Diving with the Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max housing

Underwater with your smartphone

Test report by Joachim Heil and Gerald Nowak

Gerald Nowak tests the Divevolk housing

As a professional underwater photographer, I find it difficult to accept a smartphone as a camera, but since cell phones are getting better and better and now deliver solid results, I'm giving them a try and looking into this topic in depth.

I now only use my smartphone for many of my shots on land and am thrilled with the quality—in good light. I have long heard from colleagues that these “swipe boxes” are also quite useful underwater, so I now have my third smartphone housing in my hands to test. Since I don't want to test with a bias and let my personal impressions influence the results, I asked my photography colleague Joachim Heil if he could also evaluate the Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max case. No sooner said than done...

The Divevolk case and my Samsung S24 Ultra were now my combination for the detailed test in the water, although I found it difficult to put my expensive phone in the case. Honestly, I still have my doubts as to whether it really stays watertight. To be on the safe side, I back up all my data before every dive. After all, you don't want to end up with a pile of broken glass and all your data lost.

In the meantime, I have gained confidence in the case and have been in the water five times with the above combination: no waterproofing problems. The case is surprisingly easy and secure to close. Even operating it with thick gloves does not seem to be a problem. It even works with my dry suit gloves and thick neoprene gloves, although I sometimes have to press a little harder. Joachim uses the accessory remote control; he is much more familiar with smartphone cases.

To carry enough light, I use a base rail with handles on both sides and my Orcatorch D910V video lamp. With its 5000 lumens, it has enough light to illuminate objects that are not too far away. Especially in automatic mode, the exposure works great in shallow water and I am quite impressed with the results. Since I don't use an attachment lens, the image angle is a little limited, but with the right angle, the results are impressive. If you want to capture more in the frame, you can use optional attachment lenses (wet lenses). There are also attachment close-up lenses, which Joachim will test for us! For now, I'm mainly concerned with the handling and feasibility of images and videos.

The shutter release is not nearly as fast as with a large camera in a housing, but it is faster than expected. The quality of the images is surprisingly good. However, you should get significantly better results if you shoot in RAW mode so that you can edit the images better afterwards. Nevertheless, in JPG mode, the images are very good and significantly better than I expected. Of course, it's also important to have sufficient light. Without light, the small sensor in the smartphone quickly reaches its limits.

I'm thrilled with what a smartphone combined with the Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max has to offer. The results should be more than good, especially for beginners, and the ability to shoot short videos is a huge advantage. I will continue to test it for you and then let you know what I think of the housing and, above all, the many accessories in the long term.

Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max data:

• Water resistance of the case up to 60 m
• Touchscreen function: up to 30 m
• Touchscreen lifespan: 100,000 clicks
• Dimensions: 226 x 120 x 44 mm
• Weight: 375 g (on land), approx. 150 g (underwater)
• Applies to smartphone models measuring 180 x 82.5 x 11.2 mm (length x width x thickness) and must not exceed 15 mm thickness at the camera lens
• A list of compatible smartphones can be found on the Divevolk website: https://www.divevolkdiving.com

Test report by Joachim Heil

Basically, I can say that the Seatouch 4 Max from Divevolk is the most straightforward of all the smartphone cases I have tested so far. If you keep a few basic things in mind, you can easily insert your smartphone into the case, close it, and get started. The touch-sensitive film works very well, and all apps and functions can be operated underwater just as they would be on the surface.

There is also an external shutter release that can be paired with the smartphone via Bluetooth without any major connection problems. It works almost perfectly underwater, as long as you get used to the position of the shutter release lever. Since I have been used to operating a prominent lever on my underwater housing for many years, I often found it difficult to feel the flat, integrated lever of the external shutter release. Once you get used to it, however, it works like a charm.

A few tips that you should definitely keep in mind:

• Set your smartphone to airplane mode (to save energy) and activate Bluetooth if you want to use the external shutter release.
• Pair the external shutter release via Bluetooth.
• Activate the “AssistiveTouch” function in the accessibility settings, e.g. if you are using several apps underwater and need to switch between them quickly. It is then very helpful to activate the “AssistiveTouch” function and customize the main menu so that the desired apps are displayed in the menu. More information at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cu49ykcnFE!
• Since no leak tests can be performed in advance, it is essential to check that the housing is watertight at a very shallow depth before diving. An integrated moisture sensor would certainly be more than helpful.
• If diving with gloves, test at the surface whether the touchscreen surface of the housing film works with the gloves used. I tried several gloves (neoprene, various dry diving gloves), and not every glove material works with the touchscreen of the housing.
• Be sure to remove any protective film from the smartphone display, otherwise nothing will work! Not only because the touch-sensitive function can cause problems, but also because the water pressure can cause the touchscreen film of the case to stick so strongly to the protective film of the smartphone that it is no longer possible to remove the smartphone from the case. For such cases, Divevolk provides an emergency tool (emergency card and small wrench) to carefully detach the touchscreen from the smartphone. However, there is a risk of damage to the touchscreen!

 What could be improved on the Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max:

• Attachment of the lens adapter: The supplied screw with the short lever is very difficult to loosen underwater and is more than fiddly to use. The two small mounting screws, which are supplied to fix the length setting, can easily be lost. The adapter is not suitable for heavy wet lenses.
•  It may be just about adequate for the manufacturer's color filters and simple lenses, but handling it underwater is not really successful. A more suitable solution would be a sturdy screw-on solution in which the respective smartphone model is set to the main lens in advance and the wet lens attachments can be easily removed or changed using a bayonet adapter (e.g., the old Motomarine II). Changing attachment lenses underwater is almost impossible anyway with the fine threads in combination with gloves, or rather, the risk of damaging the thread is very high.
• The release lever on the external remote control could be designed as a lever attached from above rather than being so discreetly integrated into the unit. It has often happened to me that I wanted to release the shutter but didn't press the lever and ended up pressing the lower fixed part of the release.
• When light falls at an angle from behind, it is no longer possible to check the image on the display. The touchscreen of the housing appears very milky, depending on the incidence of light. You can then only release the shutter in the hope that you have photographed the right thing.
• Taking photos in portrait format has also proven to be very awkward. In conjunction with the handle rail, it was very difficult to reach the external shutter release, especially at close range and near the ground. Perhaps a handle rail with a rotating mechanism for the housing would be better, as the external shutter release can also be attached to a handle rail. Basically, it is almost incomprehensible why hardly anyone takes photos in portrait format. All social media platforms are geared towards portrait format. Hardly anyone from the younger generation is seen taking photos with their smartphone in landscape format. Users on social media platforms also do not use landscape format. Landscape format is still widely used by many photographers and videographers, and manufacturers also gear everything towards this format (trays with 2 handles, 2-3 lamps, etc.).
• Seal on the cap: It is doubtful how well this will remain sealed over time as it ages. A replacement is included with the case, but you only notice whether the case is watertight when water gets in, which is certainly more than frustrating with a smartphone inside. A proper groove with a classic O-ring is certainly more reliable.

I am very impressed with the Divevolk Seatouch 4 Max in combination with my iPhone and look forward to testing the next generation!

More information:
Divevolk website: https://www.divevolkdiving.com