If you are not ready to plunge into the price tag of the hard case underwater housing but are serious about wanting to get into more shoots working with the element of water, Jake Kelsick has tested out the capabilities for your new adventure.
Underwater photography is not a cheap genre to get into if you are working with hard case housings rated for deeper depths. However, if you are wanting to shoot more on the surface such as surfing, kiteboarding, or even if you are thinking about being submerged but not ready for the price tag, this video is for you. In searching for a more efficient housing in terms of weight for my surface adventures, Kelsick video on the Outex housing stuck out.
Kelsick brings the silicone housing on his ocean trip to see if it could stand up to the test. The ability to jump from low in the sand to straight into the water without the heavy equipment is a perfect alternative when you are looking to travel light. Many times photographers are looking to still shoot while on vacation or traveling for a commercial shoot. DSLR or mirrorless cameras fit into these housing, giving a low cost and lightweight option for shooting in the elements.
Don't know why they're calling it an underwater casing, it's not. It is however perfectly useful how he's using it. Even if it's waterproof down to, say, 30ft, your mirrorless or DSLR is not designed to handle the water pressure, and can lock up, sometimes permanently. So, great for using it on the surface or in inclement weather, but don't go snorkeling or diving with it.
I did something similar with my iPhone. Worked a few times until it once didn't and my phone was dead. Had to buy a new one. I'd consider that more than twice!
I visited Outex booth at Photo Plus Expo this weekend. I want to be as clear as possible and admit I did not actually use this but the system does not look overly reliable. As Spy Black mentioned here, this is probably good for splash proofing your camera and maybe for surface snorkeling but I would not take my cam 30 feet down in this "housing" even if it's rated as such. The front element (they call it 'lens') and dome port have glass to metal connections sealed with a clear silicone and let me tell you it looks like a really bad job where a lot of excess silicone is just sticking out. If you look at the installation video on their website, it seems like every time you need to put your cam in this housing you have to stretch those openings quite a bit. Those same openings are later used as a sort of an o-ring system when you actually install front and back glass elements. My concern is how may times you can actually squeeze your gear in and out of this silicone sleeve before it becomes permanently stretched and ultimately not usable. Finally, operating camera is far from convenient through the thick walls of the sleeve.
To be clear, I'm not trying to bash those guys. I appreciate their efforts to bring something new to the market. However in my opinion their system may need refining or partial redesign especially considering the price tag. A silicone mold sleeve and some metal rings with glass glued to them with silicone cannot justify $400+ price tag. For a similar depth rating you can get one of the Ewa-Marine flexible housings and it will actually cost you less.
But to be honest, controlling your camera through an EWA bag is quite terrible. This can only be better. (But yes, rather costly.)