EWA bag tips / lessons learned

Hi,

Any regular EWA bag users out there ?

Can you post some lessons learned / best practice (to make best use of manual focus / manual control of camera (if possible !)). My last resort for my 1D/1Ds while Seacam get their act together

Thanks ...

Here is a link from google that may give you some ideas.

http://www.photo.net/equipment/ewa/

For more ideas, search google for "EWA bags".

Hi,

I am sure Rob "whitey" can give you some infos. He is some kind of ewamarine product tester with DSLR cameras :-)

Julian

Yep, just call me 'Mr EWA-Marine'. Type in 'EWA-marine' on the search feature of these forums, and guess whose name come up every time!

I'm sure I've posted lots of stuff on photo.net and elsewhere as well, although the link above is from some softboy who seems to have submerged it once to a depth of 20cm.

Basically snorkel Ok, SCUBA not so good. These guys have been trying to get me to test it at 30m, which I haven't done so far. But I'd be more than happy to test my plastic bag with your 1Ds - just send it to 'Attn: Whitey, Q Block, Pannawonica, West Oz', and I'll see how it performs at depth. Anything to help a fellow wetpixeler.

As I recently posted, housing is also fine for underwater video, at least if you're Dennis Quaid in the movie 'Cold Creek Manor' and you just want to video some bodies in a well (personally I focus more on tropical reefs, but that's just my preference). (BTW - other than the very exciting EWA-marine scene this movie is total crap).

Any other EWA-marine DSLR questions, I'm your man!

Oh, I should also let you know I now shoot Ikelite.

So Mr EWA bag ... I was not thinking of diving with it 8) ... and do let me know when you find a sucker who is happy to stick his 1D/1Ds 30m down ! (by then my Seacam should be with me and this bag will be up for sale).

Problem 1 : trying to keep the lens centered and in register with the front port. The kit supplied is basically rubbish, and at the moment I roll a strip of neoprene around the lens to keep it where it should be ... seems to work (fixed focus and use depth of field covers it). Trying to make a plastic registration cup/cone to allow the auto focus to operate ...

Problem 2 : the firing ... using the 'index pocket supplied' is again pants. I'm trying to figure out a consistent way of being able to fire without having to check every time that your finger is anywhere near the firing trigger I'm wondering is there is a balance of how much air you keep in the bag for the depth you plan to use the thing (in my case, the top 2 meters of water). I'm thinking of sticking something internally to the bag to allow simpler shooting - this is proving to be hard to achieve.

I've given up trying to work manually (my preferred mode) and stick to single mode autofocus / aperture priority (no flash). If I could get the top 2 issues resolved (consistently) ... I could get by. The rest is acceptable at the moment (including viewfinder framing), even if getting the camera in and out is a major pain in the preverbial :!:

So Mr EWA bag ... I was not thinking of diving with it  

Despite your lack of courage, I will answer your questions anyway.

1. With the U-AX housing, a 17-40L (77mm filter diameter) fits perfectly and snugly against the housing front optical glass element. Trying to use smaller lenses with the supplied devices is much less sucessful. Clearly this housing was designed for use with pro glass only.

2.The finger pocket is clumsy at first, but at least on my 10D became usable with a bit of practice. I didn't miss many shots once I got used to it. It may be harder with your camera if shutter is in a different position - you may need to check with EWA-marine HQ as to whether they manufacture a 1Ds specific model.

Other than that, I built a custom weight to make it neutrally bouyant (sort of), which helped a lot. Controls are usable with some difficulty if you limit the amount of air in the bag. Don't try to shoot manual, though - control wheel on the back is very hard to turn, whereas the top control wheel is simple to use with the finger pocket - so Av mode makes a lot of sense.

Best wishes,

Mr EWA bag