Hey folks, I'm selling my rig: it's a Sea & Sea DX5000G housing with a Ricoh Caplio GX digicam - 5.1 megapixels with a 3X wide zoom; the YS-90 Sea & Sea flash; and a wide angle lens. See pictures of it here, along with some shots I took with it, under the "Ricoh Test Photos" photo set.
I paid over $2200 for the whole kit, but I'll take $1400 for it. (This kit is $2200 new at BlueWaterHunter.com). This rig has only been on about ten dives and has been rinsed in fresh water after each dive; the O-rings have been kept lubricated; and it's in a smoke free-home. It's in near-perfect condition without any scratches or many signs of wear. I have all the original packaging, including the CD w/software for the camera, manuals and even the plastic bags these items came in for the most part.
As you know, Sea & Sea usually sells the DX5000G housing with its own branded digital camera, which is a S&S branded version of the Ricoh Caplio. This IS NOT the original camera - IMO it's a better camera. As I found out after the original camera was damaged, Sea and Sea won't let you buy any of these parts independent of one another - so if you have the camera, for example, and break or lose the housing, you are SOL.
So, I went online and discovered that Ricoh makes the Sea and Sea brand camera and that I could order one from Canada, so I did. The only difference is that this one doesn't have the Sea & Sea brand name on it, and honestly I think the Caplio GX is a better camera. (Click here for the specs on the Caplio GX.). The manual is much easier to use than the Sea & Sea (which I figure was translated and not very well from Japanese); it's got a sturdier body and seems to capture images more easily, then produces them for your viewing pleasure faster. It doesn't weigh very much and even in the housing, it's not like hauling around a heavy piece of gear to have to hold onto as you hang onto the anchor line in a current. The Caplio GX also has a bunch of cool picture taking modes for above ground and underwater, including settings to take portraits, capture motion, take pictures at night and read text.
The camera fits into the DX5000G housing perfectly and all the buttons and thumbwheels work just fine with no leakage or problems whatsoever. (There are only about ten controls on the DX5000G housing; it's not like some cameras you see with lots of levers to break and leak. And yet, the simple design belies the really good image quality you get out of this camera. Click here for some examples. Please note this is my personal Flickr account, so if you get lost in pictures of my family reunion you can click on "Ricoh Test Photos" set to see the Ricoh Caplio images. You may need to scroll down past images of the camera rig itself.)
The camera runs off two regular AA batteries, which means no recharger to have to haul on drive trips and then try to plug into a foreign power supply. I have some rechargeable lithium ions I use to run this and an old Reefmaster rig I have, and have gotten at least a couple days out of each charge. (Note: when I say 'regular' AA batteries, what I really mean are lithium AA batteries, which you can buy in any drugstore. You probably could use regular Duracells, which I've done in my Reefmaster 610 rig...it's just that they don't last long, usually only about a half hour.)
The Ricoh uses SD cards and I will throw in a 256 meg card for free.
The flash ($650 new) works fine and also runs off 4 AA batteries. The flash connects to the camera housing via a fiberoptic cable, which is included in this offer - it's also in great shape and I will include the original packaging. The wide angle lens ($325 new) fits on via a screwlike device on the front of the housing - you don't have to add a dome port with its additional O-ring and risk of leakage. (For those of you new to underwater photography, wide angle is really great for taking pictures of wrecks or dramatic dropoffs. Click here to see some pix of the Hilma Hooker wreck I took in Bonaire, N.A. with this wide angle lens.)
I'm selling this whole rig because my husband is a camera nut who recently bought a Nikon E2H, so I inherited his Nikon D-70 - a very expensive interchangeable-lens camera - which I'm planning to house and use on a trip to Australia in about six weeks.
I would imagine this whole kit is still under some kind of warranty from Sea & Sea as it was purchased only last December. I don't know what kind of warranty Ricoh offers for their gear, but if you're like me you've already bought supplementary insurance for your camera and dive gear anyway. I would definitely recommend that - I've had great luck with DEPP - as I cannot personally guarantee this equipment, even though I have not had any problems with it. (That said, if you buy this rig and upon receipt it's just not what you're looking for, I'll gladly refund your money upon my receipt of the gear back in the condition it was in when I sent it to you. PLEASE NOTE that I will not offer a refund if you take this gear under water and flood it, or it becomes damaged in some other way - which is why I am saying loud and clear BUY INSURANCE before you take this or any other camera equipment under water. It's really not very expensive and in my mind it's well worth the price.)
For payment I'll accept Paypal or a personal check, but if it's a check I won't ship until the check clears, maybe a week or so. Shipping will be whatever it costs me to mail this to you from Nashville, Tennessee, with whatever insurance you'd like - usually that's around $10, with insurance avail. for $1.30. I'll consider shipping internationally but please realize the shipping will be a lot, probably 30 bucks or so U.S. at least.
Email me with any questions at volks1wag at yahoo dot com. Thanks for looking!
I paid over $2200 for the whole kit, but I'll take $1400 for it. (This kit is $2200 new at BlueWaterHunter.com). This rig has only been on about ten dives and has been rinsed in fresh water after each dive; the O-rings have been kept lubricated; and it's in a smoke free-home. It's in near-perfect condition without any scratches or many signs of wear. I have all the original packaging, including the CD w/software for the camera, manuals and even the plastic bags these items came in for the most part.
As you know, Sea & Sea usually sells the DX5000G housing with its own branded digital camera, which is a S&S branded version of the Ricoh Caplio. This IS NOT the original camera - IMO it's a better camera. As I found out after the original camera was damaged, Sea and Sea won't let you buy any of these parts independent of one another - so if you have the camera, for example, and break or lose the housing, you are SOL.
So, I went online and discovered that Ricoh makes the Sea and Sea brand camera and that I could order one from Canada, so I did. The only difference is that this one doesn't have the Sea & Sea brand name on it, and honestly I think the Caplio GX is a better camera. (Click here for the specs on the Caplio GX.). The manual is much easier to use than the Sea & Sea (which I figure was translated and not very well from Japanese); it's got a sturdier body and seems to capture images more easily, then produces them for your viewing pleasure faster. It doesn't weigh very much and even in the housing, it's not like hauling around a heavy piece of gear to have to hold onto as you hang onto the anchor line in a current. The Caplio GX also has a bunch of cool picture taking modes for above ground and underwater, including settings to take portraits, capture motion, take pictures at night and read text.
The camera fits into the DX5000G housing perfectly and all the buttons and thumbwheels work just fine with no leakage or problems whatsoever. (There are only about ten controls on the DX5000G housing; it's not like some cameras you see with lots of levers to break and leak. And yet, the simple design belies the really good image quality you get out of this camera. Click here for some examples. Please note this is my personal Flickr account, so if you get lost in pictures of my family reunion you can click on "Ricoh Test Photos" set to see the Ricoh Caplio images. You may need to scroll down past images of the camera rig itself.)
The camera runs off two regular AA batteries, which means no recharger to have to haul on drive trips and then try to plug into a foreign power supply. I have some rechargeable lithium ions I use to run this and an old Reefmaster rig I have, and have gotten at least a couple days out of each charge. (Note: when I say 'regular' AA batteries, what I really mean are lithium AA batteries, which you can buy in any drugstore. You probably could use regular Duracells, which I've done in my Reefmaster 610 rig...it's just that they don't last long, usually only about a half hour.)
The Ricoh uses SD cards and I will throw in a 256 meg card for free.
The flash ($650 new) works fine and also runs off 4 AA batteries. The flash connects to the camera housing via a fiberoptic cable, which is included in this offer - it's also in great shape and I will include the original packaging. The wide angle lens ($325 new) fits on via a screwlike device on the front of the housing - you don't have to add a dome port with its additional O-ring and risk of leakage. (For those of you new to underwater photography, wide angle is really great for taking pictures of wrecks or dramatic dropoffs. Click here to see some pix of the Hilma Hooker wreck I took in Bonaire, N.A. with this wide angle lens.)
I'm selling this whole rig because my husband is a camera nut who recently bought a Nikon E2H, so I inherited his Nikon D-70 - a very expensive interchangeable-lens camera - which I'm planning to house and use on a trip to Australia in about six weeks.
I would imagine this whole kit is still under some kind of warranty from Sea & Sea as it was purchased only last December. I don't know what kind of warranty Ricoh offers for their gear, but if you're like me you've already bought supplementary insurance for your camera and dive gear anyway. I would definitely recommend that - I've had great luck with DEPP - as I cannot personally guarantee this equipment, even though I have not had any problems with it. (That said, if you buy this rig and upon receipt it's just not what you're looking for, I'll gladly refund your money upon my receipt of the gear back in the condition it was in when I sent it to you. PLEASE NOTE that I will not offer a refund if you take this gear under water and flood it, or it becomes damaged in some other way - which is why I am saying loud and clear BUY INSURANCE before you take this or any other camera equipment under water. It's really not very expensive and in my mind it's well worth the price.)
For payment I'll accept Paypal or a personal check, but if it's a check I won't ship until the check clears, maybe a week or so. Shipping will be whatever it costs me to mail this to you from Nashville, Tennessee, with whatever insurance you'd like - usually that's around $10, with insurance avail. for $1.30. I'll consider shipping internationally but please realize the shipping will be a lot, probably 30 bucks or so U.S. at least.
Email me with any questions at volks1wag at yahoo dot com. Thanks for looking!
