Aquatica Viewfinder

[meister 1]

As a follow-on to Meister's query, I am in the same boat. My 5D housing has serial number 20050-10. I emailed Aquatica weeks ago with this info and asked the position about the viewfinder but nobody bothered to reply. Can you help Vizart?

 

I wonder if your email didn't go through? Earlier this morning I emailed info@aquatica.ca asking if the over the counter Aqua View glass fit onto this housing without requiring the housing back be sent in for retrofit. I already received an answer, requesting a picture of the inside eyepiece area to be for sure if I need the retrofit. (Pictures have been sent.)

[Viz'art 24]

so the idea that installing the finder is but a few seconds is maybe, and no doubt unintentionally, a bit misleading

 

 

Actually not much longer or no harder or complicated than removing and installing a port on our housing. same care and attention needed as the business of usual.

 

As a reminder to everybody our e-mail is info@aquatica.ca not .com, and mine is jean@aquatica.ca

[Viz'art 24]

 

Also while on the topic off removing and transporting a view finder, there is a newly available and quite affordable case for storing the view finder, its product number is 19216

 

I handle my view finder as I would my Leica binocular, with care and back in its case when not used.

[NWDiver 42]

Ok as I just purchased one I'll say it, $1000 bucks and you can't throw in a case? I paid a lot less for a Hartenberger light and it came in a nice padded bag.

[Viz'art 24]

The Aqua View finder does come in a neoprene padded bag for protection, same with my 10.5 fisheye it came with a soft pouch. My D200.... no pouch, My point is if you want the extra protection then you get a hard case. This viewfinder has 7 elements plus a prism, I carry it in my camera bag, right next to my other precious optics. but if I want to transport or store it differently I use the hard case, same as I would a Pelican.

 

Its not expensive (retail 25.00) so its not a question of cost, it has more to do with the fact that we are not the manufacturer of this hard case and that we order and keep some of them in inventory for our customer as an interesting accessory.

[waja 0]

My Retrofitted A20 Housing back has arrived! Looks beautiful. But.....

did I miss something? I knowthat the retrofit was to allow me to use the AquaView Viewfinder but I didn't know that it was going to be required . I really have mixed emotions about this. I'm glad that Aquatica had a program to retrofit the housing, but I really did expect that there would be the standard viewfinder attached to the housing and not just the hole. With everyone talking about how easy it is to attach/detach the viewfinder, I was thinking that I could switch viewfinders depending on conditions. The AquaView is rather large and I know that there are going to be times when I will want to have the standard viewfinder.

Edited June 20, 2007 by waja

[scorpio_fish 5]

My Retrofitted A20 Housing back has arrived! Looks beautiful. But.....

did I miss something? I knowthat the retrofit was to allow me to use the AquaView Viewfinder but I didn't know that it was going to be required . I really have mixed emotions about this. I'm glad that Aquatica had a program to retrofit the housing, but I really did expect that there would be the standard viewfinder attached to the housing and not just the hole. With everyone talking about how easy it is to attach/detach the viewfinder, I was thinking that I could switch viewfinders depending on conditions. The AquaView is rather large and I know that there are going to be times when I will want to have the standard viewfinder.

 

 

Probably the viewfinder that was on it no longer fits. They could have or should have returned it to you. But it is now useless I believe. I'm not sure why you would expect a free standard viewfinder. While not $1000, they are not cheap. I'm sure you could order one. New units do come with the standard viewfinder, which must be removed.

[james 0]

Just to be clear, the standard viewfinder from the 20D housing is smaller than the standard viewfinder from the newer housings. So yes, they could have returned the old standard viewfinder to you as a souvenir :-) But I agree - I don't think you should expect a new standard viewfinder for free - but I could see it being part of the upgrade program for a few $$ more.

 

I like having an S180 and also my Seacam pro viewfinder. I sometimes use the Pro for wideangle.

 

Cheers

James

[drsteve 6]

The AquaView is rather large and I know that there are going to be times when I will want to have the standard viewfinder.

After using the AquaView for a while, I can't imagine going back to the standard viewfinder.

[meister 1]

I too can't imagine returning to the standard viewfinder after using the Aqua View.

[Havskatt 0]

A regular eyepiece for the retrofitted A20 housing is available at a very good price at Aquatica.

Edited June 27, 2007 by Havskatt

[bruceterrill 0]

Hi Guys,

I can't believe the whingeing going on within this link.

C'mon, you whinge and whine untile Aquatica makes you a bigger viewfinder,

Then, you whinge and whine because they are taking too long to get a consistent supply of them,

Then, half of you can't decide if they still have a yellow cast or not,

Then when it's your turn, Aquatica dutifully fits the 'long awaited' view finder,

THEN, you whinge and whine because your old viewfinder doesn't fit in the hole...

 

No bloody wonder the housing manufactureres don't want to help out...

Bunch of whingeing bi#$*es...

 

Bruce

IMHO

[Mick 0]

Hi Guys,

I can't believe the whingeing going on within this link.

C'mon, you whinge and whine untile Aquatica makes you a bigger viewfinder,

Then, you whinge and whine because they are taking too long to get a consistent supply of them,

Then, half of you can't decide if they still have a yellow cast or not,

Then when it's your turn, Aquatica dutifully fits the 'long awaited' view finder,

THEN, you whinge and whine because your old viewfinder doesn't fit in the hole...

 

No bloody wonder the housing manufactureres don't want to help out...

Bunch of whingeing bi#$*es...

 

Bruce

IMHO

 

I must agree. I have an Aquatica housing and am very pleased with it but all I see lately is people whinging about everything that housing suppliers do. The one that suprises me the most is the complaint " my port wont lock into position and can turn " well I used a Nik V for 15 years and I dont remember the lens locking on that. Take care of your equipment and take care when diving with it and you wont have a problem. Most of the problems I feel arise from a lack of knowledge with the product in use, we saw a guy assemble his housing on a small, moving dive boat with water spray comming over the top and he applied "o" ring grease like tooth paste around an already fitted "o" ring. Underwater photogpaghy is a small market and I feel the products that are out there are very good. The fear I have is that the housing suppliers are forced to come up with all the little gadgets that people ask for and we end up with housings that nobody can afford.

Good work Aquatica. When I upgrade to a 40D? I will be knocking on your door.

 

Mick

[drsteve 6]

The one that suprises me the most is the complaint " my port wont lock into position and can turn " well I used a Nik V for 15 years and I dont remember the lens locking on that. Take care of your equipment and take care when diving with it and you wont have a problem.

 

Since this comment is clearly aimed at me any my recent flood, I feel I have to respond. I take incredibly careful care of my gear. I avoid opening the housing on the boat, whenever possible. In fact I usually close the housing up in my home or hotel room, where I have a clean controlled work environment. I then don't open it up again until the end of the day, when I am back in a safe dry environment. I always put the minimal amount of grease to insure that the seals slide smoothly (which, by the way, is the only reason to use grease at all).

 

As I have said my port turns EXTREMELY easily. Simply placing the housing onto a camera table is often enough to cause it to turn 10-20 degrees. I have been worrying about this problem since the very first day I picked up the housing. I wrap the port with duct tape specifically to prevent it from accidentally falling off. I have gotten email from a number of other people that have had exactly the same failure. Others say that their housing is tight enough that it doesn't turn without substantial force.

 

This is a problem that is caused by tolerance stackups. If you are lucky enough to get a "tight" housing, great. You might not think that there is a problem. If, like me, you get one that is "loose" you have the port fall off and a $3000 camera + $1000 lens destroyed. To make it more frustrating, this problem could be solved with a simple, inexpensive, design improvement. How many floods have to occur before it gets fixed?

 

I am amazed at how complacent people get. Just because you can blame the user for the failure doesn't mean that the design is okay. Imagine if someone sold a car that was prone to having the wheels fall off if you didn't tighten the lug nuts every time you got into the car. Would you blame the driver for being sloppy if the wheel fell off, or the designer?

 

Sure there are sloppy photographers and people that don't service their gear, but this was a case where I treat the system with kid gloves and it STILL fell apart!

[waja 0]

A regular eyepiece for the retrofitted A20 housing is available at a very good price at Aquatica.

I did order the regular eyepiece since Aquatica offered it for about half off of their list price. This allowed me to check the housing out and if/when I upgrade to something like a 40D, I will have a complete A20 housing to sell.

Today I ordered the AquaView from B&H. Great price reduction that more than covered my cost of the regular eyepiece. B)