The Gates HF S11 housing is machined from aluminum and features all mechanical controls. These housings are also coated with a type III hard anodize finish.
This video housing has controls for Power, Mode (Video, Photo and Dual Shot), Zoom, Record/Standby, Photo, Assign button and Roller and White Balance / Telemacro / Menu, via the Canon Remote.
The remote fits very nicely inside the shell of the housing and Gates has incorporated buttons for the Function, Menu, Scroll and Set. Gates has designed an accessory handle that makes pressing these buttons very simple and still allows you to hold the housing steady while making adjustments.
The most common of these functions is white balance, which takes three steps to set;
1. Press Function to open menu
2. Press Custom White Balance
3. Press Function again to turn off menu
The three steps above assume that you will already have the function menu in the custom white balance position. If it is not in that position, you will have the simple step of scrolling to the custom white balance. Very easy, either way.
Gates currently has three ports available for this housing. The SP32 Standard Port, FP32 Flat Port and GP32 Wide Angle Port.
The flip-in blue water filter (included with housing) can be replaced with a green water filter at purchase or can be switched by the end user. The filter is flipped into place using the control located on the front of the housing, just above the port.
