Steve Gibby
Red Savant
There is no question that Gates makes some of the best commercially available housings for use down to around 300’. They have a reputation for being well made and dependable. Are they the only water-housing maker? No. There are others, with various level of product use, including Amphibico, Equinox, Ewa-Marine, Ikelite, Light & Motion, Quest, and Sea & Sea. A quick check of large photo/video/film clearing houses, like B&H, will find you an array of housings for different uses, some real cheap (Ewa-Marine), and some real expensive (Gates). Most are designed for specific models of film and video cameras. Depending on their intended use, housings are made out of various materials: aluminum (most Gates), polycarbonate, carbon fiber, PVC plastic, polyurethane, etc.
How many makers will design housings for RED One? Who knows? Time will tell. Demand drives production. If Gates is designing a specific housing for RED One, it will probably be a good housing, but commensurately expensive. There will also probably be some custom options (ports, etc.) offered for Gates housings. Does that mean that no other manufacturers will offer housings for RED One? No. Does everybody who wants to splash their RED One need a $10-20k USD Gates housing? No. There are varying degrees of use needs, depending on frequency of use, depth of dives, etc. For someone like Camdiver who makes his living diveshooting, an elaborate, custom housing makes great sense. For those who will occasionally splash their RED One camera in shallow water, rain, or adverse weather, the needs (and expense) are entirely different.
For some reason this thread is only addressing deep water shooting, as if that’s the only need/way to splash a RED One. Not so. Since the early ‘80’s I’ve been involved with producing, directing, and shooting the in-water sequences of footage featured on action sports and adventure travel programs worldwide, that televise on multiple broadcast and cable networks. The world and regional professional sports tours of surfing, Jetski, wakeboarding, waterskiing, etc. have all required myself and my crews to have film and video cameras in the water. It is a critical camera angle that places the viewer right in the thick of things – essentially a POV shot as if the viewer is a swimmer in the giant waves or action. I’ve personally swam all over the world getting shots for our programs – yeah, in many risky locations (big waves, rivers, etc.). I also have several other world-class in-water shooters that I use. All water housings we used, and currently use, were/are custom housings made of fiberglass, carbon fiber, or aluminum. They have the ports we need for the lenses we use, and the waterproof throughputs for the external controls we need. They’re lightweight housings – but strong and durable. We have never used a stock housing from a manufacturer, and we have never used a housing designed for deep diving. Diving housings are much too heavy and expensive for action sports/adventure travel use. Horses for courses…
Where do we get our housings made? By a custom fabricator in the USA who has been making custom housings for decades. Trade secret. I won’t name him/them because it’s my private source, but if you need a shallow-water custom housing, and do a little research, you’ll find several reputable custom housing makers.
The number of RED One owners/users who deep dive with their cameras will be relatively few. I’d suggest there will be a lot more RED One owners/users who will be interested in a shallow/surface/inclement weather housing for their camera. I think there may be several housing manufacturers who make housings adaptable for that kind of RED One use – demand drives production.
Though I have professional respect for deep water shooters, and hire them for certain sequences in some of my programs, there is a whole different world of in-water professional shooting that is being ignored by this thread – and it’s the world of shallow water, action sports, adventure travel shooting that will be the most realistic way that RED One owners/users will most likely splash their camera into, rather than deep diving, which is a limited specialty use. As soon as the specs are finalized for RED One, and I decide on the lens (or lenses) I’ll use, I’ll have my RED One housing custom fabricated. Since I have one of the first RED One cameras delivered, I’ll undoubtedly be one of the first people in the world to splash a RED One camera - if not the first. I guarantee you the first footage will be 4k REDCODE RAW @30fps and 2k REDCODE RAW @60fps footage in huge waves, in the barrel, with world-class surfers blasting right by the camera.
How many makers will design housings for RED One? Who knows? Time will tell. Demand drives production. If Gates is designing a specific housing for RED One, it will probably be a good housing, but commensurately expensive. There will also probably be some custom options (ports, etc.) offered for Gates housings. Does that mean that no other manufacturers will offer housings for RED One? No. Does everybody who wants to splash their RED One need a $10-20k USD Gates housing? No. There are varying degrees of use needs, depending on frequency of use, depth of dives, etc. For someone like Camdiver who makes his living diveshooting, an elaborate, custom housing makes great sense. For those who will occasionally splash their RED One camera in shallow water, rain, or adverse weather, the needs (and expense) are entirely different.
For some reason this thread is only addressing deep water shooting, as if that’s the only need/way to splash a RED One. Not so. Since the early ‘80’s I’ve been involved with producing, directing, and shooting the in-water sequences of footage featured on action sports and adventure travel programs worldwide, that televise on multiple broadcast and cable networks. The world and regional professional sports tours of surfing, Jetski, wakeboarding, waterskiing, etc. have all required myself and my crews to have film and video cameras in the water. It is a critical camera angle that places the viewer right in the thick of things – essentially a POV shot as if the viewer is a swimmer in the giant waves or action. I’ve personally swam all over the world getting shots for our programs – yeah, in many risky locations (big waves, rivers, etc.). I also have several other world-class in-water shooters that I use. All water housings we used, and currently use, were/are custom housings made of fiberglass, carbon fiber, or aluminum. They have the ports we need for the lenses we use, and the waterproof throughputs for the external controls we need. They’re lightweight housings – but strong and durable. We have never used a stock housing from a manufacturer, and we have never used a housing designed for deep diving. Diving housings are much too heavy and expensive for action sports/adventure travel use. Horses for courses…
Where do we get our housings made? By a custom fabricator in the USA who has been making custom housings for decades. Trade secret. I won’t name him/them because it’s my private source, but if you need a shallow-water custom housing, and do a little research, you’ll find several reputable custom housing makers.
The number of RED One owners/users who deep dive with their cameras will be relatively few. I’d suggest there will be a lot more RED One owners/users who will be interested in a shallow/surface/inclement weather housing for their camera. I think there may be several housing manufacturers who make housings adaptable for that kind of RED One use – demand drives production.
Though I have professional respect for deep water shooters, and hire them for certain sequences in some of my programs, there is a whole different world of in-water professional shooting that is being ignored by this thread – and it’s the world of shallow water, action sports, adventure travel shooting that will be the most realistic way that RED One owners/users will most likely splash their camera into, rather than deep diving, which is a limited specialty use. As soon as the specs are finalized for RED One, and I decide on the lens (or lenses) I’ll use, I’ll have my RED One housing custom fabricated. Since I have one of the first RED One cameras delivered, I’ll undoubtedly be one of the first people in the world to splash a RED One camera - if not the first. I guarantee you the first footage will be 4k REDCODE RAW @30fps and 2k REDCODE RAW @60fps footage in huge waves, in the barrel, with world-class surfers blasting right by the camera.
........ Oh yeah, Cocos is on my agenda with RED sometime, somehow.