Underwater photography options

I am heading for 5 full days of Cage diving with Great Whites and wanted to get some advice on a couple of camera options.

I have an opportunity to pick up a G10 with the underwater housing for a good price, but I am unsure how it would perform from a noise perspective. I would be going down to 50 feet at times, so the light is definately subdued..and Blue

My other option would be my 1DsIII with 16-35 or 35L using something like the Ewa-Marine enclosure. I have no experiance with these and would like to get some feedback on the reliability of the seals etc. I am a bit nervous to take the 1D underwater. Depth will not exceed 50 feet.

http://www.vistek.ca …ounted-external-flas.aspx

I likely will not do something like this again, so I dont want to spend $1500-$5000 on a housing.

Are there quality housing rentals available for 1D bodies?

Thanks in adavance for any comments

Canon has an underwater camera that my friend uses, it's not a pro by any means but the price and quality its quite good.

http://www.pbase.com/c​ameras/canon/powershot​_d10

Hi. If you are just doing this for hobby/recreation, I'd say go with the available good deal... and just live with some compromises. Invest in a good dive light, or even some underwater photo lighting (then sell-off when done). Yeah, it affects the weight set-up a bit. Also, just try to get closer to the subject. Your G10 will live on and give good service 'topside' for years to come.

I've seen G9's with the Canon underwater housing going for under ~$450 recently (used, ~great condition)... U.S. westcoast.

Oops! I just reread you post. You're not pursuing Clownfish or Captain Nemo. You don't want to be close to the subject. Maybe just hire a video-documentary crew (who happen to be EMT certified). Kidding. Enjoy.

i wouldn't do the EWA-Marine. There are a few places that rent dSLR housings (no idea of costs etc.) - depends where you are as you'd probably want to rent in person so they can tell you how to set it up etc. (if in California, a couple came up on a search - h2ophotopros & backscatter - don't know much about them apart form H2oPhoto Pros do post on some scuba cummunity forums) - you could call H20 for some tips/advice.....and if taking a big camera underwater, rememeber it can easily flood, so get flood insurance for it.

G10 is nice and should be fine (i actually use an S90 underwater rather than housing my 40D primarily due to cost and convenience - but obviously it is a trade off, and the results are possibly not as great and the focus / shooting speed is limited).
How you shoot will depend on the water quality and how close the sharks get.

If the water is murkey (lots of bits floating in it), then using the on board flash will cause "backscatter" and it will look crap. If the water is clear, then not so much a problem. The on board flash is really only useful for 3-5 ft (so if the shark is munching on the cage, would make a great shot, but if 20ft away, useless). [I.e. flash is only good for close ups].
If you rent and it comes with strobes, the placement of strobes can prevent backscatter, but you're really still only lighting probably upto 10ft or so.....

If the pics are blue (which they probably will be if you don't have strobes), you should be able to post process to improve. Shooting in RAW will be of great benefit for this, and I'm sure you can post away and get some tips for people here.

The g10 should be fine.. The problem underwater is light... doesn't matter what camera you are using... Even if your 1D will open up enough with available light, the fish are moving........ you need enough light to keep the shutter speed fast enough and the DOF deep enough, to keep blur/noise to a minimum..

Use the g10/housing normally in the shallows, then bring a good underwater flood for the deeper dives..