What Makes a housing GREAT

After talking to a few friends as well as Ryan at reef photo. It dawned on me that some housing makers may not know what all the details of what a great housing are. So hear goes my top ones Please add yours so if there are any housing builders out there this may be a guide. The more ideas the better.

1-All Camera funtions that are on the body need to work thru the housing. I know this ones tough> I personally do not use all the bells and whistles but folks want to.

2-The sync cord bulkheads should point out at an angle. say like the subal f/5. The aquatica bulkheads go straight up. This causes 2 problems right at the start one needs to turn the whole housing upside down to take them out to keep water from dropping in and that is where a modeling light need to be.The back of the housing is a poor choice as thats where the view port for our masks go.And there Always needs to be 2 of them for two strobes. These problems obvious but some how are on a lot of housings.

3-Keep them small and light.

4- The less electrical inside is better. this rule is key to long trouble free housing life

5-Provide a small mositure alarm. Noise and light work better than just light. small is the key factor here

6-Well engineered ports that do not need diopters to fix. Get together with optics experts for the details

7-Make the ports work for many models and for many years.

8-Keep it simple with mechanical controls over electrical. (Light & motion need not heed this one)

9-Put a durable finish on it. How about anodizing with color no paint?? Works on boat stuff

10-Always have two strobe shoes to go with the 2 strobe bulkheads

This is just a start. Add your ideas. Mark

Tray handles should be adjustable for small hands.

Major controls should be easy to reach without leaving handles.

shutter, aparture and shutter speed control should be operational with the one hand that holds the housing (my Sea and Sea D70 housing was almost manageable this way but it was a bit too big and heavy to do this all dive long) leaving the other hand free for whatever else.

I like a big clear back window, as good as moisture alarm is, a little visual confirmation is always nice for the paranoids

You guys are leaving out a HUGE one - viewfinder!!!! I don't know what took housing mfrs so long to get on the bandwagon behind seacam, but they finally seem to be doing so. I think that the heavy turnover of cameras that sucks our wallets dry has forced the housing manufacturers to innovate in competition for what dollars we still have.

I'm still surprised at how long they seem to take to get the housings to the market, however, as there should be a huge benefit to be first with housings for popular cameras. I had hoped that Light & Motion was going to revolutionize this aspect of development by going all electrical with their camera controls. It is quicker to hack into remote control of a camera than to design a mechanical housing. LMI hasn't pushed any further in still housing development, however.

(You guys are leaving out a HUGE one - viewfinder!!!!)

I did not address this one as I shoot Nikon F/3 and f5's with giant sharp/clear sportfinders the size of a 35mm slide.

The viewfinder needs to be huge or may as well dive a plastic bag point and shoot camera.Mark

How about watertight!

This is just a start. Add your ideas. Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok... I have had a few housings over time so here we go.

1. The camera needs to go into the housing easily and needs to be be just as easy to remove. I have missed too many good shots because it was too much hassle to get the camera out of the housing

2. Mechanical controls need to be simple. I have had a few where it is a 3 cog system to operate a control. That is not good.

3. Viewfinder has to be good. Not SeaCam $1500 good - just good.

4. Housing balance. I am suprised but how much more compact a housing becomes and how much better balanced it is when the strobe arms attatch to the housing as opposed to the handles. Makes sense when you think about it

5. Simple = better. That is why mechanical vs electrical is better. That includes L&M who want to go the other way but shouldn't. I can jury a rig a mechanical control in the middel of nowhere - electronic controls go and I am probably done.

6. Secure port systems and more importantly secure port systems that look and feel secure.

7. Expandable port systems. I REALLY love how the Nexus macro system works and how easy it was to put together. Love to see this with other manufacturers

8. Simple zoom and focus controls. I have had some that have sucked in the past.

9. 2 Bulkheads should not be an option - they should be standard - 3 should be an option

10. Tripod mountable should be available (most are now).

11. Covers for ports front and back which are big and durable. Need both covers to prevent dust getting on the inside of ports while travelling. Cover for housings for easy transport as well.

12. Instructions on how to clean the ports including what materials should be used to do so.

13. Personal preference - neutral without strobes and with a standard dome port on.

14. Better manuals including tips and tricks. If there is a trick or a right way to put the camera in - include it.

On others points - I don't believe you need all the buttons as some have no real relevance and just add to cost, but certainly most controls need to be accessible.

M

Not just neutral but neutral in all axes. I love my subal housing but it always tilts up no matter (pretty much) where I have the strobes at least for what I think is good lighting. I agree with most of the rest of the list. From a manufacturing standpoint, I would like all of the control o-rings to be user serviceable and big thick o-rings are easier to manipulate than small skinny ones. My wife shoots a Gates video housing and it is reliable and robust but the o-rings are too skinny and hard to service.

Bill

Obviously, the picture of Tony the Tiger on the outside. Oh wait, that's what makes a housing Grrrrr-eat . . .

Mike

One that will go down, take perfectly exposed, scatter free images of interesting creatures whilst you sit on the boat drinking a cool cocktail!

There have been many great suggestions as to what extra thing / button / doodad or paint scheme will make a good housing - all of them worthy of consideration.

I believe that " great support goes along way towards making a housing great ".

How is this housing / product supported is often not considered until after the emotion of the purchase has passed.

The world's best waterproof box is no good if you can't get the service / repair agent on the phone or if when you do they don't have the spares / parts / info / knowledge that you need.

just my 2 cents.

Peter

Boy, I've used a lot of housings. Things I like to see are:

Camera command dials at my right fingertips where they belong - not where it is most convenient to build them. I don't want to take my hand off the handle to change shutterspeed.

Camera mounted to the front of the housing so I can take the back off w/o having to monkey w/ the camera.

Ports w/ extension rings so I only have to carry one dome and one flat port.

Bulkhead comes out the top or top side.

Adjustable handles that slide in and out for small (ie female) hands.

Easy to mount focusing light on top.

Great customer service is one thing I like - but it doesn't do much good when your housing breaks down in Indonesia. It should be designed to NOT break down in the first place.

Cheers

James

I forgot one thing....

LABEL THE CONTROLS ON THE HOUSING

And this doesn't mean providing me some stickers - I mean on the housing as part of the design and build.

Especially controls that are not used on every dive.

M

James,

It sure sounds like your descibing that Titan you were using in Fiji last year.

Peter

No housing meets every one of my "wants" Peter. Some come close, and the Titan was one of them.

Cheers

James

Too me, a great housing must be transparent, so you can see the seals, after assembly...

Too me, a great housing must be transparent, so you can see the seals, after assembly...

Funnily enough I hated this. I could never tell whether the seal was correct or not so I was always scared I screwed it up and would open and close the housing a few times to see if i could see any difference.

I prefer the ignorance of not being able to see

Which goes to show you that you can't make everyone happy....

M

Slight amount of lube on the "O" ring helps show the seal as you can see it develop, creating a blacker line of the "O" ring............

Too me, a great housing must be in a price range that I can afford, otherwise its can be even greater but not for me. <_<

A great housing has to be part of a system with a future. I don't want all those ports to be redundant once I upgrade my camera.

That means that the manufacturer has to support the camera I want to buy in the future.

The other big thing for me is that it has to be as light and small as possible. Help to minimise the stress of carrying it on planes.