Canon 40D housing

NEDIVER

I recently picked up my new camera, Canon 40D. I first would like to say that I absolutely love it! 6.5fps rocks!

I am wanting to venture into the world of UW DSLR and am looking at some housings. I am debating between the Ikelite and the Sea&See. does anyone have any experience with the two brands? I like the fact that Ikelite is clear and I could see any water enter right away, and then I like the robust all metal construction of the S&S. Is it worth the extra thousand dollars or so?

Looking for some input.

I just recently upgraded my virtual dark room and home print studio with MacBookPro, Aperture Software, and Epsom R1800. So if anyone is looking for feed back on those three or the 40D I will be happy to share.

Regards,
TM

Gill Envy

Very interested in hearing more feedback on just about all of it... we are considering a 40D, as we speak, and not sure about the best housing. we are mac folks too, haven't used aperture yet...just getting by with the i-photo (can't handle the volume or file size very well) while we sort it all out. mostly just taking shots for fun.

We have done quite a bit of shooting with the SD/digital elfs/10 mgp, mostly because the housings are cheap and the cameras can take decent macro without the bulk of external strobes. the one thing I can say about the clear housings, after flooding one a while back, sure it's nice to know if you have a leak but it really doesn't help much since doing anything about it takes too long to save the camera. I'd go with what you think is the best quality, seal it up right and just hope for the best. My flood was due to a total screw up on my end, not a housing issue. Seems like housings have come a long way.

g

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Gill Envy

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betti154

I have upgrade to a 40D/Aquatica from a 350D/Ikelite. I'm stilling waiting on the Aquatica to be delivered, so can't add too much value there.

I was have a short play with a 40D in an Ikelite housing, an it reminded me why I decided to pay more for a more precise housing.

Ike housings do the job, but I don't think it really does the 40D justice when it comes to ergonomics and the port locking system is ordinary. Upside is price and ettl/manual control board if you're using Ike strobes.

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Damien Siviero
http://damiensivero.com

NEDIVER

I will start off with a little review of the Aperture software. This amazing for work flow. You can add different key words as you import and sort everything into categories as you import them. You can then make "smart albums" that will pick and choose criteria of all of your files. It stores tons of Meta data and is terrific for keeping large files at your finger tips.
The second thing that I love about it is that unlike Adobe light room or Photoshop, you have only one master file per original shot. What this means is that you may make thousands of adjustments and make hundreds of different versions of the original all while only taking up as much disk space as the original file. It does this by the process being command based. Basically you have your original (negative if you will) and then all of the versions and adjustments are made on screen with commands off the negative. Your hard drive stays clutter free and every change is fully reversible.
The RAW format is terrific as well. you can make very powerful corrections to include, histogram value changes, spot corrections, highlights and shadows (my favorite) and individual color adjustments (great for underwater correction), you can also simulate different filters on the lens with a RAW picture, and convert into true B&W with great contrast. It only gets better from here. With direct compatibility with Photoshop you can export a file directly to Photoshop and back again with ease.
It has wonderful on screen proofing, I calibrate with EyeOne, and then downloaded the correct values for the paper I am printing with and the printer that I use (Epsom R1800) and the screen will look exactly like the print. This is very useful when printing from high glossy to a matte. You can also down load any third party printing service values. This way if you are sending off files to a online printing service you will be able to see what the picture looks like BEFORE printing and make adjustments accordingly.
There are other useful features that allow you to create a book (much nicer than iphoto) and does not include large apple logo's when printed, remember this is their professional software.
If you purchase this software, I would suggest joining the aperture users professional network (AUPN). The membership pays for itself with full day long seminars that they do on a local "tour" basis. I went to one this winter in Boston and it was great.
As far as redundancy of back up, it is a snap with Aperture. If you are running TimeMachine make sure you set it up so it DOES NOT back up Aperture vault. This was a glitch in the Time Machine software that has caused some problems. Once you know that it is flawless. I save all of my master files on my HD and then use the "Vault". This Vault is connected to a FireWire 800, MyBook 500GB external HD. This way all of my masters and adjustments are backed up with one click. Remember that it only takes up the space of the original images and a small file of commands for the adjustments. Then when you Save the Vault after a new project is imported or more adjustments are made, it checks the data that the Vault has and only make the new changes, saving TONS of space.
I could go on about the export ability to put the picture in almost any form and size, and its compatibility with iMovie for slide shows and the like. I can say that I for see no use for Photoshop in my immediate future, unless I want to do advertisement or the like.

TM

mountain diver

have used the ikelite housings before with great success, but good down to
60 meters if you dive deeper, might want to consider something like the
subal or seatool housings.Seatool does custom housings very nice here is the link.

Welcome to Seatool USA!




all the best.

Gill Envy

TM, thanks for the info!
Does anyone know if any of the housings allow you to use the internal flash while diving? The camera we now use allows for surprisingly good macro shots using just the internal flash... much better than we were able to do with a film cameras some years back, and since we can adjust the image on the computer it has made using an external flash unnecessary for macro shots. It's so nice to not have to deal with the bulk of strobes.

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Gill Envy

...Because I wasn't born with gills!
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grunzster

As far as I know none of them do, and you wouldn't want to.
good on land and good underwater are 2 completely different things.

Unless you're your in "completely" clear water, having the strobe in line with the lens will cause backscatter.

And even if you are in water that clear the port would most likely cause vignetting on one side of the image.

I was very happy with my Ike with the 10D. Only problem I've had with ergonomics is trying to hit the shutter while using my HID as a modeling light on night dives, in wrecks, etc., but easily fixed by just mounting a light on the housing.

The only real advantages I see in the other housings is:
If your diving beyond the Ike's MOD
Some have all electronic controls in one area
(not sure if this available for Canon, though)
Glass ports (although you'll see a lot of different opinions on port optics)

grunzster

BTW I meant none of the SLR/dSLR housings. I do believe most of the housings for compact cameras do actually allow this.

Gill Envy

thanks for the feedback, the diffuser on the housing for the compact camera i've been using (SD 900 w/ the cannon housing) does take care of most of the problems if in clear water. since I'm the kind of guy who appreciates a good photo but does not want to be focussed on photography during the entire dive, I tend to lean in the direction of finding the best compact I can. quite a few folks have encouraged me to enter my photos in contests and begin selling them, which seems like a pipe dream to me but something I'm starting to consider seriously. The issue is that the camera I use now does not allow for RAW formatting, so the files end up below the minimum file size requirements for submission to stock houses, even though they are 10 MPG's and relatively high rez. If I could shoot in RAW and stay compact and stay with a Cannon I'd probably do that before going the 40D route, but since that doesn't seem feasable at this time and since we'd like a nice above water camera as well we're leaning more toward the "bigger/better" equipment.

I'll sure miss the ease and simplicity of having a small but relatively powerful camera on my wrist that I don't have to worry about.

g

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Gill Envy

...Because I wasn't born with gills!
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grunzster

Do the stock houses only accept RAW?

I thought they'd take TIFF too?

I'd think that with the minimal compression on the highest quality, highest res jpg, you should be able to convert to TIFF, and it would be acceptable.