What exactly do I need to house a rebel xti?

Have a 20d, but wanted to have a smaller UW setup. Looking at a rebel xti & ikelite housing... but kind of in the dark when it comes to dslr housings - do I need to buy a port with the housing or is there a default one? If I want a smaller flash(no scuba), what would be the best choice?

$$, as always, is a concern; however, I rather get setup right rather than regret it later on.

Thank you!

I'm not sure what you mean by a smaller UW setup. The 20D housing will be exactly the same size as a xti housing (they acutally are the same housing, the only difference is where the buttons are). If you want to use an xti that's fine, but it will not be any smaller nor less expensive.

As far as ports go. No, there is not a default port. The port you need depends on which lens's you want to use. See ikelite's www.ikelite.com to find the port that is compatible with the lenses you will be using.

For flash's, on an Ikelite housing, you should use Ikelite strobes, other brands will work but only manual (no TTL). If you want smaller strobes, Ikelite's DS-51 strobe is nice and small. But it is not all that wide. So if you are going to be using a wide angle lens it may not give sufficient coverage. A DS-125 is much bigger but has a much wider coverage and more powerfull. Even better are two strobes.

I think Fantasea Line's new 400 xTi housing will be smaller, but I'd agree with the above that it's not going to be radical. Here's a shot of the prototype. The housings are due out next month, it does come with a standard port that will fit the kit and similar lenses as well as the 60mm macro.

Jack

Ryan, one of the site's sponsors and an allround good guy, posted some CAD renderings of an XTi housing from SeaTool earlier this month.

You can see them here.

This looks to be a lot more compact than Ikelite's housing, if small small small is your main driver.

BUT: there is more to this small thing than originally meets the eye. Ultrasmall housings have less displacement than larger competitors, which can make them heavier in the water and some people find them tiring to carry for hours a day on multiple dives. Once you hang handles and strobes and lanyards off the housing, the amount of drag from the smaller housing tends to catch up with the larger housings.

I second Craig's recommendation. If you're in the US, give Ryan at reefphoto.com a call and he'll set you up. In the meantime, you might want to ask yourself what you want to shoot and them tailor your setup to your needs. Do you want to shoot macro stuff/ little critters, fish portraits, or just wide angle with ambient light. Which lenses do you plan using?

And I also agree that while a small housing is good for traveling, the downside is that the low displacement will result in a heavier setup u/w. I've got a Xti in a small Sea & Sea housing. That paired with small Inon Z-240 strobes results in a pretty negative kit underwater and I'm struggling with various floats to offset it.

You might also want to take a look at this thread started by Alex Mustard... http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...mp;#entry116158

edit: Oh and one thing you might want to consider is to house your 20D... there were a good number of housings made for that camera and you might get lucky and find someone who's upgrading to a 5D and be able to pick up a second hand housing.