Canon 300D firmware hack

check out this link:

http://www.bahneman.com/liem/photos/tricks...bel-tricks.html

The new Russian 300D firmware hack now supports one-shot AF which has got to be a good thing underwater.

Damn it, the hackers may yet turn the DigiReb into a useful camera!

I see you downgrading for the Aquatica housing?

This firmware hack makes the 300D more attractive.

I share your conflict. Did you decide?

But one question left. what looks better, 10D in the ewa-marine bag or 300D in Aquatica housing

But however, both solutions offer E-TTL

Julian

Julian, IMHO the 10D in Ewa-Marine is less likely to impress chicks than the aluminium Aquatica/300D combo. However, Ewa-marine's E-TTL implementation appears to function much better.

Hey, how come your Austrian cousins can make Seacam housings and the best you Germans can come up with is a crappy plastic bag?? ("Made in West Germany" as it says on the housing).

In terms of decisions - if Aquatica's ICU functioned I'd be very tempted to house a 300D with firmware hack installed. It would work for what I want to do. But shooting with a 300D would ultimately annoy me, and there's no imminent upgrade path if you're a Canon Aquatica shooter. I do like the thought of using the 300D just as an underwater camera, as it's price makes it 'semi-disposable'.

At this stage it looks like I'll be buying an Ike 10D if they're ever released and getting the E-TTL circuits retrofitted (if they're ever invented). Several unknown quantities there. I've already got Ike strobe/sync cord.arms etc, so it will save me a bit of money there too to go with the Ikelite system. But really, I just want to get the 10D back in the water. I took it diving last weekend in that well-manufactured ziplock bag (which I think is the first time I've taken it down on Scuba), and I was pretty nervous. I figured I've pushed my Ewa-marine luck far enough already! And despite my requesting several times in these forums for Ewa-Marine sponsorship in return for favourable reviews of their product, no cash has been forthcoming so very soon I'm going to start saying nasty things about their 'housing'. Perhaps you know some of the EWA-Marine executives? (they must be in West Germany somewhere, shouldn't be too hard to find). Perhaps you can bring my offer to their attention.

Thanks Julian,

Best wishes,

Rob

Oh, BTW, tomorrow's dive is to 34 meters - and my Ewa-marine says it's tested to 30m, 'Technischer Uberwachungs Verein Bayern e.V.' If anyone wants to lend me a camera, I'm happy to test it past the 30 meter mark

Hey Rob,

Any sample pics that you can show with eTTL working in the EWA-Marine housing? I'd be curious to see how well the Canon Speedlite handles being UW...

Tom

Rob,

Any chance of getting your dive buddy to snap a few shots to post of your Ewa Marine Bag & it's contents at 30 metres.....

It would be a fantastic thing to see - I bet EWA would be keen to see their product being put through it's paces.

Peter

Tom, E-TTL works perfectly with the speedlite in the plastic bag. Backscatter is obviously more a problem, though not as bad as if you were using an on camera flash.

Peter, I'm sure EWA-Marine would love to see a picture of their bag performing at 30 meters+, but I figure they were joking when they stuck that rating on there! I'm not sure what use the company would have for pictures of a salt-water soaked DSLR, but if you want to send me over your camera from Cairns I'm happy to try it out! C'mon, I may be mad but I am NOT taking AU$5500 worth of uninsured camera gear to 30m in a plastic bag. (25m, maybe...)

Just to keep you folks happy, I did take the 10D/EWA-marine down into the salty stuff this afternoon. I'll post some pictures later this evening.

Hi Rob,

'Technischer Uberwachungs Verein Bayern e.V. :shock: wow, now you know what you have. skip the german Alu housings like UK-Germany, Sealux or our neighbour Seacam and Subal, they are not certified by the mentioned experts.

geographically “Bayern” is more south than west, sometimes considered as their own country. :wink: Politically it belonged of course to the west. But the term “made in West Germany” was no more used since the wall came down and the east part joined us. So your bag must be pretty old or the company “Ewa-Marine” still holds up the proud quality difference between West and East products in this country.

I have also seen good E-TTL-Canon-landgun results. Some say the preflash method of E-TTL land guns could suffer from underwater conditions but that seems not to be the case.

10D + 420EX + Sealux housing. in german but with some pix.

klick on the button on ">>> Lesen Sie hier weiter" to get to the next pages: http://www.unterwasserwelt.de/html/canon_e...ealux_cc10.html

If the “Matthias Heinrichs E-TTL-Converter” should not be available when I get my housing I will try to have my Seacam Canon Flash housing modified with a 6 Pin bulkhead for EX E-TTL flash. So my ordered Inon Z220 would be used in manual for WA until the converter is available.

Rob, shall I call EWA-MARINE and offer them your duties? Maybe there are interested and give you 30 bags for your detailed beyond limits test results. You could sell them and by an aluminium housing.

your personal Eaw-Marine interpreter spokesman,

Julian

Julian, thanks. I'm waiting by the phone for my call from Ewa-Marine HQ. I reckon the marketing executives from the Ewa-Marine DSLR SCUBA division are just working out how much to offer me.

Incidentally, the impressive 'TUV' compliance patch is exactly the same size as the LCD on the back of the camera. And you can guess where they put it.

You think my Ebay housing may not be new? I do remember something about a Berlin wall quite some time ago. And the chick on the cover of the Ewa-marine instruction manual does look very 80's. It definitely says 'West Germany' on the plate, and I think there's something about 'Weimar Republic' in the manual. I did wonder why the plastic was yellow and brittle, I thought it was just the way they made them.

Anyway, as promised I've written a post-trip report with a couple of photos.

http://www.wetpixel.com/modules.php?op=mod...ewtopic&p=35381

Tom, the fish photo is E-TTL. I've taken a lot of fish portraits and some macro shots with this setup, and have had no problems with flash exposure. The 420EX seems pretty wimpy for wide angle work and I suspect that its main function in this setting is to add backscatter to the photo without doing much useful illumination.

Here's an E-TTL photo I shot with the EWA-marine a little while back. BTW this is not cropped, it was shot by placing the Tamron 90mm macro very close to the parrotfish's eye, and the E-TTL did a good job of not overexposing it.

'Weimar Republic' ??? :shock: :shock: :shock:

Rob, you simply did not notice the sense of the "TÜV"-Label.

The company has spent major efforts to protect you LCD display from sunlight and destructive eyesight-rays. No other brand offers this advanced feature. Ewa Marine has had a patent on the TÜV-protection-system before the wall came down :-)

If I don't have my 10D housed before next trip and I'll take me film seacam stuff with me .... I should consider getting one of those E-TTL bags for snorkeling. The Planport for Macro should be fine as well :-)

greetings,

Julian