New a6xxx housing from Meikon

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I did see what looked like flash tube but totally missed the A6600 wishfully thinking it was the A6xxx housing. Interesting nevertheless and perhaps they will have a trigger similar to the TRT or UW-Tecnics at some point.

If you make some kind of reflector, and your strobes are sufficiently sensitive, you might be able to use it in an A6xxx housing. My UWT trigger died on me last trip, and I spent the remaining dives firing strobes with pop-up flash with the LED board still in place of the reflector - there was enough light coming through, and my Retras are sensitive enough that even without the reflector, they fired every time.
 
Just got a response. They say they don't have spare parts for the gen1 housings anymore, but since I've been a good and loyal customer (indeed and I have; over the years, I have purchased two housings, a wet dome, two vacuum systems, one flat port, three domes, two strobes and some spare parts) they're offering me a gen3 housing for $160 + shipping. Not a bad deal.

I'd like this deal. Did you take it?

3rd gen also has 2 o rings bet front and backplate correct?
 
I'd like this deal. Did you take it?

3rd gen also has 2 o rings bet front and backplate correct?

Yes, I took the deal, and they even replaced the standard flat port with a short macro port (the one with M67 threading) at no extra charge. They did ask me to destroy the hold housing by drilling a hole in it and send them the video of me doing so.

3rd gen has double main o-rings (but still single o-ring on the port), steel base plate for the pistol grip, locking latches, and generally tighter fit for the camera inside. On my first gen housing, I had issues operating the four-way buttons outside the water - at depth it was fine, but without pressure on the housing, paging left wasn't working at all, and the other three buttons were somewhat erratic. On the third gen housing, this problem is completely resolved.
 
Yes, I took the deal, and they even replaced the standard flat port with a short macro port (the one with M67 threading) at no extra charge. They did ask me to destroy the hold housing by drilling a hole in it and send them the video of me doing so.

3rd gen has double main o-rings (but still single o-ring on the port), steel base plate for the pistol grip, locking latches, and generally tighter fit for the camera inside. On my first gen housing, I had issues operating the four-way buttons outside the water - at depth it was fine, but without pressure on the housing, paging left wasn't working at all, and the other three buttons were somewhat erratic. On the third gen housing, this problem is completely resolved.

That’s good news.

Kinda lame they made you destroy the housing. I’d want to keep mine for surf photography.
 
Would you trust $1000-2000 worth of camera and lens to a housing that is known to be leaking, even in surf, when you have another housing that doesn't leak? I wouldn't - and besides, the new model has a much more secure attachment for a pistol grip than the old one; a massive stainless steel plate as opposed to four brass nuts individually molded into the plastic. Also, the new aluminium grip only mounts on the new model.
 
Would you trust $1000-2000 worth of camera and lens to a housing that is known to be leaking, even in surf, when you have another housing that doesn't leak? I wouldn't - and besides, the new model has a much more secure attachment for a pistol grip than the old one; a massive stainless steel plate as opposed to four brass nuts individually molded into the plastic. Also, the new aluminium grip only mounts on the new model.

I trust mine in the surf, especially after a positive VPS-100 test. Diving? Eh, leaked on my last dive with a positive test, but only after going to 100’.

Having two housings would solve a lot of problems for me. Shooting shorebreak puts sand in every single button port. Because of this the shutter button sticks all the time while diving. It’s something SeaFrogs doesn’t seem to admit is a real problem. They should let me keep the other housing on this alone — I’ve spent a ton of time fixing the issue myself and they haven’t offered a permanent fix.

But yeah, I’d probably still take the deal. :)
 
Seafrogs now offering a flash trigger for around $20 USD. No technical specifications on the website, just 3 photos of the device. I don't care if it does TTL or not but it sure would be nice to not have to use the internal flash on the Sony a6xxx camera.

Flash trigger for fiber-optic cables

I have that trigger, it worked well but has a few of issues.
First it is actually a small flash, plus here it is plenty bright and triggers reliably, however I could not use my Sigma primes because of reflections from the flash off of the port lens. The zoom ring on the teles solved this issue so I could have fixed something up if I had time.

Second, battery life is a bit limited. On a Zodiac dive trip we had 1/2+ to the dive site, and hour long dive, hour long surface interval and then the battery died 1/2 way through the second dive.

Finally, and it's a big one. It interferes with the viewfinder for the EVF and will casue a massive leak. Fortunately I bought the vacuum test kit and found out at home. I was able to CAREFULLY dremel the flash trigger plastic to solve the problem.

Disclosure: This was with the a6600 housing, your mileage may differ.
 

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So, I tried to convince SeaFrogs to give me the upgrade deal without destroying the old housing, since it would still be safe to use with the pistol grip (which replaces the bottom plug when you're using it). They refused.

I understand their terms on the upgrade, I'm OK with them, but personally I refuse to destroy something that's useful on principle. I asked them to give me a sale price on a new gen3. They were fine with this. Now I own a Gen1 and a Gen3. The Gen1 will be retired for diving due to the plug problem. I will use it for shooting surf only. The Gen3 will be diving 99% of the time. The two-housing setup solves another problem for me which I posted about in this thread: in heavy shorebreak the shutter button gets clogged with sand no matter what I do, and requires lengthy self-servicing to fix.

I'm one of those folks who use these housings for surfing and diving and when I use mine for surfing, I'm shooting in heavy shorebreak. This is not a common use case and I doubt any of you would have the same issues I've having, nor would you need two housings like I now own.
 
Did a couple dives with the Gen3 housing. Good experience overall. Only problem is that the piece of plastic that mates with the on/off switch inside the housing broke after my first dive. Not sure what's up with that. It never broke on my Gen1. It was kind of freeing, actually -- I used to spend a ton of time aligning the on/off switch in the housing and it was a total pain. Now I just leave the camera on, let power save turn it off, and wake it up with the shutter button. I will still fix it.

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Sea Lion by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr
 
Did a couple dives with the Gen3 housing. Good experience overall. Only problem is that the piece of plastic that mates with the on/off switch inside the housing broke after my first dive. Not sure what's up with that. It never broke on my Gen1. It was kind of freeing, actually -- I used to spend a ton of time aligning the on/off switch in the housing and it was a total pain. Now I just leave the camera on, let power save turn it off, and wake it up with the shutter button. I will still fix it.

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Untitled by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr

Sea Lion by Instagram: @mptoyama, on Flickr
Great photos. Did you take the photos in Monterey? The little switch for On/Off can come off if you're not careful with it. I have the A6500, but I try to keep my camera in the off position and the switch in "Off" when placing my camera in. Proper alignment is important and doing a function check is useful before you jump in the water.
 

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