We designed both the product and the tooling for a professional mirrorless underwater camera housing that was already on the market. The client, AquaTech, is the world’s leading sport housing manufacturer. AquaTech had been producing the housing as a resin-cast part and machining the assemblies at their facility in California. The process had served them well for low-volume runs, but the per-piece pricing was high due to the labor-intensive finishing requirements on parts produced with this process. Increased demand justified a higher-volume approach: injection-molding.

Inova redesigned the part for an injection-mold. In addition, using a properly tooled, engineered approach improved the consistency from unit to unit and helped increase production speed. We connected AquaTech to our partner manufacturer overseas and delivered a complete documentation package that met all of the specs the manufacturer would need.

For the sport market, looks matter. This redesign included custom design on parts where AquaTech’s opportunity for branding and specialization could make the most impact, such as locking latches. The previous off-the-shelf (OTS) latches had been sharp and obviously a drawback for the user, not to mention visually unappealing. Since the redesign, the latches’ industrial design and reliable purpose-built functionality have become a recognizable and valued part of the AquaTech brand. The development also included a mechanical autofocus (AF) button.

The housing fits about 10 different digital cameras, and AquaTech makes several kits for the back of the housing that fit a variety of button configurations.

Our product design contributions on this project became profitable for our client in less than a year, and a new, larger form factor is currently underway.