Aquatica developing a Kodak DSC Pro SLR/N Housing

by Eric Cheng Friday, April 16th, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Aquatica developing a Kodak DSC Pro SLR/N Housing

Before any underwater housing can be a successful product in this competitive high end digital market place,the camera that will go inside it must first pass the scrutiny of many reviews and professional tests that will make or break any new model. The new Kodak DSC 14n pro seems to be such a camera. Boasting a whopping 14MP and a full 35mm sensor untilizing a CMOS chip, it challenges any model from any maker currently on the market.

This new design has caused much excitement in the underwater photography world. The many features of the camera will take digital photography to a new level of excellence as Nikon photographers will now be able to use their existing arsenal of Nikon lenses and produce tack sharp images to 30 x 40 inches, rivaling medium format film.

Aquatica, one of the world's true leaders in underwater housing design and development has recognized the potential of this camera and is already producing the tooling for the first prototype housings for the new Kodak DSC Pro SLR/n. The new housing will access all the key functions to a working depth of 300 feet. All ports will be interchangable with those of other Aquatica housings, keeping in line their policy of interchangability between systems.

The housing will be available for the Nikon mount version of the Kodak camera. This will allow all current Nikon users to utilize all the lenses produced by Nikon and at their correct focal length.

Look out for the first reviews and underwater samples sometime in the next few months.

Interesting. For some reason I had it in my head that the only difference was the mount. Shows I should probably do a little more research before opening my mouth... :)
Posted by Tom Shepherd on 2004-04-19 07:07:50 Hi Tom, Unfortunately, just about the only thing the SLRn and SLRc share is the sensor and electronics. The two bodies are completely different. I agree with y'all that this is a smart move on Aquatica's part. The SLRn is an excellent camera and users seem to be VERY happy with it. Initial feedback on the Kodak 14n has perhaps "prejudiced" some people against this camera. Admittedly, the sensor in the 14n was it's "achilles heal" but Kodak has fixed that and even offered a sensor and electronics upgrade for 14n users. Kodak's product support is truly professional and top notch. How many Canon 1D users are wishing for a sensor and electronics update right now??? If the new Aquatica housing is anything like the S2 model, I will be anxious to give it a try. Cheers James
Posted by James Wiseman on 2004-04-19 04:42:30 I have to agree that this is a smart move on Aquatica's part, especially if you consider that the SLR/n has a Canon mount cousin that should presumably share the same body and controls. This was they capture two bodies with a single housing.
Posted by Tom Shepherd on 2004-04-17 12:24:07 The Canon 1D* bodies already have housings and it's a small market. If Aquatica developed a housing for those it would have to compete with at least two others for the very high end. With Kodak, there are no manufacturers other than UK (and UK is low volume with limited distribution). It's a high performance camera that uses the Nikon mount so there could be interest from people would would not consider the Canon body. I think Aquatica is thinking right here. As far as I know, the other high end housing makers are not expressing interest in a Kodak body and many pros are committed to Aquatica. I've been pleased with the Kodak body so far and think it will be excellent for underwater use. The 1D2, on the other hand, will probably be an excellent UW camera as well, but it's biggest strength (8 fps) goes relatively unappreciated. I still feel I'd rather have a 1Ds. Regarding quickness to market, the Kodak body has been around a while so there's been ample time to see one. Aquatica makes a D100/S2 product so presumably they have a leg up on the design. The SLR/n shipped essentially at announcement unlike many other dSLR's. I'm looking forward to seeing one of these!
Posted by Craig Jones on 2004-04-17 09:33:29 Interesting how quick off the mark they are with this one. I know it's got lots of megapixels, but Kodak DSLR's haven't exactly got a lot underwater fans to date. And Aquatica told me recently they have no plans to house the 1DMk2, which I'm willing to bet will outsell the Kodak by a fair margin.
Posted by Rob Whitehead on 2004-04-17 03:39:06