Anyone using the Canon 300D underwater yet?

[alaity47]

Just curious if anyone has a gallery of underwater photos taken with the Canon Digital Rebel. We bought one for ourselves this past Christmas, and are hoping to get a housing for it sometime this year. I'd love to see the kind of shots people have been able to get with it!

 

[AmateurCichlids]

I'm looking to trade in the Olympus C5050 and purchasing one myself. I'm wondering the same thing. So far, the only housing I see available for it, is the ikelite housing at $1,200 and the Jonah housings, which I need to call around and get a price for. It's a bit more expensive than my Olympus, and hearing from someone using it, would make the purchase easier. :thinkingo
AmateurCichlids

 

[ReyeR]

Just curious if anyone has a gallery of underwater photos taken with the Canon Digital Rebel. We bought one for ourselves this past Christmas, and are hoping to get a housing for it sometime this year. I'd love to see the kind of shots people have been able to get with it!

Jay's got the Ike housing (first I think) and has just returned from Truk. Here's a few threads on DD.net:

http://www.digitaldiver.info/yabbse/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=5115

http://www.digitaldiver.info/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=5408

 

[AmateurCichlids]

Thanks for the links. I emailed Jay. Hopefully I'll get some insight on the workings of the camera underwater.
And the excitement builds.......
Amateur

 

[alaity47]

Well, I can definitely vouch for the camera ABOVE water.... that thing makes every picture look amazing!

Here are some good examples from our gallery, if you're curious:

http://gallery.thelaitys.com/wap0104
http://gallery.thelaitys.com/huntington0104

 

[ChrisM]

Yes, Jay (NLAVD) and someone named weirdeau on wetpixel.com in a UK housing, I believe. also mazwell on wetpixwl and dwloop at digitaldiver.net also has th ikelite housing, but not under water yet.

I am trying to decide between housings, the options are:
Ikelite - 1200, no ttl yet, 6 inch dome might or might affect pics. Ports are about 200, need one for kit lens, other for other lenses.. Bulkhead located on back of housing, may or may not be a problem

Aquatica - lists at $1569. 8 inch dome, ports are about $300 each, ttl availabe ($200) ,slightly smaller housing, aluminum

UK GErmany/Jonah - no info

Sea & Sea - scheduled mid March or so, there is a link somewhere on DDNet to a pic

Chris

 

[dive]

Hey alaity47 I have a 300d and if you don't know what you are doing the pictures will suck! My point not the camera the picture taker.

 

[alaity47]

Hey alaity47 I have a 300d and if you don't know what you are doing the pictures will suck! My point not the camera the picture taker.

I suppose I'll take that as a compliment. <grin> But I really do feel like this camera is a HUGE improvement... we use a little Sealife Reefmaster (digital) for our uw pics right now, and it's almost PAINFUL to look at our uw pics, and then look at whatever I took over the weekend with the 300d. We really can't wait to get a housing for this puppy!

 

[ssra30]

I definitely would like to find out more about Digital Rebel as well. More specifically, I would also like to find out more about lens choice for underwater photography. I am looking more at D70 and S3 right now but have not rule out Canon yet either. However I am not very familiar with Canon's line up of lens and what's available that would be good for underwater.

 

[dennisg]

I was just in the camera shops today looking for an EOS 1v or an EOS 3 to replace my old EOS 600 body, and ended up wanting one of the new digitals instead (that's shopping for you!). There doesn't seem to be enough reason to get the 10D over the 300d for what I'd want to do underwater, although if I find out I've won the lottery tonight I'll be in the shops first thing Monday morning for one of the EOS 1ds camera's for sure - what a beauty!

I find my old EOS 600 really struggles to focus underwater, and even in low light conditions above too to tell the truth. I have a Cobra 700AF flash on a pro grip too and still find that the EOS 600 struggles to autofocus above water. I've as much as given up trying to get the focus to lock underwater, hence my descision to upgrade to a quicker thinking camera.

What's the thing with this 1.6x magnification factor? Does that make my existing 105mm macro a 168mm macro? And my 20mm wide-angle a 32mm not-so-wide-angle? Doesn't that destroy the value of what the lenses are designed for on the standard SLR's?

I use an Ikelite housing for my EOS 600 with an Ikelite 100 strobe and modelling light, which I've had now for about 5 years. It's been all over the world with me and done many hundreds of dives in some testing conditions, and has stood up very nicely in my opinion. It is a bit of a bulky housing to tell the truth, but it has served me well for what I could afford and hasn't given me any leaks. It's got a lot to do with how you look after your equipment though, I believe, like anything...

It looks like we're all waiting for one of us to use this EOS 300d or 10d camera underwater to give the rest of us a report back on how good it is. I want to use mine above water for travel, portraits, and architectural photography too, so am glad to read everyone's opinion of the two. So who's going to go first?


regards
Dennis