Best housing for 5D mark II

Hello!

I have both a 5D mark II and a 7D. I am in the market for an underwater housing for one of the 2. as of right now my intention is to use the 5D mark ii with the cannon 15mm fisheye. Any suggestions for good housings? in the past ive shot with a giant equinox hd10 for panasonic hpx-170, recently made the switch to the DSLR world. keep in mind this will be used in swimming pools as well as in lakes for water skiing and wake boarding, also some surf footage in the atlantic ocean. at the moment i do not intend on diving with it....but who knows. Also, i am shooting video, may take some stills for fun but the focus is video.

Thanks!!

ben

Hello!

 

I have both a 5D mark II and a 7D. I am in the market for an underwater housing for one of the 2. as of right now my intention is to use the 5D mark ii with the cannon 15mm fisheye. Any suggestions for good housings? in the past ive shot with a giant equinox hd10 for panasonic hpx-170, recently made the switch to the DSLR world. keep in mind this will be used in swimming pools as well as in lakes for water skiing and wake boarding, also some surf footage in the atlantic ocean. at the moment i do not intend on diving with it....but who knows. Also, i am shooting video, may take some stills for fun but the focus is video.

 

Thanks!!

 

ben

I'm partial to the Sea & Sea (probably cuz I own one and am trying to sell it! ) Check out my classified ad.

I've had a few people use mine and they really liked it...most say I'm crazy for getting rid of it....great rig for wide angle and low light situations.

Mike

Sea & Sea is the only 5d2 housing with thumb levers for af-on, star, and focus point selection. The command wheel access is very good, and the housing is small and light. Set isn't as close to the handle as I'd like, but is usable. I'm diving Zeiss 18 and a 5d Mk II in a Sea & Sea housing this weekend

Call Sean @ SPL

(858) 349-9037

Email: splwaterhousings@gmail.com

http://www.splwaterhousings.com/

Dive housings are too heavy for those uses.

Only good for 20-30 ft deep though.

If you are really serious about using a dSLR to shoot video then you will probably need to consider that the biggest problem (IMHO) is using the lcd on the rear of the camera to view and frame with. Whatever housing you get, ensure that there is a potential possibility of fitting a video feed for and to an external monitor. Whilst these may not be available as yet, I'm pretty sure that someone will have to come up with something soon. I use a Seacam (because I'm the supplier of Seacam in the UK/Ireland, just so that you are aware of my position/bias!) which has a 'spare' blanked off flash connection socket - this could easily be used to take a video feed. However on the Seacam whilst fitting such a feed is certainly possible, it will be fairly tight fit in the housing as there is not a vast amount of space on the LHS of the camera where it has to plug into the camera. Ideally check that in whatever housing you go for such a feed and socket can be fitted in future. Having used the camera extensively last year I can say that an external monitor (which will give no higher resolution than the lcd) would be a real advantage to accurate composition and focus especially in tight corners!

Agree with Cary. Don't know how you would hold steady and manipulate a heavy set-up like that for your proposed uses....unless you have arms and shoulders like a gorilla!

thanks for the feed back!! a few things to consider for my particualr needs.

first off, i will be locking off completely wide with a 15mm fisheye (or some other wide angle) so focus and zoom are not my biggest concern. i'm shooting action shots that are cut very quickly in the final product, so in the past with the hpx-170 in the equinox hd 10 ive just put a wide angle adapter on, stuck the iris on auto set my focus to m13 or whatever "magic number" i find works and jumped in.

as far as an external video source, as nice as that would be, it is not practical in for these particular shoots, although if i do begin to start diving with the camera obviously all of these suggestions will be take into account.

also, from what i have read sea and sea makes an incredible housing, my concern is that it is more than i need and pushing my budget a bit. ideally i would find a great housing for the 5dmii somewhere in the $1,500.00 - 2,000range. any suggestions?

Thanks again!!

Sea & Sea is the only 5d2 housing with thumb levers for af-on, star, and focus point selection. The command wheel access is very good, and the housing is small and light. Set isn't as close to the handle as I'd like, but is usable. I'm diving Zeiss 18 and a 5d Mk II in a Sea & Sea housing this weekend

How are you liking the Zeiss 18mm Ryan? Have you tried the 21mm? I assume you had a custom gear made for the 18mm.

Yeah, I'd forget about a dive housing and focus on a surf housing. They are designed from a totally different point of view.

It should be very easy to house and port the camera w/ 15mm fisheye.

Cheers

James

Yeah, I'd forget about a dive housing and focus on a surf housing. They are designed from a totally different point of view.

 

It should be very easy to house and port the camera w/ 15mm fisheye.

 

Cheers

James

So who makes a surf housing for the 5D MKII and what kind of controls does it have? I think that is the question Ben is asking.

My Sea & Sea has handled countless "hard" water entries, is light, and has all the necessary controls.

Mike

For a good surf housing try http://www.delmarhousings.com/

Mike,

I know you want to sell your housing and you're certainly promoting it here - but the Sea and Sea is NOT a surf housing, it's a dive housing.

Some good surf housings I know of are:

SPL, Delmar, and Aquatech.

They are made for shock, come with pistol grip options w/ remote trigger, pocketwizard housings, etc.

Cheers

James

Some good surf housings I know of are:

 

SPL, Delmar, and Aquatech.

 

They are made for shock, come with pistol grip options w/ remote trigger, pocketwizard housings, etc.

 

Cheers

James

I've researched them lately myself and the majority of pros I know are shooting these brands

with a few additional regional brands thrown in for good measure. Good call James.

I've researched them lately myself and the majority of pros I know are shooting these brands

with a few additional regional brands thrown in for good measure. Good call James.

What is the average cost of a surf housing for the 5D MKII?

James - I was promoting my Sea & Sea as it sounds like Ben wants to use it for pool work and light surf which the S&S can handle, but with a budget of less than $2K he can't afford mine.

I would consider buying a surf housing if I could get it for less than $2K....are there used ones on the market?

Mike

What is the average cost of a surf housing for the 5D MKII?

 

James - I was promoting my Sea & Sea as it sounds like Ben wants to use it for pool work and light surf which the S&S can handle, but with a budget of less than $2K he can't afford mine.

 

I would consider buying a surf housing if I could get it for less than $2K....are there used ones on the market?

 

Mike

Most of the used ones that I've seen on the market (Craigslist, Facebook) are for previous model cameras.

I have seen some surf housings retrofitted for newer body styles ie: 40D to 50D etc. Generally that includes

some sort of trade off control wise but people shooting in those situations generally utilize less controls than

we in the UW crowd do.

A new housing for the 5DII with a FE port is $1800 through SPL. (one of the housings I checked on personally).

They weigh about 3 pounds and have controls for the critical functions. You can also (at an additional cost) get

setups for Pocket Wizard control of off camera strobes.

Again these setups are only good to a depth of about 20-30 feet, so not for diving.

Call Sean @ SPL

 

(858) 349-9037

Email: splwaterhousings@gmail.com

http://www.splwaterhousings.com/

 

Dive housings are too heavy for those uses.

 

Only good for 20-30 ft deep though.

I'd agree that for "wet camera" uses rather than diving a sports housings is best.

Here is another option Aquatech