40D housing, ports, strobes, everything! HELP again!

[Mucksavage]

Greetings Canonnites

With some sound advice from around here I am now the proud owner of a 40D.

That was the easy part!


The 40D has a 17-85MM lens. Apart from being confused about what ports I need to add to the Ikelite housing I plan to buy, I am also trying to work out what strobe set up. I plan to start with this 17-85MM lens (its a zoom lens so this affects port choices - is it a good lens and way to go underwater) but would expect to buy a macro lens soon enough.

So I am looking at this strobe
http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ikelite/flash/ds125.html

for this housing
http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ikelite/slr/eos40d.html

for this camera and lens
CANON EOS 40D with EF-S 17-85 F4-5.6 IS

Any comments, thoughts and especially advice will be warmly recieved!!

Yours in happy confusion

MS

 

[txdano]

The DS-125 is a very nice strobe and interfaces well with the Ikelite housings, I have been very happy with mine. This looks like the port you need for that lens:
Canon 17-85 lens port

The full listing is here if you have not seen it yet:
Canon SLR Port Chart

 

[alcina]

If you are going with the Ike housing, I'd go with the Ike 125s no question.

 

[matt215]

just call backscatter ( Backscatter : Underwater Camera, Underwater Video Housing, Underwater Photography, Waterproof Camera ) or reef photo ( Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros ) . either of these people can tell you exactly what you need as far as ports t ogo wit hlenses. i've used them and they have been very helpful with getting me the right gear, and answering all your questions.

 

[bversteegh]

Congratulations - you've picked up a great camera! 17-85 is a pretty good lens - but is a little weak for macro; especially with a dome port (not a lot of magnification). I'd recommend the 60mm Canon macro lens as your next purchase - very versatile lens, and shoots 1:1 macro. For wide angle, the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom is hard to beat. And finally, the 100mm Canon macro lens is a great macro lens, but a little harder to shoot than the 60.

 

[Mucksavage]

Thanks again for the help. I'll get going with my 17 - 85mm. I prefer macro so will have to muddle through for now. Happy snapping!

 

[sunnyboy]

Congratulations - you've picked up a great camera! 17-85 is a pretty good lens - but is a little weak for macro; especially with a dome port (not a lot of magnification). I'd recommend the 60mm Canon macro lens as your next purchase - very versatile lens, and shoots 1:1 macro. For wide angle, the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom is hard to beat. And finally, the 100mm Canon macro lens is a great macro lens, but a little harder to shoot than the 60.

Can you elaborate on that last line? (100 harder to shoot than the 60).

I'm in the position right now that my UW camera is a Canon A570IS in an Ikelite housing (meets my immediate needs), but I have the 40D with two larger zooms (24-70 & 70-200) which are too wide for the dome port system on the Ikelite housing for the 40D.

So - I'm looking at what to get for using the 40D underwater. If you buy just one lens for UW, would you go with the 100, the 60 or another (i.e. zoom)? Dome or flat port? I'm pretty much going with Ikelite as I love their housing for my 570IS, and the price is just too good.

Cheers,

-S

 

[alcina]

Sunnyboy - check out the Sticky at the top of the UW Photo area for some great information on the top lens choices. You can get there from the pink link in my signature.

What are you wanting to shoot? Tiny or scenes? That will help determine what lens should be on top of your list. Here's a little quick summary:

All rounder - more or less wide to adequate macro with excellent sharpness for cropping: Sigma 17-70 macro. I would not be without this lens and use it on whale sharks to nudibranchs.

1:1 macro with versatility - Canon 60mm macro. Great for the teeniest of things up to head/shoulder divers and medium sized fishes/turtles etc. I adore this lens and have to force myself to do something else. It can be tricky to light when you are really close, but I haven't actually found this a problem, though I know some have gotten a little frustrated with it. Just takes a bit of getting used to.

1:1 macro - more working distance: Canon 100 macro. An excellent lens that let's you get 1:1 from a bit further away than the 60. Allows maybe for easier lighting, but can let too much water and particles in between the lens and your subject so watch your backscatter. Allows greater working distance than the 60 so could be useful for trying to capture more skittish creatures. Harder to work with because it tends to hunt a lot more in low light, though on the 40D this is much less of a problem than it was on other models. A good focus light will still be a good thing to have. It also can be harder to nail pinpoint focus for shallow depth of field, but again, this is mostly practice.

 

[sunnyboy]

Thanks.

Sounds like the Sigma lens is probably the best "first lens" for me to use underwater as I want to shoot both closeups and some wider shots.

Cheers,

-Richard

 

[bversteegh]

Alcina's advice is right on. I just got back from an Indonesia trip with the 40D, shooting both the 60 and 100 mm lens. If you know you are going after the really tiny stuff (pygmy seahorses, crinoid shrimp/lobsters etc, anenome shrimp - ie stuff less than 1" long) - I prefer the 100 mm lens. Seems a tad sharper, and the increased working distance makes it easier to light and compose, because you're not right on top of the critter (with a 60 mm lens at 1:1 mag - the subject is about 2-3 inches from the end of the port). But the 100 mm lens has a much narrower field of view (especially on a cropped sensor camera like the 40D) - so when you want to take a picture of the giant frogfish you happen across, you have to back WAAAY off to get the entire fish in the frame (happened to me this trip : ). So you loose sharpness and color saturation, because you are so far away. The 60 mm has almost twice the field of view (ratio of the focal lengths) - so you are twice as close to get full frame. So the 60 mm is a lot more versatile to capture a wide variety of critter sizes - and it has the best autofocus performance of any lens I have ever used. With the 60mm on the 40D, never had a situation where autofocus didn't lock right on. The 40D is much better with autofocus than the 20D (my previous camera), but I still had a few times the 100 mm wouldn't lock right up on autofocus (but not many). My shots from this trip are at my Flickr site in the signature, and I think you can get the exif data showing the lens if you open the shot and click the propertiesbutton.

HTH

Bruce