Which housing to use for Canon 350D

Hi guys,

I have aquired a new Canon 350D digital camera, and want to start to use it underwater, but which housing should I use. The Ikelite 350D or the Sea & Sea 350D housings?

Currently I am using a compact camera with the Sea &Sea YS-25 strobe with great results, and now with a new SLR camera in my hand, its time to use it.

In my local dive shops ring, I have an Ikelite and Sea & Sea dealers or resellers.

I can not find out enough info on the Ikelite housing in regards to lens, but the Ikelite set up is much cheaper and rated to 60m or 200ft, but is much heavier and larger compared to the Sea & Sea.

The Sea & Sea can only use certain lens, and again rated to 60m or 200ft, but is smaller and lighter on land (good for travelling) and also I would only use to=he one type of o-ring grease. The new YS-110 strobe has also a built in focus light (1 less item to worry about).

Like what are some of the cons and positives of the two which I have not seen. I don't want to buy one and wish that I got the other. Please tell me your opinion.

Can someone with more experience than me help me out

Hi, and welcome to the forum! Both housings are good. The new Sea&Sea (for the Canon 350D and the Nikon D50) are really compact and light (more than a pound lighter than the Ikelite), but the Ikelite has the advantage on supporting eTTL (if this is important to you, I don't miss it).

Personally, I prefer the Sea&Sea ergonomics and port system (Sea&Sea uses extension rings, Ikelite uses one port for each lens, but they are changing with the big dome now).

Let's wait for feedback from owners, I am sure there's lot's of people that can help you. In the mean time, here is some info about which lens you can use with the Ikelite:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_canon.html

I hope this helps,

Luiz

Hi gang,

Here's a photo of the Sea and Sea housing, that I took at the Underwater Photo Tech booth at the Boston Searovers show this weekend.

I was very impressed with the design and compact size of this housing. These are the first Sea and Sea housings that I've seen that have brought them back to the size and quality of their film housings.

Cheers

James

Take a look at my review at:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/sea-sea-350...ons-and-photos/

Personally I feel that the only thing thats speaks in favour of the ikelite housing is the possibility of eTTL without any modifications.

There is however a TTL soultion avaible from sea and sea soon. And there is always the Heinrich Weikamp converter.

If you are not heavily invested in ikelite strobes, and feel that you can afford the more expesive sea and sea housing I se very little reason not to go with it.

/Jonas

So James, are we going to get a Boston report soon?

Alex

So let me get this right....Spend MORE money for a housing you can't tell is leaking, can't get service on (up for debate depending where you are in the world, but certainly not like Ike's service) and doesn't give you flash capability of eTTL2 PLUS manual flash......

Sorry for the rant.....But the same camera and lenses goes in the Ikelite and is likely by specs to be minutely larger width and height wise. Once you add handles probably within fractions of inches.....

No room around a digital electronic camera inside a housing is just asking for zero possibility of ever saving your camera.

IMHO

Let the flames begin

dhaas

Hi Dhaas,

The Rebel XT and the the 350D is the same camera. Are you happy with the controls and userablity of the ikelite setup?

The S&S does have a leak sensor, but I do not know about the Ikelite housing? Dam firwall has blocked the ikelite site!

The camera is new and at this stage I only have the 18-55mm lens and looking at getting a macro lens soon. What lens do you use and strobes?

Hi Big Jas,

Hope my post didn't come across as RANTING..........

Clear housing doesn't need a leak detector as long as you look at in when you first get in

I have hundreds of dives on my own Ikelite housings plus many customers with hundreds more. People just don't realize they're all a box with o-rings......Controls work fine if you dive enough to know them. Check out www.ikelite.com and look under "Customers Photos" for examples with various lenses.

These days I shoot with a Sigma 15mm or Canon's 17-85mm USM lens. I'm not a dedicated macro shooter but when I have dabbled I used the low cost but sharp Sigma 50mm EX lens.

I don't think I'm anything special but do practice and review my images, make notes and then practice, practice, practice. Even pool shooting will make you a better shooter. Plus using your camera a LOT above water to automatically know menu choices, buttons to change settings, etc.

Too many shooter think it's about buying the sexiest gear....It isn't......It's called being a hunter and shooting a lot.......

Hope this helps!

dhaas

Big Jas,

Ikelite DS125 and DS50 units to take advantage of Ikelite's eTTL2 flash capability.

dhaas

Hi,

I am also looking to choose a housing for my 350D. I liked the look of the compact Sea&sea but I have the Sigma 10-20mm zoom and they do not make a gear for it. I toyed with the idea of getting rid of it and getting the Canon 10-22mm but it seemed like a real PITA. Shame because you can get the sea and sea pretty cheap from Japan, pretty much the same price as the Ikelite, which makes the choice even harder!

Anyway I rekon I've decided on the Ike, lots of good reports, flexible and seem like an excelent company with good support.

..............Just what I have observed in all this!

BOB