With the introduction of
the Leica X-U Leica is offering a camera that can be used even under water with
a rated depth of 15m (50 ft) for 60 minutes.
But what if you need more and what if you want to use a Leica M instead?
Leica used to make an
underwater housing for the Leica M4 years ago.
But virtually no examples are available any longer, with only a few on
display in Leica collections and one in the Leica museum in Wetzlar.
The M4 Underwater Housing
at the Wetzlar Leica Museum
But there is help. The Austrian company of Subal from
Vienna is making an underwater housing for the Leica M. It is an intriguing design that goes far
beyond conventional underwater housings.
While most of them are usually quite bulky, the Subal design has the
unmistakable shape of a Leica M camera.
Subal believes that you
should not have to give up any of the camera functions just because it is in an
underwater housing. Their housing
offers a larger than average number of operations. This means the technical and
creative possibilities of the Leica M cameras are fully accessible. Wherever possible, the operating controls are
optimized to be close to hand or in the camera position that you are used
to. Subal’s high-tech production is based
on their second Skin principle which results in the smallest possible dimension
and weight.
SUBAL housings are milled
from a solid block of aluminum. This prevents unwanted air pockets and ensures
absolute tightness. All housing parts and accessories are made of this same
alloy, which is characterized by a high degree of seawater resistance.
Additional heat treatment increases strength and hardness by about 30 percent
and reduces the inevitable underwater deformations due to depth. Shafts, screws, and many other parts are made
of high-alloy nickel-chromium coated steel.
Only high-quality engineering plastics are used for the best durability
and longevity.
Front ports especially
depend on hardness and dimensional stability. Therefore most SUBAL ports are
made of polyacetal resin. With the larger dome ports a seawater-resistant light
metal alloy is used and are then subject to the hard-coating process. The
quality of underwater photos depends on the material of the “windscreen”, which
is why all SUBAL flat and dome lenses, unlike with many other underwater
housings, are made of perfect optical quality glass, which is also coated
internally for optimum light transmission and better contrast performance.
SUBAL Frontports
The Subal port bayonet allows
the use of flat ports for lenses with a narrower angle like macro lenses, for
instance. For wider angles dome ports
are available. In addition Subal offers
an adapter to allow the use of Nikonos lenses directly on the housing without
any additional ports.
For flash operation the
Leica M housing uses the Nikonos 5 plug.
By request it can also be delivered with a fiber optic connection. This allows the use of virtually all underwater
flash systems.
The Subal Leica M housing
is rated for a depth of 80 meters (260 feet) or with the Tec Version up to 120
meters (395 feet)
Width 16.5 cm - 6.5 inch
Height 12.5 cm - 5.0 inch
Depth 8.0 cm - 3.2 inch
Weight 1 kg – 2.2 lbs
Price Appr. $6,000 at current exchange rate
___________________________________________________________________________
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