housing questions

I presently have a ikelite digicam housing with one ds50. I also own a Canon 10D and am thinking of outfitting it with an ikelite housing and 2 125 strobes. Can anyone answer the following.

Is it better to get a sync cord to join the two strobes or use ikelite sensors.

Are manual controllers a good idea.

I have some good canon lenses 17-40 4.0 and a 24-70 2.8. Is it practical to use theses underwater? If not what would make a good underwater SLR lense?

Is a dome port better than a non-dome port.

Anything else I should concider?

Thanks in advanc for any help you offer.

Some answers to your qestions.

Is it better to get a sync cord to join the two strobes or use ikelite sensors?

Yes, its simpler and more reliable.

Are manual controllers a good idea?

Not needed for the Ikelite housing as it has built in TTL AND manual control.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2d20canon.html

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/ucanonettl.html

I have some good canon lenses 17-40 4.0 and a 24-70 2.8. Is it practical to use theses underwater? If not what would make a good underwater SLR lense?

Not sure as I am not familiar with Canon lenses. But if there is a port for it on this chart, it's probably ok.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_canon.html

Is a dome port better than a non-dome port?

You need ports that match the lenses. In general, domes are used for wide angle and flat ports for close-up and macro lenses.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_canon.html

Some answers to your questions.

Is it better to get a sync cord to join the two strobes or use ikelite sensors?

Yes, its simpler and more reliable.

Are manual controllers a good idea?

Not needed for the Ikelite housing as it has built in TTL AND manual control.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2d20canon.html

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/ucanonettl.html

I have some good canon lenses 17-40 4.0 and a 24-70 2.8. Is it practical to use theses underwater? If not what would make a good underwater SLR lens?

Not sure as I am not familiar with Canon lenses. But if there is a port for it on this chart, it's probably ok.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_canon.html

Is a dome port better than a non-dome port?

You need ports that match the lenses. In general, domes are used for wide angle and flat ports for close-up and macro lenses.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_canon.html

Peter Has covered your answer pretty much, to this I might ad, the reason for a dome versus a flat port, the flat port is similar to your mask when inserted in water it is subject to a +/- 25% magnification due to refraction, the dome because of it shape concentrate all light ray into a common point and is exempt of this magnification. So, a flat port is great for macro because it give's you a free boost in image size and bad for wide angle since you loose 25% coverage in angle of that "very expensive" wide lens, the dome, au contraire retain the original lens coverage and is a plus for wide and a bust for macro, given the lens you have I would consider getting a larger dome, they are far more forgiving with zoom lens. and finally a search on the feature section of this site will yeld some pretty serious work on underwater optic, check out the one from Jolly and Ceedave for starter.

Cheers