G9 or any other alternatives!

[khaled.alsibai]

hi everyone..

i am a pro photographer, i am going underwater photography and planing for the G9, i use the Nikon cameras whole my life but someone recommended the Canon G9 for me.

i read its good and the housing is not expansive but i also read that the noise is hight and it has a slow focus.

my question is: do i go for the G9 or u would recommended any alternatives?
i just want to use it underwater so far, so please help..

i am going for Canon WP-DC21 housing, the one is available here, the price is very good, but can i use strobes with this housing? and which one is good with a good price? and how can i use it with the wp-dc21 housing since it has no cord plug?! i found someone using this one ((Epoque ES-150DS aplha strobe))..

the last question is i want o buy a magnifier filter and wild angle filter for this housing, so is it available?

i know i have many questions but im sure you will help me with them because u r a nice people
thank you all

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Hi Khaled,

I've been shooting a Sony Point & shoot camera in a Sony Housing with dual Inon Strobes and several external wet lenses for about a year now, but I had been looking to upgrade for quite some time now. I considered the G9 and did lots of homework to determine which housing provided the best options for strobe and lens connection.

Yesterday I picked up my new G9, Patima Housing and Inon Wet Lenses to use with my dual Inon Z-240 Strobes.

There are four housings to consider for the G9 - Canon, Ikelite, Patima and Sea & Sea.

Unfortunatley, the Canon Housing is not condusive for the adding a lens mount and wet lenses, which is what I used with my Sony. There may be someone who manufactures a makeshift way to connect the optical cables to the outside of the housing, other than via a lens mount, but I am not aware of it. Consequently, if your plan is to use external lighting and lenses, which are almost manditory if you want to get quality pictures, this housing is probably not the way to go.

Most go with the Ikelite Housing (Ikelite Underwater Housings for Canon G7 & G9 Cameras), because it offers the ability to get true Canon ettl when combined via sync cords with Ikelite strobes and has the option of a wide-angle lens. However, for those who already have another company's strobes and would like to connect them via optical cables, the housing offers no built in way to make that connection.

The Patima Housing (:::: PATIMA UW ENG CO.,LTD. ::::), which is the one I have, has the ability to connect stobes via sync cords and optical cables, but would require a ttl converter if using sync cords. This housing also comes standard with two seperate ports, which are already threaded for 67mm threaded lenses, like the Inon lenses, which are the ones I have. This housing runs about $1K, but is made of aluminum and has a depth rating of 120 meters, which was important to me, because I do like to dive deep.

The Sea & Sea Housing, I do not know too much about, because it is not even listed on the Sea & Sea Website, but you can find it for sale on some websites - Here's an example (Sea & Sea MDX-G9 U/W Housing for Canon PowerShot G9 #06137). It sells for approximately $1500, but appears to come with a built in ttl converter and has threads for the use of Sea and Sea lenses.

I hope I did not confuse you, but you did select one of the best p&s cameras out there right now, which unfortunately, doesn't have too many inexpensive options for adding accessories for underwater use.

There are many other p&s cameras, which are not quite as powerful as the G9, but that do have lots of flexibility when considering housings and the addition of Epoque, Ikelite and Inon accessories.

BTW, if you want to see what the addition of lenses and strobes can do to the quality of pictures you can get underwater, even though I do not consider my shots great, please feel free to click on my Scubaboard Gallery link and see some of the shots I got with a simple Sony P&S, which didn't even allow me to adjust any manual setting underwater, and Inon lenses and strobes. Also, there are many good photographers online, just look through some of the posters in this forum and see what camera systems they are using.

I hope this helps!

 

[reubencahn]

The Sea & Sea is roughly $ 1200 from Yuzo: UWdigitalcamera.com
Still a lot of money.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

The Sea & Sea is roughly $ 1200 from Yuzo: UWdigitalcamera.com
Still a lot of money.

Definetly looks like a solid housing and it even comes with the ttl converter and a leak sensor - Nice features. However, it does indicate that "Most" camera functions are accessible underwater, so I'd be curious to know which ones were's accessible. I also wish it had a deeper depth rating, which was my problem with many of the housings on the market.

It really seems like the trend is leaning towards high-end high-priced housings for advanced p&s cameras. It kind of makes sense, because that appeared to be a gap in the housing market that needed to be filled, especially in light of the capability of some of the newer and higher-end p&s's coming out. Furthermore, lot's of folks don't mind dishing out several thousand for a nice setup, but don't want to have to dish our the $7K to $12K for the equivalent higher-end slr setup. At least that was my situation!

 

[Mel Moncrieff]

Hi Khaled:

I recently purchased the G9 with the Ikelite system, including their wide angle lens and 2 DS 125 strobes. The whole package was expensive, but still less than an SLR setup and allows you to compose through the nice 3 inch LCD instead of peering through a view finder. Also, I like the ability to shoot wide angle, macro and movies on the same dive. Here are some pictures from my 1st few dives with this system: catalina_6_15_08 Photo Gallery by Mel Moncrieff at pbase.com

I wouldn't recommend the Canon housing as it doesn't allow TTL flash (which I have found works very well with the Ikelite system) and doesn't allow wide angle (which is essential for underwater photography). The Ikelite system (with their wide angle wet lens) allows one to go down to about 22m without vingetting, as opposed to 35 mm with the Canon housing--huge difference! Also the Ikelite housing is much more sturdy and will not overheat--I've heard that the Canon can. Hope this helps,

Mel

 

[khaled.alsibai]

thank you SFLDiver3445 for the rich reply, its very helpfull, als mel thnx a lot, im sure strobes and wide angle lens are very important, but how much cost the housing with the 2 strobes and the wide angel? i can not go very expansive since its only a hobby and im not gonna make money out of it at the moment..

 

[SFLDiver3445]

thank you SFLDiver3445 for the rich reply, its very helpfull, als mel thnx a lot, im sure strobes and wide angle lens are very important, but how much cost the housing with the 2 strobes and the wide angel? i can not go very expansive since its only a hobby and im not gonna make money out of it at the moment..

The key to good underwater photography is good lighting, because even with a simple camera, if your lighting is good, you can get nice shots. Unfortunately, underwater strobes tend to be expensive. Decent strobes heads will run you approximately $400 to $900 each, and that's independent of the arms and cables to connect them. Plus, there's the additional cost of adding external lenses.

What most people that have a limited budget do is to buy a flexible camera and housing, and add the addidional components over time. The key to that approach is to do your homework to ensure that the intial purchase is a camera and housing that indeed has the power and versatility to be expanded into a full system that will meet your needs.

If I were you, I would become very familiar with the information for the particular system(s) you are considering within the Canon, Inon and Ikelite websites, and that way you will be that much closer to making an informed decision. Also, there are some great specialty shops that can save you a lot of time and provide you with some great advice (i.e., Reef Photo, Backscatter, etc.). I'm not sure what country you're in, but there are also a few in Asia, like Divervision, that appear to be pretty good.

Good luck and don't be shy to ask lots of questions within these forums, because you may just find someone that can give you great advice, because they've already been through the stage you are at.

 

[khaled.alsibai]

thnx again for the very helpful infomation, i live in jeddah city (red sea) Saudi Arabia, and i understand now that canon housing is not recommaned.

there is no much help when it comes to technical choices, even no much choices, so i should purches from the internet if i decided for other housing than canon one because its the only one avaliable here, i am thinking of getting it because its way cheaper than the ikelight, and thinking also to buy this flash kit Cameras Underwater: Epoque ES-150DS alpha flashthat i found someone here using it. so what do u think?

i can understand that no need for a cable to be connected to the camera, the flash works remotely, or i am mistaken?

also i am not planing to shoot deep, and most creatures live in depth not more than 20fs so i am not sure how much im gonna need the flash!

 

[khaled.alsibai]

no replies????

 

[maged_mmh]

hi khaled I've been using G9 with WP-DC21 (canon housing - for full operation of all camera controls), I believe you can get it easily from KSA canon agent, with this strobe (single) Cameras Underwater: Sea and Sea YS110 strobe
I guess you're familiar with low viz in the gulf; yet results are nice
for the red sea; didn't yet tried it at sharm but i think it is going to be superb! for the macro; I use the camera's macro mode which IMO is sufficient. Sure the external macro will yield a better closeups but as you said you're just starting; if you worked your way; maybe you can upgrade later; just my opinion though, no need to maximize the solution right now.