Panasonic DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Bought this product for a vacation to Semporna for diving. Although I haven't tested it at depth, I did try it in my reef aquarium at home. Lots of fun.And the most importance is the case is very easy to use and gives you complete control of your camera.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

I am leaving for Hawaii in about a week and wanted to buy underwater housing for my Panasonic so I searched around and found that B&H had the best price. I easily purchased the case [...]The instructions are simple and comprehensive.Although I haven't tested it at depth, I did try it in my reef aquarium at home. Lots of fun. It was more fun then when I tested my scuba mask in my aquarium because I didn't get all wet or have to hold my breath... LOL

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Use this housing for TZ7. Generally, very easy to use underwater.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

I bought this case for a trip to Cozumel and was very happy with the results. I took the case down to a max depth of 93 feet and never had any issues. The case and camera were initially too buoyant for my liking, so I added one of the weights that was included with the case.
The zoom on this camera made taking pictures very easy and while I would need to take a few shots to get the image I wanted, I came away with some nice pictures.
One issue is with the flash and low lighting situations. As with most underwater cases, the pictures in low lighting aren't great. The flash creates a lot of red if you're too close to the object. You're better off with a little zoom and a little more distance. But I'm still getting used to the camera and case so I believe I'll be able to work it out.
I had read some issues about the wrist strap somewhere but the one that came with my case worked perfectly without issues.
The case works easily with the ZS3 and all the modes are easy to access. The manual helps with which settings to use and options you have.
Videos came out great

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Bought this product for a vacation to Key Largo for diving. The product worked well. Only dove to 40 feet so I cannot comment on anything deeper than that.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

I just purchased for a Caribbean cruise to use during jet-ski, swimming, snorkel/skin-diving. Although I didn't go deeper than 25' at this time, I have no worries in bringing it deeper during diving, as I had no hint of leaking.

The ablity to use all camera functions was amazing. I was able to change the function dial and flash settings while underwater.

This is a GREAT case for my ZS3 Lumix camera, which is also a GREAT camera including low light pictures.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

[...]It includes the housing, 2 optionally weights, a spare O-Ring and a med-size tube of silicon grease.The manual is excellent and includes assembly and usage instructions as well as some real-life tips. For instance, '.. when opening the housing at the dive site, be careful from water dripping from your head or water running out out of the sleeves of the dry-suite'.The fit of the camera into the housing is snug. The camera does not fit into the housing though if the carrying string is attached. It has to be removed before inserting into the housing.The housing has a diffusor that can be removed.I haves used other underwater housings before and the overall appearance is good. Material seems of high quality.I did not test during a dive yet but do not expect any surprises.Overall, if you alraedy own the camera and would like to use it underwater, the housing is a nice add-on.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Bought this for my girlfriend for her birthday to go with her one-year old DMC-ZS3. Opening the box, it became immediately apparent to me that this housing is built like a tank. We recently snorkelled in the Dominican Republic and couldn't resist the urge to bring it along. The videos we shot were nothing short of stunning. The housing is not soundproof by any means, so the camera's microphone picks up the usual underwater sounds. We also had excellent results using the housing in and out of swimming pools. The one drawback that should be mentioned is overhead sunlight hitting the housing creates glare, making the camera's LCD screen difficult to see. We had to shoot some of our underwater video almost blindly, but with excellent results. Can't wait to use this at the lake this summer.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

No problems using all camera functions underwater "without gloves". Haven't tried it with gloves yet.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Overall, a nicely designed and well-built product. It gives full access to all the camera's buttons, so you can shoot video underwater, switch modes, etc. My only real complaint would be the feel of the shutter button. The force of the spring makes it impossible to feel the 'half-depressed' position (which causes the camera to set its focus and exposure prior to actually taking the shot).

Although there's some room for improvement, overall I'm happy with it. Which is a fortunate thing, since Panasonic's cases are pretty much the only game in town if you want a scuba case for their cameras.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

It is a perfect fit for my DMC-ZS3, I always like the quality of the Panasonic camera , now I see this case it's even more impressive , I would recommend to a friends any time.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

I'm a technical deep cave diver and own several brands of underwater housings (Ikelite and Aquatica ranging in cost from $800 to $2500) as well as a host of underwater strobes, arms, TTL cords, etc. I purchased the DMW-MCTZ7 as a gift for my wife. I have found the Panasonic DMC-ZS1 to be a high quality, versatile, light weight, all-purpose travel and adventure camera. Lately we have taken the Panasonic DMC-ZS1 on a number of canoe and small boat trips where an underwater housing would have enabled us to have the camera ready for pictures of birds, alligators, otters and the like. Shuffling the camera in and out of a dry bag gets old after the first 20 or so times …
Pro's:
 The case is clear. This enables a not so technical person like my wife to be able to see what housing control works each camera control. Many of the camera functions are also pictured on the clear case just to help further identify the functions of the housing controls.
 All camera controls are accessible using the housing controls. This is not always the case with underwater housings.
 So far I have not improperly loaded the camera into the case. This is where a camera control is not properly aligned with its housing control. On many cases it is easy to load the camera into the housing and have a camera control that is out of the grasp of the housing control. This is frustrating on a dive, since you need to take the camera all the way out of the housing and reload it properly. Again another plus for a not so technical person.
 Light weight. The camera ships with two stainless steel plates for use underwater, you can take them off when on land. Again another plus if you are walking down the beach for 4 hours carrying your camera in the housing. Professional housing makers are looking for a case that is neutrally buoyant, this one float without the plates, again a plus for if using as a "splash case".
 Crystal clear housing lens. The lens on the camera is crystal clear which does not cloud pictures when using the camera out of the water. Housing lens also appears to be sufficiently wide to take pictures regardless of the focus angle.
Con's:
 The lanyard hook is flimsy and way oversized to be strong enough to do the job properly. It is only a matter of time before it breaks (make the hole smaller and the base bigger). I'll eventually use the weight mount screw on the bottom of the housing to mount a handle that will be used to hold a proper lanyard. If a handle were available I would certainly purchase it for diving. In a perfect world we would have a very small very light weight handle for surface use and a dive handle which would be shipped instead of the weight plates.
 The flash. If you are going to be using the camera where you need more that a fill flash you had better learn how to use the white balance. The diffuser is probably the best I have seen since it channels all of the flash past the lens to the subject you are photographing. But it is a diffuser and all of the light does not get to the subject you are photographing. The "Underwater" Scene setting does seem to help compensate somewhat for this as well.
 Again … back to the handle … since it does not have one you can't use a strobe.
 Some of the housing controls have locks. I guess these are safeguards, hopefully over time they will not jam with sand or become seized with salt. So this is only a possible con.
Conclusion:
• If you want an easy to use all-round light weight adventure case that you can use in an out of the water. Stop because you have found what you are looking for … hit the "buy now" button.
• If you are looking for professional features (you pay for it in weight, and in dollars) save your money and buy a professional digital SLR, housing, and strobe.
• When using for diving … hang onto your camera! You may only be left with a lanyard at the end of your dive.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Buying a compact camera force to buy that same brand of underwater case 99.9% of the times. Sometimes they are not absolutly good. I have had some other brands of cameras and underwater cases and they not always fullfiled my expectations. If you are going to buy a compact camera for diving/snorkeling it's a very good practice to check how good is its underwater case(if there is one available) first and thinking that exigencies for a compact camera are not usually the most hard, but TZ7 camera used with MCTZ7 are very good. From my point of view this is what I think about this model of underwater case:

Pros:

Very useful flash diffuser, you can set it on/off underwater depending on particles in suspension.

Cons:

Wrist strap should have a wider strap for confort.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

This case worked well on 22 dives in the Caymans. All buttons worked as advertised. I took this down to 135 feet and the case performed well. I have had a number of peolpe ask me what kind of camera i use inderwater as the pictures are so great. No reason to spend a fortune on external strobes etd. This one works great even on night dives.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

This was the first housing I bought for a digital camera (I have an older film UW camera.) Very easy to put in the one o-ring. It took excellent pictures in the Caribbean, as long as there was enough light. That said, I recommend an external flash for deeper or darker diving locations, as the diffuser doesn't do much, and will only provide extra lighting for work up very close. All buttons were very functional; however the mode selector was hard to turn underwater. Practice is needed when shooting upward toward the surface (camera issue, not housing). The housing can get scratched easily, especially the back where you do your viewing. Comes with 2 extra weights for buoyancy - needed both for salt water diving.
Other issue I have to learn is how to make the camera focus beyond the water droplets on the lens glass when it is wet and out of the water, such as when shooting near a misty waterfall or something.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

The case is very easy to use and gives you complete control of your camera.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Went diving in Cancun and Cozumel, MX up to 100' deep. Good pictures but had to get closer to the object the deeper you go(less light). Was good for what I needed it for.

Getting extra lights would help.

I enjoyed having the option of still shots (coral and fish) or video (following the eel and rays).

All buttons of the camera were 100% optional underwater.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

Easy to set up with only one O ring to grease and maintain. You can access every button on the camera using this casing.

I took it scuba diving up to 20m and it held out well.

I can only give it 4 stars because of the small flash diffuser, which doesn't diffuse the flash much.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

The price was the best,[...], item worked perfect. Who could ak for more? I am happy with B&H because I have bought from them before and its always good.

Comments about DMW-MCTZ7 Marine Case Underwater Housing for Panasonic DMC-ZS3 & DMC-ZS1:

We got this underwater housing to go along with our camera when we're out boating and when we're on vacation snorkeling. We've had other underwater cases and this is by far the best quality and best build of any. It fits the camera like a glove and all functions are usable from outside the case. As long as you have clear water, the pictures are nice. The case has an area where you can put a silicate gel pouch to help absorb any condensation that would otherwise ruin the pictures. You can add weights (optional) to the case for capturing your scuba diving adventures. The housing is very well built and sturdy.