Camera housing, why are they so expensive?

[CotoChris]

I just can not get over the price for camera housing. I'm a keen photographer and would like to go underwater with my Nikon D80, but the housing is £1,500 then on top strobes & accesories.

How come the housing is so expensive? It's double the price of the camera. It's a bit of plastic, if it came with insurance for flooding that would be something.

I currently use a Cannon S45 for underwater but a bit limited, especially for macro. Any sugestions for upgrading? (That won't cost me a couple of grand!)

[Daniel Taylor]

Originally Posted by CotoChris

I just can not get over the price for camera housing. I'm a keen photographer and would like to go underwater with my Nikon D80, but the housing is £1,500 then on top strobes & accesories.

How come the housing is so expensive? It's double the price of the camera. It's a bit of plastic, if it came with insurance for flooding that would be something.

I currently use a Cannon S45 for underwater but a bit limited, especially for macro. Any sugestions for upgrading? (That won't cost me a couple of grand!)

I think it is just economies of scale. How long does the average camera, including dSLRs, last in the market place? A year, 6 months? Once it is no longer the latest model the market for the housing has gone.

With the exception of Ikelite, most housings for dSLRs are cast aluminium (I think). Each housing has to be designed to fit the differing controls, the cast needs to be made up, each blank needs to be machined, and controls and seals fitted. Then the QA and testing. All this is on very low production runs.

Still, it would be nice if it were a lot cheaper.

[Tazzie]

I can't understand why Ikelites are expensive but I totally see why others are, like Daniel says the engineering and testing that goes into most camera housings is extensive and almost as soon as they are released there is a new camera on the market.

My Hugyfot was almost 3 times more than the canon camera!

But then it is everyso nice and a fantastic option for anyone without man hands!

[chrisch]

Look out for a 2nd hand one. Just picked up a nice Olypus housing then got a camera off ebay to fit it. 150 quid the two...

I'll try it out at the weekend in the lake.

Have to say I agree the new price is bloody shocking.

Chris

[GLOC]

I was very lucky and I managed to get an Aquatica Housing (90m aluminium) and spare S2 body for £700. I already had one S2 but I had 3 weddings planned for this year (photo taking not getting hitched as that would be just greedy ) and wanted a spare body. Bodies were going for £350 on Ebay, so in effect I got an Aquatica housing for £350

However, the housing isn't the end. Ports are £300+, zoom/focus gears are £60 each. Strobes, how much do you want to spend

UW SLR photography is an expensive game and it nearly became very expensive last weekend when the dome fell off my housing just as I was about to jump into 48m of water . Fortunately I just gave it back to Helen and she kept it dry until I surfaced.

So the answer is if you don't mind having an older model, look around for someone selling a dSLR which is 3-5 yrs old and you will be able to get a bargain.

Regards

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by GLOC

I was very lucky and I managed to get an Aquatica Housing (90m aluminium) and spare S2 body for £700. I already had one S2 but I had 3 weddings planned for this year (photo taking not getting hitched as that would be just greedy ) and wanted a spare body. Bodies were going for £350 on Ebay, so in effect I got an Aquatica housing for £350

However, the housing isn't the end. Ports are £300+, zoom/focus gears are £60 each. Strobes, how much do you want to spend

UW SLR photography is an expensive game and it nearly became very expensive last weekend when the dome fell off my housing just as I was about to jump into 48m of water . Fortunately I just gave it back to Helen and she kept it dry until I surfaced.

So the answer is if you don't mind having an older model, look around for someone selling a dSLR which is 3-5 yrs old and you will be able to get a bargain.

Regards

ebay can be your best friend for housings.


anyway I heard from howard theat you love wedding cake and thats the only reason he was going to invite you to his and digs do


wine was fantastic BTW

[uwila]

Originally Posted by CotoChris

I just can not get over the price for camera housing. I'm a keen photographer and would like to go underwater with my Nikon D80, but the housing is £1,500 then on top strobes & accesories.

How come the housing is so expensive? It's double the price of the camera. It's a bit of plastic, if it came with insurance for flooding that would be something.

For the aluminium ones, it's simply because they take a while to design, build and test and only a few are sold. A run of 200 worldwide is considered a good run, so they have to make a living off that number of sales. The same goes for all the other bits - it's a cottage industry.

Which is why the plastic Ikea ones are so much cheaper - cheaper design cycle, sell more so the design costs and profit are amortised over a greater number of units.