I'm looking for anyone who has knowledge of the Pentax Marine housing - parts, service, history, etc. FYI, below is the information I've gathered so far.

I've found one professional who specializes in underwater, nature, and commercial photography with the Pentax 6x7 and the Marine housing - Tom Dailey at http://www.aquachrome.com

------------------ For all those interested, I've found some info on the housing. Two sources for Pentax Marine support: CameraTech - San Francisco, CA Backscatter - Monterey, CA

The people at Backscatter will service them and occasionally have a housing for sale. The people at CameraTech bought out the remaining parts and ports from Pentax (so I'm told) and can also service them.

There are three ports for the camera - Standard (takes 55, 75, 105), Fisheye (only 35), and Macro (takes 135, 175, 200). This info is from the Pentax Marine housing manual. There is no mention of the other lenses (45, 90, etc) so I don't know if they can be used. Two gear rings are needed for each (focus and aperture). For the 55/3.5 only, there is a special correction filter for underwater use. I don't believe the later 55/4 can be used.

The TTL prism finder can't be used. The standard prism finder can be used or there is a special mirror finder for the Marine housing. I'm told by a pro that uses this mirror finder that he found the left- right reversal bothersome when chasing fish and switched back to the standard finder.

The flash connector takes Nikonos III sync cords. In fact, the whole camera can be regarded as an oversize III in operation. You need to light-meter the scene, set focus and aperture, and then fire.

As for the total number made, one user said only 30 were made and a rep from Backscatter said 200 were made. In either case, they are very, very scarce. The original retail price was $11,500, wholesale was over $6000, and used ones vary from $2000 to $4000, depending on the seller.

-- Clint O'Connor (clint@argonauta.com), January 17, 1999

Answers

Hi Just a note, I was in a shop called Progear in New Zealand and they had a marine housing forsale (second hand) for $1000 NZ or about $510 US. http://www.progear.co.nz/ I don't work for them, just thought someone may be after one. Leif

-- Leif Pigott (LeifP@wairc.govt.nz), September 02, 1999.