Sexy new housing arrived today and I'm quite pleased with the design. I've got photos of the housing and I'll point out the improvements.
There are two improvements to the front. The first is a stylish black color. The black front and sides will prevent stray light from entering from the sides and top. 2nd are the fiber optic connections build in. These can either hold a raw fiber cable or a Sea&Sea style connector. All very nice improvements.
This improvement is huge in my opinion. Its a rotary dial with a recessed locking switch. This lines the two halves up perfectly and locks them tightly together.
The first thing that pops out at you is how well the switches are labelled. They've added plastic caps to the posts for easier identification. A subtle, but really cool improvement, are the buttons. They depress easier and are further apart. They retain the offset of the previous housing.
The largest of the improvements is the area around the flash is now a much more subtle curve. This allows the housing to not have a large gap between the shells there. I will say the gap is slightly larger at the top than elsewhere however there's another improvement which I think will alleviate any concern. The main oring seal faces the outside edges (bore seal just like a video housing) and the first clamshell is recessed to allow the two pieces together.
This is an overpressure valve. I think this is an outlet for any gases that might expand if the housing were left in the sun or if you were just firing away and the camera heated up.
The housing base now locks into the base, again with a recessed lever. This insures a good seat of the camera in the housing.
Since the buttons are easier to depress you can now change aperture and shutter with 1 hand. In my PT-E03 the button was so tough to depress I couldn't manage it with an outstretched finger. They also retained the hotshoe mount.
Finally the gap at the top of the housing is much, much smaller than the previous generation however it is slightly more noticable than at other points. With that said, I'm much more confident this will be a much more robust housing than the PT-E03.
As a curiosity, I installed my wifes E510 camera inside the housing and it fits as perfect as the E520. The only noticable difference was the mode dial is larger on the E520 so it doesn't quite grip the dial on the E510 the same way. Not that I would encourage anyone to buy this based on this subjective view, I would have no problem with using her camera should I flood mine on vacation
I should get an opportunity to dive with it in the next few weeks in a local lake. I'll keep you posted.
Overall, I'm really excited about the new design and can't wait to field test it.
