Annoyed with Seafrogs quality (or lack therof)

[Pyndle]

Hi,

I've used seafrogs/meikon housing for 5 years. My current salted line for A6500 is 2 year old and I really hate it. Wondering if I'm the only one to face those issues:

- Screw to change the ports went bad after 3 changes (yes I'm using the correct size of screwdriver) - had to change it
- The hole in which this screw goes is now damaged too after 2 years - I'm screwed (pun intended), it's the whole case body that I'd have to change. Can't change ports anymore.
- I get rust on many screws - WTF?? (see photos)

But perhaps the most annoying is that the depending on my luck, the camera can either work fine or get the following issues:
- Focus/zoom wheel is stuck, it gets really really hard to turn, makes a weird noise, and has to do 4 or 5 clicks to do 1 click on the camera (sometimes never). It's like there's a bad contact
- Same for the top right wheel (F stops)
- Upper arrow button always presses left arrow button too.

Is anyone facing similar issues? I know they're cheap but at this point I will not buy this brand again.

 

[Barmaglot]

The port locking tab is useless, I lost it years ago and it hasn't bothered me.

The rust is odd - I've had my housing for years without such issues. I would contact SeaFrogs about it.

The zoom gear for 16-50mm can get misaligned that way, it's happened to me a couple times - just gotta be careful when seating the camera into the housing. The 90mm port housings should be better about it, as they have a couple additional gears to help keep the lens gear aligned (example).

If the top right knob is not working, pull it towards you while rotating, this will push the internal wheel into the camera knob and increase friction.

The four-way controller can be somewhat annoying on the surface, but it's always worked for me at depth.

I've been shooting my A6300 in SeaFrogs since 2018 and I'm pretty happy with it. Sure, Nauticam is better - but not five-ten times better. As a matter of fact, I have just received a slightly used A6700, and have an open order for a SeaFrogs housing for the same; it should ship after the Chinese New Year holidays end.

 

[Pyndle]

Wow, you don't worry that your port slowly unscrews and opens while in the water? (that would be a bad leak!)

I didn't have any issues for the first few months but since the issue appears, it's 90% of the dives where it happens. Sometimes it stops mid-dive, or it starts mid-dive. It's really annoying, to the point where I don't change the settings (just zoom in full 50mm and leave it as is / make sure I don't turn off the camera).

Before each dive I remove and place the camera back 3 or 4 times until I get to an acceptable place where it seems to work okay-ish. Also, it's not that the wheel is turning in the void, it's the opposite: there is too much push on the wheel and it rubs against the case. When the case is open, it works flawlessly. But if I push the camera in (or place the lid), that's where it gets stuck.

I agree with you Nauticam is not worth the money. But I wish there was a 900-1000$ alternative with better quality. I was considering diving with my A7 IV but I will never ever trust Sea Frogs with it after experiencing this. Just too flimsy. Congrats on the A6700 btw - you're gonna use it with a flash trigger or video lights?

 

[Barmaglot]

Wow, you don't worry that your port slowly unscrews and opens while in the water? (that would be a bad leak!)

Against hundreds of kilograms of pressure pushing it in? It'd take a very significant effort just to rotate it; pulling it out would likely need a pair of tugboats.

Before each dive I remove and place the camera back 3 or 4 times until I get to an acceptable place where it seems to work okay-ish. Also, it's not that the wheel is turning in the void, it's the opposite: there is too much push on the wheel and it rubs against the case. When the case is open, it works flawlessly. But if I push the camera in (or place the lid), that's where it gets stuck.

Try taking a piece of card stock and placing it between the camera and the rubber bumpers either on the right side or on the left; this might help. Make absolutely sure that the lens gear is on straight, it's very easy to misalign it. There was that one time when it slipped off during the dive in just the right way to push the zoom rocker button, and this caused the lens to zoom to 50mm and lock the controls - now that was annoying.

I agree with you Nauticam is not worth the money. But I wish there was a 900-1000$ alternative with better quality.

There's the AOI housings for Olympus/OM Digital, but for Sony, next step up from SeaFrogs is Ikelite, and then Isotta.

Congrats on the A6700 btw - you're gonna use it with a flash trigger or video lights?

Flash trigger, not even question. My UW-Technics board died on last trip, mid-dive, and it's five years old, so out of warranty, but Pavel offered to examine it for an option of paid repair, so I sent it to Taiwan - it's stuck somewhere in DHL pipeline now. As a backup, I ordered a SeaFrogs trigger with the new housing; it's limited in capability, but it still can do basic strobe triggering.

 

[Mo.Diver]

I used SaltedLine for my old A6500 for about two years. I was always switching between Samyang 12mm F2 in an 8" dome or Macro on a flat port. I never had an issue with my screw but I remember being careful to not tighten it too hard.

The upper arrow and selection wheel was my biggest frustration. It rarely worked for me both above or under water. I made sure to adjust my settings to never. have to use it.

I now dive with an A7iv in an Ikelite housing, although it is also plastic but the difference in quality is noticeable and definitely worth it.

 

[gummybun]

I use the same housing on a A6400, using the kit lens and the 90mm Macro used, for 4 weeks last year.

I wish I had a good news solution to offer but my experience has been similar to yours. Principally with the focus ring binding. I thought I solved that last year but found on my trip but in fact I had long and frustrating troubles with the housings focus/zoom ring jamming and skipping. I was spending long periods trying t shift and settle the camera into different 'home' positions hoping that I must be doing something wrong - sometimes it all tested well until I pressured up the case and then bang - no good again. I tried 'micro adjusting the gear position till the cows came home - no good. Seafrogs sent me basic video guides and then new parts that did not fix the problem, and then suggested I send the unit back (at my expense) and -maybe- they could see if they could re-create the issue with their 6300 - but I use a 6400 so I thought that will be 'good money after bad' so that is where I stand.

The issue of rust has not arisen with me but I must say that I don't really mind a bit of rust. I agree with Barmaglot that the port screw is mostly redundant with the provisional comment that while if you 'release' at depth it will stay put but when you are on the surface it will not - or so suspect. I used mine for the duration without incident but the silly little screw design is flawed not getting around that.

I am currently about to purchase a new camera as I need Focus Bracketing for my topside interests, and Sony, bless their hard little hearts, refuse to include it in a firmware update to their 'lower end lines' so I am looking at the A6700 or the Oly line of Micro 4/3ds. If I stay with Sony the affordable housings are Seafrogs, but with Oly, there is the AOI line which I think might be better. I don't like giving up my sensor size but I can do without the stress and disappointment I had last year with the Seafrogs. I had used Meikon housings for years and so found this experience unfortunate.

I will be off in 5 or 6 weeks on a trip and will be working on this issue between now and then - I will let you know if I have any success.

 

[Barmaglot]

I agree with Barmaglot that the port screw is mostly redundant with the provisional comment that while if you 'release' at depth it will stay put but when you are on the surface it will not

That's what vacuum is for. I use a Leak Sentinel V5 XB with mine; regardless of what I do with any locks or latches, there is absolutely no way to open the housing until the vacuum is released.

The finicky nature of zoom gear is, I suspect, related to the fact that it is slightly flexible and unsupported, so slight misalignments can put stress on it, which can cause it to get bent out of shape and snag on housing elements. The A7/A6600/A6700 series housings use a different port bayonet and zoom gears, and looking at internal photos of A7 housings, I can see a couple additional free-spinning wheel whose function appears to be just to support the zoom/focus gear. I'll report back once my A6700 housing arrives.

 

[Pyndle]

Against hundreds of kilograms of pressure pushing it in? It'd take a very significant effort just to rotate it; pulling it out would likely need a pair of tugboats.


Try taking a piece of card stock and placing it between the camera and the rubber bumpers either on the right side or on the left; this might help. Make absolutely sure that the lens gear is on straight, it's very easy to misalign it. There was that one time when it slipped off during the dive in just the right way to push the zoom rocker button, and this caused the lens to zoom to 50mm and lock the controls - now that was annoying.


There's the AOI housings for Olympus/OM Digital, but for Sony, next step up from SeaFrogs is Ikelite, and then Isotta.


Flash trigger, not even question. My UW-Technics board died on last trip, mid-dive, and it's five years old, so out of warranty, but Pavel offered to examine it for an option of paid repair, so I sent it to Taiwan - it's stuck somewhere in DHL pipeline now. As a backup, I ordered a SeaFrogs trigger with the new housing; it's limited in capability, but it still can do basic strobe triggering.

I've tried blocking the camera in different positions, doesn't really work. And when it does on land, it stops working underwater. Only thing that makes is less bad (but still terrible) is pointing the camera downwards or upwards while trying to use the wheel - takes me only 1 minute to go from 16mm to 50mm instead of 5minutes...

This is probably the end of my photography journey (I think you've seen my other post) - too many problems, too much logistics, it's just too frustrating for me I don't enjoy it anymore. I wish it was as easy as on land.

Sorry to hear about your board. Insane that these things don't last longer, at 500$ a piece for such a simple device, you'd think they'd at least offer lifetime warranty

I used SaltedLine for my old A6500 for about two years. I was always switching between Samyang 12mm F2 in an 8" dome or Macro on a flat port. I never had an issue with my screw but I remember being careful to not tighten it too hard.

The upper arrow and selection wheel was my biggest frustration. It rarely worked for me both above or under water. I made sure to adjust my settings to never. have to use it.

I now dive with an A7iv in an Ikelite housing, although it is also plastic but the difference in quality is noticeable and definitely worth it.

Yeah I bet ikelite is much nicer. I'm so frustrated with seafrogs, it's like those guys don't even dive / test their gear.

I use the same housing on a A6400, using the kit lens and the 90mm Macro used, for 4 weeks last year.

I wish I had a good news solution to offer but my experience has been similar to yours. Principally with the focus ring binding. I thought I solved that last year but found on my trip but in fact I had long and frustrating troubles with the housings focus/zoom ring jamming and skipping. I was spending long periods trying t shift and settle the camera into different 'home' positions hoping that I must be doing something wrong - sometimes it all tested well until I pressured up the case and then bang - no good again. I tried 'micro adjusting the gear position till the cows came home - no good. Seafrogs sent me basic video guides and then new parts that did not fix the problem, and then suggested I send the unit back (at my expense) and -maybe- they could see if they could re-create the issue with their 6300 - but I use a 6400 so I thought that will be 'good money after bad' so that is where I stand.

The issue of rust has not arisen with me but I must say that I don't really mind a bit of rust. I agree with Barmaglot that the port screw is mostly redundant with the provisional comment that while if you 'release' at depth it will stay put but when you are on the surface it will not - or so suspect. I used mine for the duration without incident but the silly little screw design is flawed not getting around that.

I am currently about to purchase a new camera as I need Focus Bracketing for my topside interests, and Sony, bless their hard little hearts, refuse to include it in a firmware update to their 'lower end lines' so I am looking at the A6700 or the Oly line of Micro 4/3ds. If I stay with Sony the affordable housings are Seafrogs, but with Oly, there is the AOI line which I think might be better. I don't like giving up my sensor size but I can do without the stress and disappointment I had last year with the Seafrogs. I had used Meikon housings for years and so found this experience unfortunate.

I will be off in 5 or 6 weeks on a trip and will be working on this issue between now and then - I will let you know if I have any success.

Sorry to hear you're facing the same issue. Unfortunately the sponsored youtubers never mention it (normal, they don't use it...) - wish more people warned me before buying this I might have considered upgrading.


I will try to contact their customer support but at this point I'm giving up. Not gonna dive much anymore and will sell everything.

 

[Barmaglot]

I've tried blocking the camera in different positions, doesn't really work. And when it does on land, it stops working underwater. Only thing that makes is less bad (but still terrible) is pointing the camera downwards or upwards while trying to use the wheel - takes me only 1 minute to go from 16mm to 50mm instead of 5minutes...

Weird; I've had some alignment issues with my gear, but nothing that bad. I've got somewhere between three and four hundred dives with this housing, and only had zoom problems a handful of times total. The flash trigger has given me more grief than the zoom, honestly.

Thinking about my setup process - I mount the lens (16-50mm) on the camera, then put on the gear, aligning its front edge flush with the lens edge (while the lens is retracted). Turn the camera on, put the housing on/off switch in the 'On' position, remove lens cap, push the camera into the housing, attach flash trigger to hot shoe, reach in with my fingers and push the gear all the way forward as far as it will go, all the way around, verify that it's turning, close the housing and latch (but not lock). Verify that it's turning again, turn on strobes, take a test shot to verify they're firing, vacuum the housing, turn off the camera.

Pre-dive, confirm vacuum, zoom and strobe function, lock the latches (I frequently forget that last part; it doesn't really matter - there's no way to open the housing without releasing the vacuum), turn off the vacuum valve and go diving.

Where in Thailand are you located, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Pyndle]

Thanks for sharing Barmaglot. Flash trigger also gives me issues - I ruined a whole dive today because of that. Other dive was also ruined because the camera turned black (I think this is Sony's fault though - and never had that before).

I have about 200 dives with that housing, I think the first few months were ok, but for over a year, 90% of the dives I have issues with the zoom ring.

I do exactly the same except vacuum (I don't have a pump/vacuum system) and flash trigger.