Housing for G9

[MA]

HI

wow finally i found a blog on underwater cameras.

I've read through a lot on here and think i've now been convinced to buy the G9 rather than A650 (unless anyone thinis its really not worth the extra).

Is the Canon housing for this camera ok? I've been told that I'd need Ikelite or Patima as the canon housing doesn't allow access to the manual controls? Does anyone know what controls i would not be able to access?

I don't really like the size of the ikelite preferring a less obtrusive housing.

Cheers!

 

[ffdiver]

There are a bunch of threads on this already. The canon housing is fine, it is only useable to 130ft, and does offer all the controls. You can get an adapter and be able to use inon wet lens also.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

There are a bunch of threads on this already. The canon housing is fine, it is only useable to 130ft, and does offer all the controls. You can get an adapter and be able to use inon wet lens also.

I may be wrong, but I'm not sure that adapter will work with wide angle lenses.

MA, I think the decision you need to make is how serious do you anticipate getting with your underwater photography in the future, because many photographers ultimately desire to up the quality of their shots, which usally requires adding accessories (i.e., lenses and strobes) to the camera/housing. The Canon Housing is not the most ideal housing for that, so many will go the route of the ikelite, Patima or Sea & Sea Housing.

However, the Canon will do the trick, but you will run into some obstacles which can only be overcome with less than ideal and somewhat limiting add-on solutions which will ultimately limit your ability to take your photography to optimum levels, but you can still get nice shots with either choice.

Unfortunately, underwater photography usually requires spending quite a bit of cash to get the results and the setup you seek, so it's usually best to try to evaluate where you want to be in the future with your pictures and your respective setup, so you can choose a path which will ultimately cost you the least amount of cash to get to that point.

Adrian

 

[MA]

thanks ffdiver. I may not have gone back far enough to find them!

 

[Wisnu]

As newbie - I am quite happy with my G9 + WP-DC21 + Inon D2000 and just recently purchased FIT adapter and INON UCL-165M67. Still learning how to focus with this lense above water before my trip to Bali in August.
Diving in tropical water only, I don't expect to go deeper than 130 ft and or to expand this set-up in near future - enough breaking my bank.

 

[jlw]

It all depends on what you think you need and when. The life of an average Digital Camera isn't too great these days. All the ups, outs, add-ons and extras will not help your photography. They will present you with more options and flexibility in what exposures you do take. Above water I am a Nikon shooter and carry a D3 with a D200 back-up and spend big dollars on lenses to get exactly what I want -- This is because I know what the heck I'm doing and I can leverage the tools Nikon provides.

Underwater is totally different -- I am a pretty decent photographer but I am not experienced enough nor am I knowledgeable enough to get much use out of all the add-ons and wet lens adaptors, etc. The Canon housing is just fine for my needs. Someday, if I grow enough that I can out-shoot the Canon WP-DC21 housing -- I'll probably buy something for a newer model camera that has more features than the G9.

The G9 + Canon OEM housing lets you use 100% of the features of the camera. It requires you two hand a few things, I am not sure how I will like that underwater. The G9 allows me to shoot RAW + JPG and that is very important. Whitebalance becomes far less important with RAW as an option. I have tried shooting with both Nikon and Canon JPG and they do funny things to the images. Nikon calls it Adaptive Dynamic Range (ADR.) Sometimes I love an ADR image and I then use it as a model to post-process my RAW. Usually, I eyeball it in lightroom and am very happy with the result.

The things about the G9 that made me think it'd be a great UW camera -- beyond the amazing shots ScubaBoard members like Adrian share with us are:

1) a fairly wide aperture (since using the camera tho, I am a bit disappointed 2.8 goes away fast in the zoom range and I'm used to my Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 maintaining those apertures THROUGH THE RANGE OF THE ZOOM.)

2) RAW

3) A fairly cheap housing that'll work with my Inon Z-240 (Mk2)

4) SDHC support for HUGE cards to let me take bazillions of shots

5) Aftermarket 1700 mAh batteries instead of the stock 700 mAh for longer shooting times.

Yes, the Canon OEM housing isn't idea for the Inon but it'll work. You put the Inon UV pass filter over the flash and duolock the optical cable in place. This is every single bit as effective as the Patima's fancy optical cable mount.

I do not know about the FIT wet-lens housing adaptors but I know the macro on the G9 should let me get fairly close to things I want to photograph and the range on the zoom is fairly good (from the 30mm to 200mm range?) If I was willing to risk my D3, D200 or D70 (which is now a big long in the tooth at 6mpx for me) I'd always be using my 12-24 or my 14-24 and maybe the 50N or some 70mm lens. Getting the longer range on the zoom is great for framing and versatility. I've felt the compact cameras offer more flexibility UW than an SLR or dSLR. The G9 really does function well in fully manual mode. Its not photographer-centric and doesn't follow my pre-shooting workflow (ISO, meter, aperture, shutter, wb, EV, shoot) but rather its a bit more Fisher-Price with its kind of shutter, aperture displayed as variables to change and EV, WB on other buttons and ISO on a dial. I'd just leave ISO at 80 unless you can't get the shot and then step it up, try a shot etc till you get it.

Again, I haven't hit a wall with my UW stuff yet that says I need these wet lenses. Someday I hope to get there. Until then, the Canon housing is great -- its more likely there will be a G15 before I can outshoot the G9.

 

[BrianMayes]

HI

wow finally i found a blog on underwater cameras.

I've read through a lot on here and think i've now been convinced to buy the G9 rather than A650 (unless anyone thinis its really not worth the extra).

Is the Canon housing for this camera ok? I've been told that I'd need Ikelite or Patima as the canon housing doesn't allow access to the manual controls? Does anyone know what controls i would not be able to access?

I don't really like the size of the ikelite preferring a less obtrusive housing.

Cheers!

Yes you can use the manual controls on the Canon WP-DC21 housing, but you can not use the speed dial wheel in the housing so to change shutter speed and aperture settings you need to press and hold the custom button, whilst pressing the left or right button to move the settings up and down.

If you wanted to shoot with a wide angle lens like the Inon UWL-100, then this can only be done on a housing with a short port like the Ikelite or Patima.

 

[40Fathoms]

Is there any wide angle lens or adapter that fits on to the WP-DC21 housing?

 

[BrianMayes]

Is there any wide angle lens or adapter that fits on to the WP-DC21 housing?

There wouldn't be any point in fitting a wide angle lens. The lens port on the WP-DC21 is too long and so you would get vignetting from the wide angle lens. In order to overcome this, you would need to zoom the lens, which would reduce the effectiveness of the wide angle lens, back to almost a 35 mm equivalent. The Ikelite housing and the Patima housing both have the option to change the lens port to a short port, making it practical to use a wide angle lens.

If you want a cheap way to fit macro lens or filters though, have a look at my DIY adapter

 

[MA]

thanks for the advice! I've been down to check out the camera - i'm definitely going to go for the G9. I had also been considering A series, but all other comments on this forum aside, the screen just won me over completely - its huge!

Housings- still deciding... But great advice on where I want to be at.