water housing for G7?

[Road2Show]

Hello, I know that along with the Canon housing, there are a couple of alternatives out there. Does anyone have any specific advice...good/bad/ugly...about any of these?

(I'm also looking to buy one soon if you happen to be selling!) :)

Mike

[MarKap77]

I have a Canon case for my G7. Used it last fall in Key West snorkeling. It worked great. Full use of all controls in the case. Photos were just fine. Taking it to St Thomas the first week of March.

The absolute best underwater housings, in my opinion, are by Ikelite of Indianapolis. They are also very expensive. I got my Canon housing for $160 ($179 retail if memory serves) while the Ikelite housing is $600 retail, found one place that would sell it for $525. It wasn't worth it to me to spend the extra money for the point and shoot camera.

Now, if I ever buy a housing for my 30D or 5D, it would definitely be an Ikelite. Even though the housing will cost as much as the camera does. But they are the best.

[macroshot]

I agree with MarKap77 on this one. I also have the Canon WP-DC11 underwater housing for my G7 and other than sometimes pushing the top button that turns the camera OFF, rather than activating the shutter, it worked flawlessly on St. John last March. Will be using again soon on Vieques.

One small word of advice if you do purchase either -- make sure you use the desiccant pouch or the housing will fog. I had an old Olympus & housing where I forgot to do that when in Grand Cayman...well, lets just say that the time it took to swim back to the boat, rinse and dry the housing, remove the camera, install and reassemble, do a quick immersion test, etc., left me with maybe 15 minutes of reef time before we had to go over to Stingray City and face the mobs of people.

Otherwise I like my Canon housing just fine. And some people have claimed they were not to be able to change certain functions using the housing. Page 14 of the manual discusses the "shortcut" button (upper left on camera & housing) to move between modes and will address that particular issue - it can be an easy thing to forget. I spent several hours using the housing dry so I didn't have to miss out on any good photographs or video (yes, video is awesome with this camera underwater!!) Photographs were sometimes slow and there were some misses. I am going to spend more time this year trying manual settings to see if I can improve on my results from last year.

[Road2Show]

Thanks for the feedback. Thanks for the desiccant note...I'll be sure to use that.
I'll also remember to use the video mode. This little camera really does do a good job with video. (even though it seems to suck up the batteris.

Mike

[bluewavechris]

I have had my G7 in the Canon housing and in the water for over a year now. No troubles, and good results. And I am in and out of the water on a daily basis.

I have a review of the WPDC11 housing on Amazon.com.

You can also find my photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluewavechris

[zahner]

happy with my Canon case; ikelite was out of my price range. a couple of things bother me about the Canon case: 1) the oval port limits the ability to attach wet lenses since not all manufacturers support it with an adapter (namely Inon). 2) even with an adapter, the length of the barrel precludes use of a wide angle lens. Ikelite got around this by including M67 mount for wet lenses and offering a shorter port option for use with wide angle.

[Road2Show]

Thanks for the updates guys. I did end up getting the Canon version. I've not had it in the water yet, but I hope to soon.

Chris, looks like you have a guide service, or at least work for one in Maui? I started looking through some of your images, and one rock pile/ cleaning station looks a lot like a pile right off the shore in front of the Prince hotel. Shoot me a PM with your info...I'm always looking for way sto get out on the water when I travel to the islands for business. (fairly regular)

Mike