QUICK REVIEW: AOI UH-A7CII housing for Sony A7C MKII
After almost 15 years of using Micro Four Thirds cameras for underwater photography, it was finally time to move up to a full-frame camera. For a few years, I had been thinking that the reasonably compact Sony A7C would be a brilliant camera to have, but the lack of suitable housing options delayed the decision for a couple more years. There were a few housing options available, but they slotted into two distinct groups: high-end, very expensive aluminium housings like Nauticam, or cheap-and-cheerful straight-from-eBay-type cases of questionable quality. A fully featured middle-of-the-range model was missing… until now.
AOI has recently started supporting Sony A7 cameras, and among the housings is a model for the latest Sony compact A7 camera, the A7C MKII. The AOI UH-A7CII housing is now the smallest and lightest fully featured underwater housing for a full-frame camera in the world. I was lucky to recently spend two weeks in North Sulawesi with it. Here’s a quick rundown of its features and qualities.
AOI UH-A7CII Housing Specifications
The AOI-A7CII housing is manufactured from polycarbonate and weighs only 1.09kg without the port and the base plate. It is depth-rated to 60m and ships with a standard FLP-103 port and zoom gear designed for the Sony FE 28-60mm F4-5.6 Lens. The housing supports the new AOI AX port system, which is also compatible with the full-size AOI housings for the A7IV and A7RV cameras. The AX port system already offers a wide range of options for both wide-angle and macro lenses, with more being added.
With the kit lens and the standard port, you can also use wet-interchangeable lenses. AOI list both the UWL-09 and the UWL-09Pro wide-angle lenses as compatible with this combo. The FLP-103 is also compatible with the AOI’s Quick Release lens mount system. Other wide-angle lenses could also work; for example, I used a Weefine WFL12 lens without issues during my test sessions. Most decent-quality 67mm Close-up dioptre lenses can also be used. If you choose the AOI options, such as the UCL09Pro, you benefit from Quick Release System compatibility.
All AOI’s Sony housings, including the A7CII, come fully decked out with the vacuum leak system and valve and the intelligent TTL flash trigger. The manufacturer calls the leak-check system the Built-in Vacuum Analysis and Wet Detection System, or VWS. It integrates a pre-dive low-pressure seal check and a moisture-detection alarm into a single unit. Unlike some other housings, the VWS is ready to use and includes both the valve and the compact pump. The included AOI HSC-03 flash trigger works fully automatically (TTL) with AOI strobes, such as the new UIS-P1 and the UCS-Q1i. Non-AOI brand strobes can be used in manual settings. The flash trigger simply slides on the camera hot shoe and connects with the housing once the camera is inserted.
The UH-A7CII housing in use
I used the Sony A7C MKII camera and the AOI housing during my recent trip to North Sulawesi. I did try the Sony FE 28-60mm kit lens, but mostly I used the Sony 90mm macro with the AOI’s FLP-101 flat port. I was using Sea & Sea YS-D3 Duo strobes on this trip, and it took me a while to find out the correct flash settings. The trick is to turn ON Sony's wireless flash mode when using 3rd-party strobes. This mode must be off when using AOI’s own strobes with Sony TTL mode.
Coming from a metal housing, the UH-A7CII is surprisingly buoyant in water. The housing comes with an aluminium base plate that weighs it down, but I had removed it and used an old Nauticam tray. In the future, I will keep the base plate on.
The button layout and ergonomics are good, but not on par with, say, Nauticam. But this is to be expected, given that the AOI case costs less than a third of the equivalent Nauticam case. And that’s not even accounting for the port, the gear, and the valve that are included as standard with the AOI housing.
Most of my trip was macro photography, and there was one thing I really should have taken with me. AOI makes two LCD screen viewers/magnifiers: The more or less straight UMG-01 and the 90-degree angled UMG-05. For muck diving with small critters in Lembeh, the UMG-05 would have been ideal. Next time I will definitely take one with me.
Final Words
The new AOI Sony housings, especially the UH-A7CII, sit in their own class. Never has anything this good been available at this price. The housing is £949.00, including the port, the gear for the kit lens, the vacuum system, and the flash trigger. The additional FL-101 macro port that I used is £355.00. That is £1300.00 for a full-frame housing with two ports. That is a crazy good price. Anything from an established aluminium housing manufacturer will cost more than three times that. And just because of this, the AOI UH-A7CII is a winner. And btw… oh boy, was I amazed when I viewed the images on a large screen for the first time after working with smaller-frame cameras for years. The image quality and detail are impressive.
Get the AOI UH-A7CII housing HERE
