Nauticam Housing NA-EM1 for Olympus OM-D EM-1 | Long-term Review!

Nauticam Underwater HousingUsually reviews are being made of brand new released equipment, I wanted to take the opposite route and make a review for a Nauticam housing which has been in use since the last few years, the good and bad, the wear and tear over the years…

Underwater housings are an expensive piece of kit we underwater photographers need to create our images, to rely on them and to take them with us all over the world.

This Nauticam Housing (NA-EM1) has travelled with me all over the World, from the Caribbean to Europe and all the way across South East Asia. I have made since then a few hundred dives with this housing, have taken it cave diving, ocean diving, river diving, swimming pool sessions, it has been everywhere and in every imaginable condition. You can view images taken with this camera in my galleries.

I must say that I am still impressed with the quality Nauticam produces, touch wood, no housing flood yet…It had a few little hick-ups but nothing major, more to this later but first I would like to add some pictures so you can see for yourself the condition it is now in…

Having a background in Mechanical Engineering and CNC Software Programming, I have always maintained and cleaned the housing after every dive, soaked it, rinsed with fresh water, blow dried and wiped it up…

The white lettering on the knobs and camera controls have faded and fell of partially twice which I have replaced/filled with white permanent marker pen by Edding 751 – Permanent White, since the last ‘maintenance’ a year ago, another 100 dives and they letterings are still perfect.

I also use housing maintenance oil for general cleaning, time to time so the black anodised areas still look fresh. On the bottom of the housing I had some small scratches, minor marks which I always touched up with gun marker pens from Birchwood Casey – Super Black (they come in two different versions – gloss and flat back) to prevent oxidisation.

The screws on the handle bars and the main connections to the housing, they always become loose after 10-15 dives so I fixed them with Medium Strength Screw Stop (V-Tech Medium Strength Threadlocker Blue), preventing also water being trapped in there causing oxidisation. The screws can always easily be screwed out and the compound replaced.

While in the Maldives my back button focus lever part inside the housing broke, Nauticam and Reef Photo & Video did a great job sending me replacement parts within a short period of time, that’s what I call good customer services…

All in all, I am very happy with the quality of Nauticam and I am looking forward to use this housing in the future as well. With the right maintenance and care I think it is possible to extend the usability and lifespan of this expensive housings and make the most of them…

If you have any questions regarding underwater housing maintenance and care, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact me.