Underwater Housing for 30D or 5D

for underwater stuff I bought the Fuji P&S and water housing for it, it's a cheaper option than getting one for our dSLR.

ben805 wrote in post #5770430
for underwater stuff I bought the Fuji P&S and water housing for it, it's a cheaper option than getting one for our dSLR.

I agree. Having destroyed my 30D in one of those flexible underwater housings, I'm going to get a compact camera and dedicated rigid housing - it's better and cheaper.

This is a bit of an older thread, but maybe this will be helpful to someone.

IMHO skip the Oly SW series - it's slow, the focus isn't terribly accurate and the image quality is a bit ho hum. The more I use mine and the more I see people come through with them, the less I like them. They are hardy units, so if you need something to really beat up and are OK with having mediocre results, then go for it.

I've been using, and still use sometimes, the Olympus SW when I'm on the beach or boat as the form factor is so small and it doesn't matter if it gets a knock into the surf or sand...but again, the more I use it, the more I say "stuff this, I can always replace the Canon/Casio" and grab a different small compact and just roll the dice on damage (which, knock wood, hasn't happened yet despite harsh treatment).

My top picks for economical but really nice for underwater when you don't want to spend thousands are the Canon A series cameras with Canon housings. They offer full manual control or auto modes and produce very nice images. I have two A570s in my hire fleet right now and I use them myself, too. There's a special on, at Walmart.com I think, with this camera and a little printer for like $170. Housings for the Canon cameras (A and SD series) run about $150-$170ish.

I prefer the A series over the SD series as you can set your manual white balance while you are out and about and this makes a tremendous difference to the final results in water.

The Canon G9 is a rocking unit for those who want excellent images and RAW capabilities. It's bigger and clunkier than the A and SD series cameras, though, which is a downside for some (me, too!)

Downside to any compact after you've been using dslr is that you do have to anticipate the time between choosing your photo and taking it and the write times to the card. A little time to get used to the delays should be all that it takes to get into the swing of things - just don't get frustrated out of the gate!

Scroll down to the bottom of this page and watch the underwater photography videos by Doug Gardner. Great shows and a lot of great information. I beleive in the second video clip he talks about which brands and tips. Hope this helps...Jeff

Kristin, thanks for the info, that's just the sort of choice I'm now making, but I'm coming from DSLRs and don't want to be too disappointed. I'm currently deciding between an A-series or the G9, either one with a dedicated housing.

First, I agree with everyone else here on the P&S option. I would guess that buying a new A series and housing may be less than RENTING a 5D housing, assuming you can find a place to rent one. Besides, these things have been known to leak on occasion. I won't risk my DSLR on something like that, it's just not that important to me.

I shoot an SLR topside, but used an A620 as my diving camera. Unfortunately, I lost it on my last trip. Next up will be a G9 for me because I want RAW capability. The main reason to have RAW is for correcting the whitebalance, but that's not really an issue with snorkeling, so you should get about the same quality pics with an A series.

Mark - if you're willing to spend more and have a bulkier unit, the G9 would be my recommendation because RAW will help, even in really shallow water.

BUT you can get very nice images if you learn to set your manual white balance on any of the compacts and shoot jpeg. So if you want to spend less and have a smaller rig, then head for the A series.

Either either should give great results as long as you take a bit of time to learn some quick tricks Have fun!!

I second recommendations for picking up a compact instead, although I've had great luck with the SD series and housing. Most due have an underwater white balance setting which does a pretty good job - anything else can be fixed easily in post-processing.

RAW and external strobes would be great, but not thousands-of-dollars great, particularly for a one-off snorkeling trip. You also have to keep in mind that it is VERY easy to have leakage due to user error even with one of the expensive housing. One mistake and kiss your equipment goodbye - saltwater and electronics are mortal enemies. I'd much rather take a chance on a p&s...

My wife and I are headed to the Caribbean for a two week cruise in late November and early December, so I bought a Olympus 850 SW today for us to use for snorkeling. No sense in spending a $1000 for a waterproof housing for my XTi that might get used twice in the camera's lifetime. It fits in the shirt pocket which is nice and from what I have seen of sample pictures takes could quality pictures at 8 Mp.

downhillnews wrote in post #5378602
The best housing maybe?
http://www.splwaterhou​sings.com/

This is what I use, as well as several surfing photography friends. Built like tanks and lots of accessories for flashes and different lens configurations.

I just returned from a weeklong trip to Grand Cayman with the great people from Ikelite, manufacturers of great underwater camera gear. Click here to see their online article about the trip.

The whole point of this trip was to be able to use a lot of different gear in a lot of different setups to decide just what sort of setup I want for the future. I took my G7 with Canon housing (a great beach/snorkeling setup) and my 30D with 10-22 and 100 macro lenses. I borrowed an 18-55 while I was there for a few dives, as well.

My own observations and subsequent conclusions are as follows:

1.) Point and shoot cameras are too much trouble for use in serious underwater photography. Shutter lag and lack of hardwired sync with external strobes is too cumbersome and unreliable to make them good candidates for serious work. Having said that, they can be great for the shallow water situations while snorkeling. You still have the shutter lag issue, but as long as you don't go below about 5 feet, the onboard flash will still give you some fill lighting to go with natural light. You CAN take some really good photographs with a point and shoot and a slaved strobe at depths where strobes are required to get any sort of descent photo, but the number of good shots decreases significantly, in my experience.

2.) Any of the camera housing solutions for an SLR will cost more than the camera. Just a fact of life. Wish it were different, but it isn't. If you want to do serious photography, you have to have serious equipment. I fully intend to purchase a full housing and lens port setup for my camera for my next dive trip in the spring. Now I just have to save up the $3000-4000 USD to pay for it.

To KAS, the original poster, I realize I am a little late coming to the party to help you, but my best suggestion for you is to invest in a descent point and shoot and a relatively good underwater housing. It will be way cheaper than buying a housing for an SLR and I don't know of any source for renting such equipment. You might try a dive shop where you'll be diving to see if they rent housings, but other than that, I don't think it's such a great idea.

Here are a few of my images from the Grand Cayman trip. The full gallery of images is available on my SmugMug website if anyone is interested.

Those are some great images, MarKap! I really like that statue (I forget what they're called when attached to the front of a ship).

All in all, some great advice in here. A quick check on Amazon came up with the G9 and it's underwater housing together for about $600. So that may be an option. The G9 is apparently pretty good, and the housing is cheap.

I really think the P&S solution would be best....thanks for the ideas, everyone!

KAS wrote in post #5811180
Those are some great images, MarKap! I really like that statue (I forget what they're called when attached to the front of a ship).

All in all, some great advice in here. A quick check on Amazon came up with the G9 and it's underwater housing together for about $600. So that may be an option. The G9 is apparently pretty good, and the housing is cheap.

I really think the P&S solution would be best....thanks for the ideas, everyone!

Thanks for the compliment, but mine are only just above amateur compared to some of the others on the trip.

And the carving on the bow of a sailing ship is the figurehead. (I just looked it up)

The mermaid statue is something like 9 feet tall (2.75 meters). Here is another photo of me with her.

Mark

MarKap77 wrote in post #5807617
1.) Point and shoot cameras are too much trouble for use in serious underwater photography. Shutter lag and lack of hardwired sync with external strobes is too cumbersome and unreliable to make them good candidates for serious work. Having said that, they can be great for the shallow water situations while snorkeling. You still have the shutter lag issue, but as long as you don't go below about 5 feet, the onboard flash will still give you some fill lighting to go with natural light. You CAN take some really good photographs with a point and shoot and a slaved strobe at depths where strobes are required to get any sort of descent photo, but the number of good shots decreases significantly, in my experience.

I am sorry but I have to disagree with that. If you think P&S are cumbersome, wait till you start shooting with housed DSLRs, with about 10+ O-rings that need to be checked and cleaned while setting up the kit, worries about sync cables misfiring, body alignment issues, etc. P&S housings are simple, robust and the epitome of "easy to use"

And if you get an optical cable setup, you get very workable TTL - especially with Sea&Sea and Inon strobes.

As for whether or not you can do serious photography with a digital compact - I agree that it is harder. You cannot go as wide as a DSLR, nor can you go as close. But I have seen too many exquisite shots taken with a digital compact - especially closeups and, with the addition of WA wet lenses, even CFWA, to write them off. I just finished a diving trip to Lembeh where one of my fellow divers on the boat was shooting with a G9 + 2 strobes, and getting some great results with it. I myself have sold quite a few images - including a magazine cover - taken with a P&S and a basic strobe. It's doable.

Vandit

vkalia wrote in post #5815782
I am sorry but I have to disagree with that.....I myself have sold quite a few images - including a magazine cover - taken with a P&S and a basic strobe. It's doable.

Vandit

Vandit,

I have seen your website and your photography is excellent. You are head and shoulders above me in experience and quality of images. But I think we are saying the same thing.

It is possible to get excellent results with a point and shoot camera. However, it is more difficult with a point and shoot over an SLR. Shutter lag is one of the biggest problems in the comparison, and, at least with the two Canon cameras I've used underwater, getting the focus to lock on is also a problem. I am speaking about the relative ease between point and shoots and SLR, not an absolute critique of point and shoots.

I was merely attempting to answer the original question, and I stand by that answer. I have seen too many people make the mistake of going for the cheaper solution and being disappointed and/or frustrated at the difficulty of getting a good image with a point and shoot and a slaved strobe combination. The best setup, in my opinion, for ease of use and best end results is a housed SLR with hard wired strobes for TTL functionality. There are plenty of great images done with point and shoots, I would just caution anyone going that route to not scrimp and think that they can do the kind of quality that you get.

Regards