Fantasea FD-70 underwater housing review

The FD-70 is Fantasea's housing for the Nikon D70 and D70s digital SLRs. Below you find a review of this housing and its usability.

Construction

The FD-70 is made of transparent polycarbonate, providing a good view of the camera, lens and dirt/moisture on the inside. Two handles are attached, each with a stay slot on top for attaching arms. At the bottom of the housing is a stainless steel base plate with tripod mounting holes for attaching other accessories.

The back of the housing is closed using three quick clasps and with a single rubber gasket to keep the water out. The camera can slide right in to place in the housing by fitting a special plate on the bottom of the camera. A separate viewfinder can be attached to camera for better viewing underwater.

The housing is fitted with controls for all major functions of the camera, and one standard Nikonos 5-pin socket is provided for connecting an external strobe. At the time of writing, Fantasea offers four ports for the FD-70: a standard flat port for the D70 kit lens, a 5-inch dome for the Sigma 15mm and Nikon 16mm fisheyes, and two flat ports for the Nikon 60mm and 105mm macro lenses. The ports are screwed on to the housing and have a double o-ring.

The whole set, including arms, has been kept very compact and simple, and has a maximum depth of 60 meters.

Usage and control

The quick clasps and camera plate turn out to be ideal during preparation for a dive: opening, closing, putting the camera in and removing it is performed with little effort. The plate on the camera is in fact small enough for me to leave it on during a whole diving trip, only taking it off when needing to change the battery. The big rubber gasket does not require grease thereby reducing chance of dust and dirt sticking to it, and the transparent housing makes it easy to verify correct sealing.

The number of controls on the FD-70 has been kept to a minimum by combining multiple camera buttons. For example, the cursor function must first be turned to the right direction before pressing it, which does require some getting used to. The size of the buttons has also been kept quite small, making operation a bit more difficult. For control of the two main dials, the camera's most important functions, this is certainly the case, especially as these need to be pressed and turned at the same time. The elongated shutter control can be operated with precision, although I personally did rotate it a little to the back to enable operation by thumb.

Under water, the housing is positively buoyant and can be easily managed using the handles. The transparency of the housing and location of the controls give direct visual recognition and make operating the camera the same as on the surface.

The standard and 60mm ports are also suitable for other lenses, like the Sigma 18-200 DC I tested, of course it does depend on the dimensions and angle of view of the lens. Using zoom on lenses is however not supported. The Sigma 15mm fisheye performs excellent behind the dome port without using a diopter, and gives a very large angle of view.

Summary

The FD-70 underwater housing and accessories offer a nice and complete solution. As I understand it, the control buttons have recently been upgraded and improved to address the issues mentioned.

In the end the FD-70 is well suited for the underwater photographer using a Nikon D70 or D70s, and is even one the most economical housings in this range.

Related links:

• Nikon D70 underwater housing overview
• Fantasea website

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