Can a flagship phone hold its own underwater in the hands of someone who normally shoots with a full professional camera rig? That is the question photographer Wang Tianhong set out to answer by taking a Huawei Pura 90 Pro Max into the water inside a DIVEVOLK SeaTouch 6 Pro underwater housing. Every photo in this article was shot and provided by Wang, and the frame data printed under each image comes straight from the phone.
Below, we look at how the Pura 90 Pro Max fits the SeaTouch 6 Pro, what its camera hardware brings to underwater work, and what Wang noticed most on dives and breath-hold sessions: focus, color, focal-length flexibility, and full touchscreen control through the housing.
The Pura 90 Pro Max seated in the SeaTouch 6 Pro, with the triangular camera module centered behind the lens glass and the DIVEVOLK external shutter mounted on top.
Does the Huawei Pura 90 Pro Max Fit SeaTouch 6 Pro?
Yes. Wang's setup confirms it in real use, and the numbers line up with the housing's published limits.
- Phone size: Huawei lists the Pura 90 Pro Max at 164 × 77.1 × 8.1 mm and about 230.5 g on its official specifications page.
- SeaTouch 6 Pro envelope: the SeaTouch 6 Pro manual accepts phones up to 180.0 × 82.5 × 11.2 mm (length × width × thickness), and no more than 17 mm thick at the camera module.
- Camera window: the SeaTouch 6 Pro lens window covers the full rear camera module, so the Pura 90 Pro Max's ultra-wide, main, and telephoto cameras all shoot through the housing glass. You can see the triangular XMAGE module fully clear of the frame in the photo above.
When we published our Huawei Pura 90 series underwater photography guide in July, the Pro Max was matched to the SeaTouch 4 Max Platinum. SeaTouch 6 Pro now gives Pro Max owners a newer option, rated to 60 meters and built around DIVEVOLK's sixth-generation touchscreen membrane.
Pura 90 Pro Max Camera Hardware, Read for Underwater Use
According to Huawei's specifications page, the Pura 90 Pro Max carries three rear cameras:
- 50MP main camera with a variable f/1.4–f/4.0 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 40MP ultra-wide camera at f/2.2
- 200MP large-sensor telephoto camera at f/2.6 with OIS and telephoto macro support
Huawei quotes roughly 4x optical zoom, lens focal lengths of 13 mm, 24 mm, and 89 mm, up to 100x digital zoom, and 4K video. The phone is rated IP68 (2 meters) and IP69, but Huawei's own page notes it is not a professional waterproof device and that liquid damage is not covered by warranty. For anything beyond splashes, the housing is what makes the phone dive-ready.
For underwater work, those specs translate into three practical tools: a fast, bright main camera for ambient-light reef scenes, a wide 13 mm view for close-focus wide-angle and split shots, and a stabilized long telephoto for subjects you should not approach. Wang used all three.
Focus on a Breath-Hold: The Clownfish Shot
What surprised Wang most was not resolution or color. It was focus.
"As a photographer who has shot underwater with professional cameras for a long time, I've always paid attention to how phone imaging performs underwater. Using the Huawei Pura 90 Pro Max with a DIVEVOLK housing, what impressed me most was the focusing experience."
On one freediving session, Wang approached a clownfish on a single breath. Breath-hold shooting compresses every decision into a few seconds: you have to hold your distance, keep your body steady against surge, and get focus before you need to surface.
"Underwater, shooting distance, body stability, and focusing speed all matter. I didn't have high expectations for the phone at first, but the focusing performance genuinely surprised me and let me capture the frame I wanted with much more composure."
96 mm, f/2.6, 1/877 s, ISO 1000. Shot on a breath-hold from outside the anemone.
The frame data tells the story. At 96 mm on the telephoto, Wang could fill the frame with the fish and its host anemone without pushing into the tentacles. A 1/877 s shutter froze both the fish and the photographer's own movement in the water, and ISO 1000 kept that speed in the reef's shaded light. Clownfish depend on their host anemones for protection, as National Geographic explains, so a lens that lets you keep your distance is good for the animal as well as the picture. Never touch, crowd, or chase the fish or the anemone for a shot.
If you plan to shoot on a breath-hold, dive within your training and always with a buddy watching from the surface. DAN's overview of shallow-water blackout is worth reading before any camera-in-hand freedive, because focusing on a subject is exactly when divers lose track of time.
From 13 mm to 240 mm: Switching Focal Lengths Underwater
Wang also singled out focal-length switching as one of the things that made the Pura 90 Pro Max flexible underwater. Because SeaTouch housings pass touch input straight through to the phone's screen, Wang could change lenses in the native camera app with a tap, the same way as on land.
Ultra-wide at 13 mm
13 mm, f/2.2, 1/183 s, ISO 50.
The ultra-wide view gives the scene room: a freediver gliding over reef, with the coral heads and sand channels that explain where the diver is. In bright, shallow water the phone held ISO 50, which keeps noise down and preserves fine reef texture.
Main camera at 24 mm
24 mm, f/2.0, 1/1686 s, ISO 50.
The main camera is the workhorse for ambient-light reef portraits. Here, a branching coral colony in sunlit shallows holds its purple tips and orange base, which is the kind of color rendering Wang mentioned. In shallow water with strong sun, the main camera's light-gathering makes very fast shutter speeds possible at base ISO. As depth increases and reds fade, add a red filter or a dive light; our guide to why colors fade underwater explains the reason.
Telephoto at 240 mm
240 mm, f/2.6, 1/1626 s, ISO 500. A hermit crab on the beach, framed from a distance.
240 mm, f/2.6, 1/715 s, ISO 50. A surface silhouette at sunset.
At the long end, the large-sensor telephoto does two jobs. It isolates small subjects, like a hermit crab on the sand, without walking up on them, and it compresses distance for surface scenes such as a snorkeler against the setting sun. Both frames came out of the same phone that shot the 13 mm reef view, which is exactly the flexibility Wang was describing.
Split Shots With the SeaTouch 6 Pro Dome Lens
SeaTouch 6 Pro with the dome lens attached in front of the Pura 90 Pro Max's camera module.
For over-under images, Wang paired the housing with the SeaTouch 6 Pro dome lens. A dome's large front surface lets you hold the waterline across the frame, keeping the sky and boat sharp above while the reef and diver stay in view below.
13 mm, f/2.2, 1/945 s, ISO 50. Dive boat above, freediver below.
The 13 mm ultra-wide is the natural lens for split shots: it takes in both halves of the scene from close range, and in bright conditions the fast shutter keeps the surface ripples crisp. For technique, see our step-by-step guide to split shots with a DIVEVOLK dome port.
Full Touchscreen Control, and What It Means for Huawei Phones
"Beyond that, the phone's color underwater, switching between focal lengths, and touchscreen operation through the housing all gave me more flexibility. After shooting, I could preview, pick, and edit my images right on the phone, without extra devices or a complicated workflow."
SeaTouch housings are a button-free, full-touchscreen design. Once the Pura 90 Pro Max is sealed inside, its volume keys and power button cannot be pressed; every input goes from your finger through the SeaTouch membrane to the phone's own touchscreen. That is how Wang could switch lenses, adjust exposure, and review shots in the water, then pick and edit images on the same phone afterward. SeaTouch 6 Pro's sixth-generation touch membrane enlarges the touch window and makes edge swipes, such as swiping up to return home, easier on large-screen phones.
It also means some phone features belong on dry land. On Huawei's Mate-series phones, the native underwater shooting mode moves camera control off the touchscreen and onto the volume keys, which are unreachable inside the housing. If your Pura's camera app offers a similar underwater mode, treat it as a bare-phone feature and leave it off before you seal the housing. Shoot with the standard camera modes through the touchscreen instead.
If you want a tactile shutter, for example when wearing gloves, use the DIVEVOLK Bluetooth external shutter for SeaTouch 6 Pro, which is the shutter you can see mounted on Wang's housing.
Pre-Dive Setup for the Pura 90 Pro Max
The SeaTouch 6 Pro manual lists these settings for Huawei phones. Set them on land before sealing the housing:
- Turn on Pick Up to Wake and Double Tap Screen to Wake so you can wake the screen underwater.
- Turn off Mistouch Prevention so the screen stays awake inside the housing.
- Turn on Navigation Dock for easy on-screen navigation.
- Turn on Gloves Mode for better touch sensitivity through the membrane.
- Turn off Automatic Brightness and set brightness manually.
- Choose your camera mode, lens, and resolution before you get in. Keep any native underwater mode off.
- Run your pre-dive checks. Inspect the seal cover gasket, confirm the top screws are tight, and follow the leak checks in the manual. Our housing pre-dive checklist walks through them.
With the sixth-generation membrane, DIVEVOLK no longer recommends removing the screen protector from newer phones like the Pura 90 Pro Max; you can keep it on and operate the phone inside the housing. After every session, rinse the housing in fresh water and soak it for 30 minutes, as the manual advises. If anything feels off, our technical support team can help.
A Lighter Way to Shoot Underwater
Wang is clear that the phone does not replace a professional camera. What it changes is how often Wang can bring a camera at all.
"Of course, a phone is not a replacement for a professional camera, but it gives underwater photography a lighter, freer way to create. For me, the most meaningful part is that when I meet marine life worth recording, I don't need to bring complex camera gear every time, and I can still capture those precious moments."
That is the case for the Huawei Pura 90 Pro Max in a SeaTouch 6 Pro: a capable 13–240 mm range in one device, focus fast enough for breath-hold shooting, and a workflow that ends on the phone instead of a laptop. If you already carry a Pura 90 Pro Max, the SeaTouch 6 Pro turns it into the camera you take on every dive and every freedive. Comparing Huawei flagships? Our Huawei Mate 80 Pro Max underwater photography guide covers the Mate side of the lineup.
