Nauticam D700 underwater housing field review 
Wetpixel's Alex Mustard tests it in Australia
Last Update: 17 March 2010 05:05 PM
14 comment(s) | discuss in forums
Author: Alex Mustard ( Alex_Mustard )
The Housing Design
The Nauticam is an attractive looking housing, designed with a clear attention to detail and a build quality that inspires confidence. Straight away it feels a quality piece of kit, all the controls fall where you expect and are intuitive to use. It is supplied with detailed instructions, spare o-rings and o-ring grease, an Allen key set etc. Extra items are sold in small neat white cardboard boxes, with accessories such as the optical viewfinder supplied with a handsome neoprene carrying bag. This feels like a mature brand, not a newcomer.
It feels unfair when, discussing Nauticam, to immediately mention price. But the fact is that it undercuts most existing brands significantly has generated much interest. In no way should you consider Nauticam as a budget or cut price product. In many aspects of design innovation, quality and ergonomics it clearly out shines many existing housings.
All that said the D700 housing is one of Nauticam’s more expensive products. It sells for $3200. The Nauticam D90 housing (which seems to have all the same buttons) is close to a 1/3 cheaper ($2300). For perspective, here are USDs in ascending order for D700 housings (undiscounted website prices, no accessories, source Reef Photo and Backscatter): Ikelite $1600, Aquatica $2950, Nauticam $3200, Sea & Sea $3700, Subal $4500, Seacam $5850.
The Nauticam is noticeably taller and wider than my Subal, even if you don’t consider the Nauticam’s hump, which enables the flash to pop up and drive the optical flash synchronisation. It is a larger than people expect, one Aussie photographer’s first comment was “Wow, it’s big!” However, as a consequence of its larger volume, the Nauticam is more neutrally buoyant underwater than my Subal. Although like almost all housings it still exerts a torque on your wrist because it does not naturally sit flat in the water, instead the port floats upward. (Off topic, but amusingly, I have heard that one manufacturer claims that this feature is especially engineered into their housings so that if you drop them they will not scratch the port!!)
The Nauticam housing provides dials, levers and buttons to access all the controls of the camera. It is a great tool for taking images. The push button resistance is excellent, providing a soft but positive press. The only fiddly control is the focus grouping mode selector, which was particularly difficult to change in gloves (see my D3 Subal review for some of the benefits in switching modes ).
The gearing on the dials is also praise-worthy, with a direct one click on the housing to make one change on the camera. Quite a few housings get this wrong, so you are not left spinning the dial endlessly to make changes. The shutter lever is pleasingly sculpted and covered in rubber to avoid finger slippage! When I tried the housing on land I was impressed by its ability to allow me to feel the biting point between activating autofocus and firing the shutter. However, underwater I found I did occasionally take pictures, when trying to just focus, which was annoying. The half-press point is not as clear as on my Subal. Although the Nauticam’s shutter lever is better than many housings I have tried. Despite the example picture below, this is a minor point.
Handles are a very personal feature, but most people immediately had positive words to say about those on the Nauticam, some immediately preferring holding the Nauticam to their own housings. They are not adjustable. We tested the hands of both girls and boys and all found the shutter release and aperture fell straight to hand. The shutter speed dial is more of a stretch, particularly so underwater. I feel this is the only significant ergonomic weakness on the housing. It is one of the issues I’ll discuss further in the underwater testing section.
Continued…
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Comment(s):Thank you Alex, well done. I wish I could have seen your face when the seahorse was giving birth and you have an unresponsive camera in your hand. The perils of shooting for reviews, but we appreciate it.
Posted by Steve Williams on 03/16 at 10:13 PMThanks Alex
Great review and really nails home why I purchased the Nauticam for my D300s.
Next trip we will have to get Shannon to drag you over to the Australian West Coast.
Posted by Chriso on 03/16 at 10:32 PMGreat unbiased review (as usual) Alex!
Posted by dbh on 03/17 at 04:16 AMHi Alex,
Completely agree with your findings which support my own suggestions to Nauticam following our original testing. Most of our suggestions have been taken onboard and are now present on the production units. The issue of the extra large, elongated control knobs being supplied as accessories would be welcome.
Having just completed some 70+ dives with my Nikon D300 housing I can only say I made the right choice.
Thanks for the great review and re-assuring that my own findings were almost identical to yours ..
Best regards
David - DigitaldivingPosted by digidiverdave on 03/17 at 05:19 AMFantastic review Alex - thanks!
Cheers
JamesPosted by James Wiseman on 03/17 at 05:46 AMGreat review, Alex. One has the feeling of knowing exactly how this housing is and performs after reading it.
Posted by davichin on 03/17 at 02:42 PMExcellent, thorough review Alex. Great job as always.
Posted by Mike L on 03/18 at 04:51 PMGreat review Alex.
I have just completed 70+ dives with the Nauticam D700 in the Maldives shooting wide angle only.
I completely agree about the shutter dial, I was in strong channel currents for most dives and it was impossible to change the shutter speed with my thumb and hold on to the housing with a tight grip.
I also had a few other points which I have directed towards Edward directly but in short I found it to be a great housing and will house all our future cameras in Nauticam.
Cheers,
JasonPosted by muppetcam on 04/03 at 09:42 PMHi Alex
Same here with the shutter dial. Planning to make a home-made solution soon.
Cheers,Carlos
Posted by blueglass on 04/22 at 06:05 PMI think that good news is coming from Nauticam that the Command Dial Knob has been redesigned following feedback from some users - clearly a company that listens .....
Posted by digidiverdave on 04/22 at 11:53 PMAlex
Fantastic and helpful review.I’m looking for for a housing for the d700 and new strobes to encompass wide angle- I must make a decision.\
I’m not happy that the Nauticam is a larger more bulky housing (traveling issues) and that it appears that the housing will accept only fiber optics for twin strobes. I have been advised that using the internal camera’s strobes is a bad idea because of illumination issues (the water column)
Is the internal flash covered by the housing?
Are fiber optics the ‘new and dependable’ way to go?
thanks\
AllanPosted by allan on 08/01 at 12:36 PMThanks (belatedly) Alex. T’other Alex has made me an offer I can’t refuse in the context of positive reviews and my own shooting style, so it looks like ex-Nexus and newly-Nauticam!
Posted by tdpriest on 08/17 at 10:47 AMThanks Alex, good review. I’m quite frustrated by problems with my Nexus D300 recently. I hope to upgrade camera+housing next year, so eagerly awaiting to hear if a Nauticam D800 will come out.
Posted by christianloader on 12/16 at 09:15 PM
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