New a6xxx housing from Meikon

[Barmaglot]

Looks almost identical to the one I got from Nitescuba. In my case, I had to raise the right-side tray handle by about 1cm by fitting a metal block between the tray base and the handle, or it wouldn't reach the trigger lever. The handles on my tray are 12.5cm tall, and the middle of the base where the camera sits is 0.5cm taller than the sides where the handles attach, so if your handles are taller, you shouldn't have any issues.

 

[Hector1959]

3rd, I wanted to do macro shots but the short port with 67mm thread and macro lens/diopter is quite beyond my budget right now. so what i did was to use the 16-50mm kit lens and added an extension tube (the 16mm to be exact) using the standard port that came with the housing. ( i bought the housing during the time when all other ports was still on the drawing boards). a little DIY to extend the focusing ring and, voila. It fitted the standard port just fine. i'm pretty satisfied with the photo results. only downside of it is, you can only shoot in macro all throughout the dive.

I had thought once about this but I dumped the idea because I had a diopter and then bought the short port. But it still and interesting option for me since I could get higher magnifications than with my +6 diopter. And, stardard port is 60m waterproof instead of 40m for the short port.
My questions are:
1) how many mm of extension did you added?
2) What brand/model of Extension tube?
3) The model bought/used, does it keep the electrical connections of the lens? Any incidence in Auto-foucs?
4) With the extension you lose the ability to zoom, so you should fix the FD at 50mm before closing the house. But,,,, after a few minutes of inactivity the lens retracts and camera shuts off. So when the camera turns on again Focal distance will be 16 mm by default, no useful for macro shots. Have you found a solution for this?

Regards

 

[Hector1959]

Deaniro,
On my question #4 above: I have found a solution to avoid the camera to shut off. That is to activate the remote control of camera. To activate Pre-AF would also work but work that would use a lot of battery power.

I would appreciate your comments/answers to other 3 questions

regards

 

[deaniro]

Hi @Hector1959, i used the Meike extension tubes but just the 16mm tube. Using both 16 and 10mm at the same time won’t fit onto the standard port. All electonics work so you can use the autofocus and everything else. Here’s a photo of it:


Hope this help

 

[mtoyama]

Looks almost identical to the one I got from Nitescuba. In my case, I had to raise the right-side tray handle by about 1cm by fitting a metal block between the tray base and the handle, or it wouldn't reach the trigger lever. The handles on my tray are 12.5cm tall, and the middle of the base where the camera sits is 0.5cm taller than the sides where the handles attach, so if your handles are taller, you shouldn't have any issues.

Yes, sorry I did not post an update recently. I could not get the trigger working on the tray I bought from SeaFrogs without raising it up, and it was too janky for me to feel good about it in the water. I gave up. It looks like deaniro has a different tray from SeaFrogs that must have a more compatible height.

I'd like to post a couple of updates about service I've had to perform on the housing myself.

• Shutter button getting stuck. Earlier I posted about my shutter button getting stuck during a dive, and this happened on multiple dives, causing me to miss shots. As it turns out, a lot of sand gets into the shutter when shooting shore break to the point where I could not clear it out even with actuating the button in fresh water repeatedly. The stuck shutter would not resolve itself after adding lube and actuating it (another possible solution).
  • I ended up taking the shutter assembly apart, cleaning it, and relubing it on the direction of SeaFrogs to avoid having to ship the housing to them. There was a TON of sand in there! I've done a couple dives since then and it works great. Now, when I take it out shooting on a shore dive I spend more time actuating the shutter button when rinsing, which I hope will fix.
• Stripped dome port threads where metal screws --> plastic threads that compress the swap ring and acrylic dome into the port. Beware of over-torquing these screws! I have removed the dome on my dome port several times in order to a) swap the swap ring between diving and surfing and b) to swap out a damaged dome port. Recently, when I went to swap the swap ring for a surf session, one of the screws would not tighten. Upon further inspection, the thread was stripped because, apparently the metal screw stripped the plastic thread and it wasn't grabbing anymore.
  • SeaFrogs was not helpful here. Their guidance was to find a screw that had a slightly larger diameter than the screw used, so that it would make a new thread into the plastic. They did not give me a spec for the screw, and it took me a week to find a screw that would work. The closest equivalent was a very specific screw I found on McMaster with the help of a friend who has calipers and thread measurers. Unfortunately, the screw is ~1/4" too long so I have to use a spacer (just used a stainless nut) to get the appropriate depth (alternatively you could belt grind the screw down). Here's the screw: McMaster-Carr
    
  • Here's what it looks like on the housing. It passes the vacuum test, and I will be diving with it to 100' Sunday.

Other than that, I've taken the camera on every single dive aside from my checkout dives + my first dive after the checkout dives. I've also taken it out surfing several times, and it's been wonderful aside from the shutter getting stuck. Here's more diving shots:

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

 

[saxman242]

Wanted to revisit this thread. I swapped out the port on my housing yesterday and after tried to pump down my vps-100 to make sure I had a good seal on the port. Was getting an alternating red and green flash on the vps. Opened it up to change the battery and found signs of salter water intrusion, corrosion on the board, etc. I have only snorkeled with the vps attached.

I contacted seafrogs to see if they would sell me a replacement board, and was told no, and to not submerge the vps.

 

[mi000ke]

I contacted seafrogs to see if they would sell me a replacement board, and was told no, and to not submerge the vps.

Based on a @Barmaglot post (he dives with the vps attached with no problem) I contacted SeaFrog to ask if it was OK to dive with the vps attached to insure the seal throughout a dive, and they also advised me not to dive with the vps attached. That said, they said they are diving with it attached for "other reasons." So I guess they think it's ok for them if you have the right reason. I have no idea what their reason was, though.

 

[saxman242]

Based on a @Barmaglot post (he dives with the vps attached with no problem) I contacted SeaFrog to ask if it was OK to dive with the vps attached to insure the seal throughout a dive, and they also advised me not to dive with the vps attached. That said, they said they are diving with it attached for "other reasons." So I guess they think it's ok for them if you have the right reason. I have no idea what their reason was, though.

I believe what they're basically saying is "it's fine to dive with it on, but we're going to tell you no so we don't have to warranty the vps in the case of water intrusion."

Which is fine. I know they said not to dive with it, and I did anyway. I wasn't looking to them to replace it, just trying to purchase the board instead of a whole new system. Assuming they're not the actual manufacturer of the vps, I can't even be mad at them for not selling that. It is a little frustrating that they show on their instagram them pressure testing the camera with the vps attached underwater though and won't stand behind that.

 

[saxman242]

As an update, I completely disassembled the vps today. Removed and replaced all the o-rings, cleaned everything with isopropanol, etc. Took the board out, caked on some baking soda and water until it dried and removed all the corrosion, then cleaned the board in isopropanol. Put a fresh battery in and everything appears to be working as intended now. I've got the housing sitting under vacuum to see that the vps does what it is supposed to. If it continues to work, I'll submerge it in the pool for a while to verify no intrusion, etc.

 

[thebrain]

Is there a general consensus for which port is best for the 10-18? the 6'' dome, the standard or the short + a wet WA lens?
Or is it just better to dive the with 16-50 and one of the port combos?