On to the housing. First impression is it's very well made. It has a wonderful solid feel to it. I like the textured outside, but it can be a little abrasive so be careful what rubs against it. All of the buttons are firm, but comfortable to reach. The knobs are large enough to turn even with gloves on. They rotate smoothly. How ever on my first attempt underwater it did feel like they were slipping a bit.
I will be the first to admit I didn't read the manuals all the way through. I assembled as directed, water tested, installed camera and water tested again. It was late and I was diving in the morning. I did not take the time to become familiar with the controls on the housing.
So my first underwater test was to 110' in strong current while planning a technical penetration. I know, not the ideal learning location. Used a housing before how much different can they be? boy was I wrong. I had trouble figuring out which knob went to which control. I didn't even see the knob to control the upper wheel by the shutter release. Had a hard time changing shutter speeds without that.. So I had a bit of a struggle with that, but that's not Aquatica's fault. Entirely mine and I'm okay with it. I did manage to get lucky on some shots, but that's not how I operate and don't count them.
I spent the following morning reading about the controls and installed the macro port and the 100mm lens. I like the look and feel of the macro port better than the dome. The dome makes the housing positively buoyant in front and I don't like that. Also, the housing has to be placed front down to extract/install camera. I don't like the design of this. I did install the shade, but Aquatica doesn't include a cover for the dome shade. I really wish they would add the $50 into the price or at the very least mention you can't cover the front anymore with shade attached. I figure for the thousands of dollars you will spend on the housing, dome, shade, port extensions, macro ports it's not to much to ask for the proper covers to be included in the cost.
Next couple of features. First, being something I find absolutely ridiculous. The underwater microphone. The only thing to hear underwater is bubbles. Do you really need to amplify something that is going to get edited out after the dive. (side note - the bubbles sound in underwater video is horrible and should almost always be removed). This feature probably cost and extra thousand bucks and is not an option to remove. Big waste in my opinion.
The second feature, again one I find pointless. Is the moisture alarm. While the thought was nice there isn't a lot you can do about it once it's going off. Am I supposed to shoot my camera to the surface from 300'? Don't think so. Is a loud beeping and flashing red light going to help me focus hundreds of feet inside of a wreck? or cause me to lose focus of the dive while I watch my camera drown? I see how this could be useful the first time you test your camera if you're blind. After you enter a body of water you cannot make the rapid ascent to save your camera and I feel this feature is going to cause a well funded novice diver serious injury. Also, a feature that probably cost thousands and shouldn't be in there. Once again, wish it was an optional accessory.
Last complaint before the positives. is the focus light mount on top of the housing in the center. I wish it was located in front of the sync connectors. The cords or y-cord come up directly in front of the light causing shadows and/or tension. It seems logical to me that this should the other way around. You know to mount something behind a light instead of in front restricting the light... maybe that's just me.
Now on to the positives. As I stated before this is very well made. Everything fits well together and there is not any question on the housing if something is sealed properly. However and be warned the port extensions have a lock the ports do not and however unlikely it is possible for the to come off. The pieces all fit together nicely and being all metal feel extremely durable and protecting. I like this piece of mind! Installing the camera with certain lenses can be a bit of a pain, but with the incredible size variations of lenses this can not be helped. For the most part it is very well thought out. I did find the focus/zoom gears a little disappointing. For the cost of these I would like them to fit together without me having to cut an o-ring into different pieces. It they expect them to fit multiple lenses they should have thought of something a little more professional than mix and matching little pieces of o-ring.
On the bottom of the housing are several attachment hole for mounting various plates, tripods or what have you. Very nice to be flexible about this. I will be trying a tripod as soon as the current dies down here. I have seen large canister lights mounted on the bottom and cave lights mounted to the arms. Bet the dome won't float up with that rig. Jealous!
The arms that come with this I could swear they used my hands as the model. They fit so comfortable I cannot describe them. Might be weird that's my favorite part of the housing so far. Not sure if they fit everyone else's the same way, but I love them.
On the top of the handles things get a bit janky for me. I really don't like having open screw holes. Since I bought arms to go with this two of the four holes are covered. Now though two are always exposed and I will have to go out of my way to clean and dry these or find a suitable plug to keep these from corroding. This is important if you ever want to change your configuration and need these holes. If you have ever tried to get water out of a screw hole you know have much a pain in the butt this can be. Wish they included caps for those not immediately buying arms or mounting them somewhere else.
Well so far that's my one day review. I will write more once I have taken the macro port underwater.
All in all the housing will do it's job well. I do wish they would lower their price or at the very least talk to a real diver before adding all of these unnecessary and expensive additions.
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