tested. I maybe wrong, but its just my feeling and impresion of how it went as I once considered housing the D7000 on how things as mentioned had changed. I've read comments on here that the camera body still has to be turned on before fitting it into the housing, that to me is not a good design, there is no good reason why this has to be done apart from overcoming a poor design.

Seriously you should stop by a dealer and check it out by yourself, it will give you better data for comparing with other brands.

I would but it seems nobody in the UK stocks Aquatica and their parts, its all ordered on request from Canada which I've experienced takes quite some time, or has that changed?

As for the Hydrophone, the housing can be shipped with a plug installed on request and the Hydrophone shipped in the box separately, some users, who dive CCR seem to appreciate this hydrophone, since they do not have to deal with the breathing noise of bubbles exhaust, and since Technical Diver are a substantial part of our users base, we also have to tend to them to.

I'd be curious to know how many rebreather UWP customers one gets compared to SCUBA, surely its a no brainer?

Glad you mentioned it:

The Aquatica Housing for the Fuji S2 is a sand casting technique

The Aquatica Housing for the Nikon D300 is a lost wax casting technique

The Aquatica housing for the Nikon D90 is machined from solid material on a 3 axis machine

The Aquatica housing for the Nikon D7000 is machined from solid material on a 5 axis machine

To any manufacturer out there, that would be called a huge difference, it’s a constant and substantial progression of technology, the fact my Chinese competitor happen to show up at the end cycle of the D90 and benefits from the experience and evolution made by us and our European and Japanese competitor is OK by me, I would do the same if I started a new company these day, by god! they probably saved 30 some years of R&D. So good for them! Sea & Sea, Subal, Seacam, Ikelite, Hugyphot and Aquatica to name a few have been steadily making progress for decades and it shows in their products. We all have our partisans and detractors, much like car’s manufacturers do.

In the film days you made housings for camera models that lasted 10 years. When Digital cameras started showing up, you were lucky to get two years out of a model, existing manufacturers needed to adapt to the rapid pace of the time, and those that pioneered what we see today in housing trend are still around. Now that camera’s are attaining a longer life cycle. It make it’s much easier to develop and implement technology for cameras that are around for longer period of time, that is called evolution.

The Aquatica D7000 request that the ON/OFF lever on the housing and the switch on the camera be both in the ON position, once the camera is inserted in the housing; you are free to switch it OFF or ON as you wish.

Paul, if you want to criticize the Aquatica AD7000, fine, but for your own sake and reputation, please take the time to handle the housing by yourself, or at least take a moment to download the instruction manual http://www.aquatica.ca/en/manuals/d7000.instructions.pdf and read it, so you actually have factual information to base your criticism.

You are right about the hydrophone, if you don’t shoot video, then you personally have no need for one, no argument, just order the housing without it. You know very well we are not one of those huge anonymous corporations and will handle personal request when they are reasonable.

I went to both the Birmingham and London dive show and did not have to bring along a D7000 housing for Demo gear as my local dealer had a AD7000 in stock, so I would double check with them if I was you.

Thanks for replying as ever Jean

I have the NA-D7000, not the V version, like you said, but the standard version has many of the same features. I actually bought the standard version a few months ago because it's less bulky and I never shoot video underwater. I ended up saving $500 over the "V" because a certain retailer was clearing out the "old" version.

 

Simply put, I love my housing. That being said I will point out one of the very few problems that I encounter when using the NA-d7000; I'm not sure about the new push button latches that are being implemented on all the new Nauticams. The simplicity of the design is great, however, in my experience, after the first few dives, one of the buttons sticks quite often. When it gets stuck, it takes about a minute or so to wiggle out of its hole. This is annoying because when it is stuck, the latch is not completely closed on the housing and if the latch were to be bumped the housing could potentially pop right open. I have to make sure I hear the click of the latch and test that it is secure every time I close the housing, which is not a big deal, but a little annoying. This is probably just my housing and might even be fixable if I were to send it to a Nauticam rep., I just use it quite often, and don't want to hassle with sending it in.

So if one of my latches sticks early on its life, I just wonder how the design will hold up after years of use.

 

Probably my only other complaint is the spacing of the shutter and aperture control knobs from the handle. I have smaller hands so it is a bit of stretch to comfortably control these without taking my hand off the handle. I think the V version improves this though.

There are handle spacers available if you have larger hands, these fit between the housing and the handle. The button would be an easy fix but recommended to return to base to repair for you.

What about the Sea&Sea MDX-D7000, has anyone tried it?

 

I have been using a Sea&Sea NX-100 pro housing for the Nikon F-100 (film) for over 11 years, with more than 600 dives, it still works perfectly even with the original o-rings on it.

Now I'm planing on switching to digital photography and I'm very confused because many photographers are now using Nauticam Housings. What do you think?

 

Thank you.

 

Humberto Ramirez.

I've been using the Sea & Sea housing for the last year. I have one of the early production versions without a couple controls for shutter mode and flash compensation but I have not really missed them. I'm pretty happy with the housing and my only real criticism would be the spacing of the buttons for the paddle control as they are very close together and can't be reached from the handles. 1 year and about 70 dives with now problems. I would not hesitate to buy this housing again. I don't have any comparisons with the Nauticam or Aquatica housing but they look quite nice as well.

Brian

Whats the difference with the ND7000 V version to the original one out of interest?

Thanks for all the great responses. I have just returned from a week on the Aqua Cat in the Bahamas and flooded my D200 rig. So now it is much more important to make a choice before my next trip in August to Bonaire.

BTW the NA-D7000 and the NA-D700V has a port for HDMI video output to an external monitor and the push buttons on the right hand side have also been moved.

Please keep up the great discussion and comments.

Thanks,

Wally

Cheers Wally, shame to hear about your rig, hopeyou were insured

Hi folks,

Wetpixel has reviewed both the NA-D7000 and NA-D7000V, as well as the Aquatica AD7000 and the Sea & Sea MDX-D7000. I am just finishing the review for the Hugyfot D7000 and have the Seacam Prelude D7000 to review. I think it will be fairly complete by then

Adam

I am really curious about your opinion about "my" Hugyfot housing and

how it compares to the other D7000 housings.

Chris

I've been using the Sea & Sea housing for the last year. I have one of the early production versions without a couple controls for shutter mode and flash compensation but I have not really missed them. I'm pretty happy with the housing and my only real criticism would be the spacing of the buttons for the paddle control as they are very close together and can't be reached from the handles. 1 year and about 70 dives with now problems. I would not hesitate to buy this housing again. I don't have any comparisons with the Nauticam or Aquatica housing but they look quite nice as well.

 

Brian

Brian, thank you for your answer, I will take that into consideration.

I am just finishing the review for the Hugyfot D7000 and have the Seacam Prelude D7000 to review. I think it will be fairly complete by then

Hi!

Any ideia about when these new reviews should be published? I am really interested because right now I am deciding with one to go for. I am choosing between Hugyfot and Seacam, since I am in Europe now.

Thanks!

I have both housings now.

I am a bit snowed under with the D800 review, but as soon as it is finished, I will complete the D7000 one

i would expect to have them finished by late June.

Hope that is in time for you to make your decision.

Adam