HUGYFOT D200 Housing Review by David Barrio
At the time of placing the order I had to decide what extra control knobs so the price goes something like this:
| Housing | 2464 € |
| AF Lock | 92 € |
| AF Mode switch | 92 € |
| Moisture Alarm | 111 € |
| Extra flash Connections | 101 € |
| For a total of | 2860 € |
After the Nikon D-200 won an internal battle inside me deciding which way (Canon, Nikon, Olympus) my UWP life should take,
it was time for another hard housing choice. The problem with the housings was that, at the time I wanted to buy mine, many
of the classic brands were still finishing their product and there was not a lot of info around. At the time of writing this
I can think of one or two models not being released yet. I had narrowed the choice to three models where to choose from: Hugyfot,
Seacam and Subal (although Ikelite was also always there). In the end, I am sure that all of them would surpass my needs, but
the Hugyfot was much sooner available (due to a one unit back off order in the island) and a couple of friends also had
ordered it (which has proven useful letting each other share ports). I know of many divers not being able to dive
their Nikon D200 yet and that reassures my choice.
My name is David Barrio and this is my story. I mean ..housing!
[This is a personal, not technical, observation review. For those of you looking for numbers and details visit the DIGIDEEP specification pages]
This is the housing with its big porthole. This makes possible the use of just about every
lens and adapter rings to fit some other brands ports, such as Sea&Sea, Sealux, Subal, Seacam
and Aquatica. These are the ones I have seen in offer.
The camera fits like a glove but is not that easy to place it in since the saddle/tray does not come out with the camera. Every time I take it out I have to reposition back the camera, find the screw hole, etc. I guess that’s the price for having such a small housing. It comes with a one inch clamp ball on top that has a thin (thinner than ULCS) o-ring. The ball on the handle does not have this o-ring and you can see the wear on its surface from having to tighten much harder the clamp. I will probably machine it myself and put another o-ring.
One of the different things with this housing is the closing system with two Allen bolts that give a secure feeling but not a fast access to the camera. My recommendation is to have several wrenches in different places, such as car, dive equipment bag, etc.
More observations:
- The ports give a secure and very tight feeling (even though there is no lock) once in place.
- The camera’s USB is accessible without having to release the camera but the battery is not.
- The control functions are marked on the housing.
I think is easier to name which ones are not supported than the other way
around so I have access to all but: Flash mode (that small guy on the from left part of
the camera by the D200 logo), shutter mode (I have to decide before closing the housing
if I will be shooting single or continuous), AF-ON button, Metering mode wheel, Depth
of Field button and Custom button in the front part of the camera, Lens Release (easily
accessible through the port hole with my hand or with the Allen wrench needed to
open/close the housing), Diopter Wheel and the both useless MultiSelectorWheel Lock
and Card Door opener. The only ones I could sometime miss would be the Flash mode
and the metering wheel.
The front main control (and this is personal liking) needs to be
turned a lot to change aperture so know I have he camera with aperture in the back and
speed in the front (I don’t play with speed as much as with aperture). All in all I feel I
have everything underwater and the shutter lever tells me exactly
when I have half-pressed the button.
The ISO-QUAD-WB control is achieved by a knob which I find very comfortable: it rolls over the three controls leaving pushed in the one I want.
One problem I had (and still have) with the controls is the zoom knob failure: The first day I tried a zoom lens (a Sigma 15-30 used extensively in previous Hugyfot housings) the inner plastic ring that goes right inside in the shaft of the zoom knob started to have its "teeth" broken or bent. So the zoom kept on working but with unpleasant "slides" or jumps.
I talked to the Spanish distributor and he was as surprised as me and said that he would send me a new piece. I do not know if that will solve the problem or not (one piece lasted only one dive). I will keep you informed on this issue.
For someone upgrading from a compact point&shoot this is a heavy guy! But once underwater I have tried it with different lens ports and in combination with one or two strobes. Manoeuvring the system, was easier than I thought. The viewfinder was another thing I was afraid of with DSLRs but I have found its use very natural. The standard housing viewfinder does not give a complete view of the camera viewfinder field. I needed a slight lateral movement to see all of the composition. There is a 45º Viewfinder available but I have not tried it yet.
I have only shot with th Nikkor 10.5mm, nikkor 60mm, Sigma 15-30mm and Nikkor 60mm+kenko 2X. For lighting I used a Subal SB800 (even with iTTL I don´t really like he light of his setup), Ikelite DS125 and Subtronic Alpha.
![Nikon D200 underwater: shark [15-30mm, Ikelite DS125]](/imgdb/articles/2006/2006_08_hugyfot_d200/underwater_1_thm.jpg)
Nikon D200 underwater: shark [15-30mm, Ikelite DS125]
![Nikon D200 underwater: lion fish [60mm, Ikelite DS125]](/imgdb/articles/2006/2006_08_hugyfot_d200/underwater_2_thm.jpg)
Nikon D200 underwater: lion fish [60mm, Ikelite DS125]
![Nikon D200 underwater: wrack with diver [10.5mm, Subal SB800, subtronic alpha]](/imgdb/articles/2006/2006_08_hugyfot_d200/underwater_4_thm.jpg)
Nikon D200 underwater: wrack with diver [10.5mm, Subal SB800, subtronic alpha]
Overall I am really pleased with the housing although
I think it has some flaws that could be easily solved.
PROS
- It’s a very easy to get used to housing with very good handling.
- Tight fitting camera in a housing with almost all controls.
- Port availability and adapters.
- Customizable housing.
- Hey! It’s sexy!!
CONS
- Zoom control issues (maybe is just mine). Front main control needs too much turning.
- Is not cheap, and, right now, I think the Sea&Sea D200 would be another housing
I would closely look at.
Great article...I mean housing.
I hope you get the focus problem solve.
Hi Juan and David,
I am the German distributor for Hugyfot and have two customers who experienced the same problem as you described. They received spare parts from us free of charge. However with one of my customers the source of the problem was that he tried to turn the zoom ring after the maximum zoom was reached. This may have caused the "unpleasant slides" you described and if you push hard without noticing it might also damage the teeth of the wheel. Hope this info helps a little bit and I wish you good luck with the replacement parts.
Update on zoom problems:
I received a free spare zoom part and I have tried it with success for over a month. I am sure that the problem came by having the grey piece a little away from the ring causing slides and grinding. I put a washer in the zoom control shaft, between the housing body an the grey piece so now it´s a tight mechanism...and it works!!
Hi,
great review.
I have just entered the digital UW photo age by purchasing the D200/Hugyfot combination, and I am quite satisfied with the system.
Regarding the zoom gear problem: I am quite sure this relates to the triangular shaped ring for the neck strap being jammed between the zoom control gear wheels. This was the case with my old Hugyfot housing for the Nikon F3 (from 1980 and still in use!), and also with my new D200 housing. Luckily nothing broke. My advice is to have a close look at the neck strap ring and perhaps remove it from the camera when used in the uw housing.
