Nauticam D700 underwater housing field review 
Wetpixel's Alex Mustard tests it in Australia
Last Update: 17 March 2010 05:05 PM
13 comment(s) | discuss in forums
Author: Alex Mustard ( Alex_Mustard )
NAUTICAM D700 – FIELD REVIEW
Field test of the Nauticam D700 housing by Alex Mustard. Australia 2010.
Nauticam was launched into the world of underwater photography at DEMA 2009, where owner Edward Lai showcased his impressive range of housings. On the Wetpixel forums few products have generated such anticipation and, it is fair to say, salivation from underwater photographers. There has been widespread praise for the build quality, design innovation and ergonomics, especially because with a clever port system the Nauticam can take ports from other manufacturers. Making Nauticam a serious option for most folks. But much of the chat has focused on these being quality housings at a price that undercuts many existing brands. Welcome news for all underwater photographers.
I arranged to borrow a Nauticam D700 housing during my trip to temperate Australian waters in February and March 2010. The shoot, in the cool and often murky waters around Sydney and Melbourne, provided a variety of real-world photographic challenges for the system. The trip also gave me the chance to meet and dive with a number of Australian underwater photographers and collate their views on the Nauticam and to compare it to most of the popular housing brands (diving alongside Subal, Seacam, Aquatica, Nexus, Sea & Sea & Ikelite). Everyone I met was eager to see the Nauticam and to find out if it justifies the excitement that has greeted it on the forums. The question on every photographer’s lips was “Can we believe the hype?”
I am grateful to Edward at Nauticam, Alex Tattersall at Underwater Visions (Nauticam UK) and Peter Mooney at Scubapix (Nauticam Australia) for making this possible. I would also like to thank Peter Rowlands of UWP Mag for lending me his D700 so that I could run a complete Nauticam system alongside my Subal D700, which I have reviewed here on Wetpixel. Please refer to that review for details of the D700 underwater, here I want to concentrate on the Nauticam housing and design philosophy and I hope most of my comments are relevant to their whole range of housings.
With so much positive press since the launch of Nauticam, I have tried to adopt an objective and critical eye. This is a very fine housing, but there is no benefit in me searching for different ways to say it is great. As with the other reviews I have done on Wetpixel, I have praised features and innovations I found useful and where I have found negatives, I have suggested some areas for improvement. Please note that many of these criticisms could also be levelled at other housings, but I felt readers would appreciate a detailed review of this new line, rather than another everything is perfect review.
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Comment(s):Uploaded at Sydney Airport. I’ll be flying for the next 24 hours or so. Answers to any questions will be delayed a bit. Alex
Posted by Alex Mustard on 03/16 at 09:09 PMThank you Alex, well done. I wish I could have seen your face when the seahorse was giving birth and you have an unresponsive camera in your hand. The perils of shooting for reviews, but we appreciate it.
Posted by Steve Williams on 03/16 at 10:13 PMThanks Alex
Great review and really nails home why I purchased the Nauticam for my D300s.
Next trip we will have to get Shannon to drag you over to the Australian West Coast.
Posted by Chriso on 03/16 at 10:32 PMGreat unbiased review (as usual) Alex!
Posted by dbh on 03/17 at 04:16 AMHi Alex,
Completely agree with your findings which support my own suggestions to Nauticam following our original testing. Most of our suggestions have been taken onboard and are now present on the production units. The issue of the extra large, elongated control knobs being supplied as accessories would be welcome.
Having just completed some 70+ dives with my Nikon D300 housing I can only say I made the right choice.
Thanks for the great review and re-assuring that my own findings were almost identical to yours ..
Best regards
David - DigitaldivingPosted by digidiverdave on 03/17 at 05:19 AMFantastic review Alex - thanks!
Cheers
JamesPosted by James Wiseman on 03/17 at 05:46 AMGreat review, Alex. One has the feeling of knowing exactly how this housing is and performs after reading it.
Posted by davichin on 03/17 at 02:42 PMExcellent, thorough review Alex. Great job as always.
Posted by Mike L on 03/18 at 04:51 PMGreat review Alex.
I have just completed 70+ dives with the Nauticam D700 in the Maldives shooting wide angle only.
I completely agree about the shutter dial, I was in strong channel currents for most dives and it was impossible to change the shutter speed with my thumb and hold on to the housing with a tight grip.
I also had a few other points which I have directed towards Edward directly but in short I found it to be a great housing and will house all our future cameras in Nauticam.
Cheers,
JasonPosted by muppetcam on 04/03 at 09:42 PMHi Alex
Same here with the shutter dial. Planning to make a home-made solution soon.
Cheers,Carlos
Posted by blueglass on 04/22 at 06:05 PMI think that good news is coming from Nauticam that the Command Dial Knob has been redesigned following feedback from some users - clearly a company that listens .....
Posted by digidiverdave on 04/22 at 11:53 PMAlex
Fantastic and helpful review.I’m looking for for a housing for the d700 and new strobes to encompass wide angle- I must make a decision.\
I’m not happy that the Nauticam is a larger more bulky housing (traveling issues) and that it appears that the housing will accept only fiber optics for twin strobes. I have been advised that using the internal camera’s strobes is a bad idea because of illumination issues (the water column)
Is the internal flash covered by the housing?
Are fiber optics the ‘new and dependable’ way to go?
thanks\
AllanPosted by allan on 08/01 at 12:36 PMThanks (belatedly) Alex. T’other Alex has made me an offer I can’t refuse in the context of positive reviews and my own shooting style, so it looks like ex-Nexus and newly-Nauticam!
Posted by tdpriest on 08/17 at 10:47 AM
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