Review: Salted Line Underwater Housing for Sony a6xxx

(This article contains sponsored content)

We managed to get a 5% Discount for everybody who is interested in buying the Salted Line Underwater Housing. Just use the Code: SLEff5 when you order on www.saltedlineeurope.com 🙂

The Salted Line A6xxx Underwater Housing from Sea Frogs has been specially developed for the Sony Alpha A6xxx camera series (A6000, A6300, A6400 and A6500). In the underwater photography industry the housing quickly became very popular all over the world. Especially because it’s very affordable and still packed with many features. We have here a detailed product review and an overview of this fantastic new housing to let you know what all the fuss is about.

So far, many have quickly abandoned underwater photography due to the high cost. Combined with the purchase of a high-quality camera and an expensive underwater housing, the price quickly reached 1,000 to 5,000 Euros. With the affordable but powerful Sony Alpha A6xxx Camera series this has changed. This mirrorless camera is the best-selling camera in its category of all time. Together with the new Salted Line A6xxx housing you now have the opportunity to take this camera with you on your dives at an unbeatable price!

One Housing for 4 Cameras

Sony’s A6xxx series quickly became popular with underwater photographers. With 24 megapixels, a fast shutter speed and a compact body, it has everything you need underwater. In addition, the series is still being further developed. For example, the latest a6400 currently offers the fastest autofocus in its category. Best of all, you can use all four available cameras of this Series in the Salted Line underwater housing! That means you can start with the cheap a6000 and upgrade to a newer model later. No other housing for this camera offers so much flexibility!

The A6xxx series is especially popular with price-conscious hobby underwater photographers and those who want to switch from Gopro to DSLR.

What is special about the Salted Line Housing?

SeaFrogs belongs to the better known brand Meikon. Nevertheless, both brands don’t have the best reputation. So far the cases have mostly lived up to their reputation of cheap workmanship. But this will now change with the new name Salted Line! Little by little it is recognized that the new cases are anything but “cheap”. Fortunately, the price has hardly changed compared to older cases.

You can get the current version of the Salted Line housing for only 299 Euro, incl. standard port. It is available in white and black. Whereby we prefer the white one, because it doesn’t heat up so fast in the sun.

That’s excellent news! In underwater photography, it’s often the case with all accessories that costs a multiple of the actual camera.

The advantages of the housing at a glance

• Exchangeable port system for common wide-angle and prime lenses
• Integrated humidity sensor and alarm system
• Options for using the LCD and optical viewfinder
• Easy to operate vacuum system
• Practical aluminium rail for easy handling (see cover picture)
• External flash device
• Double O-ring for increased safety

Another thing that positively surprised us is the solid construction. With a weight of 1.3kg it is not easy. But it contributes to a very robust feeling. With an underwater case you certainly don’t want to save on material to make it lighter. 🙂 

The case comes with a removable port. The standard port is compatible with over 11 different lenses. Thus it offers you a large choice without further accessories. With the help of a macro port (with 67mm thread) you can use 6 additional lenses. For the wide-angle range, you’re spoilt for choice between a 4, 6 or 8 inch dry dome port. Compared to other manufacturers they are also very cheap with prices from 150 – 270 Euro! So you can use more than 10 additional lenses with the housing and get a total bandwidth of about 30 Lenses! There should be something for everyone. 🙂

The most important features

A really fantastic feature of this case is that you can use it to control all the buttons on your camera! The keys are easy to use and responsive. Many lenses also have a matching zoom ring so you can use it as well. The standard body even comes with the matching ring for the 16-50mm kit lens. This is absolutely not a matter of course! The complete operability and the choice of zoom rings is usually reserved for the more expensive underwater housings.

Inserting and removing the camera from the housing is easy. The back can be quickly removed by unlocking the two metal side latches. Compared to alternative screw caps of other manufacturers, this can be done in a few seconds.

The case has ergonomic palms to support and hold the case with the right hand. This is especially useful when shooting through the viewfinder. Another great feature is the built-in humidity alarm. It detects water inside the body and can be your last resort in the worst case.

Also worth mentioning is that the housing floats in many configurations. Yes, it floats! 🙂 So if you ever lose it, it won’t sink to the bottom and will be lost forever. You have to get used to it first. But we generally prefer it if the case has some buoyancy instead of downforce. With small weights on the outside you can adjust it to your taste. For example, it has two standard 1/4″-20 threads on the underside. There you can also attach a handle for better control.

The Salted Line Underwater Housing at a glance

Main features of the standard housing:

• Built-in leak sensor
• Depth rate 60 meters
• Connection for fiber optic cable
• Connection for vacuum testing system
• Two 1/4″ -20 threaded holes
• Exchangeable Port System
• High quality optical viewfinder
• Metal hinge lock on both sides
• Zoom control for 10-18mm lens & 16-50mm lens
• Multi-coated optical glass Standard flat port

Technical data:  

Width: 20cm (7.8″)

Height: 15cm (5.9″)

Length: 18cm (7″)

Weight: approx. 1.356 Gramm (2,9 LBS)

Materials:

Optical acrylic

polycarbonate

Multi-coated optical glass

Stainless Steel

Accessible keys:

• Trigger
• ON/OFF
• Program Selection
• rotary control
• flash button
• MENU button
• AF/MF – AEL
• Enlarge button
• Video button
• FN key
• steering wheel
• Middle button
• C1 button
• C2 key
• C3/Delete key
• play button

Included in delivery:

Underwater housing with standard flat connection

Exchange kit for Sony A6000 camera

Zoom ring for 16-50mm lens

Zoom ring for 10-18mm lens

sun visor

Silicone grease (5ml)

user manual

Our conclusion for the SeaFrogs Salted Line 6xxx Housing

So this is our first impression of the new Salted Line a6xxx underwater case. It has a great quality workmanship, many great features and the accessories are cheap to have. You can also use it with 4 different cameras. So you have a lot of flexibility at an unbeatable price! 🙂 

All in all we can only recommend the housing and therefore we have organized a free setup for you in our current raffle! It includes not only the case, but also a 4″ dome, the vacuum system and an aluminium handle. The whole thing is worth over 600 Euro!

Gallery 

Here you can find some of our underwater pictures with the housing. Some pictures are sponsored by Mr. John Sverre øen. Thank you, buddy! 🙂

Setups: SEL1018 + 8″ Dry Dome Port & SEL1650 Kit Lens + Macro Port and Ion Macro Wet Lens attached to the 43mm Thread.

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