Choosing the right underwater housing - Underwater filming tips

UNDERWATER FILMING TIPS - This is episode #01 of our underwater filming tips series.
Are you overwhelmed by choosing the right underwater camera housing? There are too many manufacturers? You are new to underwater filming and photography? Then this episode will help and guide you.
We are not promoting any underwater manufacturer; we just have chosen to buy Nauticam for us, as it suits our purpose best, this is why we show everything with those housings in the studio.

Maybe other manufacturers are a better fit for you, depending on your budget and needs.
We discuss all the important aspects you should know and consider when choosing the right underwater camera housing.

This series will have at least 20 episodes to guide you step by step into the underwater filming world.
We will cover the very basics to further and more advanced techniques. We will discuss all sorts of underwater filming gear, setups from the camera housing, filters, lighting to things like storytelling and composition.

Stay tuned for the next episode coming up very soon, so be sure to subscribe to the channel and hit the bell button to be notified!

Disclaimer:
All the equipment in the studio shots, have been purchased by us.
Some of the equipment in some underwater shots has been given to us to test with no obligations. We even have chosen to purchase some, as we only use equipment we believe in and can rely on.

We have no information whether or not equipment was sponsored in other parts of the underwater video clips, where we show other filmmakers and divers with their gear.

In this episode we cover the Nauticam Gh4 underwater housing and the Nauticam GH5 underwater housing.

The underwater footage, narration, sound & edit:
Vanessa Cara-Kerr

Additional Footage:
Vincent Lavigne | Vividcam
Lena Höfig

follow us for lot's of behind the scenes shots and uw photgraphy:

[tanvirkhan]

This is the most informative video I have seen so far after watching so many commercialized waste of time videos.... THANK YOU!!! Little gimmicky video editing but informative.

[evildiesel]

Great video! One tip I would share is to always buy your housing first and then get a camera to fit. I was waiting about 6 years to get a Nauticam 6D housing secondhand:) Looking forward to binging on a few more of your videos.

[Mixedpuppy]

This was one of the best UW Photography videos explaining details of various UW Housings. I used a Canon Housing for an advanced compact Canon S100 and S120. It was ergonomically fine but O-Ring was thin and hard and it was unreliable. Both had leaking problems. Canon had the worst customer service and wouldn't try to repair the housings even when I offered to pay. I had Ikelite for both the Canon S120 and Canon T4i. (I'm advanced entry level and learning). I thought they were well built, sturdy. The warranty and customer service are excellent. O-Rings are thick and soft. The ergonomics were wanting though. Both housings and the controls were bulky. The zoom control on the S120 was bad. It would over zoom or under zoom all the time and was difficult to control. I went with Ikelite because that was what I could afford. A bunch of my gear was stolen 4 years ago and I am buying an Olympus TG-6 with Olympus Housing. I'm considering a RecSea Housing later for Tech Diving lessons. Looking to buy the Sony RX100 VII maybe VIII if it comes out sometime with the Nauticam housing. Looking at the Sony A7RIV with Nauticam as well. I do like Nauticam for the quality and features of the housings. LMK if you come to Oahu sometime!

[gearbow]

My housing is well worn took it out of the bag from sitting and it has some salt deposits. How can i gently clean those?

[EpicDiving]

Great job on the video! Looking forward to the next one :)

[HeavenKeller]

I love the depth and detail of this video. Great job! I've been reeling in my head: shall I use the GH5 or my Sony A7riii? I'd like to do both photo and video... Any thoughts? xoxo!!!

[dr.th.eisele]

Good video again, however it forgot to mention, that so far videos under water rather had been made by Camcorders, not by SLRs or Cameras such as GH5. And there are still good ones on the market like Sony AX 100 or even bigger ones like Sony PWM-EX1R and there are good under water housings for them as well. What about making a comparison between both systems?

[willnolanphoto]

Just found your channel. Really informative video, can’t wait to watch some more of them later on 👍🏻

[ПланетаСчастья-оы]

Help me please to choose the cheapest equipment for my Olympus OMD EM-10 MARK-II with m.Zuico 14-150 mm Zoom lens. I want to make photo and video no deeper than 30 meters. What can you recommend for me. Thanks.

[Scherf_]

Allein die Transitions sind mega :D Sehr informatives Video! Danke :-)

[BBTProduction]

Awesome video!! Well explained, and love the effects! 🤙 Do you ever heard about the seafrogs housing??

[chrisunderwater]

Great vids, i have some doubs i didnt find out anywhere, how to get in to the water in a safe way with our cameras, how manage our battery life, how to change battery, where and where not to open our housings. Sorry if these are dumb questions but i'm about to start to film with a uw housing on my sony a6500 (seafrog salted line a6xxx). Thank you so much!

[PatriceWillow]

Vanessa, erst einmal Respekt für die super Qualität deiner Videos 🙂👍🏻 Bei dem Thema Housing komme ich aber zu einer Frage...Wie reist du damit? Hast du bestimmte Koffer / Taschen in den du deine Technik verstaust? Wie bekommt man das günstig ins Flugzeug? Beste Grüße 😎

[healthyrootsstrongwings]

Hi Vanessa! Supernice video :) Great editing and of course super slick footage. Seems like a cool youtube niche and although I sold all my kit few years back I´ll stil watch everything you put out :)

[elaineross]

Thanks for the very informative video Vanessa. I've been using polycarbonate housing with Sony a6000/sigma/Inon/kit dive base tray setup for 2/3 years now. Looking to upgrade soon to sony a7iii with decent housing. Swaying towards Aquatica as it seems a little smaller (female hands) but much more availability of nauticam where I live in Thailand. I'm guessing you don't have a problem with reaching all controls easily on Nauticam housing? Even with the base tray and housing I have, I've got to take my hand off the grip and hold the housing itself to reach the shutter/record release. Thanks.

[MatthiasLebo]

Well done Vanessa! Very informative AND entertaining video to watch! Keep 'em coming. ;)
Btw, how do you feel about your Naticam housing for the GH5? I'm looking into switching from my current system (Sony AX100 & Gates housing) to that one.

[Makta]

You are wrong about glass ports being better quality. Acrylic ports lets more light in, resists better to shock and pressure. Submarines for exemple only use acrylic windows.

[josedp]

Why you can buy very cheap old cameras (like 7 yo) but not the housing?

[JuKoerfer]

Sehr informativ! Aber eine Frage abseits der Unterwasserkameras und deren Gehäuse (da wurde ja alles ordentlich erklärt), die Lampe im Hintergrund... Wo gibt es die? Mir gefällt das Set

[felinetube]

This girl is so badass! I like her already.