20D or 5D, aquatica or Ikelite?

Hi, I´m a on-land photographer trying to go underwater. I had a oly 5050 in a pt housing, but that was just frustrating, too slow, too small.

I have a 5D and a 20D, a 100macro 2.8; 70-200 /4; 50 1.8; and a17-40 /4. I will manly be taking pictures of whales/dolphins and also scubadiving in general. For whale and dolphins I will need one camera ready for UW and another for above surface.

So can anyone help me on wich camera to take UW?

And wich casing to chose?

And last but not least, I need a housing, a couple of Strobes, TTL Sync Cord, Strobe Arms, a dome port for the 17-40 and for either the 50 or the 100, anything else?

I apreciate it since a friend is going to NY next week and gear is half price compared to Europe .

Thank´s everyone.

IMHO

I think one of the differences between the 20D and the 5D is the FPS rate. Use the 20D where you need the higher FPS rate. It does work for dolphins underwater as the do move around fast and you can try and machine gun the shot. Same comments may apply for whales on surface.

Secondly, I would think longer term though for your decision as you will be using the housing for future trips too. Certainly the 5D and Full frame would be sweet underwater for Wide angle work as I do find myself wishing for more frame on the 20D at times.

Lastly, price point and personal thoughts on a clear housing verse Aluminium. This kind of thing has been debated before so I will leave that discussion. I am very happy with my Aquatica and their personal service is top notch. Ike owners seem to be happy with his service...

Based upon the information you provided, I'd go with the 5D in an Aquatica housing. You will be shooting manual strobe if at all and wide. The slightly smaller footprint of the Aquatica will also be an advantage.

The FPS difference may not matter shooting underwater.

I am in exactly the same decision making process and my thinking is :

20D : deeper DoF for macro ( my favourite ), less choices of housing

5D : shallower DoF for macro but more choices of housing ( Sea & Sea looks great to me )

Here are some of my macro works on land :

I know absolutely nothing about underwater macro so I wonder if the DoF is as much an issue as on land. Any advices will be appreciated.

I agree - since you already have a 5D and are primarily interested in wide angle/big critters, the 5D and your 17-40L lens should serve you very well. You'll probably also want to pick up a 15mm fisheye, such as the Sigma. And you'll want to order a set of Magic Filters (do a Search of Wetpixel and you'll find lots of info on them) so when ambient light is good (e.g., with dolphins), you don't have to use strobes at all.

You'll also find the 50% more pixels useful, as it will allow you to crop quite aggressively and still have resulting images comparable to the 20D's "as shot" images. With whales and dolpins, you won't always have infinite time to compose your shots, so this feature alone makes the 5D preferable.

As for housings, both companies have excellent reputations, and I've owned both, but when I was recently helping my bro-in-law decide on a housing for his 20D, I suggested Aquatica because the price wasn't much more (still relatively inexpensive by uw housing standards) and it was more compact and seemed ergonomically superior. If you can look at both, try to do so, and you'll be able to decide which you like better.

P.S. Great macro shots, newfish. I love the dragonfly eyes!

If you've still not decided, there's an excellent deal for a 5d housing on eBay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ikelite-Canon-5D-housi...1QQcmdZViewItem

$900.00 for the setup being offered is a steal.

I purchased a Canon 5D, Ikelite Housing, 8" Dome and 100mm Macro Flat Port about 6 weeks ago. I took it on a trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef and The Coral Sea last month. Though the camera and Ikelite setup is a bit outside my current skill set, I was blown away by a few of the images I took. I'll post a few in the coming days.

I'm going to Grand Cayman for Eco Week and Digital Madness in SEP so I'll have a good opportunity to break the system in properly (as well as receive some much needed instruction).

See you there BotSO.

I'll be packing a 5D in Sea&Sea, so it'll be fun to see how the rigs differ. I'm right there with you on the "much needed instruction" comment.

Martyn

Below is a link to the images I took on my first dive trip with the 5D in the Ikelite Housing. Come to think of it, it's the first dive trip where I had a camera all to myself. I've got a long way to go but I'm pleased with my first shots.

All macro shots were taken with the Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro with the Ikelite flat port for the 100. The wide angle images were taken with the 24mm 1.4L in the 8" dome.

http://homepage.mac.com/basim/Outer%20GBR%...%20Coral%20Sea/

Special Thanks to the good people at Digital Diver in Cairns, Australia for all their help. Without them, I'd not have taken any photos at all.

http://www.digitaldiver.com.au