Housing for Rebel, or buy an Oly point/shoot?

[alaity47]

Hi all,

My husband and I bought a Canon Digital Rebel last December, and we've been planning to get a housing for it once we have the money. (Since it's not just housing, but dome ports, strobes, etc).

Jeff (that's the husband) just brought up an interesting point: would it be cheaper and easier to go the Olympus 50xx route? The camera and housing together would cost about the same as the Ike Rebel housing, and there'd be no dome ports to worry about.... the more we thought about it, the more appealing it was.

Of course, I LOVE the digital rebel - on land. And I figured we'd want all that same functionality underwater. But ever since he brought it up, I'm not so sure - maybe a high-resolution point-and-shoot is the better way to go. It's tricky to do too much fiddling around with settings underwater anyway.

Discovering that Dee and Gilligan both use Oly's really pushed me over the edge, and now I'm super-seriously considering this new plan of action. (Which would have the extra benefit of keeping my precious digital rebel totally free of the risk of flood damage).

So, I was wondering if I could get a few Olympus users to chime in, as well as those of you who've decided that SLR is the way to go. Anyone use an SLR on land, but decided to stick with a point/shoot underwater? Do you wish you had access to different lenses and more control over your camera?

Opinions, please! Thanks.

 

[Gilligan]

If I already had the DSLR Rebel I would get the housing for it.
You will have to do lots of "fiddling around" with the Oly cameras, or any camera underwater to get good results.
"Point and shoot' is an understatement.

 

[alcina]

The flexibility of the dSLR is fabulous...and you already have the camera and at least one lens. If I had the cash, I would head for the housing and strobes.

On the other hand, the Oly series (and others) offer excellent manual control, are expandable with various lenses & strobes and give you a great opportunity to have another camera that will also work well on land. I agree with Gilligan, point and shoot really doesn't cover it to get the most of these camera/housings. You will most likely be changing a variety of settings underwater throughout every dive. These cameras do OK in auto mode, but the improvement by shooting in manual is amazing.

Either way you go there will be a substantial learning curve and you will need to practice with the camera in the housing before heading out on that dive trip! Pool practice is great, too.

As for flood damage, insure insure insure. DEPP and DAN O2 seem to be the top two contenders. Replacement cameras/housings can be gotten fairly quickly (usually) as long as your paperwork is in order. A second backup system isn't a bad idea either...HTH

 

[ChrisM]

I have the 5050, and have shot that or the 4040 since late 2001. You can see my stuff at www.underwaterplanet.com

They are great cameras, and for the price, you can't beat housing them.

That said, my Aquatica housing for the 300D should be here any day now.

Primary reason for switching. No shutter lag. Faster autofocus. More flexibility.

I have the WA wetmate lens. Honestly, the times I actually changed lenses UW is few and far between (well, there was yesterday at Catalina). So I can live with missing a giant black sea bass shot if I am set for macro, etc.

I am at a point in my shooting that I want to be able to get the shot when I want it. With prosumer, I'm just not always able to. If I had the money (I did, barely) I'd house the Rebel. From what I have heard (8080, etc), Oly is not moving in an UW camera friendly direction. And I can't say I've seen many good shots from an auto mode, regardless of the camera. You have to learn to control the camera to control your shot.

And I have never worried about flooding a camera. I just take as much care as I can, buy insurance, and stop worrying. If I worried about it, I wouldn't take it UW.

Don't forget, it's the eye behind the camera that makes the difference.

Good luck whatever you do

Chris

 

[alaity47]

Thanks for all the replies so far - Chris, I'm glad you pointed out shutter lag. I'd forgotten about that pesky little thing! Fish pictures will definitely be easier without it.

I think I'm already convinced to stick with the original rebel-in-housing plan... but it's fun to read the responses if more people still want to weigh in!

As for insurance, we already have DEPP insurance for all our other gear (including the reefmaster digital camera we dive with now); I'll definitely extend it to whatever camera we upgrade to next!

 

[marpacifica]

I've owned or borrowed a Reefmaster digital, Oly 3000/4000/5050, and now have a Fuji S2 Pro DSLR. I loved the simplicity of the Reefmaster: fixed focus, light, compact, but hated the shutter lag and inability to print anything beyond 5"x7". The Oly series took me a while to get used to, but once I found all the sweet spots and idiosyncracies, I enjoyed using it. Except for that dang shutter lag. And then when I finally got lucky enough to get a magazine assignment, the editor said he loved the photos, but did I have anything in higher resolution? Ugh. Thus I maxed out my credit card and ordered my current setup. Although I'll be paying for the DSLR+ through the next few months, I don't see myself going back to the Oly unless the DSLR is in the shop. The shutter lag on the DSLR is virtually unnoticeable. For instance, I have two photos in my gallery of mandarinfish mating. The first one shows them just before their dancing apex, and the other one shows another couple just milliseconds after they released their milt and eggs. I never would have gotten these photos with the Oly -- I tried before and spent an entire dive estimating the right time to release the shutter and ended up with buttshots. I still use the Oly as backup, though. My girlfriend uses it and I borrow it from her when I can't get the bulky S2 into a tight spot to take a photo. Hey, maybe you can get Jeff to carry your Oly while you take primary shots with your Rebel!

Good luck whatever you do.

 

[ReyeR]

I never would have gotten these photos with the Oly -- I tried before and spent an entire dive estimating the right time to release the shutter and ended up with buttshots.

Ha ha ha ha! Deja vu. I've done the exact same thing at Kapalai with my C5050.

Did you have enough light for the S2 to focus (they only come out in the evening 5:30-6:00pm)?

 

[marpacifica]

ReyeR,

Ah, someone to share the pain and frustrations of snapping mandarins.... ssra30 and ReefWreck chimed in on this deja vu in another thread.

No, there wasn't enough light to use autofocus. I manually focused as they started their dance, then clicked as soon as they reached a point that I estimated from previous dances where they would release. But I had the trusty help of my girlfriend to shine her light (covered with her fingers to allow only a sliver of light through so as not to scare the lovebirds) on the fish so I could focus and track them. So it's a team effort for me.

 

[ReyeR]

ReyeR,

Ah, someone to share the pain and frustrations of snapping mandarins.... ssra30 and ReefWreck chimed in on this deja vu in another thread.

No, there wasn't enough light to use autofocus. I manually focused as they started their dance, then clicked as soon as they reached a point that I estimated from previous dances where they would release. But I had the trusty help of my girlfriend to shine her light (covered with her fingers to allow only a sliver of light through so as not to scare the lovebirds) on the fish so I could focus and track them. So it's a team effort for me.

Ah, the joys of (a workable) manual focus and a lovely girlfriend / dive buddy. Have the latter, now just need to find a DSLR....
Ok, no more hijacking this thread, but alaity47, you see why everyone's encouraging you to house the 300D instead of spending on a prosumer setup.

 

[Detonate]

Personally, I'd house the Rebel. Ikelite should have a TTL capable housing shipping this month.

I went the path of the 5050 to start with, and now I'm about to sell my whole setup just to buy a housing for a Nikon D70.

Then I have to take out a second mortgage to buy a pair of strobes for it.