Canon mark III housings and lenses.

Hi,

Fist off I'm currently growing out of my canon 20D and am thinking of buying the sexy new Canon 1D mark III, while there are no underwater house out there for it now, I'm just speculating the total cost, and I am in need of some guidance.

Am also new to the underwater photography so please bear with me.

So I wanted to ask, what lenses can be used/are good to use underwater, and what kind of flashes would any of you recommend with the mark III.

Any advice would be nice.

cheers from windy Iceland

Krissi

Hi Krissi,

Welcome to Wetpixel. A few of us here have used the 1DmkII underwater, so you can get some good advice. Since the camera has a 1.25x crop, you'll want something pretty wide to use. I liked to use the Sigma 15mm fisheye, and the Sigma 12-24 wideangle zoom. The 16-35L and 17-40L are also nice, but don't give as wide a field of view.

I think you can look fwd to housings by Seacam, Subal, and perhaps Nexus and Sea and Sea. Expect to pay >$5,000 for a housing, plus ports.

Cheers

James

Welcome to Wetpixel

thank you and for the advice.

One more question, do I need a port for each lens ?

Does anyone know of a online guide ?

Thanks again,

krissi

ps. So Canon 24-70L f2.8 is out of the question ?

No, you don't need a port for each lens. You can usually get by with a dome port + extensions, and a macro/flat port + extensions. Just have a look around at the port charts on our sponsors' pages.

You can use the 24-70 underwater with some housings. As you know it is a "fat" lens, so you will need a housing that has a big port opening. Also check to make sure you can get a zoom gear.

Cheers

James

Hi again, and thanks for the reply.

Now I done some researching and still a bit lost.

Now I'm looking for a good combination for uw and land photography. Now as far I can tell, I need a wide angle and one macro.

I have two setups I'm thinking about

1. Mark III with 15mm fisheye, 25-70 L f/2.8 and 50mm macro.

2. Mark III 16-35mm II f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.8 for ( the 50mm for land use).

Now I read the 16-35 review on this forum but not sure what to make of it

Can anyone please comment on my choice?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

krissi.

Which MkIII camera are you looking at getting?

Cheers

James

Canon 1D mark III ( 1.3 crop factor )

Hi again, and thanks for the reply.

 

Now I done some researching and still a bit lost.

 

Now I'm looking for a good combination for uw and land photography. Now as far I can tell, I need a wide angle and one macro.

 

I have two setups I'm thinking about

1. Mark III with 15mm fisheye, 25-70 L f/2.8 and 50mm macro.

2. Mark III 16-35mm II f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.8 for ( the 50mm for land use).

 

Now I read the 16-35 review on this forum but not sure what to make of it

 

Can anyone please comment on my choice?

 

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

krissi.

Krissi - Please don't take my reservations about the 16-35II on the full frame 1DsMKII as a negative for the MKIII. First, I am now better satisfied now that I have settled on my custom 57.5mm port extension and the 9" superdome. But, more significantly, the only issues I had were in the extreme corners, and those offending areas of softness would be cut off by the crop factor on your 1DMKIII. Then again, the 16-35II might not be quite wide enough for some applications because of the crop, but since it is extremely sharp in the center, it should still be a very useful optic.

If I were to house a MKIII, I'd first go for a 15mm fisheye, 16-35II, and the Sigma 50mm macro (the Canon 50mm macro only goes to 1:2.5 and your 50mm f-1.8 won't be a terrific lens underwater). You could add a 100mm Canon macro and you'd have a very complete system.

That's an excellent suggestion by Stephen and about what I shot when I was using a 1DmkII underwater. I also added a 100mm macro lens and a 12-24 Sigma for really wide angle.

The fisheye w/ the 1.3 crop really gives a nice field of view too.

Cheers

James