Nauticam housings available in the USA, D90 housing announced

by Eric Cheng Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Nauticam: Innovation Underwater

Nauticam USA proudly announces the availability of the Nauticam line of underwater camera housings in North America. Nauticam’s debut release is an innovative, ergonomic, and rugged aluminum housing for the Nikon D90. You’re invited to be one of the first to see this exciting new housing at The Dema Show (Orlando, FL) in booth 767 November 4-7.

Live View & Record From the Right Handle

The Nikon D90 is the first Digital SLR camera with the ability to record high definition video as well as 12MP still photos, and Nauticam is the first housing vendor to bring the D90’s live view and ok/record buttons to the right handle in a single control. This allows convenient switching from still photo to live view/video mode, and assures steady video shooting by eliminating the awkward reach required by other housings in order to start recording video clips.

Nauticam housings are designed by underwater photographers!

Camera controls operating Shutter Release, Focus/Exposure Lock, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Live View, and OK/Record can easily be accessed from the right grip. Zoom, Playback, and AF-MF are available from the left grip.

Patented Locking Port Release Lever

Nauticam engineers designed a simple, reliable port sealing mechanism that allows fast and easy lens port changes. Lens ports are inserted straight into the Nauticam mount, eliminating the twisting or threading actions that can extrude dry o-rings. Once seated, the large red port lock lever is engaged, securely locking the port in place. To remove a lens port, the silver unlock button is pressed, the port lever rotated to the outer position, and the port is pulled straight out of the housing.

Patented Expanded Viewfinder

Nauticam’s accessory viewfinder provides a crystal clear view of the camera’s optical viewfinder through a diving mask. The patented external diopter adjustment allows eye relief to be fine tuned in water. High quality optics keep distortion and color fringing to an absolute minimum.

Port Adapters for Other Housing Lines

Nauticam offers a full range of port adapters allowing owners to use their existing ports. This greatly reduces the cost of switching brands, and brings the benefits of Nauticam Innovation to a wide range of underwater photographers!

Optical Flash Connectors for Nikon CLS, Inon S-TTL, and Sea & Sea DS-TTL

Reliable automatic flash exposure is available with the Nauticam D90 housing and a variety of optically fired flashes. Nauticam’s upcoming housing for the Nikon SB-R200 allows multiple small strobes to be controlled by the camera for sophisticated macro lighting patterns that fully unlock the potential offered by Nikon’s Creative Lighting System. Inon Z-240, D-2000, S-2000, and Sea & Sea YS-110 Alpha strobes can also provide automated lighting, precisely reproducing the camera’s onboard flash.

Rubberized Ergonomic Handles

Nauticam uses a sophisticated overmold process to produce extremely comfortable ergonomic hand grips. Handles are available in two sizes to accommodate customers with different size hands, and spacers are included with the housing for cold water divers.

Proven Construction Materials

Nauticam Housings are machined from a solid block of seawater resistant aluminum alloy, then hard anodized making them impervious to corrosion. All hardware is marine grade stainless steel.

More information is available from Nauticam USA at http://www.nauticamusa.com.

Contact Nauticam USA:

Ryan Canon Nauticam USA 3320 NE 32nd Street Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 (954)537-0644 http://www.nauticamusa.com sales@nauticamusa.com

About Nauticam USA:

Nauticam USA is the exclusive wholesale distributor of Nauticam products in the North American Market. Nauticam USA’s warehouse and service center is located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Our staff of underwater photography experts strives to provide the best customer support and after sale service available. Dealer inquiries are welcome!

Is this one the same as the one from 10bar? The NA D90. Here is a link for reference http://www.10bar.com/Jul2009_newsletter.htm
Posted by toldo on 2009-10-31 14:33:13 Sorry for the confusion. Nauticam Int'l Ltd., the brand owner and manufacturer, is at booth 767. And our wholesale distributor in the States, Canada, Mexico and the Carribeans, Nauticam USA is at booth 777.
Posted by Edward Lai on 2009-10-30 17:02:08 Just FYI, this article and DEMA's own interactive exhibitor map show they will be at Booth 767, although their own website link says 777. Since DEMA agrees with WP, I'd tend to think the website is the one with the typo.
Posted by rtrski on 2009-10-30 16:30:40 Looks really good to me ! I look forward to see the sample in DEMA next week. Sam
Posted by shchae on 2009-10-29 22:34:35 Ryan, I am sure you are correct and the concensus was reached without any hands on experience of the housing. Its great to hear your confirmation that, in fact, the housing is properly supported and will not be reliant on third party ports.
Posted by Timmoranuk on 2009-10-29 16:44:54 Any ideas of price yet? Housing looks cool and useful.
Posted by Arne on 2009-10-29 12:27:43 Thanks for clearing that Ryan. I have played with my Nikon and on my body (its a D300) the flash does not need to be popped all the way in order to fire. Yes it has be be opened a fair amount, but still not 100%. I am asuming the D90 is the same. Looking at this housing, it would seem that the designers have picked up on this, which is rather nice.
Posted by Aqua_soul on 2009-10-29 10:17:58 I'm wondering how the consensus above was reached, but I don't think it would have been possible after spending any time with this product. I expect the response from DEMA will be different, where people attendees will actually get to see the housing first hand rather speculate over pictures. After visiting the Nauticam production facility and spending time time with this housing, I'm extremely impressed by the "fresh eyes" design and innovation implemented in the port locking system, live view/record lever, and viewfinder design. 14 ports and extension rings are being released along with the D90 housing to support new customers. All flat ports are optically coated glass. Both acrylic and glass domes are available. 8 Lens gear sets are also available, with more coming every week. The 5 port adapters offered are merely a way to support customers with existing systems.
Posted by Ryan on 2009-10-29 10:02:46 Just so I have a better understanding. What sort of problems do you think of when you refer to possible port/housing issues? Which Sea&Sea;housing would this one be a copy of? I am not defending the housing, just want to learn more. Purely on what i see here, i like it, but then photos can be very deceiving.
Posted by Aqua_soul on 2009-10-29 09:59:13 This new housing was extensively discussed recently at DIVE 2009 in the UK and the concensus was that it was a direct copy of the Sea & Sea housing and that it was unsupported with a port system. The major concern voiced was that if the Nauticam housing relied on ports from other manufacturers, what happens if there is a problem. The port manufactures will say its the housing and Nauticam will say its the ports... All that said, I think it looks a very competent housing and I'm looking forward to seeing more like this from this Chinese factory.
Posted by Timmoranuk on 2009-10-29 04:30:03 Optical flash connectors. Optical extended viewfinder. Cold water controls. I need this for my Canon 7D.
Posted by fotoscubo714 on 2009-10-28 19:01:03 This looks nice ! Definitely smaller then my Nexus.
Posted by CADiver on 2009-10-28 18:53:24