Housing for Canon EOS350D?

jhaaja

What would you recommend?

I have found that there are quite many manufacturers for housings. It should have full control of camera controls and work at least 60m of water. There seems to be housings made from plastic, aluminium, carbon fibre etc. I guess aluminium would be the most durable but also most expensive. Plastic ones are cheaper and can only be taken to 60m.

Has anyone used Italian Nimar housings? They seem to be quite reasonably priced.

JH

petterfs

I would suggest an aluminum housing for the robustness.

One housing I can recommend is the Patima EHC-350DX for Canon 350D. Operating depth 100m.

Prices on the page are including Norwegian VAT. Divide price by 1.25 to get price without VAT (for export outside Norway).

Otherwise, find the different housings and approximate prices on digideep.

Petter

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Diving Classic Inspiration
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Owner of PSHOP (UW photography)

Johnny Christensen

I have a buddy who got one. He regrets that deeply, as it is useless. It's really cheap build.
UW photography is not a cheap. IMHO useful housings starts at a minimum with IkeLite and range all the way up to Subal

If you get into UW photography - count on at least the same expences as with rebreathers. Some costs like a Dräger Ray, others is more like a Boris

I just got a Sealux housing, as they have great viewfinders. They offer relatively reasonable prices and most would be served well by their housings.
Next time though, I'm getting a Subal right away.

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Wreckphotography from the cold north

jhaaja

Yes, usually you get what you pay for. The price of the Nimar housing just seems too low (half of Ikelite). Any comments on Sea&Sea housing?

JH

Johnny Christensen

I have a Sea & Sea housing for my F100 since 2001. Other that the fact that it showing more than it's share of corrosion and battlescars, it's a great construction.
The Sea & Sea NX100pro housing is well build, no flimsy connections. Acess to all controls underwater. I have used and abused it in every way, as I love to take pictures on the many spectacular coldwater wrecks in the Nordic area.

In later models for digital cameras Sea & Sea went to plastic housings with mixed results. Some noticed that the controls did not feel as well. Others thought that the housings got more bulky.
As far as I know, they are back on the right track again with compact welldesigned aluminium housings.
But one thing that you will notice. Digital SLR cameras made some things very much easier. But they also brought us really small viewfinders, unless that you go to the professionel range of cameras.

That means when we try to take them underwater, you are left guessing about what you are seeing while composing the image. That's why I continued to shoot my oldfashioned film cameras right up to february this year.

There are currently two housings manufactures that offer a good solution to the small viewfinder problem. Subal and Sealux have a option of a great magnifying viewfinder. It cost more, but in use it's like the difference between a Lada car and a Ferrari.
www.sealux.de
http://www.subal.com/index_en.php

Other housing manufactures have a standard viewfinder, some with slight optics to enlarge the picture by 5-10%

One slight problem with your Canon camera, there is fewer manufactures that makes housings for it. Traditionally it's been Nikon that had the biggest share of the underwater marked.
So you may find it cheaper and easier to pick up a secondhand Nikon D70 system complete with housing and everything. They will start to pour out on the marked in the next few months.
Some D70 users have fallen in love with the D200 and are upgrading. Others are worried what the recent launch of D80 (2-3 days ago) will do to the price of their system.
Soon there is some really good deals to be made.

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www.johnnychristensen.com
Wreckphotography from the cold north

jhaaja

Luckily I have bought 350D allready

I think in the near future I will get it UW also but I like to take pictures on the surface also so I am not in a hurry. I am now just getting the basic info about the housings etc.

Thanks a lot for info! I am a novice in slr cameras and also quite new to UW photo/video. I have used a few Sony videocams and I have an old Canon compact with housing.

Can you recommend any good www sites for slr photography (uw&general) and would be usefull for me to buy a good book that explains things from the start.

JH

Johnny Christensen

The best book I have ever read on the subject, is the National Geograpic Photo Guide by Peter K. Burian and Robert Caputo. I have almost worn my copy out. I have a Danish translation and we are a very small language group. So I guess that you may also be able to find it in Finish.
As for the basic principles, it dosen't matter if it is digital or film based. And creating good pictures is the same things you look for, no matter what system or brand you own.

www.kenrockwell.com is full of great info. Both the latest gossip on what's comming and honest comments on what is a useful feature and what is just hype for marketing purposes. He is a Nikon user, but many of his points are true for digital slr in general.

For uw related stuff, there is of course http://wetpixel.com/ and http://digideep.com/
Leigh Bishop is a really nice guy, puts some inspiring articles on his website on the photograps of shipwrecks subject. http://deepimage.co.uk/

http://www.howardhall.com/ is worth a look, he is a movie maker. But as a still photographer you can learn a lot from how he is doing things.
Great sence of humor too. Try reading "The Kelp Mole" and "Two Idiots Go Cave Diving" on his stories site. I nearly sh*t myself laughing

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www.johnnychristensen.com
Wreckphotography from the cold north

jhaaja

Thanks for th elinks! I will check them out.

Is this the book you meant:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/079225676X/sr=8-1/qid=1155123073/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4229982-1409430?ie=UTF8
JH

DaveP

I use the Sea & Sea housing. It has an aluminium front and a polycarbonate back. All controls are usable and it is very compact and rated to 60m. Super piece of kit.

Dave

topjake

Another good site: http://www.betterphoto.com/home.asp

They offer lots of excellent online photography classes. Peter Burian teaches a great class monthly on the Rebel XT, "Mastering the Canon EOS Digital Rebels". Well, worth it!

Jake