Canon D40

Hi to everybody,

up to now I took my underwater photos with a full featured Sony DSC F717, Ikelite housing, DS51. Now I bought a Canon D40 and I wish to buy the stuff to bring it in the water. Looking at some posts, I have the impression that a good solution for me could be to buy a canon 60mm macro and a Tokina 10-17 fisheye. Housing Ikelite with a DS125.

My I have some comments or hints about this stuff or alternative suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Ettore

You bought a Canon D40?

Hi Ettore,

Welcome to Wetpixel. It's easy to get confused, Canon makes a 40D, which is a 10.2 M pixel camera, about $900 now. Great camera! I think one of the lesser camera companies build a D40, 6M pixel about $300 now. Nice camera too. The system you want to build up kind of depends on the kind of photography you are interested in. Both of the lenses you mentioned are very well regarded here. There are also a bunch of Ikelite housing owners here who can help you with specific questions. You might want to checkout the Sea & Sea and the other mid range housings just so you can say you shopped around.

Steve

Hi to everybody,

 

up to now I took my underwater photos with a full featured Sony DSC F717, Ikelite housing, DS51. Now I bought a Canon D40 and I wish to buy the stuff to bring it in the water. Looking at some posts, I have the impression that a good solution for me could be to buy a canon 60mm macro and a Tokina 10-17 fisheye. Housing Ikelite with a DS125.

 

My I have some comments or hints about this stuff or alternative suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance

Ettore

Assuming you mean a 40D, Ikelite is the least expensive housing AFAIK. After that you would be moving into housings such as the Aquatica, Sea & Sea and the rest. Personally I would lean towards the Aquatica Sea & Sea or the other housings other than the Ikelite. (There was some recent thread but for some reason I cannot find them right now discussing the pros and cons.) Big advantage of Ike's TTL and less money. The others rated deeper and the controls are probably a bit better to deal with.

The 60mm is something that is often recommended as a good one to start with. Do a quick serach for 60mm Canon and you will pull up a couple of real good threads

Here is an example of the Sea & Sea 40D housing with a macro port. I've had both Ikelite (for my previous camera, a 20D) and the Sea & Sea for my 40D. The ergonomics are certainly better with the Sea & Sea housing, it is smaller to pack and drive underwaterand it supports all the controls on the 40D, including the multicontroller. But between the housing and port costs - it is a little over 2x the Ikelite cost

I switched to Sea & Sea because I hate the port lock (lack of) on Ike housings, I was always afraid of a port getting knocked off in the rinse tank or getting into or out of the boat. The Ike ports are great at depth, where the pressure locks them securely -but scare me on the surface.

But for full disclosure, after shelling out the money for the Sea & Sea housing (and never flooding an Ikelite housing in over 300 dives) - I flooded my 40D on the 15th dive. Think it was a little piece of lint on the rear o-ring. Everything was insured and is now replaced/repaired - and I'm back in action for a trip to the Flower Gardens in 4 weeks

You might also check out the Seatool housing (I think Reef Photo carries it). If you have optical TTL strobes (Inon's or newer Sea & Seas) - their housing is designed with an optical port to allow the internal strobe to trigger external TTL strobes (or manual control, for that matter). So you get rid of sync cords and expensive TTL controllers - kind of cool approach.

I've been on the same track and collected an extensive range of information on housing options for the 40D (based on reviews here and company websites).

Last month I bite the bullet and got the Seatool housing. Main concerns for me were the size of the housing and the ability to use my Inon strobes with optical trigger and the mid range price.

For now I've got the 10-17 tokina FE with the Domeport and the Sigma 17-70macro with the flatport. The last lens got good reviews here in the forum and also performs well above water. I did not take the kitlens.

This weekend it will get its first pool dip

PM me if you want me to sent the documents I collected. (taken from the websites, thus I don't think I can post that here).

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. Sorry for the mistake, of course I meant a Canon EOS 40D!

I have to take a quick decision because in two weeks I will be in New York from Italy and I think I will buy my stuff at B&H. I checked Sea&Sea but I've the impression that it is to much for me. Probabily I will stay with Ikelite.

I will appreciate any other suggestion that you can give to me.

Ettore

I've been on the same track and collected an extensive range of information on housing options for the 40D (based on reviews here and company websites).

 

Last month I bite the bullet and got the Seatool housing. Main concerns for me were the size of the housing and the ability to use my Inon strobes with optical trigger and the mid range price.

For now I've got the 10-17 tokina FE with the Domeport and the Sigma 17-70macro with the flatport. The last lens got good reviews here in the forum and also performs well above water. I did not take the kitlens.

This weekend it will get its first pool dip

 

PM me if you want me to sent the documents I collected. (taken from the websites, thus I don't think I can post that here).

Hello Rusty,

I'd appreciate a lot if you could send to me the documents you collected.

Hi to everybody,

 

up to now I took my underwater photos with a full featured Sony DSC F717, Ikelite housing, DS51. Now I bought a Canon D40 and I wish to buy the stuff to bring it in the water. Looking at some posts, I have the impression that a good solution for me could be to buy a canon 60mm macro and a Tokina 10-17 fisheye. Housing Ikelite with a DS125.

 

My I have some comments or hints about this stuff or alternative suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance

Ettore

Ettore,

Don't let the good-natured teasing put you off. Whether you call your camera a 40D or a D40, you made a nice choice. (I'm saying that because I just bought one as well.)

I've had a 20D and, well, I just couldn't justify buying a housing for a camera that old (with a viewfinder that small). The 5D was CONSIDERABLY more expensive (though complaining about price in underwater photography is a bit ironic when you explain to "normal" friends and family how much you spent "just" to take pictures under water.)

Thanks to the gang at Backscatter (www.backscatter.com), I was able to "test dive" a 40D in a Sea&Sea housing at the Bonaire Digital Shootout this year and, I gotta tell you, that was a nice ride. I'm fortunate to have friends who loan me bigger rigs (1DS Mark III's in Seacam housings) and it's always tough to drive another car after a fully-loaded Mercedes, but this Sea&Sea does it for me nicely.

I considered a clear housing if, for no other reason than you can see when it's flooding much more quickly. But if you take care of your gear, and treat o-rings well, that shouldn't be a problem.

I guess make that another vote for Sea and Sea.

Daniel Brown

www.downloadculture.com