Differences in housing

[RandomGuy1]

Ok, I am thinking about picking up a housing for my gen1 sony rx-100. It looks like prices range from 175 for a monoprice housing from amazon, to up to over about $1000 for a nauticam housing, with an ikelite somewhere in the middle at around $450. I understand that there is a price difference for the more expensive aluminum housing, vs cheaper for the polycarbonate, but $400-500 dollars? Are there advantages to the aluminum versus the poly? Is maintenance easier for the aluminum? buttons work better? I would probably be buying a tray with an external light at the same time, and eventually like to get an external strobe. Would that make a difference?

 

[PatW]

I have used both types of housings. The Ike housing is a box with controls sort of jury rigged. The housings work fine. I have used Nauticam DSLR housings. The housings are designed specifically for each camera. This custom design makes for a more compact housing. The controls are more precise and they have better ergonomics. So yes, there is a difference. It the difference worth it? If you are a dedicated photographer, I would say you would probably want the aluminum housing even at the higher price. If you are happy with casual snap shots, maybe not. For my DSLR, my wife strongly urged me to get the Nauticam housing and even though I am cheap, I am glad that I did. Your experience may vary.

the newer Nauticam DSLR housings come with vacuum systems that indicate when you have a good seal. These virtually eliminate the risk of floods. I got one put in my older housing. It is a really nice feature.

ok on to strobes. I use strobes 100 percent of the time. Strobes give you more light. They also give you white light. As you go deeper in the water, the long wave lengths of light get progressively absorbed starting with red, then orange, yellow, green, finally blue. At depths of 80' or so, all you see are greens and blues. I have taken shots of fish against apparently grey backgrounds with strobes to discover that the backgrounds were encrusting sponges that were garish reds, yellows and oranges.

it is nice to have 2 strobes. You can get more even lighting and it really helps with wide angle shots.

Also, I strongly recommend shooting in RAW. That allows you to adjust white balance in post processing which is very handy.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Not sure about the quality of the monoprice housing, but much of the cheap housings uses single o-ring, which almost means it will sooner or later flood. I would not get a housing that only have one o-ring.

The fancier housings usually have have extenders for many buttons so that the ones on the housing are not directly above the buttons on the camera, instead spreading it out so it it can be easier to operate underwater, plus they usually find a way to get the command dial to function as a separate knob instead of just using it as up/down/left/right buttons.

As said, Ikelite housings are basically a generic box that they use for all the compact cameras, the only difference is that they put buttons in different location for different cameras. Since the housing has to more or less fit all cameras in that size range, and the button extenders, being a single shaft of metal that bends its way inside the housing to the buttons, thus the housing has to be pretty big and clunky. The custom polycarbonate housings made just for the camera such as the monoprice or OEM ones are made just for that specific camera, thus are usually a bit smaller than Ikelite's.

Looks like Fantasea will be making a plastic housing for the RX100 III, but at close to $800, that's getting into the alum housing territory.

 

[KeithG]

Ok, I am thinking about picking up a housing for my gen1 sony rx-100. It looks like prices range from 175 for a monoprice housing from amazon, to up to over about $1000 for a nauticam housing, with an ikelite somewhere in the middle at around $450. I understand that there is a price difference for the more expensive aluminum housing, vs cheaper for the polycarbonate, but $400-500 dollars? Are there advantages to the aluminum versus the poly? Is maintenance easier for the aluminum? buttons work better? I would probably be buying a tray with an external light at the same time, and eventually like to get an external strobe. Would that make a difference?

I suggest you expand your selection criteria beyond housing material. The housing design and control buttons are more important. I have owned excellent aluminum and poly housings. And a crappy poly housing. And a poor aluminum housing. I have no opinion about rx100 housings.

The housing material does not affect maintenance or performance for recreational divers. Unless you are also using it as a soccer ball. Metal and poly require the same tender loving care. Metal is normally much heavier when thinking about transportation.

From a design perspective, I like purpose designed housings that provide simple short push button controls. In my experience these housings have provide the best controls. ikelite often fails this criteria with their one size large box fits many approach. But ikleite does provide housings for more many more cameras than other suppliers. Sometimes ikeltite is your only choice. And often at a smaller price point.

You also need to be aware of the strobe control mechanism. Many current poly housings only provide optical fibre (sometimes through a sucky glue on mask). ikelite provides a proprietary wired bulkhead for ikelite strobes (but i believe they now offer some normal fibre optic connections?). other housings provide a either a "nikonos" or proprietary wired sync bulkhead connection for external strobes.

So housing selection needs to consider your future as well as your present wallet. You choice should depend upon your needs.

In my world, a housing must be capable of providing a wired sync bulkhead for manual strobe control. For me, this does not rule out some cheap poly housings as I am comfortable with modifying them as required.

 

[RandomGuy1]

I suggest you expand your selection criteria beyond housing material. The housing design and control buttons are more important. I have owned excellent aluminum and poly housings. And a crappy poly housing. And a poor aluminum housing. I have no opinion about rx100 housings.

The housing material does not affect maintenance or performance for recreational divers. Unless you are also using it as a soccer ball. Metal and poly require the same tender loving care. Metal is normally much heavier when thinking about transportation.

From a design perspective, I like purpose designed housings that provide simple short push button controls. In my experience these housings have provide the best controls. ikelite often fails this criteria with their one size large box fits many approach. But ikleite does provide housings for more many more cameras than other suppliers. Sometimes ikeltite is your only choice. And often at a smaller price point.

You also need to be aware of the strobe control mechanism. Many current poly housings only provide optical fibre (sometimes through a sucky glue on mask). ikelite provides a proprietary wired bulkhead for ikelite strobes (but i believe they now offer some normal fibre optic connections?). other housings provide a either a "nikonos" or proprietary wired sync bulkhead connection for external strobes.

So housing selection needs to consider your future as well as your present wallet. You choice should depend upon your needs.

In my world, a housing must be capable of providing a wired sync bulkhead for manual strobe control. For me, this does not rule out some cheap poly housings as I am comfortable with modifying them as required.

My problem is I don't exactly know what selection criteria to look at beyond material so it seemed like that was a good place to start. I believe that fiber optic is my only choice for strobes, as the rx100 doesn't have a hot shoe or any control ports. Unfortunately, it looks like all the housings for the RX100 are a single o-ring. Thanks for the ideas on what to look for. I am still working on narrowing down my selection, but I have pretty much ruled out the cheapest poly housing as I would kick myself if I cheaped out and flooded my rx100.

 

[KeithG]

My problem is I don't exactly know what selection criteria to look at beyond material so it seemed like that was a good place to start. I believe that fiber optic is my only choice for strobes, as the rx100 doesn't have a hot shoe or any control ports. Unfortunately, it looks like all the housings for the RX100 are a single o-ring. Thanks for the ideas on what to look for. I am still working on narrowing down my selection, but I have pretty much ruled out the cheapest poly housing as I would kick myself if I cheaped out and flooded my rx100.

Prime selection criteria is ability to operate the controls (especially if you are a cold water diver with clumsy gloves on - I believe ikelite & Aquatica are good at this?). You will need to touch and feel the housing to evaluate this.

Next criteria is completeness of controls. Some housings do not allow access to all camera controls. I have seen incredibly cheap video housings that have no controls. You push record, dump in the video camera, close the housing and dive. Not really applicable to stills, but you get the idea. Some housings have fewer controls.

Then you need to think about strobe support. The RX100 II does have a hotshoe. So the camera can support optical or wired sync. If you think you need wired sync, then some housings get ruled out (unless you can DIY the housing).

Dual / single o-ring is not really a consideration. Most (all?) floods are due to user error. Adding an extra o-ring does not stop stupid from happening.

 

[Interceptor121]

You picked up a good bargain on a Rx100 I however that is going to be the less expensive part of your set up
Strobes, housing, wet lenses will all cost more, this is the story with underwater photography
There are people that use meikon or similar housing, some or lucky some get sticky buttons even at shallow depth
If your budget is really low consider at least an ikelite instead of a generic at least you know it will work albeit with difficulties