Nauticam NA-60D field test 
The Nauticam NA60D field test
Last Update: 21 December 2011 10:11 AM
7 comment(s) | discuss in forums
Author: Drew Wong ( Drew )
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Nauticam NA-60D
Background:
In 2008, I’d heard of a company called Nauticam that made a white balance dome port. This Hong Kong based company began shipping housings the next year. By 2011, the brand has become a popular housing amongst retailers and photographers, with a wide range of housings for cameras like the Phase One 645 to the Panasonic LX5.
Known for their innovative engineering, each new generation of Nauticam product evolved with features designed in response to user feedback. Alex Mustard reviewed the Nauticam for the D7000 and gave it high ratings. I know a few people who love their Nauticams. They were one of the first manufacturers to include optical ports for fiberoptic flash sync and an impressive port locking system. The meteoric rise of Nauticam has been rather impressive.
Predictably, it hasn’t been all smooth. Nauticam has had 2 recalls over its products. The first was the 550D/T2i housing issue with loctite. Another issue was the rusting of certain components due to low grade manufacturing materials, but there was no recall for that. The second recall I was directly involved with since I had 2 9” domes pop off the assembly within a month, and notified Edward Lai of Nauticam that the first incident mentioned in the forums was not a solitary one (and also posted on Wetpixel). In fact it was this incident that led to my field testing the newly redesigned 9” dome along.
I must add that Nauticam has publicly acknowledged the known issues and worked hard on the fixes. Furthermore, Edward was so confident of his product that he sent the NA-60D housing for the Canon EOS 60D along with the new 9” dome for me to test. So with a bit of help from Scubacam Singapore, I picked up the following gear for the test in Bali:
NA-60D Housing
4.33” Acrylic Dome Port
9” optical glass port (the new redesigned one)
Macro Port 87
Compact port extension 30
Since I’ve covered quite a bit of the camera in my Seacam Prelude review, I won’t be rehashing the different camera modes. I’ll just be concentrating on the NA-60D housing as it is quite different from the Prelude 60D housing. The field test will be divided into 2 parts, wideangle with the 4.33”/9” domes and macro. At the end, I’ll also post my subjective comparison of the Seacam and Nauticam housings.
FTC Disclosure:
All housing equipment tested were either on loan or owned by me. The loaned equipment have been returned.
Special acknowledgement and thanks to:
Matthew Koh of CPS, Canon Singapore for the Canon EOS 60D loan
Edward and Jacqueline Lai of Nauticam for the loan of Nauticam equipment
David Cheung and Sanah Z for helping with logistics and supplying clamps
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Comment(s):I like my 7D but it has some corrosion issues as well. I have a label on the back of the housing that says “Flash Up?” to make sure that it is working.
Otherwise a good and fair revue. If you had to spend your own money what housing would you buy?
Bill
Posted by bvanant on 11/01 at 03:47 PMBill. You can pop the flash up on the 7D using the menu.. I know as I’ve been UW a few times and forgotten to pop the flash up..
Posted by saeedrashid on 11/02 at 06:28 AMp.s. I love my 7D housing more than my girlfriend and that’s saying a lot. :)
Posted by saeedrashid on 11/02 at 06:29 AMBill
I try not to put my own buying preferences in reviews and tests. I think it’s better to be informative than endorse a product for whatever reasons. I’m not a “celebrity” and my opinion holds no weight, but facts, on the other hand, are facts.Saeed
So glad you shared that with the world. I’m sure your gf will be thrilled to read that! :DPosted by Drew Wong on 11/02 at 01:48 PMSaeed:
I don’t think there is a menu command to pop up the flash. You can put it in full auto mode (green square) and get it to pop up that way but if there is a menu command, could you point me to it?
ThanksBill
Posted by bvanant on 11/02 at 02:01 PMAs mentioned in the test, going to CA or FA modes and cover the will get the flash to pop up, unless you set the flash to be off.
Posted by Drew Wong on 11/02 at 02:28 PMOn the 7D, you can use the wireless flash option followed by ‘test flash’ which will pop up the flash, no problem. I think the same is true for the 60D.
Posted by Alex_Tattersall on 11/03 at 08:54 PM
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