Housing for 5d or 20d?

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PlanetMarz

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Hey all - looking for some advice. I have an old 20d and a new 5d - I have a couple of thoughts... Do I buy an older (i.e. less expensive) rig for the 20d and make that my dedicated U/W camera? Or should I pop for a new housing for the 5d ?? Somehow the thought of flooding my old 20d seems a little less heartbreaking.
Any thoughts??
 
I recently got an Ikelite housing for my 5D and love it. I have never used a 20/30/40D underwater but I really like the full frame sensor with a wide angle lens underwater. I guess that really depends on what lenses you have for your cameras but the 5D and Ikelite housing have worked great for me.
 
What are you going to do with the photos?

By that, I mean, you are certainly risking a lot more with a 5D in th water --so unless you have some very important assignments, why take the extra risk. For most photography, the 20d would do extremely well.

Jeff
 
I also had to make the choice of which camera to dedicate for underwater use. I finally decided on the 5D (I had to decide between the canon 5d and nikon d100) and have been very happy with the results. I felt it was better to spend the cash on something that is current and can be used for several years with great results. Instead of housing an older cheaper outdated camera and then deciding later that I should of went with the other. If your goal is great image quality then go with the 5D. You'll be super stoked you did. Plus the difference in the cost of the housings aren't that much different. So if your gonna drop the cash then make it well worth it, and if your worried about flooding it then get it all insured. Then your all covered in the unlikely event of a flood.
 
Thanks for the input - I have a 15mm fisheye that I love with the full frame sensor...
At this time, I don't plan on selling any U/W images so the 20d would probably do trick, that being said I have to admit that I haven't touched it since I bought the 5d.
One other question - I have (2) 580 speedlites - am I better off buying a housing for them or buying dedicated U/W strobes??

Thanks again!
Marz
 
You are probably going to want to go for some dedicated underwater strobes like those from Ikelite, Sea&Sea, Inon, and others. I just got my first stobe (Ikelite DS-200) and I am amazed with the results. There is alot of good information on strobes here on SB. When looking at strobes, keep in mind the angle of coverage, power, and recycle times.

Good luck.
 
With either camera you will want two strobes like the ones mentioned above. I have 2- Ds-125s from Ike and they have taken a huge amount of abuse during the over 700 dives they have been on. I recently replaced the batteries but that's it. I'm very impressed with their quality.
 
I still use my 20D underwater and my agency still happily accepts files from it. FWIW.

And one big thing going for the crop sensor - it can use that *awesome* Tokina 10-17 fisheye zoom, which gives you a lot of compositional flexibility over a prime fisheye.

To me, that swings the scales in favor of the crop body. You mileage may vary.

Vandit
 
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