Meet Mr Subal

Arnold Stepanek started taking pictures underwater in an Austrian creek in 1952 when he was just thirteen years old.Two years later he made his first cast housing for the Kodak Retinette. He was a pupil at a technical school. He then made housings for friends for over twenty different cameras as he gradually learned and perfected his techniques.

In the early 1980's he made his first steps into commercial production with a housing for the Beaulieu 6008 cine camera. In 1977 he produced the Uniflex compact housing and the Uniflex Star for the Canon F1 and Nikon F2 as well as movie housings.

It was in 1984 that his production numbers increased significantly with a 'glove design' housing for the Canon T70. The camera had a built-in winder and Arnold produced a housing specifically for this camera so that he could keep it as small as possible.

The T70 housing proved very popular and he made nearly one hundred pieces over the next couple of years.

Two years later in 1986 he repeated his glove designs for the Minolya 7000 which was one of the first cameras to offer auto-focus.. Production numbers increased to around two hundred pieces and Arnold took the commercial step of employing staff for the first time. He needed more time to devote to the designing of new housings.

In 1988 the revolutionary Nikon F801 was launched and Arnold saw this as the ideal underwater camera combination so he took a brave decision to concentrate his production on this camera and discontinue housings for other makes. The result was the ability to concentrate and so produce a better design.

The decision was, as time has shown, the correct one for over 2000 Nikon F801 housings have been produced and they still sell today. The housing took four months to develop and the original design has been modified to take advantage of new moulding techniques and include more controls for the camera.

As an indication to Arnold's perfectionist tendencies he waited eighteen months before producing his housing for the Nikon F4. It incorporated bayonet fitting ports and the first fisheye domes. 250 housings have been produced and they continue to sell well, especially in the USA where the Action-finder viewfinder offers the best viewing underwater.

The Nikon F801 production continued as the reputation of Subal housings spread worldwide. Until now, all parts had been made in house but in 1992 Arnold "subbed out" some of the manufacturing to make the production process more efficient.

In 1992 Nikon launched the Nikon F90 and Arnold produced one of his finest housings to take advantage of the features of this amazing camera. He invested in injection moulding for focus, aperture and zoom control gears for more precision and now produces over 300 housings per year to cater for the increasing demand.

Arnold now employs six staff including his wife Gerde and his products are distributed worldwide with the main distribution being in Japan, USA, UK, Europe, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Korea.

Arnold is a rare designer and housing producer who listens to his customers and is keen to produce the best housings in the world. The results show in his excellent products.