Fantasea F400D Housing for Canon Digital Rebel XTI

I'd like to take some photos underwater with my canon digital rebel xti but even a relatively cheap housing is way more than the camera. Since this is toward the budget end for a dslr camera I don't want to purchase a high end housing. With that in mind I think I am going to get a fantasea.

Has anyone used this yet and what are your impressions? Is it worth getting a dome port for this setup or is that just overkill on this budget housing?

I don't even own a stock lens. I have a ton of others though. I understand that the dome port is req for the 10-22mm lens so that is why I was thinking about it but that is something like $485 msrp. I wonder if my sigma 50mm f/2.8 1:1 macro will fit in the standard port. Maybe I'll just start with that. I don't want to waste money on the stock lens when I have all this L glass sitting around.

The Fantasea F400D is a pretty nice housing for the money. It is greatly improved (better handles, controls, latches, etc.) over previous models and customers are pretty happy with them. I've been shooting the similar FD80 for my Nikon D80 and for a value housing it performs quite well.

I think the standard port should fit your 50mm f2.8, although the Fantasea Port Table only shows the 50 f1.4 & f1.8 versions.

The dome port is expensive, the suppliers really raised the cost of them earlier this year. They have been in quite short supply, although it is getting better now. I've used in on my FD80 and it shoots fine. I guess it depends on what you want to shoot. I expect it's resale value to stand up fairly well. The port table shows that the Canon 10-22 fits well.

Hope that helps,

Jack

fyi - I live in chicago so cold great lakes wreck diving is one place I'll definitely be using the camera but I really got interested in getting something because I'm taking a trip to Bonaire in feb 08.

I was thinking the same on the sigma 50mm f2.8 based on having read the compatibility chart on fantaseas site.

How's their dome port compared to other options. Ikelite looks better and cheaper doesn't it?

Any word on new ports/zoom rings being made for other lenses? Their selection is pretty small.

Hows a 580ex flash (which i have) in the fantasea housing compare with some of the other common flash offerings (light output, coverage, usability, etc)? How well does it work together with a INON z240 with the optical trigger? Is the inon flash often necessary?

At least fantasea didn't skip on mounting buttons for some things like the menu and delete button that s & s missed right?

fyi - I live in chicago so cold great lakes wreck diving is one place I'll definitely be using the camera but I really got interested in getting something because I'm taking a trip to Bonaire in feb 08.

 

I was thinking the same on the sigma 50mm f2.8 based on having read the compatibility chart on fantaseas site.

How's their dome port compared to other options. Ikelite looks better and cheaper doesn't it?

Any word on new ports/zoom rings being made for other lenses? Their selection is pretty small.

Hows a 580ex flash (which i have) in the fantasea housing compare with some of the other common flash offerings (light output, coverage, usability, etc)? How well does it work together with a INON z240 with the optical trigger? Is the inon flash often necessary?

At least fantasea didn't skip on mounting buttons for some things like the menu and delete button that s & s missed right?

Their dome is 5" is works fine out to about 12mm in my experience. I usually recommend the Sigma 15mm FE for that camera. Not the largest and that is a limitation.

There are several other ports including a 100mm macro and a semi-dome, as well as a 15mm ext ring. I set up my D80 for a Sigma 17-70 macro with a dome port and ext ring. So there's options, not as many as other manfs though. They are working on that issue, but I can't give any idea of a time frame.

The ports use a unique velcro tape/plastic cam for the zoom control, so no focus gears. Sometimes that can double for man. focus, but generally no manual focus, or it's all or nothing during the dive.

The ports are aluminum and do have a double o-ring system, pretty beefy.

The F580ex (exII now) is a nice housing and give eTTL with the camera. I would use two of them if you want a second strobe with a optical sync cord between over an Inon for a second strobe. They are powerful and accurate, but not as wide as other offerings, IMHO.

Yes, Fantasea included the Delete and Menu buttons. another very nice feature if you are cold/warm water diving is that the handles adjust in/out in width for gloves/no gloves. I've added some soft bike handle bar grips on mine for $10.

Much more specific info is available from the F400D manual.

Jack