AquaCam - a good housing?
- Thread starter Kenneth T
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
I am not familiar with these housings. I just looked them up online and went to their website. I dont know of anyone who has used them.
I have the base version of this housing which I use with 2 different DV-video cameras. While I can't say anything about the controls, the housing itself is a very solid piece of construction. I've drug it around the carribean and made 50+ dives in the last year with it. Not one drop of water in it. The lens sealing o-ring and clamps are very easy to use and easy to verify you have a tight seal. The only down side is that there is no way to open a side screen on most video cameras. Left me trying to use the little viewscreen at times especially when trying to take closeups. You can just look through the housing to rough frame your shot or get the new JVC camera with the rear mounted screen which I did. But then I found a Lyra 3.5 video player that I can use as a rear viewscreen inside the housing on my .
I've got it mounted backwards in the housing to show the fit better. I'm real happy with the housing. If I scratch the lens, a replacement is only $17. Satisfied Customer.
I've got it mounted backwards in the housing to show the fit better. I'm real happy with the housing. If I scratch the lens, a replacement is only $17. Satisfied Customer.
- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,874
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
For $659 the Aquacam has limited controls.
Aquacam provides:
Electronic Control System with penetration-free magnetic switching.
record start/stop.
zoom wide/telephoto
power on/off
For $800 there's the mechanical Ikelite TRV-33 specific housing with much more control functionality.
Ikelite provides:
Power on/off
Recording start/stop
Zoom
Photo Button
Glass lens port
Viewfinder magnification
Color monitor can be viewed through the housing side - they have an external stick-on mirror option also - but panning will be reversed.
Removable external UR/Pro Filter included
Optional Inon UWL-100 wide angle lens, Epoque or #58070 Sea & Sea conversion wide lens attach directly to the port. This is nice because it's the only housing of these three that do this u/w - since Aquacam and Topdawg have a flat port - both a w/a lens and/or the color correction filter go on the camera before it's installed in the housing.
Understand that there's a limited upgrade path with the Ikelite since their controls are model specific. And your camera isn't among the newer models and Sony changed the form factor about 3-4 years ago. So it's likely a terminal purchase.
Or for $899 there's the TopDawg housing which is also a universal electronic housing.
TopDawg provides:
- True non-penetrating electromagnetic controls
- Easily removed for cleaning.
- Mode photo/video,
Start/stop Record & Photo,
Power on/off,
Zoom tele/wide,
Momentary Auto Focus,
Fulltime Auto Focus,
Manual Focus near/far
Downside of the TopDawg is that it gives up 50' of depth rating to the other two.
Unless you've only got $659, IMHO either is a better option.
Aquacam provides:
Electronic Control System with penetration-free magnetic switching.
record start/stop.
zoom wide/telephoto
power on/off
For $800 there's the mechanical Ikelite TRV-33 specific housing with much more control functionality.
Ikelite provides:
Power on/off
Recording start/stop
Zoom
Photo Button
Glass lens port
Viewfinder magnification
Color monitor can be viewed through the housing side - they have an external stick-on mirror option also - but panning will be reversed.
Removable external UR/Pro Filter included
Optional Inon UWL-100 wide angle lens, Epoque or #58070 Sea & Sea conversion wide lens attach directly to the port. This is nice because it's the only housing of these three that do this u/w - since Aquacam and Topdawg have a flat port - both a w/a lens and/or the color correction filter go on the camera before it's installed in the housing.
Understand that there's a limited upgrade path with the Ikelite since their controls are model specific. And your camera isn't among the newer models and Sony changed the form factor about 3-4 years ago. So it's likely a terminal purchase.
Or for $899 there's the TopDawg housing which is also a universal electronic housing.
TopDawg provides:
- True non-penetrating electromagnetic controls
- Easily removed for cleaning.
- Mode photo/video,
Start/stop Record & Photo,
Power on/off,
Zoom tele/wide,
Momentary Auto Focus,
Fulltime Auto Focus,
Manual Focus near/far
Downside of the TopDawg is that it gives up 50' of depth rating to the other two.
Unless you've only got $659, IMHO either is a better option.
- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,874
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
Electronic housings with LANC controls are powered by the camera. The power drain is negligible. If a housing has an internal monitor, typically it's powered by separate batteries.
For the Aquacam, I don't know as I've never held one. For the TopDawg, the controls are momentary slide switches mounted on both sides of the housing tube near the handles. Seemed to be intuitive locations but I've only tested one dry.
The flexibility of the Top Dawg is very nice when upgrading your camera at a later date. And, their new housings are even better! Their is now a nice optional HD monitor back which can be purchased with the housing (saves money) or at a later date.
Similar threads
