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Ewa-Marine FAQSPORTS POUCHES: Ewa-Marine has developed a range of products to protect other valuable equipment and documents against water, sand, and dirt! Ewa sport products cover applications for both the professional and the amateur alike. Ewa-Marine sport products are a must have for anyone with an active lifestyle! DU and DUS range of document pouches come in a variety of sizes to fit anything from passports, money, keys, pagers, calculators, to navigational charts! The DU pouches are water resistant to a depth of 15 feet while the DUS pouches are waterproof down to 300m/1000ft! Ewa-Marine pouches offer total protection against the elements! Perfect for the beach, swimming, boating, white water rafting and other outdoor sports! PHOTOGRAPHY: Ewa-Marine offers total protection for all of your valuable camera equipment: SLR, Point and Shoot, Video Camcorders, as well as Digital Cameras. All Ewa-Marine flexible housings are made from thick, two-ply PVC. Additives in the PVC make the housings resistant to UV and IR rays.The key advantage of a flexible housing is that it adjusts to water pressure. This gives better assurance against leaks than a hard housing. All edge seams are electrostatically welded. The front port is made of optical grade glass which produces high quality images on land as well as underwater. On SLR Autofocus models, the front port will rotate with the lens ( in AF mode ), when focusing. Each housing is individually tested and inspected to withstand water pressure up to 150 feet. Individual operating depths vary between housings. Ewa-Marine housings are ideal for not only underwater applications but for all-weather protection as well: sand, snow, salt water spray, and dirt. All housings can be cleaned with regular water. Although camcorders can be operated inside the housings, it is advisable to preset as many controls as possible before inserting the camcorder into the housing. Loss of sound underwater is only about 5%, therefore, the sounds of bubbles, from breathing apparatus, or noise from friendly dolphins can be recorded. Ewa Moisture Munchers are recommended as a drying agent inside the housings to prevent internal fogging. In addition to Ewa Housings, a full line of Rain Capes have been designed to protect your valuable photo equipment from rain, snow, sleet and dust. Although rain capes are not waterproof, they are great foul weather protection for cameras, camcorders, and compact cameras. MATERIALS: The transparent housing is made of thick, two-ply PVC, a light gauge rubber material. Additives in the PVC make the housing highly resistant to UV and IR rays ( sunlight ) as well as saltwater. All edge seams are laser welded for additional strength. FRONT PORT: The front port is manufactured of optical grade glass. The large glass port built for all housings ensures that the lens of the camcorder/camera looks through clear glass. This produces high quality images on land as well as underwater. On SLR Autofocus models, the front port will rotate with the lens in AF mode when focusing. CLOSING RAIL: Anodized Aluminum closing rail with stainless steel screws. No lubrication needed. QUALITY ASSURANCE: Every housing is individually tested and inspected to withstand water pressure up to 100 Ft. Each housing is numbered with a serial number and testing verification. CAN A REPAIR BE MADE IF DAMAGE OCCURS: Not recommended. A damaged housing should be sent back for evaluation. Patching the housing is not possible and is not advised. Patching the housing voids the warranty. HOW DEEP CAN I GO UNDERWATER: 30 Feet maximum with camcorder with camcorder housings. SLR housings, depending on the model, can be used at a depth of up to 150 feet. CAN CAMCORDERS BE OPERATED INSIDE THE HOUSINGS: Yes. It is advised to preset as many controls as possible before inserting the camcorder into the housing. The flexible yet durable PVC allows the use of most controls. DOES THE AUTOFOCUS WORK: Yes, above the surface. Underwater, camcorders must be set to manual at the furthest focussing distance. The camcorder will focus anywhere from 8 to 20 feet underwater depending on the clarity of the water. Most SLR Autofocus cameras will work in the AF mode underwater. DO CAMCORDERS PICK UP SOUND INSIDE THE HOUSING: Yes. The loss of sound is only about 5%. By moving closer to the subject, sound will be easily heard without distortion. Underwater, the sounds of bubbles from breathing apparatus or noise from friendly dolphins can also be heard. HOW TO STOP THE CAMCORDER FROM MOVING INSIDE THE HOUSING: As most of our products were designed to fit a multitude of similar camcorders and cameras, it can happen, that in your case the camcorder seems to be loose in the housing and actually moves around by itself! Although the fit should be loose, to allow for safe and easy access as well as a reservoir of air, the camcorder should definitely not move. In most cases the solution can be found by positioning one of the foam pads, supplied, behind or next to the camcorder. Feel free to add additional padding (which will double as shock protection on land). In some cases the reason can be traced to too much air in the housing. Close the housing lightly and press it gently against your chest to allow the excess air to escape. But please note: NEVER open the housing under water! And remember to leave some air in the housing to be compressed as you dive. CARE OF THE EWA HOUSING: Rinse off with fresh water after use in a salt water environment. Keep out of direct sunlight and always use Ewa's "Moisture Munchers" drying agent inside the housing to prevent internal fogging. WHAT TIME OF DAY IS MOST SUITED FOR UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY: In contrast to film and photography on dry land, where early morning or late in the afternoon is best, noon offers the best light for under water photography. The reason for this can be found in the light filter properties of water. After only 5m the ray of light passing through water has already noticeably lost some of it's red spectrum. For that reason, we tend to use the time of day for our footage in which the light has the shortest distance to travel through the water on it's way to our lens. That is, the time when the sun is directly above, and, generally speaking between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM WATER DROPLETS ON THE FRONT PORT: Whenever you wish to take a half & half photo; 1/2 of the picture under the water and 1/2 of the picture over the water level, you will find some drops of water sticking to the front port above the water level. To avoid this, rub the outside of the front port with a slice of apple. The fruit acid in the apple will break the surface tension of the water and stop the drops from forming. Depending on the water, salt or fresh, the application must be repeated after 3 to 5 minutes. CONDENSATION IN THE HOUSING AND ON THE INSIDE OF THE FRONT PORT: Inserting the camera or camcorder into the housing also introduces fresh and usually moist air into the housing as well. Entering water that is slightly cooler than the outside air will cause the air inside the housing to cool as well and as cooler air can carry moisture, drops of condensation can appear on the front port of the camera. This can be prevented by adding a drying agent into the housing. Ewa-Marine CD-5 moisture munchers work very well in this application. As the silica gel needs some time to act, give it about 10 to 15 minutes after closing the housing before entering the water. The CD-5 moisture munchers turn from blue to pink when saturated with moisture. Putting them in a microwave oven will dry out the moisture munchers, and they can be reused over and over. UNDERWATER COLOR CORRECTED FILTERS: Water changes the natural color balance of light and even at very shallow depth, 15 feet or deeper, starts to remove the red light present. The results are those well known bluish pictures of underwater photography. Ewa-Marine has two filters available for underwater photography: FUW-b-- for blue water: the tropics FUW-g-- for green water: in lakes and the seas of the temperate zones including the northern Mediterranean. Both filters come with the following filter threads; 37mm, 46mm, 52mm, 62mm, 67mm. Autofocus cameras will register about 2 f-stops lower with the filter in place. Also, a filter is usually not needed above 5m. NOTE: Do not use a flash or other external light carried by the diver while the filters are on the camera as they will turn out overly orange photos. WIDE ANGLE ADAPTERS: Ewa-Marine has developed the WW-6 wide angle adapter lens, suited for underwater use and due to it's very short length, will fit into most Ewa-Marine housings. Using the WW-6 wide angle adapter is helpful for the following reasons: (1) Water is a most effective filter for light. After only 5m the ray of light passing through water has already noticeably lost some of it's red spectrum and after 10m all red has vanished from the scenery. Yellow and green follow shortly as you descend. If a cameraman wants to film an object 5m in front of him and 5m deep This equals 10m for that ray of light to be affected. Already, the color spectrum has been shifted and the resulting color of that object will be dull and blue. Using a lens with as wide an angle as possible allows the photographer to get in closer to the object. (2) The border between air and water acts like a natural lens and makes objects appear closer than they are, in fact eliminating the effect of a factory equipped wide angle by a factor of x 0.7. (3) As a diver rarely stands perfectly still in the water and that those colorful fish are usually moving, it is unlikely that you will actually get that swimming fish in the photo, usually just capturing the fins or tail. Increasing the angle of view of your camera also increases the probability of capturing that swimming school of fish. (Specifications: 80mm diameter; 18mm length; 58mm filter thread; factor x 0.6 eg...a 35mm lens with the WW-6 equals 21mm(35mm x .6 = 21mm). LEAD WEIGHTS: Ewa-Marine has developed special weights BF-1 for photo use and BV-2 for video use, to be used in conjunction with the Ewa-Marine housings. All weights are covered with a protective rubber latex material. These weights can be used to trim the housing to be neutral at a depth predetermined by the diver. NOTE: The flexible housing behaves just like the organs of a diver with regards to water pressure. As stated by the law of physics of Boyle-Mariotte: pressure x volume = constant. The volume of air in the housing decreases as it descends. In other words, a housing that is positively buoyant on the surface will be neutral at a certain depth and thereafter even show a tendency to sink. This point can be adjusted by adding Ewa-Marine weights to the housing. |
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