Underwater Housings for 20D

Hello all-

I am going to Tahiti this summer for my honeymoon and will be doing some scuba diving. I have been looking at the underwater housing options for my 20D. It appears I have 2 choices:

An Ikelite solid housing which runs ~$1250.00 (outside of my budget)

or

Ewa-Marine "bag" ~$300.00 (closer to my budget...)

The Ewa-Marine setup will hold the 20D and my 550ex flash.

I bought the Canon housing for my S50 a few years ago and went diving in Grand Cayman, and found most shots taken below 10ft had poor lighting (unless a fish was really close to the camera). So I spent $200 on something I used for a week...

I have a fear of putting my beloved 20D in what appears to be a "bag"....

Has anyone had any experience with this line of housings?

Thanks!

Bryan

I have "heard" that they are reliable, but I am not sure I would put my $1,000+ camera/lens in a cheapy housing. Have you thought of getting a digital strobe for your S50 to help with lighting?

The bags are used by many and can be fairly safe, but they aren't rated for the kinds of depths that solid housings are. Besides the possibility of leaks, the solid housings take all the "squeeze" so your camera remains at surface pressure. The bags just compress, so your camera is taking the squeeze of whatever depth you're at.
The bag's fine if you stay shallow (where the better light is anyway), but if this is something you'll be doing regularly and/or you want to go deeper than the bag will allow, a "real" solid housing is best.

One day my 30d will see marine use, but not without insurance. You may want to look into that yourself. DAN, I know, offers equipment insurance. PADI may as well (dunno).

Excellent information, thank you both. That was my concern as well- If I spent 300 bucks for a ziplock bag that I brushed against some coral, and ruined my camera, I would really feel like an idiot...

I do belong to several diving associations, I will check how their insurance coverage works.

BK

And unless you have 100% perfect buoyancy and control underwater, and a very good SCUBA setup that has little bulk (like a backpack unit vs. a vest for your BC, all-wireless guages, head-mounted lights, etc.), chances are that you will bump your camera into things now and then while diving.

I wouldn't want to risk my camera inside a bag in those situations. The Canon "cheap" housing I had for my S330 was fine (though the lack of a strobe hurt in the daytime) and stood up quite well over its life. With a camera that costs an order of magnitude more, I think I'd spring for the Ikelite the next time I want to do underwater photos.

Why not going for the Ikelite solid housing, and reselling it after your journey? You said you're not diving regularly, right? Would make sense to me.

Thought about purchasing the Ikelite and selling it when I get back, but was unsure how the market was for used underwater housings... I would be weary of buying a used housing.

Forgive my ignorance here, but what types of strobe lighting options do I have with an S50?

If you aren't a member already, you may want to join ScubaBoard and check out their Underwater Photography forum. There's a lot of very talented people on that board who are willing to help with such questions.

I'm new to UW photography, so that's about all the help I can offer...

This is probably not what you want to hear but...Yeeks, Whatever you do, don't use the plastic bag. It really must be something like the Ikelite if anything.

On the question of underwater photography there are a couple of things to remember...

1. Below about 3m you will loose reds. Below that you will need a filter.

2. You need to get VERY close to your subjects, to get good shots.
etc etc.

So what I'm leading upto is this.....If you don't have the budget for the Ikelite, filters etc, then I would suggest you buy a disposable and get CLOSE. I've seen some quite reasonable pictures taken this way.

See here for some examples..admittedly, not all taken with disposables but some were.:p
http://www.extreme-marine.co.uk …allery_hurghada​2005_1.htm

The camera in a bag with your 580ex sounds like a bad idea. I guess you will have problems with condensation inside the bag because of the heat from the flash. If youre not willing to down your credit card with a Ikelite underwater housing or similar you should use a point and shoot camera. I took these in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, last August, using a Canon Ixus 700+underwater housing:

http://olz.dk/gal/inde​x.php?list=21
http://olz.dk …ndex.php?list=1​9&page=all

Next time we go dive I will buy a external strobe to get faster shutter speed. And that's one thing to remember aswell. If you´re buying the DSLR housing you will also need external strobes (one or two) which will cause the cost to be even higher.

Have you considered a P&S and getting the housing for that? You might be able to get the camera, housing and an external strobe for 1/2 the price of the ikelite housing. Check out www.uwphoto.com, they have a Canon package for $499 that includes the camera. I started with an A70 with the underwater housing, and added a strobe. It did pretty good as long as there was enough light. You will need to shoot wide and close to the subject to get good shots. Shooting panoramas underwater results in lots of scatter from the flash, (I have lots of great scatter pix from diving in Hawaii).

I also have a 20d and the ikelite housing. It much heavier and bulkier than the A70 setup. I have had the housing for a year and haven't used it, mainly because we canceled out of a live aboard we booked. We did one dive in Bermuda on a family vacation and after assembling the camera, decided it was too bulky to pack. Now I am looking to practice with it in a pool before I try it on an actual dive.

If you already have experience with underwater photography then go for the ikelite, or aquatica. If not you might want to rethink it, why take that on in paradise?

Oh.. and do check out scubaboard.com as suggested..

cruzyn56 wrote:
Have you considered a P&S and getting the housing for that? You might be able to get the camera, housing and an external strobe for 1/2 the price of the ikelite housing. Check out www.uwphoto.com, they have a Canon package for $499 that includes the camera. I started with an A70 with the underwater housing, and added a strobe. It did pretty good as long as there was enough light. You will need to shoot wide and close to the subject to get good shots. Shooting panoramas underwater results in lots of scatter from the flash, (I have lots of great scatter pix from diving in Hawaii).

I also have a 20d and the ikelite housing. It much heavier and bulkier than the A70 setup. I have had the housing for a year and haven't used it, mainly because we canceled out of a live aboard we booked. We did one dive in Bermuda on a family vacation and after assembling the camera, decided it was too bulky to pack. Now I am looking to practice with it in a pool before I try it on an actual dive.

If you already have experience with underwater photography then go for the ikelite, or aquatica. If not you might want to rethink it, why take that on in paradise?

Oh.. and do check out scubaboard.com as suggested..

I have an Olympus Stylus 410 with the underwater housing. For Snorkeling, it works great. And the whole setup cost less than $500.00.

Dsmgirl - That site have some great information- thanks!

DunnoWhen - Some nice pics there, I didn't think about the filters... I was hoping there were some underwater PhotoShop plugins that would help...

Olz - also some nice pictures, and true- the flash would get quite warm

Cruzyn56 - I have a 5MP Canon S50 with the Underwater housing already. Sounds like some more light would make this work fine after seeing the pictures people posted which were taken with a point and shoot...

Thanks for the links and info, I think I would feel a lot better using my 20D on land and S50 underwater....

So how does a strobe work with the S50? (I've never used one).

I am going to Costa Rica in a few weeks to do some night photography at Arenal (active volcano) and the Monte Verde Rain Forest. I will be rapelling down some waterfalls (inside the waterfall) doing some photography. I have my underwater gear when I scuba dive but that's clearly not an option for a land expedition in the rain. Anyone have any extensive experience with the EWA bags above water? How do they handle zoom lenes? Does the glass port in front cause any type of distortion or aberrations and can you put a lens hood on it with the 77mm EWA for example? I will be shooting with my Canon 20D with my 10-22, 24-105L IS (they should fit in the bag fine) and my 100-400L IS (which I know is probably too big for a case so I might bring a plastic hood for some tripod work on my Kirk BH-1 head. Definitley going to be a challenge. Any feedback would be appreciated. Tnx all. I think the bags will do the trick but don't want to spend the $ if there are any major set backs.

Have you considered a dedicated underwater camera? B&H has a number of underwater digicams priced less than the Ikelite housing costs, including some with flash. Water really attenuates light, so either close-ups or a really powerful flash are a necessity.

These cameras also work fine out of water, so you would have a really weatherproof point and shoot for those times when you are reluctant to expose your 20D to the elements (in reference to the original post). Scubamaniac: why can't you use your underwater gear in the rain/waterfall? I went diving with a friend who had a Sea and Sea film camera a few years ago and he got some good pics of the whole trip both above and below water.