Housing for Canon 10D

I recently purchased a Canon 10 D and am trying to decide on a housing for it.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments on one that they either have or have heard about?

Is the Subal really worth the price or can I go with a less expensive manufacturer?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Right now you have a few choices:

Subal

UK-Germany

Jonah

Ikelite (prolly be a coupla months)

Others I can't remember

Those are probably listed in price order from most $$$ to least $$$

When making your choice, some things to think about are: help getting service - local is a plus. Choice of ports for the lenses you use, quality, materails, etc.

HTH

James

PS, probably by the time you decide, Canon will announce a 10D replacement...:-)

Hi Scubajack,

I have a 10D too, and have been using the Jonah housing since November last year. The list above is pretty comprehensive, but one housing you might want to hold out for is the Inon one.

For more information, check the news archive from a couple of months ago -- looks like it might support TTL with Inon strobes, the only housing to do so for the 10D if you believe the Japanese translation.

The INON housing does sound sexy, and I've been waiting with bated breath for it to become available; but, I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever see production.

i know me too!!! i was in contact with mark from inon america some days back and he was saying that an announcement will be imminent. also i think that there is a big camera gig in tokyo this week end (in parallel with pma) where we may get to hear more about it, i hope...

/paul

Having put the Subal C10 housing through 42 dives and over 3000 images, I can highly recommend it. I've shot the EF 15mm FE, EF16-35L, 50mm f2.5 Macro, EF28-105 and Tamron 90mm Macro with it. My strobe setup is 2 S&S YS120 strobes on manual...

Stu

My C10 is finally on its way. I should have it by this weekend, now if I can just find the time to get in the water ;-)

I had the C10 in my hands at the BOOT Exhibition. That is a nice Housing. Very Heavy and very ergonomic ... but awful expensive :-(

Simon

Ewa-marine seems to have not been mentioned on the list of housing manufacturers above. I can guarantee that they make a housing 'suitable' for the 10D, with full eTTl support no less!

I wish aquatica would make a housing. If they have eTTL sorted as is claimed, it wouldn't be hard for them to make a ttl 10D housing.

Otherwise I think Ike may be the best bet for an affordable housing, plus they say they're working on ettl. Who knows, they may have it sorted by the time the 10D housing is released!

Other than that, the available housings seem to be either very expensive or available with somewhat limited support.

Thanks for the advice so far. I priced the subal and jonah housing today and I found the subal for around $4700 and the jonah around $2000.

The only really big difference between the two that I can see is the glass vs. plastic domes. Is it worth the $2700 for glass or is the jonah going to give me what I'm looking for. I'd prefer to save the cash and go with the jonah, but in two months I don't want to regret it and be trying to buy the subal housing anyway.

What do you think?

And does anyone know a cheaper place to purchase the housings?

Acrylic is optically very good - better than most glass, but not "optical glass."

Look at it this way - and this is just my opinion - why pay $4,700 to house a $1,400 camera?????

I would be realistic - how long are you going to be satisfied with the 10D before you want to buy a new model?

That's why I usually recommend buying a "reasonably" priced camera and housing - unless you use the rig to make money (pro).

Cheers

James

PS, not to confuse the issue, but I think you should be able to get the Subal housing for less.

$4700 for the subal looks to expensive.... It is priced around 2900€ (including 16% Sales Tax) here in Germany and I think i is not more expensive in the US.

It is still expensive but not at this levels.

I Just looked at the site of Marine Camera Distribution. They Sell the Subal D60 Housing for 2900$ and Subal sells the D60 and the 10D Housing for the exact same price.

But if I had a 10D yand could wait till April I would buy an I Iklite housing.

Simon

the $4700 is for the complete system - housing, ports and extensions - not just the housing. The housing alone is $2900, but the ports are what really drive the cost up. The flat port for macro is $185 but the fish eye port is $1100. add to that extension tubes and zoom ring gears and it adds up. Also, consider that while the 10D body is $1400, throw on a $1400 16-35L lens and you have a considerable investment in your hands that is risking total loss in the event of a flood.

I'm not saying this justifies the higher cost of the Subal, believe me I looked around at everything currently available and just feel the Subal is getting the most positive reviews from everyone shooting housed Canon cameras today. Aside from the cost, I haven't seen anything "bad" about the housing. Subal is a well established company with strong US presence in every major underwater camera retailer. You get easy US support through these retailers and service is easily available. Something which cannot be said for many of the european housing vendors when it comes to their US customers.

Eric, the broken record: you cannot hit * at the same time as the shutter, unless, of course, they have changed their design.

Most people don't use it, because they have never shot that way. So maybe it's not a big deal.

Eric, so which one are u suggesting?

I have spoke to a few people and they have told me that jonah has worked out their initial "problems." does anyone dive with this housing? is it any good?

FWIW...my friend and I have done rather extensive testing with the Subal FE port v.s. their standard 6"D DP-SW ports....with the reduced image of the 10D, you cannot notice any difference in sharpness. This was using the Canon EF 15mm FE. I've also shot the EF16-35L behind the DP-SWC and with a +4 diopter, you can almost touch the subject with the port and still render it sharp. I believe the DP-SW ports are MUCH cheaper than the FE2.

As for Eric's comment, having been used to shooting by the half shutter button method, I don't miss the "*" button.

My only complaint about Subal is that they changed their zoom gear size changed and I had to get new gears...

Stu

Stu - have you tried shooting super macro with the "half-way down" method? It may drive you crazy.

Hey Eric,

I've shot the 90mm Tamron with a +4 screw on AND an external diopter...works ok =)...full frame pygmy seahorse pics...that was on film, this is with the 10D, and Woody Mayhew's diopter...

http://www.scan-conversions.com/kualapygmy.jpg

Stu

Hey -- that's pretty good. I have had some good luck with 100mm and diopters, but as soon as the 2X goes on, autofocus ... starts to not work so well. I could not use the half-down method with the 2X converter.

Come with me to the Philppines sometime...my next attempt will be with the Tamron 90 with a 2x tamron telecon and then a screw on +4 diopter...on a reduced frame DSLR, that's likely a 3:1 if not better! There's a mimic nudi over there that is a "touch" small... =)

Stu