Aquatica Nikon D7000 Underwater Housing Announced

Aquatica is producing a great underwater housing for the Nikon D7000 which will be ready in early 2011. With a retail price of $2689, it is at a great price point, and will compete well with the Sea & Sea housing, and the Nauticam D7000 housing.

I spoke with Aquatica, and they explained to me the new technology that they are using for this housing. Most of the parts will be laser-cut instead of bending stainless steel rods, which allows the housing parts to have more accurate and extreme shapes, so controls will be smoother and more precise. In addition, the housing will be lighter than previous housings.

They have an innovative rear dial control which replicates the dial on the D7000 camera, allowing you for example to make diagonal movements with the dial. Sync ports can be dual electrical, dual optical, or have one of each. It has a 300ft/90meter depth rating.

The Nikon D7000 is a camera in very high demand, with a 16 megapixel sensor, a solid magnesium alloy body and controls similar to the Nikon D90. It also allows auto-focus during hi-def video mode.

Ikelite, Sea & Sea and Nauticam also offer Nikon D7000 housings, and the Aquatica AD7000 housing will be priced higher than Ikelite, but less than Nauticam.

You can read the full press release below.

Montreal, Canada, November 25, 2010

Press release: Aquatica AD 7000 housing for the Nikon D7000 camera

Aquatica D7000 housing offered at a great price

The Aquatica Team is proud to announce the release of the Aquatica D7000 housing for the acclaimed Nikon D7000, this cameras high level of performance with 1080P video, an extraordinary low light performance as well as the ability to render highlight with excellent detail will make this Nikon camera a serious choice for all underwater photographer seeking top quality at an affordable price. Pre sales and interest has been at such a high level for this housing that this demand for a higher volume has allowed us to keep our production cost low. The direct benefit is that the Aquatica AD 7000 housing will be retailing at just 2,499.00 USD

Finally - a Nikon with continuous auto-focus for video

With the recent advance in technology, Nikon has produced an excellent tool for underwater imaging, it now has continuous AF in video mode, a major hurdle in DSLR until now couple this with the long awaited 1080P finally being available with Nikon and you can understand why this camera will soon be a standard in underwater photography, it also explain why Aquatica would want to take the extra time and come up with a high quality precision housing for this camera

Precision-built housing

With close to 30 years of designing and constructing underwater housings as a starting block, Aquatica can assure you of the quality of its housing, The Aquatica AD7000 will benefit from the finest material available in the industry. Made from carefully selected alloy of aircraft grade aluminum and premium grade of stainless steel, the housing is machined on the latest 5 axis computer assisted machines available and will be protected by anodizing it to North American military specification, while anodizing in itself is a necessary step in protecting the housing from the environment, it will fade and discolor if left exposed to the elements, for further protection, Aquatica provides corrosion inhibiting zinc anodes as standard equipment and coats their housing with a baked on, tough as nail, powder coating, this extra level of protection does make a huge difference as can be seen on some Aquatica housings that even with over 1 500 dive on them, still look as fresh as the day they came out of the box.

Being based in the third largest aeronautically industrialized city in the world gives us strategic access to the best raw materials, tools and cutting edge technology available anywhere. Everything made by us is with the same care and attention to details that is common to the aircraft industry that surrounds us. We use laser cutting tools for its ultimate shaping precision, all controls shafts are double O-rings sealed, all push button have Quad-ring seals, every shaft and push button are manufactured to a mirror smooth surface and to the most strict of tolerances limits. All of this in order to face the standard 300ft/90 meter and frequently upgraded depth rating of 425ft/130m assigned to all our housings. Our time proven methods of manufacturing as well as our dedicated and experienced staff allows us to bring this delightful piece of engineering at the more than reasonable retail price of 2,499.00 USD

Even if the Aquatica AD7000 housing benefits from the latest tooling and technological advance, we at Aquatica fully understand that wisdom and knowledge comes from both our own experience and that of those who influence us, always listening to the requirements of the underwater photographers and in the end blending their vision with ours, we thoughtfully designed the housing to be uncluttered by keeping easy access to the controls no matter what the diving conditions are. The rear buttons array on the left hand side is angled at 15 degrees for ease of access and Aquatica innovated once again by redesigning the Multi Controller assembly, this very important control on the camera is normally accessed via 4 individual buttons on other housings, on the Aquatica AD7000 this pad is relocates and replicates the one found on the camera body, giving the user a definitely more natural feel to the housing when going through menus or reviewing images when used in conjunction with the quick access review button.
You remain in controls of the situation, even the thickest of cold water gloves or the smallest of bare hand will not be hindered by the layout. All functions are identified with pad printed paint for quick visual identification and to eliminate the exasperation of searching for relocated controls.

Optical and electrical sync ports available

Dual optical strobe connectors are provided as standard, they are ready to accept all popular optical cords on the market, connecting any S-TTL strobe on the market is a breeze and will give spot on TTL exposure via the camera built in flash signal. Even with the extremely compact size of this housing, Aquatica has managed to built in a quick access, one finger operated, internal flash control lever that brings the camera built-in flash up and down, this allows for quickly alternating between strobe illuminated and ambient light.

For users of more classic strobes or those preferring electrically connected TTL converter the housing can be easily provided and even field converted to a classic Nikonos type connector, even Ikelite and S6 type strobe connectors can be supplied at the users request, all in all this Aquatica AD7000, like the rest of its siblings, offers you the broadest range of strobe connection in the industry. Additionally, some extra bulkhead entry point are supplied for expanding the system by adding accessories such as an hydrophone, the Aquatica camera remote grip or an external monitor and obliviously, the AD 7000 can be used with our newly released, state of the art, Aquatica Pole Cam System.

Handling is via a pair of molded grips that have been the reference in comfort for the last 25 years, theses lightweight grip handles are made of one piece and cannot come unglued, fall apart or corrode, both grips are provided with mounting holes ready to accept the most current strobes and their supporting arms, the housing per say has an extra mounting point for a focus/video light or other accessories and 3 mounting points are provided under for various brackets or a tripod.

New approach for securing and releasing ports

For the longest of time the Aquatica housings have been equipped with a lens release as standard equipment, this time around, we used a revolutionary approach for securing and releasing the ports and lenses, all operation are now centered on one lever, this straightforward multi function mechanism is used for locking/unlocking the port in place it also will disengage and move the pinion gear out of the way to let the camera and lens (with its gear attached) slide out of the housing effortlessly, disengaging the pinion gear is also helpful when one wish to alternate between AF and Manual focus on some prime lenses, clearing the focusing gear mechanism from the lens focus gear will minimize stress on the internal AF motor of the camera and allow better focusing performances, lastly, just pushing down the external lever will engage the lens release button and allow for lens swapping without having to remove the camera from the housing.

Excellent eye piece

The Aquatica AD7000 is supplied with our Galileo type eye piece, this high quality and coated optical finder gives a bright and full view of the view finder. For those seeking the ultimate in viewing, the optional Aqua View Finder, among the best of the industry, can easily be installed in a matter of a few minutes by the user, the enlarged and enhanced image provided by the Aqua View Finder is second to none in clarity, It provides the photographer with tack sharp corner to corner viewing of the camera view finder for composing and critical focusing. The Aqua View also incorporates an internally adjustable and lockable dioptric adjustment.

The Aquatica AD 7000 is a very compact and lightweight housing at just 345mm / 13.5” (with grip attached) of width, a height of 180mm / 7” (including optical bulkhead) and a mere thickness of 152mm / 6”, the production model should tip the scale without the camera at less than 2.75 kg / 6lb

Priced at just 2,499.00 USD, it is the most economical and best designed of its category.

For more information, please contact us at info@aquatica.ca

AQUATICA, 3025 De Baene, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H4S 1K8
Tel.: 514-737-9481 Fax: 514-737-7685
www.aquatica.ca info@aquatica.ca
 

Where to Buy

For more D7000 underwater housing choices, visit Bluewater Photo's D7000 housing page, or go directly to Bluewater Photo's Aquatica D7000 housing page

Support the Underwater Photography Guide

Please support the Underwater Photography Guide by purchasing your underwater photography gear through our sister site, Bluewater Photo & Video. Click, or call them at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!