Aquatica 30D Housing

I have been taking photos since I was a kid, so of course the first time I went snorkeling I had to bring a camera, a good old Nikonos IV. It served me well for a long while then the breakthrough came – digital. I recall seeing some of the first models in stores in New York City and reading the articles on when the experts believed a 1 Megapixel camera would arrive.

I sat on the sidelines waiting for prices and technology to start leveling off and finally broke down and purchased my first digital camera, an Olympus 3040. One of the major factors at the time was whether there was a housing available for it, and Olympus made an affordable one. Then extra toys started to get added, a Wide Angle Lens, Strobes, Arms and the rest.

Then a couple of years back I upgraded to an Olympus 8080 and more toys. I was not quite ready to take the plunge at the time for the cost (and size) of the dSLR. But the more I shot, the more I missed the feel of an SLR camera, more so when shooting above water. I was still hesitant to purchase a dSLR due to the price and size of the cameras and housings, but this summer a local store was no longer going to carry the Canon 30D and had it for a price I could not ignore.

I spent about a week shooting anything that was around– animate, inanimate, semi-animate, it did not matter. You could not wipe the grin off my face as I told anyone who would listen about how quick the camera focused and how quickly RAW shots cycled (with a buffer for 9 shots.) I figured I finally had a camera I could use above water like the good old days, and at some point down the road would upgrade my underwater set-up. Of course “down the road” was not far off and I started housing shopping.

I had previously looked at Ikelite and Fantasea housings in the event that I purchased a Canon 400/xTI or a Nikon D40/D40x or similar smaller camera. I had liked the Sea & Sea housings, but none were available for the 30D. But in the back of my mind I had kept on thinking about Aquatica. I had a chance to talk extensively with them at Beneath The Sea (as discussed in this article Beneath The Sea 2007) and really enjoyed the conversation and their plans. More importantly the housings I handled were very nice, and even more importantly my wife was impressed and said she liked the housings and I should get one if I ever picked up a dSLR.

So not wanting to get into a fight with my spouse, I purchased the Aquatica 30D housing, together with the 8-inch dome, lens shade and gear for the standard 18-55mm Kit lens. Then I sat and waited for it to arrive.

My package arrived and I opened it. I took a deep breath as I looked at the size of the housing and all the extra parts (port, lens shade, hex wrenches and zoom gear) and quickly wondered whether I bit off more than I could chew and perhaps should have stuck with my good old point and shoots. I went so far as to mention to my wife that maybe I should just return it. She gave me one of those looks along the lines of “who are you kidding?” and I reconsidered

Then I did the unthinkable. I read the instruction manual and realized that I probably could figure out how to get the system going.

I placed everything in front of me and ever so gingerly started putting things together.

1. I mounted the camera on the sliding plate, which has holes bored in the sides, which then slide on rails into the housing so as to ensure a proper fit. On one side of the plate there as a knob which rotates and on the other side is a tab which locks the plate in place. This is shown belowe without the camera mounted
2. I attached the zoom gear on the lens, and slid the camera on the plate into the housing. 
3. I attached the Strobe Connection, lined up holes on the rear of the housing with the guide posts on the bottom of the from part of the housing, then closed the back of the housing with the dual clamps.
4. The bayonet mount port was easily pressed into the front of the housing and turned for a secure fit.  (It would not come out easily and takes a bit of elbow grease to remove it by reversing the procedure – not that it was difficult but that it was secure.)
5. A few screws and the lens shade was secure
6. Removed the bulkhead protector, hooked up a strobe then started firing.

The initial time to set up probably took me about 1/2 hour due to me being overly cautious, subsequently I can put this together in about 10 minutes, though I do try to make sure never to rush the process. I will usually do one step, then stop for a moment or two just to check things and make sure I am not missing something.

The time for the first trip arrived and I realized I had to pack my new camera and housing. Though it seemed a lot bigger than my prior Ikelite 8080 housing in reality it was not too much larger. As the shot on the right shows that without the shade on the housing was a bit bigger in width but the depth was just about the same.

I had picked up a LowePro AW Backpack (the version that holds up to 15" Laptops) and between that and my Pelican 1510 (as mentioned in the Sony HDR HCR Gates housing Review) I would have been able to get everything into carry-on that I needed, including a small strobe, though it would have been a little tight, mostly due to the shade. But since I had an extra weight allowance/baggage allowance for this trip I packed the housing carefully into checked luggage. Of course the camera, lenses, my Gates Port, my video camera, tapes, batteries, chargers, laptop, flash cards and readers all were in carry-on.

Made it to my destination, and so did all the gear. Due to Hurricane Felix the first day was too rough to dive, but the second day was a go. Went with the video rig the first set of dives and figured I would test the new still rig on a shore dive off the house dock. I felt a bit awkward trying to carry the rig to the dock, and again had the faint feeling of "what did I get myself into here?". Lowered myself into the water, had the housing passed to me. Turned everything on and then went beneath the waves. One word can describe how I felt: Wow.

The housing was perfectly balanced and felt less obtrusive when diving than my 8080 housing. With the 8080 I always knew it was there, but the Aquatica was something I barely noticed (even more so as the week went on, and by a second trip later in the month, I was even more impressed.) I did not have hand fatigue and felt that I was able to dive “cleaner” with the system. My usual dive buddy (my wife ) in fact mentioned that I looked very comfortable with the rig.

The controls were very easy to access, rollers rolled and buttons depressed with no issue. During the years I kept on reading about how half depressing the shutter would reduce shutter lag (not that this was a major issue with the 30D, but I tried it anyway) and I finally was able to get a half-press easily. Most of the time the items I will adjust are shutter speed, f/stop and zoom. Other settings get tweaked from time to time. On the Canon 30D the f/stop and shutter are controlled by the rear dial and the front dial and the controls were easy for me to reach. It got to the point where I started getting the hang of having my index finger on the shutter, my middle finder on the front dial and my thumb on the rear dial to make all the adjustments. Of course it may be different depending on the size of your hands, but for me it was perfect. The Zoom on the left hand side was also easy to use. One thing to note is that the Canon 30D has a three position on/off switch. So if you only turn it to the first position on, the rear dial will not adjust the f/stop in manual mode. If for some reason you find something is not working, the first thing to check is to make sure it is REALLY REALLY on. Also note that the controls are labelled, but I found a "B-stock" model and saved a couple of dollars so the controls are not labelled. Not a huge issue for me because it was fairly easy to memorize the controls I wanted to use.

The only issue was that the Canon 30D has the read-outs through the viewfinder or the LCD screen the top of the camera so it was a bit difficult for me to see changes to my settings, though with practice I did get the hang of looking through the view finder and rotating the controls at the same time. I am actually considering the AquaView viewfinder to increase the size of the viewing area. It is something that I do not need to have (in other words I can use the rig as is) but it is something I would like to have.

I have a couple of Ikelite Strobes and a few Sea & Sea YS-90DX strobes. For the recent trips I went with the DS-125 as the primary and the YS90-DX as slave via wireless TTL so if I wanted to adjust the strobe output I would just dial down the Ikelite a bit, though I often found that I wished there was another setting between “Full” and “1/2 Power” on the DS-125, so I would sometimes switch back to Full then change the f/stop or shutter speed. I may try dual YS-90Dxs the next time out since they have a few more power settings, though I have begun to like the DS-125 more than I had in the past. I had a few issues with it before, but the last two trips it has been a solid performer and when my buddy’s dive light went out I handed off my Hartenberger dive/focus/video light to them and finished the dive on the Ikelite modeling light which worked well as a dive light in a pinch (though of course I also had another dive light in my BC )

I have awhile to go before I really know all the in and outs of the camera and housing, but I already was able to grab shots that I would have otherwise missed. I just now have to get over the habit of shooting anything and everything in a true new toy syndrome. The trumpet fish above and the turtle were some of the first shots I took with the set-up.

PROS

• Extremely well constructed
• Very responsive controls that are easy to use.
• Easy to assemble
• Aquatica customer service was excellent. After receiving my set-up I emailed with questions a few times. Some of the may have been basic, but with a new set-up I wanted to ensure that I did everything properly before I even went on a trip. Their responses were quick, detailed and often exhibited a great sense of humor (when appropriate). When spending a good chunk of change on a product, that type of service is one of the factors I look for. At this point Aquatica, like Gates, ranks as some of the best customer service I have had experienced on any product. It should be noted that this customer service was not in any way related to a problem, it was related to understanding the product better and learning how to get the most out of the equipment.

CONS

• Different size wrenches for all the parts (Arms, Gear, Lens Shade). I have them in zip lock bags, but I do worry about losing or misplacing them since a couple are rather small.
• The arms are bit close to the body if you have bigger hands so closing the housing takes a bit more effort in getting your finders between the handles and the clasps.
• I had the camera slip once in the housing, in all likelihood due to user error, so not 100% fool proof, but pretty close. Just make sure you hear a click when setting the tray.

I guess the best way to sum up how I feel about the Aquatiica is as follows: First I told myself that I would not start “stocking up” on lenses quite yet, but instead I myself buying the flat port and the Canon 60mm for my upcoming trips to make sure I can take an entire system with me on the plane so I would be able to shoot no matter what.

In addition to the flat port I am also considering getting either the Nikon D40X housing or more likely the Rebel XTI housing with a 6” dome port (which Aquatica just re-introduced) to carry on trips where either (a) I cannot check all my equipment due to baggage limitations or (b) to carry as a back up on those “once in a lifetime” trips or to otherwise ensure I have an entire rig that I can shoot with me in carry-on.

During the last couple of years I had gravitated more to taking video on trips due to how reliable my Gates Systems worked and having too many issues with the still rigs. (I had a real bad run) It got to the point that I was shooting video on 80% of the dives and that I would try stills once in awhile for old times sake becaused I missed shooting stills.

The Aquatica rig has bought the joy of shooting stills back and I now face the decision of whether I want to shoot video or photos on any given day.

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