Iphone housing - Worth it? Which one?

[MightyDuck]

Hi guys,

I am a novice diver, got only 53 dives, all in the last 1,5 year, got rescue and tec fundamentals, trying to get more experience, but planning to stay in recreational diving, nothibg more serious, but I want to take a few good photo/video to show off.
I’m not a big (/good) photographer on land, so my needs are pretty basic, at least first.
I have a Gopro 5 Black with a wrist mount at the moment and I’m wondering if my iPhone X could make better photos/videos.
(I’m not planning to get any serious (lights, etc) upgrade for a year.)
Additional advantage, with the iphone I got a tray-like housing which otherwise I would need to buy for the gopro to be more stable.
I have found 3 waterproof housings:

• Seafrogs: Connects via Bluetooth, need separate, batteries.
• Kraken: Bluetooth connection, separate batteris
• Divevolk SeaTouch 3: Usable touchscreen, no additional buttons (less danger of leakage)

I’m looking in the budget category (which meets my experience ) and the whole Divevolk package with the lenses are in the same category with the other 2 with the most basic package.
But since I’m risking my phone with it, I would really like to hear any experience with any of them.
I read in the UWP magazine about Divevolk and saw one people who dives with it, but that’s all.

Thanks for the help!

 

[wnissen]

Well, any phone since iPhone 7 has momentary immersion resistance up to 1 meter, and starting with the 11 it goes up to 2 or 4 meters, all for 30 minutes. So absolute resistance to leaks is not as important as it was when you could easily fry your phone with a grain of sand stuck in a seal. I'm curious to see what the current crop of recomendations look like.

 

[davecampbell]

my wife loves her kraken smart case. works great, runs on cheap batteries that last a long time, and we've never had a leak at all. with that said, we are careful with oring cleanliness, and maintenance in general. the vacuum seal system is reassuring, and offers a positive indicator of a good seal. the colour correction software is great. no complaints here except the phone battery doesn't last terribly long, probably due to the Bluetooth usage. all in all, very satisfied with it.

 

[Esprise Me]

A friend of mine used to take incredible photos with his phone in a Kraken housing setup with some lights. Then he dropped it and lost it forever. If you go this route, back up everything on your phone constantly, and make sure you won't be stranded at the dive site without it when you lose it.

Also, you have to be in pretty shallow water to get decent pics without lights.

 

[Jcp2]

The answer is to get an inexpensive older iPhone to go with the case. Older phones are cheaper than lower end cameras but have a lot more functionality in addition to taking pictures.

 

[umhlangan]

I have heard (and seen) very good things about the Kraken housing, in fact I will be buying one myself early next year.

 

[wnissen]

The new iPhones just announced today are waterproof to 6m / 20ft for 30 minutes. Pretty amazing. Not sure I would take a $600 phone snorkeling without a case, but supposedly it's possible.

 

[maj2]

A couple of other things to consider...

I would not consider a case that it not more or less universal. Knowing it fits past models does not necessarily mean it will fit future models. Most people change phones every couple of years. Invest in a housing that will last for multiple phones, as well as the possibility that you COULD at some point switch phone operating systems. A case that can handle virtually any phone is a plus. Kraken and the Divevolk seem to fit that bill.

For something like the Divevolk, it looks like it needs lens adapters for different phones. When you get a new phone, will they still be around when you need a new adapter, or will your housing become a paperweight at that point?

Can you use the controls (touchscreen and/or button spacing) while wearing gloves (warm water, cold water, whatever kind of diving you do)? If you cannot use all controls, do you at least have access to the ones you might need underwater (eg zoom)?

 

[rock92]

I have the Kraken with the fish eye lense and really enjoy it. For an entry point setup, it works pretty well.

 

[Landau]

I don’t think any of the cases + iphone will take noticeably better photos or videos underwater than your go pro. I’d stick with the go pro + some underwater colour correction filters.

Also for any camera - get a tether so it is clipped to you at all times. I’ve seen too many get dropped and lost.