Housing for Nex camera

[Mark K 5]

Hi everyone.

I started my own strobe and arm system connecting to this 5n using a Meikon housing. It is a good housing if I am using it for shallow water sport but not for diving. I started looking for better housing system.

Currently I have found Nauticam, 10bar, Aquatica, Recsea, Acquapazza and have been wondering which is the best. I also have a Nex6 camera and Nauticam is the only company providing a housing for this camera.

Thanks

[Mario V 1]

IMHO Nauticam is the best option. It has fantastic support world wide and a great range of accessories.

I had some problems with the Aquatica rear wheel sticking when deeper 20mt and they do not have a any port that suits macro.

Aquapazza is makes very nice housings. I have only seen the NEX7 and is a very nice piece of kit with an excellent magnetic zoom gear system. It will work exactly the same underwater as it does on land.

The 10Bar is not bad but the ergonomics are not very nice.

I would go for the Nauticam housing with the 4" dome for the 16mm, It will work perfectly with the wide and super wide clip on adapters.

For macro, you have 2 options, the 30mm macro with the macro port 45 and the 18-55 with the flat port 72 and an external diopter.

One thing not many people think when choosing a housing is the after sale support. Nauticam IMHO has the best one.

[E_viking 30]

From those Housings I would say either Nauticam or Aquatica, both are good!

My personal opinion would say Nauticam. It is a hometown choice for you as well.

 

/Erik

[Mark K 5]

Thanks guys. I contacted a local dealer...and they kinda recommend me, moving away from Nauticam though Nauticam is the real biggest player. One point they say is that Nauticam mirrorless housings use single O ring. I cannot confirm this.

[E_viking 30]

@ Mark: I do not really know that much about mirrorless. However, it is normal with a single O-ring on a dSLR!

 

In my opinion, Nauticam is top notch regardless of mirrorless or dSLR.

I can not see that any of the other brands should be considerably better ( more on the contrary)!

 

Out of curiosity! What did he suggest?

 

/Erik

 

Ps! I might be biased, since I have a Nauticam myself.

You can on the other hand find plenty of Nauticam users on Wetpixel.

[Mark K 5]

Dear E_viking

Thanks for the reply. My web surfing exactly found what you have just said. They recommended Recsea and Aquacpazza from Japan. I went to check out and found these housings are indeed well made but I cannot tell without actually using them under water. How about 10bar？

[E_viking 30]

Choosing a housing manufacturer is a bit of a personal feeling! Are the controls fitting your hands etc etc

Check that they feel like they are well built, have enough of ports available for the Lenses that you want to use.

In my opinion it is also important to have easy accessible spare parts, service etc etc!

Also think about that you might want to continue to use the ports after updating the Camera & Housing.

 

I am not all that familiar with the NEX Housings. I have just had a brief look., due to my wife.

My personal preference would be Nauticam or Aquatica.

 

 

/Erik

[jmauricio 24]

disclaimer. I'm a nex nauticam owner.

 

Sorry to add to your research, but port selection is another key issue to consider, in addition to ergonomics.

 

in particular how fast a housing manufacturer will have ports available. I think this is particularly important with the NEX as lens selection is currently suspect and as new new lenses are introduced, new ports will be required.

 

just an fyi

[Mark K 5]

Thank you all for the inputs

[Mark K 5]

Eventually, we bought a total of three 10bar housings and one Aquatica. As beginners, I have asked tons of questions to the dealer and even manufacturers before we leave. 10Bar housings are very heavy and flood proof except a few shortcomings

[Alex_Tattersall 90]

Flood proof? That’s quite a claim!

[Mark K 5]

....flood proof was the word of a local dealer which sells the huge volume of Nauticam and 10bar...

After all the wide side of the port does not perfect. When mounted on a 11mm lens, there is this big circle...

[Mark K 5]

We also carried two Meikon housings and one aquatica housing. Meikons did not work in deeper depth and Aquatica still showed some black corners, though very mild. As beginner photographers, we did not have good skill to utilize the full potential of Subsee10+ so closeup shots are pretty much like this