Brother housings, from South Africa, have released another new housing.
This one’s called the Carbon-X, and it’s got a lot going for it if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t stick to the same camera system for long. Here’s the promo video:
And the highlights:
- Low price: 9500 rand ($683 US, $966 AUS, £446 GBP, €622 EUR) for the best value package: housing, pistol grip, flat port and dome port, a bit cheaper if you only want one port
- Interchangeable ports – screw in system, much like the other major brands
- Compatible with lots of different cameras
- Detachable side handle – nice touch
- Pistol grip as standard
- Lighter weight – it says “Light & Strong Poly-carbonate Construction”, I think that means plastic, but it’s called the Carbon-X? my Aquatech is plastic and feels bullet proof and my Dale Kobetich housing is carbon and weighs nothing, so both are good
- 7″ Dome port and 4 lengths of flat port available
- You get a lens port adapter with it – I’m not sure exactly how this works but it says it’s compatible with their old Aluminate housings, I guess it allows you to use the new ports on the old housings which is nice
- Responsive service – I’ve emailed a couple of times and always had a prompt response
Is it too good to be true?
Here are the drawbacks I can see over a (much more expensive) water housing option like Aquatech or SPL.
- No controls – you only get pistol grip shutter release. They are working on controls for the back plate and once they’re available you can just upgrade back plate and use a different camera inside
- 10 bolts! my Aquatech CR-60 has 5, and I’ve used several housings which use between one and four latches, and compared to the housings I have used (SPL, Del Mar, HCW and Dale Kobetich) which have more than 7 fasteners they are much less hassle to put together. If Aquatech can seal a similar sized housing for a 7D with 5 bolts then 10 seems like overkill to me
- No zoom control on any lenses – bit of a bummer but conceivably it could be added later on a port
- Taxes could be expensive – I recommend checking out an online duty calculator before ordering, it’s still going to be cheaper than one of the big brands though
But it’s a lot cheaper, and you can use any camera inside it too, so there’s a lot to like, if I didn’t already have too many water hosuings, and Meikon didn’t make the Starbea, I’d be very interested
Is it compatible with the Sony a6000?
I e-mailed and they said yes it was, but you can check for yourself on their handy compatibility checker on their website:
http://brotherhousings.co.za/site/compatibility-calculator/
I think you’d have a lot of room inside there though, much like I do with my Aquatech:
If you want to see more or buy a Carbon-X housing check out the brother housings website:
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