Ewa-marine UW Housing For Digital Cameras - Fits Sony MVC-CD200, CDD300, CD400,CDD1000, DSC-F505, F707, F717, Nikon Coolpix 5700, Fuji Finepix 4900, 6900, S602, Minolta Dimage 5, 7, 7I, 7Hi - up to a

Rating:
Summary: Price beats all EWA's competitors, great quality photos too!
Review: My wife and I were married in July of 2004. I was particularly excited to bring my Sony DSC F717 along on the Honeymoon to St. Barth's, since I enjoy amateur photography. I was further excited by the prospect of going snorkeling, and wondered if I could combine these two interests.

Enter EWA's underwater housing. Through research I found that there are several brands of underwater housings available for my camera, but most of those cost more than US$1,000.00, and can be prohibitively large to travel with as a result of being a hard case vs. EWA's soft bag. I was impressed to find the EWA housing at such a low cost comparatively, and made my purchase.

I was scared at first to place my VERY expensive camera in the water in what looked to be a fancy zip lock bag! Despite literature ensuring that the housing had been tested at the factory, I filled my tub and submerged the bag (without my camera). PERFECT! There was absolutely no leakage! Just to be safe, I suggest you do the same. (Motivate yourself by the thought of accidentally destroying your camera)

The camera is inserted into the bag by an opening that is a little small, but keep in mind that my camera (Sony DSC F717) has a particularly odd shape when compared with other cameras. Once inside the housing, the camera is secured to the housing by attaching a special frame to the tripod mount (never fear, all of this equipment is included with the housing - no need to buy accessories for this accessory!) The instructions for doing this are a little unclear - a few photos, and written in German - and it took a little experimentation to get it right. I used the smallest piece of metal along with the tripod mounting screw, which mounts directly into a high density plastic ring that fits into the glass port, all of this holding your camera snugly in the housing. Save yourself the frustration of losing valuable diving time at the beach: have this all figured out before you leave home. A little experimentation can go a long way.

Once the camera is secured in the housing, the bag seals with two pieces of metal designed (very nicely, I will add) to create a pressure induced seal and keep water OUT! There are three screws to secure on the seal, and it only takes a few seconds to get going after this.

I practiced taking some photos on dry land just to see how the photos actually come out. (I advise doing this to become comfortable with operating your camera while in the housing.) On land, it's basically easy to use, especially if you know how to use your camera to its full potential. The bag has a "finger sleeve" to allow operation of the shutter and other nearby functions. The positioning takes getting used to, but since this is a generic housing designed to fit several cameras I expected this. I was able to maintain function over nearly all of my camera, since most operations are done around the shutter button. Other buttons around the viewfinder screen were easily pushed due to the flexibility of the bag. And speaking of buttons, those of you with a DSC F717 had better start getting used to using the button zoom, versus the zoom ring around the lense. The housing prevents you from using the ring function (one of my favorite functions for that camera, and part of the reason I rated the housing 4 out of 5). The photos are unaffected by the lens of the housing, which is exactly as described in product literature: optically neutral.

Now for the excitment: In the water. I like to use the manual functions of my camera, because I like control over the aperture, shutter speed, etc. Once you add the pressure of the water against the housing, it becomes more difficult to change settings, including the already limited zoom funtion (if you have a DSC F717). By the time you get what you need, your subject already swam away! It is probably best to keep the camera on automatic. By the way, water pressure accidentally activating any of the camera's buttons was never an issue.

Keep in mind that this housing is not designed for use of an external flash, and because of the design of the DSC F717 I was unable to use the camera's flash underwater. There is not much light underwater, causing the auto setting to leave the shutter open longer. Result: blurry photos (remember: it's not easy to keep still while swimming). It took a few days to learn that extreme patience may be involved in some of these photos, especially when taken at greater depths. Of course, that problem would be solved with an external light, which is not an option on ANY of EWZ's housings, but IS available on nearly all hard cases. Another reason I rated it a 4 out of 5.

Seeing what you are actually taking a picture of can sometimes be a challenge as well. I could easily see the viewfinder in my on-land experiements, but wasn't prepared for what I saw underwater - nothing! The housing material is reflective underwater which creates a slight mirrored effect, depending on whether the screen is/is not right up against the housing (up against it was better, incidentally). On my second outing, I changed the screen's backlight settings to "high" (which also cuts battery life) and that helped. Eventually I realized that I had the most difficulty when photographing from above, and I began using my hand to shield the screen. Basically, you may be reduced to point, shoot, and pray for the best. (Take along a large memory stick so that you can photograph without worrying about quality vs. quantity, and wait until you get home to erase the extras - you won't be able to see those little tiny fish in your 2 inch screen anyway.)

In the beginning, I found my photos to be very green in color, which was NOT a result of the housing (I thought I should include this solution so you can purchase the correct filter BEFORE you go diving). Luckily, I had several filters with me, and found that a polarizing filter works fantastically. All photos from that point on were beautiful, and natural looking.

Please make sure that you have a good sized memory stick (or other compatible media for your camera). I found that for every 25 pictures I took underwater, only one or two were worth the oohs and aahs I was hoping to receive from my family.

Overall, the price was by far the best reason to purchase this housing. If you have the money to buy a serious camera and are tired of overpaying for accessories, this is the housing you should purchase. With the money I saved from not buying the hard-case, I was able to purchase my airfare to St. Barth's!