When it comes to choosing the right surf housing to keep your gear safe and dry amongst the waves there’s a huge range of waterproof camera housing options to choose from.

So to help you grab some epic gear and not blow the budget, here’s my rundown of the Liquid Eye Surf Housing setup and whether its right for you…

And full disclosure here guys, I’m not being paid to say any of this stuff, it’s gear I’ve researched and purchased myself!

Liquid Eye Surf Housing Review – My Go To Waterproof Camera Housing

Who Are Liquid Eye?

Over 20 years experience building surf housings – with a team full of epic surf photographers, including the likes of Jason Childs, Tim McKenna and Henrique Pinguim, it’s trusted to deliver the goods (and keep your gear safe) by people shooting some of the heaviest waves on the planet

 

 

What Gear Am I Using?

My original Liquid Eye surf housing was for my Sony A6300 setup, which was a really great value way to get into in water photography and I was really impressed with the build quality, compact design and light weight materials used by LiquidEye.

Fast forward a few years when I upgraded to the Sony A7IV, LiquidEye was a no brainer for my new waterproof camera housing and it’s locked and loaded along with the Sony 50mm F2.5 G Lens, and GoPro mounted to the top as well!

Or for when I wanted a bit more range the Sony 24-105mm F4 G Lens is also a beast of a setup, however I have to say that the front element for this lens does make everything pretty chunky, so I tend to use it more on smaller days or when I really require the range.

It’s not just Sony though – Liquid Eye surf housings cover Canon, Nikon, Fuji Panasonic and Blackmagic camera too.

Check out my full surf photography gear guide here.

 

 

Build Quality

When it comes to build quality one of the things I like most about my Liquid Eye surf housing is the balance of durability, strength and weight.

Built using a high strength polyurethane, with an acrylic front lens – not only are the housing pretty lightweight for their size, but they’re solid and durable.

When it comes to the back plate and controls, everything is as streamline as possible and user friendly too – so you aren’t going to struggle with managing your settings when you’re in the water. This 12mm acrylic sheets stock is again, highly durable yet allows you to easily see the back screen or viewfinder.

Alongside that all the controls are machined from marine grade stainless steel, so they’re built to last and handle salt water.

The bottom line on the build quality here is you’re paying for something that has been precision engineered and designed by photographers, for photographers and has been tested in some seriously heavy conditions.

…which is what you want to hear when you’re putting thousands of dollars or equipment inside it!

 

 

Features

As standard all the housing setups come with a pistol grip (a must for in water shooting in my opinion) and full back plate which will give you access to the full range of buttons and dials on your camera – great for easily making adjustments in water.

On the A7IV model I also have access to most of the customisable buttons too, giving me even greater control and making in water shooting just as easy as on land in terms of changing things around.

The only section the housing doesn’t allow me to change is between photo and video mode on the top of the camera (which I’m assuming would be a nightmare to add into the housing!) but the work around on that is using a customisable button to act as the video start/stop button – so a pretty simple fix if you want to be able to do both. 

I also added a gear sleeve to the port for my 24-105mm lens as well, giving me access to full control over the zoom in water, which opens up a lot of creativity shot wise.

Many of their housings can be adapted for new camera models too – for example if you upgraded from the Sony A7III to the A7IV you can easily update your existing housing with an adaptor kit for the new camera body, saving you heaps of dollar!

 

 

Accessories

When it comes to accessories for your Liquid Eye surf housing there are some really handy upgrades and bolt ons that will make shooting in the water a bit more comfortable and help you nail the shot.

The key extras I’ve added to my kit bag include:

• Side mounted handle – great for keeping things steady in video mode as well as swimming with the housing
• Leash strap – keeping everything securely attached to me just in case!
• GoPro mount – mount your GoPro to the top of the housing to double down and capture even more shots

And of course there’s a full range of extra ports, including dome ports for those stunning over/under split shots too. If your lens isn’t listed have a chat with their team and they’ll match it up for you and help you out.

One of the other things I really liked about the Liquid Eye site is they offer a huge range of replacement parts too – so if you accidentally scratch a port lens, loose a lens covering or need to refresh your seals you can easily order them online and switch them out yourself, rather than having to chase spares or buy whole new ports.

 

 

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, it’s going to vary a bit depending on the camera you’re looking for a water proof housing for, the accessories you add on and the lens port you need as well. And as a heads up – surf housings are NOT cheap pieces of gear!

But, Liquid Eye offer some of the best value gear out there, which is one of the reasons I grabbed one!

As a guide my Sony A7IV surf housing, with the pistol grip and full backplate came in at US$1,800

With the 50mm port being $180

Adding in the lens port for the 24-105mm lens, including the zoom gear sleeve is an extra US$220

Side handles = US$120

GoPro mount = US$15

Leash strap = US$14

On the flip side you can grab a surf housing for the Sony A6300 with 16-55mm kit lens for US$1,000 – which was the setup I was using before my latest upgrade and is a great value way to get into in water shooting.

The base price for all their housings is in EURO, so prices do vary slightly with exchange rates.

 

 

Would I Recommend Them?

To put it simply – yes!

Dealing with the Liquid Eye team was super easy – both via email, WhatsApp and their Insta – and no questions were too much trouble. I even changed around my order a bit after making it (when I swapped lenses!) and they were happy to get everything sorted before shipping.

The housing themselves have kept my gear safe, are easy to use, lightweight and compared with other options out there great value too. Sure getting a surf housing isn’t cheap (as with everything in photography!) but Liquid Eye offers some serious value for money.

The bottom line here is I didn’t hesitate to go with them when I upgrade my gear and it’s a decision I’m super happy with.

 

 

Exclusive Discount Code

Plus as an added bonus for you guys, I chatted to their team and they’ve been awesome enough to offer you 8% off your next housing purchase too.

Just use the code STOKEDDISC at checkout – valid until 20th Sept

Do you shoot in water surf photography or video?

What camera surf housing are you using?