S&S MDX-40D housing!

Well my new Sea & Sea MDX-40D housing arrived this morning at the office. A very nice piece of work I must say. I am liking the ergonomics of this housing already (pretty much in line with Eric Cheng's comments from DEMA about these new housings). Shutter trigger and control dials are in nice reach of your right hand without having let go of the handle. Maybe not as sleek as the Subal 40D housing which has some pretty ingenious gearing to relocate the dial controls, but still nice nonetheless.

Will have to wait til after work to post some pics. Might have to drag out the semi-dry and take the housing for a test run locally... brrrr ....

Aren't you heading to the Philippines in a couple of weeks?

I tested my MKIII housing yesterday, really love the controls!

You really need the semi-dry, around 17 C yesterday.

Cheers

Stone, wanna trade I promise I'll return your MKIII and 1Ds III

OK, a few shots of the MDX-40D (40D w/ the 100mm macro)

There are better quality studio photos of the housing on www.backscatter.com here.

Fits like a glove

Sideview with the shutter, focus lock, top dial, and rear dial all within reach of your right hand from the handle.

Looks good Pak. Let us know when you get it wet.

Still waiting for mine

OK, a few shots of the MDX-40D (40D w/ the 100mm macro)

Looks great, have fun with it. Being able to see the info like that looks great.

BTW, how do you find the live view? I know some people have been going back and forth on it, but it seems that in the Live View the focusing is faster than the 30D according in a timing test, something like .15 of a second instead of .24 of a second. Curious how you find it in the real world

Sorry to disappoint Drew, but Pakman doesn't live in the real world! He lives in a Gordon Gekko esque world of fast cars, faster women, and champagne breakfasts. The only think he aspires to is one day owning a Nikon camera system...

Other than that, nice new toy, Pak. Did you add a star filter to take the shots or is your lens really dirty?!

Simon LOL... you like that star effect? Spent a good 1hr on photoshopping that in...

Drew, really don't know how LiveView is going to perform u/w until I can get it into the water. As long as your lens AF is fast enough, possibly the lag between focus lock and hitting the trigger might be short enough. Maybe it'll work with a 60mm, not sure at 100mm or longer.

As Ryan mention in a previous thread, it might be fun to use for wide angle shots with a large DOF.

Sorry to disappoint Drew, but Pakman doesn't live in the real world! He lives in a Gordon Gekko esque world of fast cars, faster women, and champagne breakfasts.

I like that version of reality

really? last time i saw him he was drinking warm Bintang and had to leave quick cuz the wife was telling him to clean her dive gear and pay for her spa treatment..

Just a few comments about the housing.

There seems to be a little more play between my old compact macro ports and the housing compared to my old 350D housing which was quite snug. Not so much that I'm concern about a compromise to the port o-ring, but there is a slight movement. But since the S&S's have a port lock, it probably shouldn't be a concern.

The main o-ring sits a bit loosely in the groove. In my old 350D housing, you had to pretty much use the o-ring removal tool to pry it out of the groove. With this MDX-40D, the o-ring pops out even with the slightest touch. Will make it interesting when I have to switch ports between dives on a boat. I'll have to make a mental note to make sure the o-ring is sitting properly.

Pretty much all the buttons and dials work well. The only gripe I have here is that the gears on the top command dial doesn't grip into the camera that well and it takes an awful lot of spins to change your shutter speed around.

One note to people planning on using the 40D LiveView feature underwater with strobes. In the Function Settings menu for LiveView, select Disable for the Silent Shoot mode, otherwise the strobes will not fire (pg 106 & 113 in the English 40D manual has the bit about using non-Canon strobes with LiveView).

Just a few comments about the housing.

 

There seems to be a little more play between my old compact macro ports and the housing compared to my old 350D housing which was quite snug. Not so much that I'm concern about a compromise to the port o-ring, but there is a slight movement. But since the S&S's have a port lock, it probably shouldn't be a concern.

 

The main o-ring sits a bit loosely in the groove. In my old 350D housing, you had to pretty much use the o-ring removal tool to pry it out of the groove. With this MDX-40D, the o-ring pops out even with the slightest touch. Will make it interesting when I have to switch ports between dives on a boat. I'll have to make a mental note to make sure the o-ring is sitting properly.

 

Pretty much all the buttons and dials work well. The only gripe I have here is that the gears on the top command dial doesn't grip into the camera that well and it takes an awful lot of spins to change your shutter speed around.

 

One note to people planning on using the 40D LiveView feature underwater with strobes. In the Function Settings menu for LiveView, select Disable for the Silent Shoot mode, otherwise the strobes will not fire (pg 106 & 113 in the English 40D manual has the bit about using non-Canon strobes with LiveView).

Pak,

Those don't seem great news to me. Everything that creates a higher chance of flood is not welcome. Let's see if we get any answer from Sea&Sea here.

In terms of the command dial, I would check whether this is not a defect. When I got the second housing, I had the same problem with the mode dial. I changed it to another one and it worked fine after that.

Cheers,

Nuno

Nuno, I wouldn't get to carried away there. The mount and the seal is secure. I am just commenting that I see a little more play on this housing port mount vs my old 350D.

just turned photos on, damn that screen on the camera is huge!

Nuno, I wouldn't get to carried away there. The mount and the seal is secure. I am just commenting that I see a little more play on this housing port mount vs my old 350D.

Good to hear

Hey Pakman, What's the black plastic looking disc on the front lower right? Is that the new Sea & Sea drain feature? Looks great partner, Can't wait for mine to show up. Sounds like Simon is jealous.

Steve

In terms of the command dial, I would check whether this is not a defect. When I got the second housing, I had the same problem with the mode dial. I changed it to another one and it worked fine after that.

After more time fondling the new housing tonite and giving it a dunk test in the tub (sad I know...), the gear is engaging properly. It's just the way that top dial gears are set up - the gear is angled - like a pencil tip. This results in it taking more turns to get it moving.

Steve, brilliant! a drain... lemme try screwing that off while it's in the bath tub.

just turned photos on, damn that screen on the camera is huge!

it's great for viewing midget porn

great, now Dean will start posting on this thread...

Forgot to mention. Did a quick buoyancy test of the 40D + Canon 100mm macro lens, Athena focus ring (light plastic) and housing with port combo of Compact Macro Port Base + Compact macro Port 52. Not that bad. In water (fresh), it was approx 0.6kg negative. Might be better with the ABS custom port that most people use with their 100mm macro (more air space in that port).

With the Stix floats (on Inon arms) and Inon Z-240's, I reckon the entire kit will be just slightly negative.