Comments on: Sea & Sea MDX-D700 underwater housing for the Nikon D700 coming soon

By: Lesley

Lesley — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:56:13 +0000

I bought the D700 last year and have been waiting for the Sea&Sea housing as I have been using SEA&SEA for a while and have loads of ports etc. I am however horrified at the price! Why is this housing so much more expensive than the housing say for the D200? I only paid $2000 for the D700 while the housing I see is going for around $3600-4000 – please can someone explain, or have I got my facts mixed up? Thanks

By: chris

chris — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:56:42 +0000

What are FO ports?

By: Fried Toast

Fried Toast — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:51:36 +0000

Don’t like it, don’t read it. Easy enough.

What’s the point in crying about something as silly as this?

Guess it’s a bit of a double-standard there, tho’. Why am I wasting my time trying to convince you not to waste yours (and ours)?

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:47:25 +0000

It’s not a rumor, the housing was officially presented by S&S in a press release several months ago, but they are desperately slow on updating their site. The production starts in a week or so, but the housing has certainly been official for some time.

For the sake of fairness:

Aquatica: http://www.aquatica.ca/subpages/catalog/housings/ad700.html

Subal: http://www.subal.com/en/digital/nikon/d700/nikon_d700.htm

Ikelite: http://www.ikelite.com/web_two/nik_d700.html

Hugyfot: http://www.hugyfot.com/Products/NikonD700.html

I think the pricepoint of the S&S housing is the biggest issue. Aquatica housings are supposedly very nice and their housing is $3000. Subal and Hugyfot have traditionally been far more expensive but they’re now much closer in price at about $4500-5000. Ikelite, OTOH, are very cheap as usual.

I honestly find the FO ports to be a huge benefit of the S&S housing, both because FO is rumored to be very accurate (haven’t used myself) and because it eliminates a potential flood source.

By: Fred

Fred — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:06:31 +0000

Yeah ok. You should try the same thing on yourself next time you dive.

By: torax

torax — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:46:12 +0000

What is the problem here. If you find this site no suitable for your need of information you can as well gather the information yourself. Why is it always me me me. NRAdmin is providing all this information in a neat little package. Let´s thank him for doing that. And what´s so great about this is that if you dont like it you dont have to read it. And if you think that there´s a need for a “rumor only site” you are free to make one yourself.

By: [NR] admin

[NR] admin — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:59:05 +0000

Well, if it is not official I consider it a rumor.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:37:06 +0000

for me it didn’t look like a rumor.

By: [NR] admin

[NR] admin — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:54:39 +0000

No, they did not pay me (I wish) – this product is not yet officially released, which makes it a rumor, right? That’s why it’s here. I checked sea&sea site and I could not find. If you know of another upcoming underwater housing, let me know and I will write about it.
Should I start writing a small paragraph for every single post to justify it?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:38:02 +0000

did they gave you money to place this ad here, or why you don’t make a link to other underwater housings for the D700?

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:17:50 +0000

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. With the MDX-700, they offer the option of either using the ergo hand grips or whatever they’re called (the ones used on other MDX housings) or the new grip stay L that’s sold separately.

I wouldn’t recommend using just a hand strap as it’s still very hard to get to all controls without moving your hand quite a bit.

I actually assume that the MSRP includes one form of handles, otiherwise it’s a bit of a rip-off indeed.

By: Kay Burn Lim

Kay Burn Lim — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:48:39 +0000

Heck….no handles??! Come on Sea & Sea!!

Tom, the handles were nothing too special anyway. I am sure that many other after market options would even be better…..I have even considered using a strap once in order to manipulate shutter and both dials quickly without letting go of the handle…

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:17:33 +0000

Wow, the new price is certainly a bit steep! It’s as much as the D3 housing which wouldn’t have been all that terrible had it not been for the fact that the MDX-700 comes without any handles if I’ve understood things correctly. I sincerely hope this RRP is with the handles included.

I’ve already toyed with the notion of picking up a D60 and the RDX-60 housing instead of housing my D700 as it would be cheaper. If they don’t even include the handles in this price I most certainly will do so.

By: torax

torax — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:45:27 +0000

Well why dont you just quit reading this site.

By: Mariozi

Mariozi — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:29:42 +0000

Nothing wrong… just the physics of pressure underwater… but you can also try to dive without a dive certificate, nothing wrong with it… just wish you good luck.

By: burgerman

burgerman — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:42:21 +0000

Whats wrong with a plastic bag with a knot tied in it? Squeeze to make sure no air leaks out and off you go!

Did it with a cheap Ricoh film camera years ago. Works fine and is a bit cheaper?

By: Kay Burn Lim

Kay Burn Lim — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:49:43 +0000

I have a Sea & Sea housing for my D300. It’s great and I love using it. Its great that the new D700 housing from Sea & Sea has fiber optic connection too to allow for TTL via the camera’s own flash as a commander. On the D300 housing (MDX-D300), you could only have TTL if you bought a Sea & Sea TTL converter and sync cables…the cable and TTL converter set would set you back between $400-$500!

Nice step forward! Sadly, the new prices are also very high….probably reflecting the high value of the Yen.

By: udo van dongen

udo van dongen — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:21:52 +0000

There’s already a lot of housings for the D700 announced. Sea&sea makes midprice underwaterwaterhoudings (although they’re getting more expensive because the bad japanese situation) Check out this link:

http://www.digideep.com/english/digital/photo/camera/Nikon/D700/25/3535/

and you basically can see what’s available for the D700. If you see the prices you’ll understand why we, underwater photographers don’t want Nikon to make slight modifications with their camerabodies. I’m still stuck to my D200 and looking forward to see the D400 announced. I’d most likely upgrade and get a new Hugyfot housing.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:17:07 +0000

i agree, Anonymous unhappy about the fact-news – piss off

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:15:17 +0000

I do not agree with you. This website is a fun place to check out daily for new updates on things, rumor or not. I wouldn’t mind a stock quote for Nikon either. Kinda cool.