96 replies to this topic

[MIKE POWELL]

Engineering porno at it's finest!

[betti154]

Jean,

It's a glorious site!!!

There is no need to do a batch of them, just keep mine going through the process and worry about the rest later. I only need one housing.

[aussie]

Damo, if I see yours come through Cairns and no others, you really think I'm going to let it get away from me?

[betti154]

Come on Ryan, you know the customer is always right.

The 40D housing and I parted ways last weekend so I'm in serious need of metal right now!

[aussie]

Yeah I sent mine off yesterday too, but I'll admit it, you're in a more desperate position, I've been able to get some pics at least!

Put some of my new pics from the 7D up in another topic if you're interested.

[mach1dsl]

So...When will the housing be available?

[Viz'art]

The first few units will start shipping as soon as we are back from the holliday break, there is quite a bit of backlog (preorder) to go through at the moment, so anyone looking for a Aquatica 7D should get in touch with their Aquatica dealer and see if they have any on order already and if they are spoken for.

If anyone need help in locating a dealer you can PM me at jean@aquatica.ca, I will be happy to oblige, but in PM only. I do not think it as appropriate behavior for this forum to throw dealers name around, at least not for someone in the industry as I am.

[pmooney]

Hey Jean,
Did you get my mail earlier .....
I'll have few that aren't committed yet and am happy to find them loving homes.

Apreciate all the help you can give me.

Cheers

Peter

[akalars]

How negative will it be in water with the camera inside? I know this will depend on which port and lense, but do you have a rough idea with for instance a dome 6´´and wideangle lense? Need to know which buoyancy arms to order with it

[Viz'art]

Berkley from Backscatter (one of Wetpixel sponsor) has taken our 7D housing for a road test and will post a review anytime soon, he most likely will have some comments on the weight and handling, I know he is very picky about the balance and handling of his gear and is not the type to sweet up a review just to please the crowd. I personnaly have not had the chance to put through its pace yet, the moment its back in the shop I will weight it one immersed with your configuration, but that won't be before the first week of January.

[aussie]

Hi Jean,

Was just studying the images of the housing (I'm getting anxious!), and have yet another question. It looks like the housing is more similar to the 5dmkii housings than the 40d housings, in that the back half of the housing and a lot smaller than the front half of the housing. With the 5d housing I've been using this means I can't take the memory card out of the camera when I have a zoom gear attached (whereas I could with the 40D), because you can't pull the camera backwards through the housing with a zoom gear (something that really annoys me about your housings), and there's not enough space to open the memory card door on the camera while it's still sitting in the front of the housing.

Can you confirm if this is the case, or if you've solved the problem of being able to take the camera in and out of the housing while there's a gear attached, without first having to remove the port, then the lens, then open the back of the housing and remove the camera? I used to think it was bad enough that I couldn't just pop the battery in and out of the camera without having to go through this process, so I'm not sure I could handle it if it was the same with memory card as well.

Many thanks,

Ryan.

[maractwin]

... you can't pull the camera backwards through the housing with a zoom gear ...

This depends on the gear. With some zoom gears, the gear grooves run the entire width of the gear. With others, part of the gear is smooth and only part of it is grooved:


With the above zoom gear on a lens, you can't insert or remove the camera without removing the lens first. If the grooves run all the way across the gear, you can.

The lens that used to annoy me with this was my Sigma 17-70mm. That lens was stolen recently with the zoom gear attached. On replacing it, I have gotten a different zoom gear without this problem. I mail ordered the gear from B&H Photo and the accidentally sent the wrong one. But I noticed that the gear I received would work with the lens if I sanded out the inside a little bit, and this one has grooves all the way across the outside. Problem solved.

-Mark

[Viz'art]

Hi Aussie, The 7D (and D300s) will have a new designed lens release lever that can be pulled back to clear the zoom/focus gear, thus one will be able to easily pull the camera, lens and gear all in one shot, making it easy for replacing the memory card and/or the battery without having to remove either the front port from the housing or the lens from the camera .

[TheRealDrew]

Hi Aussie, The 7D (and D300s) will have a new designed lens release lever that can be pulled back to clear the zoom/focus gear, thus one will be able to easily pull the camera, lens and gear all in one shot, making it easy for replacing the memory card and/or the battery without having to remove either the front port from the housing or the lens from the camera .

[BradDB]

I took the Aquatica+ 7D out for a test dive Saturday during the NCUPS/Backscatter Demo Day.
I managed to get in the pool while most folks were in the lecture. Art and I had the pool to ourselves for 20 minutes or so. Later the pool was full of photographers plus a discovery scuba class hosted by Wallin's.

I was very happy with the control accessability on the Aquatica housing. I thought I would miss the top LCD panel but I adjusted quickly. The 7D brings up a display with all setting details on the back LCD as soon as image review complete, making the top LCD redundant. I suspect I still might miss the top panel while shooting wide-angle pelegics. It looks like all 7D housing manufacturers might ditch the upper LCD window in order to shrink the housing and simplify the controls. The top buttons are still there.
Oh well, things change.

Photos were great as expected. The video results were very clean to my eye - even at ISO800. I was very impressed with the dynamic range. I cant wait to pick up my housing and get my 7D into the ocean.

I captured a 30 second 1080p, 24p video of Art tinkering with his G10. Don't ask my why his snorkel is upside-down.
It was very dark in the pool area as you can see.

Click on video to play and select resolution. Full HD is available.
Details:
Canon 7D, Aquatica Housing, Tokina 10-17 FE, ISO 800, F4, shutter 1/50, 24p
Converted to 100% quality H.264 MP4 using MPEG Streamclip before upload. Watermark was added by MPEG Streamclip as well.

To see 720p, go full screen then enable HD on the bottom right of the video
To see 1080p click the "Go to Gallery" at the end of the video
[smugmugl=425]ZT0xJmk9NzYxODI2OTgwJms9UHhna3ImYT0xMDkxMDM5NF9jUTNxdiZ1PW1vbnRlcmV5ZGl2aW5n[/smugmugl]

Edited by BradDB, 11 January 2010 - 09:07 AM.

[betti154]

Nice work Brad. You can even see the mould on the side of the pool. hehehe

The drum roll question for Jean is when are they shipping? I promise I will jump the water the day I get it and upload something.

[aussie]

Berkley from Backscatter (one of Wetpixel sponsor) has taken our 7D housing for a road test and will post a review anytime soon, he most likely will have some comments on the weight and handling, I know he is very picky about the balance and handling of his gear and is not the type to sweet up a review just to please the crowd. I personnaly have not had the chance to put through its pace yet, the moment its back in the shop I will weight it one immersed with your configuration, but that won't be before the first week of January.

Jean, I think I love you!

By the way, what happened to the review that you said was coming?

Cheers,
Ryan.

[BradDB]

Jean, I think I love you!

By the way, what happened to the review that you said was coming?

Cheers,
Ryan.

Berkley told me Saturday that he was almost done with the review. He has barely been in-town since the Wakatobi trip with the the 7D.

-Brad

Edited by BradDB, 11 January 2010 - 12:06 AM.

[Viz'art]

Jean, I think I love you!

By the way, what happened to the review that you said was coming?

Cheers,
Ryan.

herrr, no offense but I'm a happily married man

I talked to Berkley and indeed it should be online anytime soon, I did see a draft and I like what I read

About shipping, we are gathering the last of the required pieces of the puzzle and are getting very, very close to shipping time, I am going to the Paris Dive Show next week end and I expect that they will be shipping by the time I am back next week. It is going to make a lot of hardcore Nikonians envious!!!!

[greedo5678]

i want one, i want one, i want one!!!

Looks beautiful, better design and ergonomics than its rivals, which are few and far between for the 7d. Obviously havent put my hands on one yet, but have played with ur other housings and fell in love. As they say, a true continuation of the hands! Just picking it up, immediately made me change my mind, which was pretty much made up, from Ikelite polycarbonate to Aluminium and Aquatica.

Minor point, how come its 2799us$ and 2550uk pound, surely the exchange rate cant be that poor? Do you set the retail price or just a recommended price and the dealers decide? Is Camerasunderwater your only uk supplier?

No matter, will still get my hands on one. Will you be at London Dive Show with your own stand or just with Cameras underwater?

Olly