Why no Panasonic underwater cases?

[lavachickie]

My husband and I both have Panasonic Lumix cameras (his is an older FX07, mine is an FS15). For our first entry into underwater photography we thought we'd take the easy road, get a case for one of these, and then by the end of the year graduate up to something spiffier, making this our backup camera. Our goals are modest; take some fun shots for our own enjoyment while we're out.

Initially I'm excited that Panasonic seems to make housings specifically for the Lumix models (which is why Ikelite does not make any for Panasonic models). But I cannot find cases actually available -- for any of the models. There is one for his, but every place I can find it says it's not in stock (PriceBreak allowed me to backorder it eventually cancelled the backorder). I don't FIND one made for mine, and we saw a newer model in CostCo this weekend so I thought I'd see if it had an available case... there IS one made but, again, it's not in stock. Not from Panasonic, not from retailers like Amazon, etc. I tried Amazon.jp and they do list the item, but it's not available (and says it can't be shipped outside the US anyway).

So what's the deal? Is there ONE company that makes off of these that is having problems? Is Panasonic discontinuing this accessory line?

I kinda need to know before May if I should continue to wait for this to become available, or if I should just go buy a camera and case.

Thanks!

 

[rab1412000]

this is what an u/w videographer told me (he owns a store selling u/w housings)
panasonic has been in the camera business for quite a short time still and they did make a major push starting 2007 when sales of their tv's started dwindling.
and it seems like they never expected some of their models to perform/sell as well with regards to u/w photog.
panasonic outsources the u/w casings and orders them thru batches. so once a batch/stock is depleted thats eventually it unless they check sales figures and see that producing another batch would be financially viable. the problem is there is a minimum volume per batch and he says he doubts if panasonic would run another batch of u/w oem casing for existing models.
the good news however is that you can get u/w casings from uk germany and 10 bar for your pannys but they aint cheap.
you could also try looking at the photography section and diy section since i know there are a couple of posters there that make custom made housings

hope that helps a bit

 

[Larry C]

Have you tried these guys?
Panasonic DMW-MCFT2 Underwater Camera Housing / Waterproof Marine Case For Lumix DMC-FT2, DMC-TS2 Digital Camera

 

[Nemrod]

You can generally only find housings during the model year of the camera. Once the camera is superseded by a new model, housings, if not already scarce, become rare as hens teeth. If the cmaera is popular for UW photography then they get really scarce real fast. Manufacturers do not make one housing per camera unit, when they are sold out, they are out.

It is best to buy a new camera and housing that will accomplish your needs straight up front and get the housing for it immediantly. If the housing is expensive it is often a good idea to purchase a spare camera to go with it or you may own a housing with no camera should the camera be dropped, lost, stolen, flooded etc.

The little cheapo OEM housings are usually not terribly expensive but as you move up to the greater durability of an Ikelite or other pro quality housings a camera to housing price ratio is typically around 2 to 2.5 times the camera price, especially for SLR types but as an example, FIX-G11 housing for the popular Canon G11. The G11 sells for around 475 dollars, the FIX aluminum housing is 1,100 dollars and the lens port is another 500 dollars. In this case, if possible, after that investment, a spare camera is wise.

N

 

[Doubler]

I would just bite the bullet and buy a new camera and housing. Best bets would be Canon and Olympus P&S. I have shot Olympus for years and have gotten excellent quality shots. I intend on moving up to the Canon G-11 as it is probably as close to a SLR as you can get without going into hock for a SLR system. Nemrod is 100% correct about housing vs camera prices when you go for top of the line housings. He is also correct about buying a second camera. I have three cameras for my Ikelite Housing. They do not make the camera any more and the housing is no good without the camera. As an example your camera has been replaced by a newer model, you would think that a Olympus Tough 6000 housing would house a 8000. They look the same but the buttons are placed just a little bit different. Manufacturers do this on purpose to force you to upgrade camera and housing.
You stated you just wanted some fun shots so have you thought about an HD mini video camera like a Flip or a Sony? I know Ikelite carries housings for them at about $250. With the software that comes with them you can extract frames.
My wife and I used to argue about all my cameras/housings/strobes. Said I was addicted. So I made the mistake of buying her a setup for Christmas. Now we are both addicted and she has no problem with me getting the G11 as long as she gets a new Video camera. Go figure.

 

[ChimChim75]

You can pick up a lot of Panasonic housings on Ebay inexpensively. There are a few vendors that will ship to the US for free or cheap.

And we really need a Panasonic forum I think... More and more of us users of late.

 

[slowhands]

Panasonic sells underwater cases for their cameras. But they tend to be available only for selected current models -- yours are old and may be a challenge. You can try Yuzo at UWdigitalcameras.com for hard to get camera housings. He sometimes has older housings, and he carries the rings for years. My "go to" guy when I need the impossible.

Here is Panasonic's current lineup on their global site:
Compact Camera | LUMIX | Digital Camera | Panasonic Global

Panasonic's lineup will change every 3 months, that's how active the market is. We should be glad, they add new features often. Look at the cameras in the "Creative" group. Cameras in this group tend to have the features we need. They allow the most manual control of these functions: Shutter speed, Aperture size, White balance, and so on. (You need these because the automatic modes don't do well underwater, the light is very different.)

I'd suggest looking at the new Panasonic zs7 (also known as TZ10 in Asia). It has a housing
DMW-MCTZ10. It is a successor to the well regarded zs3, and it has two new features. It has built-in GPS, rare in compact cameras. It has high quality video, called AVCHD lite, up to 1020P 60 frame. Downsides: poor image quality at high ISOs (above 200, actually), excessive noise reduction and sharpening, no RAW output, limited wide angle because the lens is retracted in the wide position, so a wide angle port is useless. If you are interested in this camera, I'd suggest handling it and using it to see if the features and handling suit you. The predecessor zs3 has been well regarded, and these new features are very attractive.

I found Abe's of Maine to have the best price for the camera now. And Yuzo has the housing, natch. I find this little camera very tempting, but I have too many other projects. Hope someone else will get a setup and let us see the results.

 

[Nemrod]

Housings are rarely if ever available more than a year after a camera introduction if that long. If you intend to use a camera underwater you need to purchase it as part of a system approach and purchase everything you need up front including possibly a spare camera.

There really is no low budget entry to underwater photography that will yield anything beyond disappointing results and frustration.

That so few housings are made for a certain brand or style of camera might tell you something, like they are not a good choice for that purpose.

YRMV

N

 

[Puffer Fish]

Housings are rarely if ever available more than a year after a camera introduction if that long. If you intend to use a camera underwater you need to purchase it as part of a system approach and purchase everything you need up front including possibly a spare camera.

There really is no low budget entry to underwater photography that will yield anything beyond disappointing results and frustration.

That so few housings are made for a certain brand or style of camera might tell you something, like they are not a good choice for that purpose.

YRMV

N

There are some reasonable options available though. Panasonic has a problem because they make way too many different models, but this last generation (including the ZS7) has a handful of cameras that all fit the same housing (as the camera bodies are all identical). That should help from their end in only having to have a few housings for many cameras and the user end, because cases will stay around a bit longer.

However, that is a difficult camera to put in a case, and the case is actually a bit better than most, so the price is larger than most similar cases from other companies.

On the plus side, is that it has a 25mm lens wide open...so even with a flat port, it is wider under water than most of the other small camera's. And the antifog front is very nice for the casual user.

As cases go from the major camera makers, both Pany and Fuji cases are a bit better made than the Canon ones (although I suspect one mfg made them all).

One can take some very nice images with a whole bunch of tiny cameras today, assuming you can shoot in something close to ISO 80. But being able to do HD video's, with a reasonable wide angle is a very nice feature to have.

Almost forgot... Panasonic is on a 7 month turnover cycle with they camera's...so at best, a case will not be available after 14 months (two cycles). If one has a 3 year old camera, Panasonic has already gone thru over 5 cycles. Given their faster than the blink of an eye model changing, it is not surprising that cases are difficult to find.

The newer of the two cameras (the fx15) was released in Jan of 09.. and Pany is now up to the FX66 in that short time frame (although the numbers are very jumbled), with 5 sets of new releases since then (counting just the P&S ones.) I don't know how they or anyone else could keep up with them.

 

[slowhands]

...
On the plus side, is that it has a 25mm lens wide open...so even with a flat port, it is wider under water than most of the other small camera's. And the antifog front is very nice for the casual user....

Inon has a lens adapter for this case
http://translate.google.com/transla...refox-a&hs=ytp&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
There are good pictures in the news release. It features the 165 and 330 closeup lenses in the pictures and wide angle lenses too. Here is a info in English:
http://www.inon.jp/products/mountbase/mb.html