Seacam or Subal for 1ds/1dsm2

I've shot Nikons (f90x, f5, f100, d100) for the last 9 years and have a large collection of glass to go with it. I just got into uw photography and currently own an L&M housing for the D100 with a lot of different ports.

I was seduced by the quality of the 1Ds last year and got one and then a whole lot of glass (I'm a gadget junkie!). Recently I took delivery of the 1DsM2 and am blown away by its quality.

I'm contemplating on getting a housing for the 1Ds/1DsM2 and was wondering what people here thought of Seacam housing .vs. Subal

housing for the 1Ds/1DsM2?

Is there a way for me to reuse some of the L&M ports with either of these (subal/seacam) housings?

Has anyone here heard any plans/rumors about L&M making a housing

for the 1Ds/1DsM2 - if they do then I'd just have to get the housing and

the gear set that'd go with the Canon glass.

- aLV

I've shot Nikons (f90x, f5, f100, d100) for the last 9 years and have a large collection of glass to go with it. I just got into uw photography and currently own an L&M housing for the D100 with a lot of different ports.  

 

I was seduced by the quality of the 1Ds last year and got one and then a whole lot of glass (I'm a gadget junkie!). Recently I took delivery of the 1DsM2 and am blown away by its quality.  

G'day aLV, congratulations on joining the dark side!

I'm interested in 1Ds housings myself at present. I haven't used either of the housings you mention. i think it would be fair to say the Seacam is a more popular choice than the subal for the 1Ds. Subal is a fair bit cheaper especially when you add up the cost of the peripherals such as viewfinder.

I'd ideally like a cheapish housing from someone like Aquatica or Ikelite. It's a bit hard for me to justify the Seacam at present. Sea and sea have a housing for the 1Ds, but i haven't seen anyone using it and it's not much cheaper than the Seacam and Subal you mentioned.

For now my 10D is more than good enough for me, but I'm sure I'll want to go diving with the 1Ds eventually. I'm hoping someone will release an affordable housing for the 1 series in the interim (there should e enough 1D/1Ds/1DMk2/1DsMk2 around to make it worthwhile, and Canon is keeping the 1 seires body shape nice and constant).

Stephen Frink is your man if you wnat specific information about the 1Ds Mk2 Seacam setup. He's posted here recently on this subject I seem to recall.

I would suggest you go for the Seacam. Stephen Frink is an excellent dealer and everyone seems very happy with their setups and service they get from him in the States.

As far as I can gather, Seacam have sold lots more 1DS housings than Subal. This has given them the chance to revise their early 1DS housings and improve the design with feedback from users - gotta be a good thing.

It is also worth considering what housings your friends/travel buddies have. If you are going to find yourself on boats with lots of people with a certain housing brand it can be sensible to have similar gear - so you can learn from them and share/try out different lens/ports etc.

Alex

I'd ideally like a cheapish housing from someone like Aquatica or Ikelite.  

 

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I'm hoping someone will release an affordable housing for the 1 series in the interim (there should e enough 1D/1Ds/1DMk2/1DsMk2 around to make it worthwhile, and Canon is keeping the 1 seires body shape nice and constant).

Hope is a great thing Rob, but there's not much chance of it happening. I went through this a few months back when I got the 1D MkII and had zero luck. Ikelite was willing to try but the 1D body is too tall for their largest housing body. Aquatica said they were too busy with other projects. I even looked into UK Germany, and their 1D series housing was about $4k USD and they're generally a more economical brand.

That being said, if you find one, let me know, I'd love to hear about it!

Just hopeful thinking, Tom. You and I have both 'suggested' and Ikelite 1-series housing in the past, and so I'm interested to hear that it got to the stage you mention.

I figure manufacturers need to know there's a market out there if they want to build me a housing!

The Sea and Sea listed on B&H as special order was about $6000 I think. Not cheap.

Aquatica haven't been big on Canon housing support (300D aside), but I'm sure there's a lot more 1-series cameras around than Pro-n's.

My 1Ds looks like it's staying above water for now (probably a good thing given my propensity for flooding things!). I still have the EWA-bag . I figure I need to be shooting a lot better underwater before I can justify dropping $8000 on a Seacam, but odds are ithe purchase will happen eventually - there's just lots of things above it on the photo shoppping list at the moment (hey, is Ikelite planning to house the P25 or Mamiya ZD?).

I still think Ike's the best chance of getting a reasonably priced housing for the 1D, but I think volume is a concern because the housing won't easily fit into the existing housings. I wonder if he'd do it if there were more than 1 or 2 people willing???

Ike, are you listening????

Marine Camera and Gates also developed a housing for the 1D series. See the recent DEMA report. I'm not sure of the price though.

Cheers

James

Sea and Sea also make a 1D series housing.

Dunno how much it costs.

Alex

Forgot about the Gates, thanks for that.

As for the S&S, it's $6k, and for that price I'd rather just buy a Subal or Seacam.

I went through starting from scratch going to digital this year and ended up with the 1D and 1Ds, both II's. After asking a bunch of questions and reviewing the various options for the 1D class cameras, I went with SEACAM. I have only done some pool tests with mine so far but all I can say is I am blown away with the quality and craftsmanship of the SEACAM housing. My previous experience was 12 years with an Aquatica A3 housing. Just a few quick highlights of the SEACAM:

- The fit of the camera in the housing is glove like, with all of the controls in perfect alignment out of the box. No Fuss!

- Despite the size of the 1D class body, the housing is very compact.

- Nearly every camera function is available underwater (sorry no depth of field preview :wink: )

- Glass dome ports as well as several different dome port options.

- Viewfinder - S180 viewfinder is breathtaking! There is nothing like a large bright 100% view through the viewfinder underwater. For me this was critical.

- Reputation of the dealer and manufacturer Stephen Frink and Seacam, what more can you say.

Keith