small housing, looking for something light and compact?

im still undecided about what slr to buy. i planed to shoot lost of surfing and other action water sports and needed something that would be light and compact in and out of the water. who ever makes a housing with what im looking for will greatly influence what cam i will buy.

Hi!

(d)SLR and lightweight? Did you see housings before? ;-)

If you want a real lightweight housing (at least sort of) the ewa-marine can't be beaten (http://www.ewamarine.de/) but it lacks other features you might need.

It's light in the first place. Handling the camera close to or above surface isn't that bad (compared to a hard case with at least 4-5 kg) once you get used to it. It offers enough protection against water but not against mechanical impact.

The ewa-marine bag restricts the use of wider WA lenses (depending on the front window diameter). It has a flat "port" only (which shouldn't be a problem above water). It is furthermore camera model and make independant. The ewa-marine comes in different sizes to accomodate most of the available SLRs with reasonalble lenses. There's also a model that allows a system strobe attached to the camera at virtually no extra cost in weight.

Next in line IMO, are the transparent housings by Ikelite (http://www.ikelite.com which are a good protection against both water and light mechanical abuse. Depending on the housing and accessories (handles e.g.) it'll be a good option for both surface and UW. Housings are available for common camera bodies and widely used lenses. Remind, that it wasn't designed to be smashed around in the first place! Strobes may cause a problem because they're mainly designed to be used UW.

If you want to protect the camera against water and mechanical abuse, I'd recommend a carbon fibre housing that's rubber enforced to absorb shock and impacts. This solution, would mean a dedicated build to a certain camera body anyway. bruder http://www.bruder-uw-technik.com is able to do the job. A strobe might be attached to or built into the housing but will cause extra weight for housing as well.

Helge ;-)=)

Hi!

 

(d)SLR and lightweight? Did you see housings before? ;-)

 

If you want a real lightweight housing (at least sort of) the ewa-marine can't be beaten (http://www.ewamarine.de/) but it lacks other features you might need.

It's light in the first place. Handling the camera close to or above surface isn't that bad (compared to a hard case with at least 4-5 kg) once you get used to it. It offers enough protection against water but not against mechanical impact.

The ewa-marine bag restricts the use of wider WA lenses (depending on the front window diameter

Wow, another EWA-Marine fan! Helga, are you sponsored by the EWA-marine company? I keep asking them for money to say nice things about their housings, but the EWA-marine bigwigs must not surf these forums cos so far no cash has arrived...

Handling is pretty horrible, although with weighting the housing to make it neutral things aren't so bad. It works pretty well with wide angle lenses, the 17-40L fits it perfectly with no vignetting and the sharpness through the flat port actually is acceptible. Don't plan on SCUBA diving with your EWA-marine too often - I've proved you can do it, but it isn't fun!

Shooting EWA-Marine with a DSLR is an elite club. I'm only aware of two people on planet earth who have actually done this. Anyone can shoot with Seacam or Subal, but shoot with Ewa-marine and your fellow divers will heap kudos on you for your bravery!

Hi,

master of Ewamarine DSLR tester, did you place your Ike 10D order by the way?

If you really want light and compact, you can't beat a Sony. Not a D-SLR, but super light and small, housings are rated to 40m. I shoot my DSC-P5 one handed even with a DS-50 strobe mounted.

See here for results

http://homepage.mac.com/jetlife2/diving

and here is a picture of me doing just that

Just based purely on your request for a small DSLR housing/camera combo, I looked around and I think the absolutely smallest setup is the UK-Germany housing for the Canon Digital Rebel.

Couple that with a wideangle dome port and Sigma 14mm rectilinear lens or 15mm fisheye lens and you have a good combo for surfing photos.

Cheers

James

Surfing photography and surf conditions are very different from underwater/SCUBA photography. You know how most floods occur in the rinse bucket??? Well, imagine a rinse bucket that is full of sand and going through the wash cycle of your washing machine... That's what surfing photography is like.

You don't have the water depth to pressurise multiple o-rings and insure good seals, and you have a lot of water moving very fast in multiple directions.

Ramifications of this are: housings suited for scuba photography are not really suited to surfing photography. Surf housings have less controls (less orings to worry about), and may not have interchangable ports.

Check out the housings made by Aquatech in Australia.

(Ozzie ozzie ozzie 8) )

Note the simplicity of the housings designed for water surface work. No strobe ports, minimal controls, small and compact... may be just what the doctor ordered.

Craig,

VERY good point. It would be nice if Aquatech had a housing for a smaller camera than the D1x. Perhaps they do, but it hasn't made its way onto the website yet.

If small size is really important, Uwe ak UK-Germany could probably make a "streamlined" housing for the 300D that only had 3 controls (shutter, main and sub command dials). Threaded ports would be good, but he only has bayonet ports.

Cheers

James

Hi,

 

 

master of Ewamarine DSLR tester, did you place your Ike 10D order by the way?  

Dear Herr Doctor Professor Jolly, (PhD in e-TTL and dome port mathematics)

Ich habe das Ikelite gekauft!

Just ordered it, hope to have it underwater next weekend if weather and UPS are kind to me.

Dude, you need to buy one. Sell one of your Seacam ports to pay for it if necessary.

I shot last weekend with a borrowed Sony digicam. First and last time underwater for me with a point-n-shoot - mmm, shutter lag!

Cheers,

Mr Whitey

P.S. the correct term is 'EWA-Marine DSLR test pilot', and I'm resigning my post.

hello thanks for all the info the aquatech is basicly what im looking for its small and lightweight and designed for the surf but i didnt see any housings for the digital slrs? know of any other places that makes this type of housing for a digital slr?

mike

Dear EWA-Marine DSLR test pilot,

thanks for the title. Where did you learn german? I guess at the EWA-Marine headquarter DSLR research establishment?

For 1200$ Ikelite is very attractive. Unfortunately there is some package shipping handler in Germany who wants over 2200$ for the same box (was it called Ikelite Germany??).

That’s more than an aluminium CNC machined Sealux housing costs. Adding a few bucks and Sealux adds a Galilei optical viewfinder with reproduction ratio of 1 : 1.1 instead of the normal magnifier, quite similar to the Seacam viewfinder.

So I still hesitate to order Ikelite :roll:

I will for 99% go for the ‘Bruder’ housing http://www.bruder-uw-technik.com/en/index.htm

They offer nice big domes you know And very open minded for custom changes and buttons.

I now just have to decide if NikV or S6 bulkheads. Therefore the E-TTL converter is already on it’s way (can’t wait to see the postman tomorrow or the day after). It’s "just" the 300D version. But Matthias gives me the opportunity to test it with my 10D to figure out if there are differences to the 300D to be worked out. He says most probably yes because he does not want to guarantee something he did not test and confirmed. I say I can’t wait and want to try. :wink:

Cheers,

Julian

PS: Sony Digicam? I still prefer cameras from camera manufactures.

Haha, well...the Nikon DSLR's have been using Sony sensors for years.

We look fwd to hearing your TTL results with the 10D Julian

Cheers

James

Haha, well...the Nikon DSLR's have been using Sony sensors for years.  

 

We look fwd to hearing your TTL results with the 10D Julian

 

Cheers

James

Yes. That is their (Nikon's) problem.

It's how they released the Nikon D1 long before Canon had a DSLR that didn't have a Kodak sensor...;-P

Cheers

James

James,

of course I will post the (hopefully working) results.

But the parcel service online tracking really makes me sad right now. Doesn't seem to be here before weekend. :evil: :evil:

My soldering-iron setup is waiting for connecting for the dry test :?

Julian

Seems I'm not the only one watching parcel tracking - my housing has made it to Kentucky!

Why don't you buy online if Ikelite Germany charges too much? ($1079 at BHphotovideo)

I checked out the Bruder. You were planning to modify the film housing?

Hi Rob,

well, the Bruder website is anything but not up to date.

they even did not show their Canon 10D housing.

So no, no film housing modification, it's the not shown 10D housing.

But I will most likely choose some different buttons available on the housing.

I really do not need the menu buttons. Instead I would like to have a DOF preview button. And he will customize/build port extensions for every lens you want. As long it fits thru the housing hole.

If the TTL stuff does not work out Bruder will modify my Seacam flash housing for E-TTL S6 shoe/wires/bulkheads.

That's why I do not order the Ikelite at BH. Ikelite US "above and beyond" service is more "behind and below" in germany.

Bruder is just around the corner and I prefer local service.

Does your tracking give you some estimated time of arrival???

Julian

Yeah, I hear Ikelite service here is nothing special either. I'll have to ship back to US if there's any problems.

No estimate of delivery date as such, but housing's in Honolulu tonight so it's getting closer. With luck I'll have all the components here ready to dive by next weekend.

You'd better tell EWA-marine West Germany that they need to come up with some serious sponsorship deutchmarks ASAP if they want me to remain a plastic bag shooter.

Well, EWA Marine could consider your Ikelite project as industrial espionage for them.

You really should pick up the phone and call them.

I would not recommend Deutschmarks. I recently found some but somehow nobody wants them

Looking forward to read your Ikelite 10D report.

By the way, what components did you order (WW dome, etc. ...)?

Will that ickeyliet housing fit inside the EWA-marine enclosure............?