Housing for Canon 450D: Assistance required

Hey all,

I am upgrading my system and plan to put my canon 450D underwater. Due to cost restraints the only options I can consider are Ikelite and the Sea and Sea RDX 450D.

Does anyone know if the RDX is a decent housing. I will be using the 18-55mm is lens to start with. The RDX comes with a flat port, which I think will change the 18 to like a 25 or something.

currently have a DS51 ike strobe.

Are sea and sea any good?

Should I get a sea and sea lens to do ttl?

Is flat port wast of time?

Which set up would you recomend?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Hey all,

I am upgrading my system and plan to put my canon 450D underwater. Due to cost restraints the only options I can consider are Ikelite and the Sea and Sea RDX 450D.

 

Does anyone know if the RDX is a decent housing. I will be using the 18-55mm is lens to start with. The RDX comes with a flat port, which I think will change the 18 to like a 25 or something.

 

currently have a DS51 ike strobe.

 

Are sea and sea any good?

Should I get a sea and sea lens to do ttl?

Is flat port wast of time?

Which set up would you recomend?

 

Any assistance would be appreciated.

The main things I don't like about the S&S RDX is that it is rather bulky compared to most SLR housings (but not the Ikelite), and assuming you want to use a double handle tray, you have to take it off the tray in order to open the back because the buckle/latches are so large. This could get to be a little tedious if you're swapping memory/batteries 4-5 times per day.

I'm pretty sure the RDX comes with NO port standard.

Your Canon 450D camera has a 1.6x crop factor so the 'kit' 18-55 lens is effectively 29-88mm. Then when you add a flat port I believe the angle of view is closer to a ~36mm effective lens at the wide end.

Not sure what you mean by "Should I get a sea and sea lens to do ttl?" Do you mean should you get a Sea&Sea strobe to do TTL? If that's the question then yes the S&S YS-110A with optical sync cable will do TTL with the RDX-450. Or one of the Inon strobes.

If you really want to use the Canon 18-55 kit lens, then I would recommend looking at the Athena dome port for the Canon 18-55 which will preserve the 29mm angle of view. http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=p...roducts_id=3460

I've been trying to find a suitable housing for the Canon T1i/500D but I've just about given up hope finding one that meets my requirements so I will probably end up getting the Sea&Sea MDX-40D for a Canon 50D body.

thanks for the advise. I think I will not go the sea and sea housing. Taking the handle off all the time seems like a pain. The ike will be heaps more bulky but the doem port is much cheaper. thanks also for the crop advise. so with my cam body 18 becomes 29 i get that now. Is there anything I can do short of buying a new camera body to reduce the crop?

The handles are a non-existent problem. The Grip-stay L has a quick release, push one lever and its off the tray.

The RDX is an extremely well-made housing, ergonomic and easy to use. Very light in and out of the water, well-balanced. Certainly no bigger than most DSLRs.

No flat port is going to give the same angle of coverage. You can go to a CX dome and gain the angle back, but you'd be better off buying a wider lens like the Tonina 10-17 which is also supported.

The Ike DS-51 isn't going to play well as it uses and external flash converter.

Jack

Hi Matt,

You could think about putting a wider lens on your camera. The Tokina 10-17 is a favorite of the folks here. Much less expensive than a full frame body and housing. Before you give up on the S&S or pick any housing for that matter I highly recommend you get to one of the Wetpixel sponsors and get different housings in your hands to try them out. The flat port you asked about is great for lenses like the Canon 60mm macro. What part of the world do you live in?

Cheers,

Steve

hey steve,

Your not Jawsdad on flickr are you. I live in sydney australia. I like the idea of the tonkia wide angle. Im told if i go the ike with the six inch dome I can use the 18-55 and once im used to that I can use a wider angle which will fit into the same port.

hey steve,

Your not Jawsdad on flickr are you.

Yep, that would be me. I just noticed that the US prices for S&S are going up, at least on the Backscatter web site. I've got to say I'm not crazy about Sea& Sea's idea of seperating the handles and charging an extra $300 for them. I'm not sure where the Sydney folks buy their equipment, but hopefully they will jump in here and give you a hand. Just to confuse you further Patima makes an all Aluminum housing for the 450D. It's shown here on the Divervision site. I have no knowledge of the Patima stuff so I'd do more research before jumping in. Just fun to see what's available.

Cheers matt,

Steve

I've been trying to find a suitable housing for the Canon T1i/500D but I've just about given up hope finding one that meets my requirements so I will probably end up getting the Sea&Sea MDX-40D for a Canon 50D body.

Patima launched Canon 500D housing last week (in Korea). I still wonder what modification should be needed for 500D housing as 450D and 500D are almost same bodies in size and buttons. However, they introduced a new one and it costs more.

Patima launched Canon 500D housing last week (in Korea). I still wonder what modification should be needed for 500D housing as 450D and 500D are almost same bodies in size and buttons. However, they introduced a new one and it costs more.

From the photos I've seen the new Patima 500D looks exactly like the Patima 450D and the 450D does not have support for a zoom/focus control knob. Therefore no zoom control unless it's builtin to the ports you want to use. I was told there's no zoom solution for the Tokina 10-17 with the Patima housing. Therefore it was added to my list of 'failed' housings.

The handles are a non-existent problem. The Grip-stay L has a quick release, push one lever and its off the tray.

 

The RDX is an extremely well-made housing, ergonomic and easy to use. Very light in and out of the water, well-balanced. Certainly no bigger than most DSLRs.

The Grip-Stay L adds $300+ to the price and the housing sits on top of the tray rather than having handles that integrate with the housing. I measured and the RDX-450 with the Grip Stay L is well over 2" taller than the MDX-40D.

Seatool! 450D and the 500 both fit the housing. I put a ULCS tray and handle on mine as I think $300 for tray/grips is over the top.

From the photos I've seen the new Patima 500D looks exactly like the Patima 450D and the 450D does not have support for a zoom/focus control knob. Therefore no zoom control unless it's builtin to the ports you want to use. I was told there's no zoom solution for the Tokina 10-17 with the Patima housing. Therefore it was added to my list of 'failed' housings.

I'm interested in a housing for the 500D as well. What is on your list of passing housings? I was surprised to read your comment about the lack of zoom support for the Tokina 10-17. Is this a problem with any others as I will be shooting the same lens.

Is there a good resource to compare housings? Manufacturer's information is sparse.

Thanks,

Ben

thanks so far for the help people

Well in Aus the Ikelite housing is about half as much as any other housing on the market. For all its advantages I keep hearing that it is very very bulky. Does anyone shoot with ike, or know anyone who does that might be able to shed some light on the subject? OR should I be saving for the twice as much Al housings. I was plannign to get the cheap housing and spend other money on lens

Any thoughts/suggestions

Thanks

From the photos I've seen the new Patima 500D looks exactly like the Patima 450D and the 450D does not have support for a zoom/focus control knob. Therefore no zoom control unless it's builtin to the ports you want to use. I was told there's no zoom solution for the Tokina 10-17 with the Patima housing. Therefore it was added to my list of 'failed' housings.

 

 

 

 

The Grip-Stay L adds $300+ to the price and the housing sits on top of the tray rather than having handles that integrate with the housing. I measured and the RDX-450 with the Grip Stay L is well over 2" taller than the MDX-40D.

Patima has EF-S 10-22 ring w/ zoom, which can be used with dome port. They say you can control the zoom outside the port.

I once told them about 10-17 zoom port, but it's not in their interest.

Though ports are limited, it looks good for its price and sockets for fiber optic cables.

Patima has EF-S 10-22 ring w/ zoom, which can be used with dome port. They say you can control the zoom outside the port.

I once told them about 10-17 zoom port, but it's not in their interest.

Though ports are limited, it looks good for its price and sockets for fiber optic cables.

As far as I can find out, there is still no feasible solution for Patima and Tokina 10-17, am I wrong?

Cheers

O

thanks so far for the help people

 

Well in Aus the Ikelite housing is about half as much as any other housing on the market. For all its advantages I keep hearing that it is very very bulky. Does anyone shoot with ike, or know anyone who does that might be able to shed some light on the subject? OR should I be saving for the twice as much Al housings. I was plannign to get the cheap housing and spend other money on lens

 

Any thoughts/suggestions

Than

Steve:-)

I currently shoot with a 500d in a Sea and Sea RDX450 housing with two Inon strobes. I use a Canon 60mm and a Canon 18-55 behind the flat port and happy with results. This set up for macro and fish shots is great but currently thinking about a 10-17 Tonkina which will require a new port. This set up is negatively buoyant even with the float arms so you need to think about floats of some description. Was lucky that my buddy was still underwater when I dropped the kit after knocking the clip attaching it to my BCD climbing back into the boat and watched it drop down into 26m of water.

The fibre optic with TTL on the Inon strobe works well. Has little rubber plugs for the housing that I have tied to the housing with dental floss as they tend to pop out and easy to lose. The 18-55 require gears so that you can use the zoom dial of the housing.

I've had an RDX 450 for my T1i/500D for a year and it's worked out really well. The only weak point is the tray that screws into your tripod mount and holds the camera in the housing-- if you're not careful it won't click in all the way, and then the shutter release might not depress all the way. I haven't had any problems with the optical cable popping out.

I also have the Grip Stay L. It costs too much and weighs too much, but otherwise it's very well designed, and I wouldn't take my housing without two handles. I don't mind taking it off to open the housing. It's easy to remove (when you want to). I'm considering copying the design and machining a replacement in delrin with buoyancy handles. For now I use zip ties to attach some Stix floats.

Elron