Housing recommendations for Canon 6D?

Hi I am looking for recommendations for a housing for my 6D. I have been using an Olympus 5050, 7070 and 8080 with varying degrees of success. The slow auto focus means it's pretty much hit and miss. I have owned a Panasonic GH2 and loved it but never brought it underwater and have recently upgraded to a Canon 6D. I also have a Ricoh GRD IV to carry around everyday.

I am looking for an alternative to the Olympus cameras. They are too slow and I was looking to get something with faster AF, bigger sensor, RAW output, 1080p video and an inexpensive housing. So far as I can tell my options are:

Get a new camera and housing on the cheap i.e Sony A6300, Olympus E-PL5

or

Get a housing for a camera I already own i.e. 6D, GH2 or GRD IV

I was looking at trying to get a housing for the GRD IV and GH2. I saw one for the GRD and it was 600 euro. I have yet to find one for the GH2 and well the 6D is about 1600 euro for an Ikeliite housing.

I then had a look at a Sony A6300 and Meikon housing. I'd prefer the Ikelite but Meikon is so cheap. This setup could be as cheap as 1000 with a lens.

If money was no object then I would just get the Ikelite housing for the Canon 6D. No questions asked. Best image quality, already own the camera. I use the camera most days so I know the ins and outs. I have lenses for it.

Should I get the Ikelite for the 6D. I don't want to buy it if I don't use it much. It is alot of money for something that might not get used an awful lot. Any suggestions?

Realistically, the Ikelite is a very good housing, but it's really on the low end of price. Try looking at Sea&Sea, Aquatica and Nauticam to name three and you will have white hair!

Also realistically, you will end up spending much more on strobes, arms and other doodads (focus lights, cords, this and that...) over time, so getting a good housing to start is actually a good investment. And ports! My god, the ports can be horribly expensive! With a good housing at least the ports will convert over to other cameras if you do upgrade down the road.

If you buy a cheap housing, you may well come to regret it.

The 6D is an excellent full-frame camera, so you should be able to use it diving for many years. Resist the urge (I say) to upgrade your camera every time the makers announce a new model.

You may also be able to get a great deal on a used housing for the 6D now that the mark 2 has come out. Canon moves the buttons just enough that older housings don't always work with the new model, and there's lots of folks wanting to upgrade.

I got my Nauticam housing AND the Canon 7D for a great price simply because everyone was selling them in order to get the housing for the new 7D Mk II.

So I'd recommend looking for a used housing (Ikelite, Nauticam, Aquatica, etc.) or if you are impatient just buy a new Ikelite. It's not that much.

thanks sunnyboy, I am in two minds thinking of getting a housing for the GH2 but then I didn't realise the ports were so expensive and hard to come by. The 6D would be ideal as I plan to keep it for a long time! The image quality is probably as good as you can get and it's only really the video that might force an upgrade. Still it's an awful lot to spend for an underwater photograph. I'd want to use it alot!

I run 3 cameras depending on what I'm doing.

My main system was a G16 in an Ikelite TTL housing, with DS51 strobe and a Sola 1200 as a focus/video light. It's a great camera system, the housing was relatively inexpensive (compared to an aluminum one for the G16) and it takes really great photos and awesome videos. I've been diving that for several years now, no issues except when I got the strobe cable caught in a dive scooter when first pairing the two. Learned my lesson and have not had issues with either in almost a year.

I more recently got a Canon 7D and Nauticam (aluminum) housing, with a macro lens and macro (not dome) port. Came with two DS125 strobes and an enormous Bigblue focus light. It's a beauty, but it's BIG. I feel like the camera is towing the diver, not vice versa. But it takes absolutely amazing macro photos. What it doesn't do is take as amazing video. The problem is twofold: there's no autofocus once you start recording video. You can push the autofocus button, but more often than not it "hunts" for focus meaning stuff you have to edit out. It doesn't always get a good focus either. So I built a focus gear, and can focus manually during video recording, but that brings up the second problem: manual focus with a macro lens is "a challenge"! I've gotten some good videos, but nothing as good as with the G16 video.

The third camera is a go-pro clone ($85 CDN). I got it because the scooter has a gopro mount, and it looked like fun. The benefit of this is it's small and can go anywhere (almost). Two weeks ago I built a mount for it to sit on top of the bigblue focus lamp on the Nauticam housing. This combo (go-pro clone plus Canon 7D & 60mm macro) is almost perfect. The gopro clone takes the video, and the Canon takes the macro. I can remove the bigblue if I want to hand hold the gopro as well.

I still love the G16 rig because it's small enough to go anywhere, including when I take my scooter. NO way I'd try that with the Nauticam and two strobes.

I have been looking at one of the compacts which there are cheap housings for. Would you recommend the G16 over let's say the G1X, G7X, RX100 and all their revisions? I sort of got to thinking the sensor size of he G16 would let it down underwater. The video of the Sony is supposed to be top notch! Although macro on the G-series has always been quite good.

When I went looking, the G16 was the best bang for my buck, period. As to brand, I'm a Canon person so would prefer to stick with the brand than start learning something else all over again. I had an early Nikon digital and it was a nightmare to use (for me).

I started with an A570IS, then the G16. I dive pretty turbid water (low vis) so wide angle is pretty much out. Macro is the way I go, and as I'm not a pro with pro needs for enlargement/print/projection, the number of megapixels on almost any modern camera are well beyond what you will ever notice. It's kind of like the golden-ears audo phenomenon - only dogs can really hear what some claim, and paying over 20K for a speaker (or amp, or turntable, or...) is just silly in my opinion. I'm over 60 and am lucky to hear the TV mumble at me! ;-)

So I enjoy the less expensive cameras because my pictures are still more than "good enough". I'd rather put the money towards other things.

Besides, I always felt that if I ever did buy that super-duper fancy DLSR where the body cost over 5K (CDN), the last thing I wanted was to put it underwater. If something is going to get flooded with salt water, I want it to be something I can replace without breaking the bank a second time.

You make a good point about the expensive camera getting flooded. While it didn't cost me 5K it did cost me 1200 euro which is a lot when you don't have any!! It makes sense in some ways to use the same camera above and below water but then in other ways it makes sense not to! I had a look at the G16 and then ended up getting sidetracked with the plethora of options in all the other compacts. It's a minefield really. The decision doesn't get any easier with all the choice available nowadays.

As others have stated, the housing is only the beginning of the cost. You will need ports, strobes, arms and cables. The good news is that all of the later moves to a new housing of the same brand (strobes are more flexible even). As for the housing choice, I have always had my DSLRs in Ikelite housings and so far no problems. Some I even bought used here on wetpixel. Take proper care when assembling and cleaning it and all is well. That said, make sure you buy flood insurance. It brings a bit of peace of mind for the worst case and is not all that expensive.

Now if you are not sure if you want a big DSLR under water or rather a more compact system. Check with local dive shops. Some might have systems you can borrow or take a underwater photo class with them they might let you play with their personal system.