46 replies to this topic

[wideanglelens]

I don't think that there is any 5d MKII user interested in having optical wiring... Anyway, hugyfot supports that as well for. Canon camera's that have an internal strobe. Nikon internal strobes have to be flipped up completely in order to fire.

Sorry pal, I was refering to Nikon

[dhphoto]

Hi Erol (and others),
Since I am in the same position pondering whether to go with the Hugy or Aquatica for a 5D2, I would like to hear you thoughts on it.
Since for shooting stills, they are both probably really well thought out in terms of handling, I am especially thinking about ease of shooting video and the quality of the most basic viewfinder in each brand. I have noticed that most Aquatica's main buttons in terms of video (set, * and AF-ON) are extended to the right hand side of the housing and worked as small levers in the latest model(?) where as with Hugy the push buttons are placed directly over the original buttons. I was wondering if they are hard to reach on the Hugy? E.g. is the "set" button to start/stop recording hard to reach?
Also, I will keep the lowest profile viewfinder, so I am interested in any pointers to which basic viewfinder is the best, Hugy or Aqua?
I should mention that I am a professional photographer who has a great interest in freediving and will shoot while freediving so also looking for the smallest possible housing (hence the original viewfinder). I will prolly also only shoot wide angle or a fisheye lens but not in a huge dome. I wont need to shoot macro. And probably not even flash.

All the best,
David

[dhphoto]

Hi,
I had some more questions and this thread seem kinda dead, so if you see this and was thinking of posting, I also asked here - I still think it is an interesting discussion;-):
http://wetpixel.com/...showtopic=31414

Hi Erol (and others),
Since I am in the same position pondering whether to go with the Hugy or Aquatica for a 5D2, I would like to hear you thoughts on it.
Since for shooting stills, they are both probably really well thought out in terms of handling, I am especially thinking about ease of shooting video and the quality of the most basic viewfinder in each brand. I have noticed that most Aquatica's main buttons in terms of video (set, * and AF-ON) are extended to the right hand side of the housing and worked as small levers in the latest model(?) where as with Hugy the push buttons are placed directly over the original buttons. I was wondering if they are hard to reach on the Hugy? E.g. is the "set" button to start/stop recording hard to reach?
Also, I will keep the lowest profile viewfinder, so I am interested in any pointers to which basic viewfinder is the best, Hugy or Aqua?
I should mention that I am a professional photographer who has a great interest in freediving and will shoot while freediving so also looking for the smallest possible housing (hence the original viewfinder). I will prolly also only shoot wide angle or a fisheye lens but not in a huge dome. I wont need to shoot macro. And probably not even flash.

All the best,
David

[mattsea]

Hi dhphoto,

I am also looking at Hugyfot vs Aquatic housings for 5Dmkii?

Amy progress on your decision?

[ErolE]

Apologies all for the late response. I have been at sea so it has taken a while before I have racked up the dives in varied environments to adequately assess the housing.

Now I have done around 50 dives with the housing and 2 x z240 strobes, diving deep cold water wrecks and shooting some tropical marine life in the 10-100m range. So what are my findings?

Honestly I am very happy with the housing as a whole and combination of the inon strobes. The housings is very well constructed and sturdy, yet still quiet compact. Although I have heard many people complain, I find the allen bolts used to close the housing a huge plus. Particularly when carry other gear, extra stages scooters etc, I am 100% confidant that the housing latches will not snap or break off.

I have been using my Aquatica ports with this housing, via the hugy to Aquatica ring. This has been nice in that I haven t need to buy more ports, but I did have a small problem. Essentially only one of my port could be mounted, as the lugs on the bayonets of my Aquatica ports are of different thicknesses. My flat port has slightly thicker lugs and hence can t be engaged into the bayonet mount. Pascal at Hugyfot siad the problem was with the varying tolorences in the, in this case Aquaticas, engineering. be that as it may, this still left me with only one usable port. What I will probably do is machine the lugs to the same thickness, but if you do go this route I suggest getting a pair of calipers and investigating the lug thickness.

My favorite feature of this housing has got to be the HuygCheck system. This is truly excellent. I work as a subsea engineer, where it is standard practice for us to pull a vacuum on any electronic pod prior to immersion, to ensure that the seal is good. I have always wondered why housing manufactures haven t employed a similar technique but now happily one has.

For those unfamiliar with the system, a one way valve is mounted on the housing. 30 min prior to diving a small 9v vacuum pump is inserted into this valve and the air is removed creating a negative pressure within the housing. A series of flashing LED in the housing view finder will blink, changing colour from red to green. When the green LED is flashing the required differential has been reached and the cap can be placed on the one way valve. The electronics wothin the housing will sense the pressure and provided the green LED continues to flash, the seals have retained their integrity. This essentially safe guards against the most common causes of leaking housing, pinched/damaged/dirty O rings. Fool proof.

I have noted so people dismiss this system because it requires another through housing orifice, but give that most housing have about 2 dozen such holes, I don t feel like the addition of one more is anything to lose sleep over.

So all in all I am very happy with my purchase and my only compliant would be that I wised the price would have been an order of magnitude less....But hey you can t have everything.

If you have any other questions please let me know and I ll do my best to back to you in a timely fashion...Promise

Erol

[Christian K]

"Although I have heard many people complain, I find the allen bolts used to close the housing a huge plus. Particularly when carry other gear, extra stages scooters etc, I am 100% confidant that the housing latches will not snap or break off."

I agree! I've also heard people on Internet forums talking about the bolt system as something negative. I wouldn't want to have it any other way. But it is a little ackward to get the camera into place in the housing compared to a few other brands.

[treehugger]

Great to have found this thread. I'm also in the same situation right now, Aquatica vs. Hugy for my 5DMkII. Most of my friends have recommended the Aquatica for one reason or another and haven't really mentioned the Hugyfot, so I've been inclined to buy that since. But when I met some people from Hong Kong who had suggested the Hugy and explained the Hugycheck, I'd started having trouble deciding.

The only thing keeping me from getting the Hugy now is actually the single-handle design. I noticed that the second ball is mounted over where the hotshoe should be, as compared to the Aquatica that has 2 arms and therefore 2 symmetrical mounts for the strobes. I'm not entirely sure if this is even an issue, but is this going to have any effect underwater when I use it?

[Christian K]

Great to have found this thread. I'm also in the same situation right now, Aquatica vs. Hugy for my 5DMkII. Most of my friends have recommended the Aquatica for one reason or another and haven't really mentioned the Hugyfot, so I've been inclined to buy that since. But when I met some people from Hong Kong who had suggested the Hugy and explained the Hugycheck, I'd started having trouble deciding.

The only thing keeping me from getting the Hugy now is actually the single-handle design. I noticed that the second ball is mounted over where the hotshoe should be, as compared to the Aquatica that has 2 arms and therefore 2 symmetrical mounts for the strobes. I'm not entirely sure if this is even an issue, but is this going to have any effect underwater when I use it?

You can buy and mount an extra handle, so that you have two, on the hugyfot. But if your hand "fits" the hugy-housing, it is very nice to handle it by holding your hand directly on the housing – the original idea mr René Hugenschmidt had, was that it should be like handling a camera on land. An extra handle will however provide an extra ball joint and the one on top of the housing can be used for a focus light or you can mount three strobes.

Personally I don't use an extra handle. If I want symmetrical positioning of two strobes, I simply use a slightly longer arm segment for the strobe mounted on top of the housing.

good look

Edited by Christian K, 27 October 2009 - 12:55 AM.

[treehugger]

You can buy and mount an extra handle, so that you have two, on the hugyfot. But if your hand "fits" the hugy-housing, it is very nice to handle it by holding your hand directly on the housing – the original idea mr René Hugenschmidt had, was that it should be like handling a camera on land. An extra handle will however provide an extra ball joint and the one on top of the housing can be used for a focus light or you can mount three strobes.

Personally I don't use an extra handle. If I want symmetrical positioning of two strobes, I simply use a slightly longer arm segment for the strobe mounted on top of the housing.

good look

Thanks! The local distributor explained this to me earlier as well. Now what I'm wondering about is with the extra handle, will I still be able to reach all the controls on the Hugy? I notice that the Aquatica has all the controls moved to the side of the housing where they'll be within reach from the handle, but on the Hugy...

Its actually boiled down to just that. Hugycheck makes that housing a real winner, but I would still consider the Aquatica if it would prove to have better ergonomics than the Hugy. Hoping to reach a decision by the end of this week. LOL.

[Christian K]

Thanks! The local distributor explained this to me earlier as well. Now what I'm wondering about is with the extra handle, will I still be able to reach all the controls on the Hugy? I notice that the Aquatica has all the controls moved to the side of the housing where they'll be within reach from the handle, but on the Hugy...

Its actually boiled down to just that. Hugycheck makes that housing a real winner, but I would still consider the Aquatica if it would prove to have better ergonomics than the Hugy. Hoping to reach a decision by the end of this week. LOL.

I think it's impossible to answer your question unless you get your hands on a housing and try it out for yourself. It depends on the size of your hands. A qualified guess though, would be that you can't reach all controls on the Hugyfot with a handle without moving your hand; unless you have huge hands. The Hugyfot really is designed for one hand to be held directly on the housing. If you want the extra ball joint, you could off course add an extra handle for that and still hold your hand directly on the housing.

cheers

[treehugger]

I think it's impossible to answer your question unless you get your hands on a housing and try it out for yourself. It depends on the size of your hands. A qualified guess though, would be that you can't reach all controls on the Hugyfot with a handle without moving your hand; unless you have huge hands. The Hugyfot really is designed for one hand to be held directly on the housing. If you want the extra ball joint, you could off course add an extra handle for that and still hold your hand directly on the housing.

cheers

Thanks! I'll go check out the dealer here tomorrow.

[treehugger]

Finally decided on the Hugy. Will get the housing in 2 to 3 weeks time

[Lancer4545]

I have been following this thread and have to say I am more inclined to lean toward the Aquatica as I just don't like the idea of having to bolt the Hugyfot housing together and the wear and tear on the threads every time you open and close it.

One thing I'd like to know......I have a "Seal Check" pump for a video system and want to know if anyone has put a fitting into the Aquatica housing and use it??

Regards,

Lance

Edited by Lancer4545, 03 November 2009 - 01:42 PM.

[Viz'art]

To my knowledge, I would say no, we do supply the housing with aditional 1/2" diameter holes bulkhead connections, i'm not familiar with your Seal Check set up and don't know if it could be rigged up to one of thoses accessory port holes.

[Lancer4545]

Thanks for the reply. The seal check is for a Gates housing. The housing fitting is only fairly small and I know I can machine it to suit. I was interested to hear if anyone had already done it.

Regards,

Lance

[Viz'art]

i'll check with the gates peoples at DEMA and take a closer look at the system.

[Lancer4545]

Thanks Jean, I will be at DEMA also and will drop in and say hi and hope to have a look at the housing at the same time.

Regards,

Lance

[Viz'art]

Hi Lance, was good meeting you at DEMA, I have the Seal Check valve, graciously given to us by Gates for evaluating, I still have to run it through the machine shop, but so far the measurement looks good, hope you like what you saw

[Lancer4545]

Hi Lance, was good meeting you at DEMA, I have the Seal Check valve, graciously given to us by Gates for evaluating, I still have to run it through the machine shop, but so far the measurement looks good, hope you like what you saw

Hi Jean,

Yeah I really enjoyed speaking with you about your housings and looking at the 5D mkII housing you had on display made the decision an easy one and I went and bought a new camera.

I had a look at the valve and it seems to have a smaller thread (1/8" npt)?? but I am sure if you were to make an adapter to fit into the top 1/2" port it will work perfectly.

Anyhow I will be in touch shortly.

Regards,

Lance

[Viz'art]

Hi Lance, the Gate Seal Check valve is on my desk, everybody was wrapped up in getting the 7D out (see other thread), I haven't had a chance to drill and tap the plug and install the valve to confirm, I'm 98% confident, but when it goes underwater... well anything less than 100% is not acceptable, I should be more free with my time (that would be an understatment ) next week and get on with this.

BTW the gates self install packges leaves nothing to chance, they include the instruction, the drill, tap, sealant glue, cleaning swab, and even a Q-tip and a small popsicle stick for spreading the sealant, I'm impressed for such a low price, that is quite the package.