Would you buy a Fantasea housing for your Nikon DSLR?

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Hi all,

After reading this thread, I would like to respond to a few points raised by the different underwater photographers.

First, I would like to point out that Fantasea has recently released a new generation of both compact and DSLR Housings in the past year. This new generation features a compact design and improved construction, which ensures easy handling through critical placement of push-button controls. These housings are all sturdy, made of durable injection molded Polycarbonate, and consist of double O-ring seals on all controls, as well as an improved main O-ring seal.

As for the flood concern, please note that Fantasea is the only company that offers a free one-year flood insurance policy with all housings. Therefore, on the very unlikely event of flooding the housing, the camera inside is insured. In addition, all Fantasea housings are intensively tested by our test divers prior to being released to the market, and each housing released to the market is also tested in a pressure chamber prior to leaving the factory. These massive tests our housings go through ensure a perfect watertight seal of the housing, as well as comfortable handling, accurate positioning of control buttons and durability. For this reason, when a housing floods it is usually due to human error than due to product failure, and this can only be determined by sending to a service center for testing in a pressure chamber.

Since Fantasea housing are fully functional, providing the photographer with access to all camera controls, some photographers might find that there are some "unnecessary" controls on the housing, as mentioned above. We take into consideration that different photographers make use of different camera controls, and therefore choose to offer the widest access possible to all camera controls, which is usually considered as an advantage, since absence of important controls is never encountered. During our many test dives with each housing model, we carefully examine all housing's functions, controls, seals and construction. Our engineers, together with our R&D team, invest much time and energies to ensure that not only the housing is durable and sealed, but also that it is designed in the most comfortable way possible, providing the photographer with an opportunity to easily handle the housing in all conditions.

Fantasea DSLR Housings feature an interchangeable port system which allows for a wide variety of lenses to be accommodated in the housing. Although the housing includes a standard lens port, which is specially designed for the kit lens usually sold with the camera, there is a selection of additional lens ports which allow accommodating almost all macro, zoom, wide angle and fisheye lenses offered in the market today.

Fantasea also offers Flash Housings for Nikon, Canon and Olympus flash systems. These Flash Housings enable the use of the original Nikon, Canon or Olympus TTL systems, which are the most accurate automatic sync systems in the market.

I personally make use of a Nikon D80 camera and a Fantasea FD80 Housing, along with different Fantasea accessories. I've been using this housing for almost a year now, and although I've been diving with it pretty intensively, including test dives, diving safaris, underwater photography contests and more, I have never encountered a leak in my housing. Further more, I find that all controls are wisely designed to enable the most comfortable access to the camera, and owning a housing that is relatively small and light-weighted enables me to easily handle it in uncomfortable conditions like during diving safaris, boat diving, and long distance swims. You are more than welcome to visit my website and look at photos taken with a Fantasea FD80 Housing- imperfections.biz

Gordon, we would be very happy to receive such a report regarding your housing. We believe that there is always a place for improvement, and therefore we would greatly appreciate your input.

You are all invited to contact us at info@fantasea.com with questions regarding our products, compatibility issues and suggestions.

Thank you and have a nice week,

Sharon Rainis
Fantasea Line Technical Support Manager
 
Fantasea Line Introduces the New FD-80 Housing

See the Pictures I took with this housing (and my little Canon P&S) (on Facebook):
Gordon Strodel's Photos - Spring Break 2008: Bonaire | Facebook
Gordon Strodel's Photos - Spring Break 2008: Bonaire 2 | Facebook
Gordon Strodel's Photos - Spring Break 2008: Bonaire 3 | Facebook

Introduction

I am an SSI Open Water Certified Diver who has been diving whenever I can for about 6 years now. When I graduated from high school my dad bought me a Canon SD500 as a graduation present. Shortly thereafter, Canon came out with a waterproof housing for the same camera. Needless to say, I bought it and fell in love with underwater photography instantly. After having used that camera for three years, I had become frustrated with some limitations of the Point and Shoot genre of cameras. So I started looking at making the jump to DSLR.

While Canon makes great point and shoots, I prefer Nikon SLRs. I bought a D40 initially due to its small size, simplicity, and great price. However, I soon realized that while it was a great camera, it was not necessarily suited for underwater imaging. I upgraded to a D80 after having found a wonderful deal for a nearly brand new one. Being in college, money was tight, so I looked long and hard at available housings for my new D80. I could not afford some wonderful aluminum housings that were available, and I did like the look of a polycarbonate housing, so that left two options: Ikelite and a new company called Fantasea.

Both offered very similar housings. Ikelite was a few hundred dollars more and came with a history, reputation, and some additional circuitry, while the Fantasea offered underwater imaging at an attractive price at the cost of reputation and the mentioned features.

I went with Fantasea, and had the opportunity to use this new housing in Bonaire during Spring Break diving with my dive partner, my dad. Due to the lack of literature about the new Fantasea housings, I decided to write a review of the housing.

All the underwater photos taken were mine taken with the D80, Nikkor 18-55mm lens, and the Fantasea Housing; No strobes (haven’t bought those yet, college student remember?), no filters (except where noted), and no experience with a DSLR underwater.

Initial Thoughts


When I first received the package I was a bit skeptical. The white polystyrene around the housing had some shipping or handling damage. I opened the package to find an intact housing with no sign of shipping damage. (Note: I bought this from a dealer not direct from Fantasea.) The housing came in a few parts, the polycarbonate housing, bottom tray, two handles, instruction manuals, and a zipped nylon bag full of spare parts. Included in the spare parts where things like spare o-rings for all major components, a few extra rubber feet for the button internals, the ring to go around the lens to operate the zoom, a cleaning kit, small bit of silicone grease, and a few other miscellaneous plastic parts. The manual was fairly concise, mostly straightforward, but lacking in pictures.

Some of the things I Liked


The housing preparation before the dives consists of checking the o-rings for debris, installing the zoom ring on the lens, and screwing the camera into the base plate that slides into the housing. (One must also remove some land accessories like the shoulder strap and flash hotshoe cover, but I figured those were normal for most SLR housing operations.) One nice thing about the housing is that the main o-ring is very easy to verify for a seal because of its clear polycarbonate construction and simple design.

One thing I noticed right away after I put the housing in the water was its neutrality. It is a very well balanced housing, and while I was used to using a point and shoot, the housing felt smaller than it looked.

In addition, the housing comes with a port! This standard port can accommodate many lenses including the Nikon 60mm macro, the 18-55mm kit lens which I used, and the 18-70mm lens which originally came with the D70 and some D80 packages. This port was straightforward, the zoom ring works very well, and I had very little problems with the gear system inside the housing. Just remember to read the directions about how to install the Velcro zoom ring onto the camera lens. Fantasea also includes a plastic port cover when not diving!

Some of the things I Disliked

While the housing was very simple to prep before a dive, the tolerances between the housing button feet and the actual camera buttons and scroll wheels was not as precise as I would have liked to have seen. One modification I had to make was adding a washer as a spacer on the rear control wheel control. The washer provided a simple way to make the rubber foot touch the actual control wheel on the camera. I also had to swap out a few small rubber feet for thicker ones to operate certain camera buttons reliably. I would consider these trivial issues since they offer easy fixes (with the included spare parts). It is certainly not grounds for justifying not purchasing the housing.

Using the housing is fairly straightforward; one little thing that took a lot to get used to was the shutter control. Due to the lever geometry, it was really hard to hold the shutter halfway without taking a picture (at first). Once I got a feel for it with subsequent dives, I developed a better feel for it.

Another thing I noticed was the occasional “popping” sound coming from the housing when changing depth. I assume this is simply the seals responding to the depth change. Nevertheless, it did raise a few questions the first time I heard the sound. I never had any leaks, so I guess everything is fine.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

I have noticed that during the diving week some rust has formed between the steel buckles on the rear of the housing and the polycarbonate below it. I was disappointed to see this rust develop after such a short period of diving. (I had rinsed the housing properly with fresh water after every dive.)

So, would I recommend this housing? Yes; I would say given what I perceive and hear about Ikelite and their customer service, they seem to be the polycarbonate housing leader with the most experience, and possibly better housings. What would be needed is an experienced (professional) underwater photographer to objectively compare both housings with the same camera side by side to get an accurate review.

This housing works for me, a college student on a budget, diving whenever time allows (which is not as frequently as I would like). If you want to save a few bucks and don’t need some of the features of the Ikelite housing, this housing is great for you.

If you are someone with prior underwater imaging experience, have a bigger budget than mine, and need the TTL circuitry offered in Ikelite housings, a Fantasea housing might not be the best choice.

Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the housing!
Gordon

PS-I have this in MS Word and can PDF it, in case you want to print it out later or change the width to make things easier to read. Just send a PM.
 
Do the new Fantasea DSLR housings allow for manual focusing?
 
Mine does not, unless you modified the zoom ring and attached it to the focus ring.

Most focus rings are smaller than the zoom rings too, so it is harder to make attachment for them. Particularly on the 18-55mm Nikkor...
 
Mine does not, unless you modified the zoom ring and attached it to the focus ring.

Most focus rings are smaller than the zoom rings too, so it is harder to make attachment for them. Particularly on the 18-55mm Nikkor...



That makes sense ...thanks for the insight.


.
 
I had the same choices. Here is what I did: I spend lots of time on places like wetpixel and conversations with shops like Reef Photo.

And here is where I ended up:
a) Housed the D200 and not the D70. There are lots of reasons to pick the D200 -- the viewfinder difference alone is worth it.
b) I went with an ikelite housing -- great price point when compared to the aluminum housings. I also was able to use my old ports and arms.
c) You will likely need new storbes anyway as most DSLRs need a D strobe to do ttl. I went with the Ike 125DS. Pretty happy with them although the 50s would have probably worked almost as well while waying and costing less.
 
I would definitely house the D200 with the Ikelite housing. Ikelite has a new interchangeable port system so you can reuse some components of the ports instead of buying all new pieces (I have the older ports). I would also buy the 125's since I have used the 50's for 1 year and it wasn't enough light (I was shooting in Hawaii). It wasn't as much of an issue with macro but doing WA left a lot of areas without coverage... I speculate Fantasea are made in China so I would factor that into any decision about buying gear. Ikelite makes solid products at good prices which are made in the USA.

I use a 60mm macro lens with the flat port and a 12-24 Tokina with the 8 inch dome port. A friend of mine uses a diopter with his 18-55 kit lens and is able to shoot fish portraits as well as some nudi macro...(he has a 6 inch dome port).

Sean
 
I'm in a dilemma myself over this. Hoping to get a nice housing for my D70S next year, but torn between Ikelite and Fantasea.

I did, very briefly, get to handle an older Ikelite when I did photography for Discovery Cove / Sea World.. but I cannot remember any of the specifics of its operation.

However, I did get to use a Fantasea a few months ago on a gig shooting an underwater panorama in an exhibit for Disney. Granted, it was a Canon Rebel & associated housing.. but it gave me a feel for the operation of the Fantasea housing anyway. I really liked how it handled... very comfortable in the water, controls were easy enough to master with only five minutes to familiarize myself with it before the shoot. Easy enough to hand up to someone topside, too.

The only thing that concerns me is leakage.. and that wasn't something I could determine from just one use in a shallow, very controlled environment. I'm honestly somewhat hesitant to put my baby in ANY housing, still paranoid over flooding.

I read the fine print on Fantasea's flood insurance, though... which covers up to $1000 (not including camera lenses)--which is good. However, reading further it ONLY covers the SAME model camera and you must produce proof of purchase for the replacement. That presents an issue, as you can't buy a new D70s anymore. I may have to write the company to see how they handle that sort of situation.

Anybody got any input on leakage, comparing Ikelite & Fantasea?
 
Personally I don't think the D70 is worth buying a housing for. It's more than a few generations old now. Underwater photography is so expensive it doesn't make any sense to house an old camera IMHO... . The body of a D300 is about 1200 dollars(I think). Why not get a D300? I know cost is very important but can you afford to waste 1k on an old camera?

My .02

Sean
 
Personally I don't think the D70 is worth buying a housing for. It's more than a few generations old now. Underwater photography is so expensive it doesn't make any sense to house an old camera IMHO... . The body of a D300 is about 1200 dollars(I think). Why not get a D300? I know cost is very important but can you afford to waste 1k on an old camera?

My .02

Sean

Eep. Because that turns a $900-$1200 expendature for a housing into a $2400 expendature for a whole new rig! I can't speak for everyone, but I'm going to have to put away cash for nearly a year before I can even afford a housing.. and I still haven't completely paid off the D70s body... I sure can't afford to buy a whole new camera rig too! :11:

And there's nothing wrong with the D70 / D70s camera. It has served me well through thousands upon thousands of shots from concert photography gigs, several weddings & portrait sessions, and plenty of animal & wildlife photography. And I anticipate many more years of the same, along with underwater shots too.

And if I had a D300, I probably wouldn't put it in a housing anyway. I'd rather risk flooding an older camera than a new one!

=)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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