Housing for Sony Nex-5

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Uhuburu

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Hello,

I am interested in a housing for the Sony Nex-5.
I have seen that there are several, different underwater housings for the Nex-5.
As far as I know there is;
Aquatica
10bar
Nauticam
Acquapazza
Recsea.

To make the right choice, I like to know the advantages/disadvantages of the different brand/models.
Hope someone here can help me out.

Thanks.

Cor
 
Absolutely not an expert on the subject. :)

I ordered the Nauticam last month and it should be here next week. I am interested to get my hands on it and start playing. From all indications, and the reviews I've read, it's a robust and easy to use housing with only a few drawbacks. My only complaint (so far) has been the lead time to getting it. My original order was a month back and it wasn't until last week that one was available (placed on a waiting list). But that seems common with parts for the NEX-5. I ordered a 70-300mm lens which no one had in stock. The NEX-5 seems like a very popular camera! I'm hopeful. I'm new to the camera and while I'm a Nikon fanatic at heart, the size of the housing for a D300 scared me. Anyway, the features sold me. I like the lack of clips and the ability to swap lenses without tearing everything apart (or so the literature says). I guess I'll know more next week.

The Aquapazza looks spectacular and I know there's at least one person here who purchased it (was it ScubaMoMo??). I read his review and he indicated it was a more expensive solution but he seemed quite happy.
 
Same problem here, no houses in stock so i have to relieve on the experience from others...
What brand 70-300 did you ordered? I havent seen that lens for the nex-5.
I am also a Nikon fanatic (D700) and for me, the size (and weight) of the house for that camera is no option.
 
Hey Uhuburu, I have the Nauticam housing myself and I am very happy with it. Here's a quick and dirty run down of the housing in the hands of a rank amateur:

PROS
Very well made, aircraft grade aluminium (supposedly... it is very nice tho! :p)
Lens can be swapped without undoing the entire housing
Small dimensions (housing is marginally larger than the body of my old Nikon D70)
Light weight (relatively)
Full access to all controls
Nicely weighted shutter release

CONS
Ports have no support for manual focus as of this moment (this effectively limits the use to e-mount lenses only, which is a shame, as I don't see Sony releasing a 50mm/100mm macro for the e-mount any time soon.)
Viewfinder cannot be angled (well, it can be angled up to about 5-10degs. But nothing compared to ScubaMoMo's 45deg angle on the acquapazza, having had a quick play around with over the weekend. But to be honest, this is a very, very minor gripe for me.)

And that's it. There's really nothing that I can find fault with in the Nauticam. The lack of manual focus is an issue for me, but it's something that can be easily addressed by Nauticam in their newer ports. Fingers crossed.

I'm sure ScubaMoMo will be happy to give you guys a quick summary of his housing as well. In my very brief hands on with his kit, I have to say the Acquapazza housing is also fantastically well made. And the zoom port for the 1855 is a real thing of beauty. Zoom and Focus controls are done magnetically, so it really feels so natural, just like using a lens topside, where you rotate the rings on the lens barrel. One thing though is that the housing was quite a lot heavier than the Nauticam, so some form of flotation/buoyant arms will be advised.

Hope that helps!
- THKHOO


ps - I was thinking of starting a separate thread in Sony Snappers for NEX-5 owners to post and share their underwater pictures. I think it would be a really great resource for those thinking of purchasing such a system, as I personally found (and continue to find) it difficult to track down sample pictures with different setups, lens combinations, diopters, etc.
So, please let me know if such a thread would be of interest and use to you. I plan to set that up over the next few days once when I'm back on my home pc and have access to my pictures to get things started.
 
I have the Nauticam housing as well. I have only done one dive with it so far (in very crappy water conditions) but I am very happy with it. It is very compact and light and near neutral underwater.
As mentioned above it is missing the manual focus but I am not sure yet if I really need it anyway. The nex 5 autofocus seems to be fairly fast and accurate. I would of also loved to be able to tilt the screen more, the Acquapazza allows this.
The housings I was considering were the Acquapazza but ruled it out due to the price (I was also worried about the long term support as I have never heard of them before) and the Aquatica, which I ruled out due to the dome port used on the 18-55mm lens limited the macro options. For price/features/build quality it is hard to beat the Nauticam.
 
I own as mentioned above the Acquapazza housing and am very happy with it. Huang is right and i think its heavier then the Nauticam. Personally there were a couple of features which sold me on it, because i was originally also going to buy the Nauticam until i saw this one. I love that it has the option of manual focus and i can tell you in macro it can make a difference, even though skillwise i'm far away from making use of it. I like the trigger for making pictures, but having tried the Nauticam before that is not really a big issue. The optional angled viewfinder is awesome and one of the main reasons for going with this housing. Generally i'm very happy with it. Btw. i think Acquapazza is in some way related to Inon due to that they share the same technology for the focus and zoom control.
 
I noticed that Underwater Journal (online), has a review of the Aquatica NEX-5 housing. Might be worth reading if you're interested.

And I must be going senile - I said 70-300. Why did I say that? Because I'm senile.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SEL18200-mount-18-200mm-F3-5-6-3/dp/B0042GFYLI

18-200mm

My apologies. I'd love a 70-300mm but nope, nothing out there yet.

Anyway, another ridiculously hard piece of gear to get. I ordered it from Crutchfield who had to wait until they got their shipment from Sony. It only took about a week or so, but looking today, it's still on the "hard to find" list and backordered.
 
For info, Nauticam are working on a focus gear now for the 16mm pancake lens and there will most likely be one for the E-mount macro lens when it emerges.
 
I finally decided to buy the Acquapazza. The price is almost the same as the Nauticam and the 45 degrees tilted back was for me the biggest point!
Hope to receive the house within a week!
 

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