D500 Housing choices...

Hello all!

Looking for advice from anyone who has, or has had, a housing for a D500.

Nauticam, Sea & Sea, Aquatica... these are all fairly similar in price and I don't see too many differences. Then there's Subal... why so expensive? Is it worth it?

Unfortunately I'm not able to get my hands on anything anytime soon, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Corey

Hey Corey

I can't speak specifically for the D500 one, but I've had 5 Subal housings (CP5000, D100, D200, D300 and now D800) and think they are superb. Very well engineered, never a problem, everything works - and you can really feel the shutter and aperture changes. Yeah, expensive sadly. But real quality.

Thanks TimG, is there a place to get second hand housings? Doubtful there would be Subal housings for D500, but..?

Thanks TimG, is there a place to get second hand housings? Doubtful there would be Subal housings for D500, but..?

Yeah, I think that will be a tough one - certainly for the next 6 months or so. But, hey, you don't ask, you don't get....

It'd be worth checking the Subal website as they have a Second Hand sales page. It might also be worth emailing the Subal dealers in, say, North America and telling them you're on the hunt. You never know.... (e.g. Reef Photo, Backscatter, Optical Ocean)

Just got the Ikelite DL housing for the D500, so far I am loving it. I talked to Ikelite as well and they are going to be coming out more ports and such in the coming months for the system. I will be posting a review soon I hope.

Thanks TimG, is there a place to get second hand housings? Doubtful there would be Subal housings for D500, but..?

I was lucky enough to snap up an Aquatica housing for D500 with only 2 dives on it!! But yeah, they are few and far between right now!

I moved up from a Nauticam RX100 housing to this Aquatica D500 housing, and I am loving it! The cost is enormous of course, and even things like port extension rings set you back hundreds but everything is bulletproof, and with the vacuum system, I have a constant flashing light telling me all is well!! So much peace of mind!

The ergonomics on the Aquatica are great, everything is within reach without removing hands from the grips (apart from LV where of course you have to use the rear controls). The ONLY thing that I have found that can be a fiddle is the latches, can be a bit of a pain and you can get your finger trapped a wee bit if you don't open both sides evenly, but its a tiny tiny niggle in an otherwise perfect setup! Oh, one other thing, check what strobe setup you are using with the D500, since it doesnt have a built in flash you end up using either a nikonos/ikelite bulkhead, or LED triggers, and the LED triggers that I am using, don't work well with the Sea & Sea YS-D2, (issue is with the D2 not the flash trigger) so just bear that in mind when you are deciding on housing specifics.. (with the Aquatica you can choose which system to have).

Nauticam housings also look great, never used a DSLR one but my compact one is really solid too.. you can't go wrong either way with those..

If you are looking for something more economic there is also Isotta, backscatter sell them.. a friend who is a pro photog in Italy uses them and swears by them, only issue is a lack of support in the Americas.

Seeing that you are in Canada, you might want to give added value to Aquatica for being fairly (relatively?) local and hence you might have a quicker turn around on any issues?

Good luck!

I just bought my D500 and Nauticam housing and so far, I love it. Coming from a D300 in a Sea & Sea MDX-D300, I looked at S & S first, because I had all the ports and gears. I preferred the control layout on the Nauticam, and then found out that:

1. The Nauticam comes with the optical trigger included.

2. Nauticam uses the same size port as Sea & Sea, and has adapters that are only $35 each and simply bolt on in about 10 minutes, replacing the bolt on back ring on the Sea & Sea ports. I bought 3, and they cover my standard port, my mini dome (even with a Sea & Sea to Nexus adapter on it) and my 20mm extension for when I use my big fisheye port.

3. I resisted the Nauticam vacuum system because I've never needed one before, but I'm finding it gives me great peace of mind for an extra $200+.

4. I far prefer the Nauticam camera base and housing closure system, and I love the port release and lens release system. I no longer have to take the whole housing apart in the boat to change a port or lens, just pop the port and pop the lens from the front.

5. Gear adapter for Nexus and Sea & Sea gears. For about $125, Nauticam has a two piece sandwiched adapter that goes over the Sea & Sea gear on any of your lenses, so you don't have to buy three or four more $2-300 gears. You can install it in 30 seconds.

6. I was worried about not having a top window, because I'm old and I have trouble reading the settings in the viewfinder sometimes, but Nauticam has a dedicated lever for the info button, so you can just hit it with your left thumb and have everything on big screen in giant black on white.

7. The review is also a left thumb lever, so you don't have to take your hand off to look at your last shot.

8. On my MDX-D300, I couldn't feel the shutter half press if I wanted to use it. (although I always use the AF-On button anyway). On the Nauticam, I can totally feel it and easily hold it at half press with my 5mil cold water gloves.

9. While Sea & Sea offers TTL, I have had terrible luck in the past with their external units failing in short order. While I'm sure the new internal ones are probably more reliable, I've heard great things about the Nauticam unit and will probably buy one. It's also easily owner installed.

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either of the two housings, but there's my two cents.

I have been diving with the Aquatica AD500 for over a year now and it was an upgrade from previous Aquatica housings I owed (D7000 and D90). My setup has Ikelite bulkheads as I use Ikelite Ds161 strobes in manual mode. As others have stated the ergonomics on the Aquatica are great and everything is close to your hands for quick setting changes, I especailly like the ISO lever which is righ next to your right thumb. The housing grips are brillant and simply mold to your hands and there is no movement or flex in them especially when you have heavy strobes hanging off the ends of them. The latches were a little hard to get use to when I first had the housing but now its very easy once you get the nack of it.

The housings are machined out of a block of Aluminium alloy, then anodized, and powder coated with polyester with the control buttons made out of what I believe to be stainless steel. All of which makes a housing able to with stand alot of abuse and still works and looks in good condition after many years of hard work. My Aquatica D7000 which I still have looks in great shape considering its done over 1500 dives since I have had it.

I also like the adition of the Surveyor moisture and vacuum system as an added peace of mind and safety feature. It has saved my camera on a couple of occasions when I hadnt noticed a stray hair from my beard had found its way when setting up. Its also important to trust the system once the alarm does go never minding how well you think you have put your setup together. The constant flash of a little green light during the dive does reassure you alot.

Corey I noticed that your Canadian and with Aquatica being based in Montreal they would most likely be able to provide quick support and service when the need arises. Which is also an important feature when looking at housings especially those of us who live on the other side of the world.

If you have any other questions just ask,

Regards Mark

Hi Corey,

Interested to know what you went for in the end (I'm possibly in same boat). How do you find it?

Claire

The three housings you have mentioned are well made and from reputable companies.

And you are correct about the additional costs of a Subal.

My wife and I are on our third set (six housings) of Subals. We feel the workmanship is higher and the design is more to our liking. The most noticeable difference is in the sensitivity of the controls, particularly the focus/shutter release.

If possible, try to get to a consumer dive show and handle each housing - this will make your decision for you.

Whatever your choice, you won't go wrong with any of these!

Good luck

I have gone from Subal (Canon 5D, Nikon D200, Canon 7D) to Nauticam (first with the Canon 7DmkIi and now the Nikon D500) the housings are and have the most secure port mounting system I have ever used. And you can go wrong with their selection of ports. If you should have Subal, Sea&Sea, Aquatica or Seacam ports, well Nauticam has port adaptors for them too.