Help Finding 250' Housing

Hi Folks,

I received an email from a fellow that is in need of a housing for a wreck shoot at 250'

We are also currently looking into a digital SLR camera for some quality

stills, possibly magazine shots.  I have done some cave diving photography in the past and intend on shooting the Submarine using similar techniques.  We currently have access to two Sea and Sea strobes with slaves which we will be able to place them on and or around our targeted subjects.  A third strobe will most likely be mounted to the camera housing, also serving to fire the others two.

 

Our housing needs to be rated to about 250fsw.  We really don’t need a bunch of fancy features to play with since time is of the accents while diving SCUBA at  these depths.  Past experiences has shown me problems with certain triggering buttons at depth.  We are currently looking for at least a five mega pixel camera or better and a lens capable of opening up into the 20 mm range.  Price is always a consideration.  Risking a flood  with a $2500 camera doesn't immediately justify another mg pixel in this water clarity.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.   I am wondering if you or any of your subscribers would have any advice for our dive team on potential camera’s and housings.

So what would y'all recommend?

I've never taken my DSLR housing below 130' so I don't know how the buttons would function on a mechanical housing. I don't think TTL control is very important for them either. What about an electrically controlled housing like the Titan?

Cheers

James

I've been to 210' w/o trouble with my sea+sea 3060.

I haven't been below 160' with my aquatica, but my Titan E20 went to sub 200' depths on several occasions with no problems at all. YS 120s are not rated beyond 200'!

The Sealux CC10 is rated to 90m approx 300 ft.

Most other housings to 80m approx 270 ft.

250 matches 76.2 meters so most solid alumnium housings should do fine. As far as I know they get all tested down to 10bar = 90m - but the manufacturers like to have some security range.

So why worry?

Hi Andi,

I don't think the worry is so much about whether the housing will fail as it is "Will the controls work, and can I take photos?"

When you go to the extreme expense of doing a mixed gas dive to 250 - you don't want to get down there and find that all of the buttons are stuck in.

The manufacturers usually test their housings in a pressure chamber where they can test the housing integrity, but NOT test if the controls work.

Cheers

James

The Aquatica S2 housing works fine at 200 +.

Chris Bangs

Hi Chris,

Wow! What were you shooting down there? Care to share some photos?

Cheers

James

Hi James

I shoot mostly wide-angle shots along walls. Along the outer wall On Guam, seafans are almost non existent above 100 ft, but as you get deeper they bare more abundant. Below 200 ft there are areas that they are so plentiful it can be described as almost forest like.

I have also shoot some medium macro in the past using film as there are some very beautiful subjects than can not be found in shallower water on Guam. Macro is much more difficult to do deep due to the time it takes to set-up and take the shots.

I am at home now and all my images are at my office. I did post one of a huge fan (7 or 8 ft) at 200 ft on the DPforums gallery (link below). I managed to remove most of the Cyan cast that was present in the area around the sun. I was quite pleased with the overall shot in regards to color and sharpness. This one was shot on my 3rd dive with the camera in jpeg (fine) mode.

Fuji S2,Nikon 16 mm, dual SB-104 strobes (1/4 power). I will dig up the exif data when I get to the office.

http://dpforums.com/dpgallery/showphoto.ph...&cat=501&page=6

Hi,

FYI every Aquatica housing is tested to 350 ft and rated to 300 ft.

Give Aquatica a call to confirm.

Deep wreck photographer, Leigh Bishop, (his website) uses aquatica housings for his deep work.

At work we have taken digital shots at 15,000 ft. But that is using an ROV!

Alex

James you are right it is the issue with the buttons, not the housing. Except maybe the PT's.

L & M Tetra Housings are rated to 325'. They did have an issue with the spring strength in the shutter release being too strong for divers who use it in predominately shallow water and I understand that they softened the spring. Mine luckily has the stiffer one for deeper water. I have had it to 230 and it functioned flawlessly.

I would suggest the Tetra for a Oly 5050. It gives him the 5MP he wants in a very small package compared to DSLR's (which should also be a concern of his) Add the Inon 100 degree for 20MM or the 130 for something wider and he is good to go. Tell him to ask L&M about the spring strength so he gets the one he needs.

One other thing to consider will be to preset all of the camera controls for the planned shot for the dive, turn it all on before getting in the water, test fire it on the boat and dont turn anything off until back on the boat. At 250 there isnt time to do much of anything and task loading can add up pretty quick.

My only other question is what sub and is there still room on the boat?

I have posted a couple of shots on the dpforums site ( I like the gallery feature for several reasons, and it saves space on the Wetpixel server). Anyway, Two of the images were taken at or below 60 m (200 ft). one, wide angle "sea fan" (16 mm) and another macro "Coral on Coral" (60 mm). Sorry, I am not good at coming up with creative titles for my shots. There is also a shot of a moray taken at 18 m.

All controls work fine at depth. I have also used an Ike housing well below 200 ft and the only issue with it is that any control that requires it to be pushed (inserted deeper in the housing) tended to lock in the down position due to the pressure, otherwise no other trouble.

On another note I was quite pleased with the 60 mm micro on the S2. I usually use a 105 but I am still waiting to get my extension ring, therefor I used to 60. I still think that this lens is a must have due to the wide range of subject size it can capture.

this is the link to my gallery

http://dpforums.com/dpgallery/showgallery....user=22&cat=500

Chris

Hopefully someday I will actually create a web site as I have a lot of server space available.

Chris

Chris,

They use "photopost" one of the PHP gallery packages. We have something similar (but better of course) in the works.

Cheers

James

Hi James

Do you ever sleep?

I look forward to having such a feature on wetpixel. I actually prefer this forum because underwater photography is my passion but I also do a lot of studio work here in Japan (it finances my underwater addiction) and the DPforum has been quite helpful.

This January I will once again escape the snow of Japan and return to Guam for about 2 1/2 months. There, my cost of living is supported be my "underwater paparazzi gig (tourist photos). Then I will finally be able to fine tune my digital skills. I also plan to push Macro to the limit (10:1 +).

BTW contrary to some reviews, The S2 performs Excellent in a Studio environment!

Chris