Neptune7

I hope you can can fix it yourself because Amphibico in now closed. Unless the previous owners find quickly someone to take over, Amphibico will not be back in business.

I had a look at the housing (I live in Montreal) and there isn't a flip arm and no room for that. I think it is a bit annoying. JC told me it wasn't necessary, that there isn't one in the Amphibicam and they consider the EX3 housing a pro housing just like the Amphibicam so a URPRO filter is not needed ??? I own a EX3. I am tempted but I will wait for more trial reports, how the camera white balance in water...unless JC lend me one AmphibicamX3 for our next Bahamian Great hammerhead expedition? Pierre

Yes it is pretty easy to do. All you need are a couple of small screwdrivers (Phillips and flathead) and a needle to remove the small O rings. It took me less than 10 minutes to do and I am not a technical genius. It was one of my friend who suggested that and since I had nothing else to try before admitting to dive without my video camera, something I cant do, it work and saved my trip. It was a lucky call and it worked. Pierre

Hi guys, This can be cause by a leak from one of the O rings of one of the buttons on top of the handle. What happen is it short-circuit the chip inside the handle (under the buttons). The only solution is to put a new chip. Usually Amphibico will repair this at low cost. But if this ever happen to you while on a trip, rather than loosing the use of your housing, when the problen happens in the right handle (all the major commands are on the right handle), you can actually switch the chip from the left handle into the right handle. The chips are identical. You then loose the left handle buttons but that is minor compare to loosing the use of the right handle. I did that on a liveaboard in the Red Sea and it saved the shoot. I think it is a rare problem. Seen this once in ten years and four Amphibico housings (two PD-170 and two Phenom Z1). Pierre

Nice! Where did you shot the dugong? I know there one or two at the Abu Dabab site but I heard youre not allowed to dive there anymore. It need to shoot a few sequence of a dugong and planning to go to Egypt next fall. Any info on how and with who to book to nail this project will be welcome. Thanks Pierre

Hi Jules, I am very interested Amphibicam X3. Have you shot some macro with the housing? Can you show us some footage? Pros and Cons? Thanks, Pierre

Even if Scarlett does make an official appearance with all she is suppose to do. It will take months before you get your hands on one and a couple of years for a decent housing to complement this ever changing "work in progress". Very little interest in my case. Pierre

Hi, I don't freedive with sharks but been diving a lot with them mainly in the Bahamas. On one of our trip, one freediver joined us and we were quite worried. From the bottom, in his black wetsuit, he looked like a big sea lion or seal. He spend the whole week freediving with lemons, tigers and great hammerhead and was never threaten. I got to know him better, his name is Wolfgang Leander. He's a shark nut. He has been freediving with all kinds of sharks and knows them well. He goes all around the world to freedive with sharks and especially the tigers. If you want to try the same I would suggest to get in touch with him. He his a real gentleman, a great freediver and a sharklover like you won't beleive. Here a link to his blog. http://fleander.blogspot.com/ Pierre

Yeah! But at what cost for Bruno (not Gates)? Pierre

Yes it does have a lanc!!! It is probably the reason why Amphibico created a housing for the EX3 rather than the EX1. Yes this housing is very "imposing". It has a square looks that make it kind of bulky. It's huge and heavy topside (50 pounds + without the camcorder) but perfectly balance and just slightly negative UW. Jean-Claude offered me at "test drive" last week. I will try it next week underwater. Pierre

Hi Mike, Where are you in Lembeh? Pierre

Drew, do you really expect Gates to give you an honest answer? If there was many complaining customers, it would give Bruno ammunition and put Gates on the grill. After reading all this, my conclusion is that the Gates EX1 housing has unreliable parts and is very high maintenance. Not for me. Pierre

I agree 100% with ce4jesus. There are parts of a housing we should not have to fiddle with. Gates housings are very expensive and the company should stand by it's products. We are buying housing to protect very expensive video gear we put inside. This is called "customer respect". Pierre

Here is a link to a clip from an interview I did of Howard Hall when he was using the "beast" in British Columbia for an IMAX movie.. Pierre http://homepage.mac.com/pierre_seguin/iMovieTheater2.html

Could you give us the thread? Neptune7