Medium Format underwater housing

[crestgel]

while looking through some DIY for underwater housings (Good DIY One) I came to the conclusion that I do not have the skills for it. I did find a custom underwater housing manufacturer.

http://www.thesextonco.com/index.html

What I want to bring down is either a Contax 645 or a Hasselblad H1

Any advise on other custom housing manufactures or comments are greatly appreciated. Maybe someone in the socal area with access to a lathe, mill... can give me a hand.

 

[f3nikon]

while looking through some DIY for underwater housings (Good DIY One) I came to the conclusion that I do not have the skills for it. I did find a custom underwater housing manufacturer.

http://www.thesextonco.com/index.html

What I want to bring down is either a Contax 645 or a Hasselblad H1

Any advise on other custom housing manufactures or comments are greatly appreciated. Maybe someone in the socal area with access to a lathe, mill... can give me a hand.

I was thinking about placing my Bronica etrsi 645 with an action finder, in a housing also, but other than a better blow up on the prints what are the advantages?

Regards

 

[Marc Furth]

while looking through some DIY for underwater housings (Good DIY One) I came to the conclusion that I do not have the skills for it. I did find a custom underwater housing manufacturer.

http://www.thesextonco.com/index.html

What I want to bring down is either a Contax 645 or a Hasselblad H1

Any advise on other custom housing manufactures or comments are greatly appreciated. Maybe someone in the socal area with access to a lathe, mill... can give me a hand.

I have 15 years experience making underwater housings. I have both the mill and lathe your needing. What exactly are you looking to make ?

Marc

 

[crestgel]

I have 15 years experience making underwater housings. I have both the mill and lathe your needing. What exactly are you looking to make ?

Marc

I want a housing that will allow me to take my Contax camera underwater. The design I'm looking at is base on PVC pipes.

http://insel.heim.at/malediven/350052/mikedo_e.htm

should work even though it is a video housing. more controls needs to be added for manipulating the camera.

 

[crestgel]

I was thinking about placing my Bronica etrsi 645 with an action finder, in a housing also, but other than a better blow up on the prints what are the advantages?

Regards

That would be the only advantage that I can think of. Lets look at it a different way. using same film and everything else being the same.

A 11x14 printed from a 645 will look better then the 35mm print.

645 (42x56 mm) is about 2.7xlarger then 35mm (24x36 mm) I have more freedom to crop into my 645 to get the composition that I want.

I love panoramic my xpan shoots 24x65mm panoramic. Shooting 645 and cropping to 20.5x56mm will give me a panoramic of the same ratio. I can even change the composition with the cropping.

I would love to take a Hasselblad H1 down but that would mean buying a whole new camera system.

 

[Marc Furth]

I want a housing that will allow me to take my Contax camera underwater. The design I'm looking at is base on PVC pipes.

http://insel.heim.at/malediven/350052/mikedo_e.htm

should work even though it is a video housing. more controls needs to be added for manipulating the camera.

That is exactly how I have been making my housings.
This housing I made for my Fuji S2 Pro was made from 8 inch PVC pipe.
It is some what larger than most people want as to it’s size, but it was very cheap to make and it is neutral underwater.

Marc

 

[crestgel]

Where are you located we should talk. How much would a housing for the Contax 645 cost? Do you have a website with more info?

 

[RonFrank]

I was thinking about placing my Bronica etrsi 645 with an action finder, in a housing also, but other than a better blow up on the prints what are the advantages?

Regards

Of both the Nikon D2x and the Canon 1Ds and 1Ds mark II I am not sure that MF UW (or above for that matter) is all that big of an advantage.

Combine that with RAW, adjustable WB, and immediate review via the histogram, and I don't see it as an advantage period.

To make it more interesting figure that MF in generally have VERY limited WA capabilities. I have a 50mm lens for my Hassy system, which is about EQ to a 28mm lens. The 35mm lens for the H1 (3K) covers 89degrees with is somewhere in the 22mm eq for 35mm. It does NOT focus as close, and that is a LOT of money to put UW with a housing that if not made by someone who REALLY knows their stuff, is likely to flood.

IMO the quality of a camera like the D70 or 20D combined with the flexibility of WA lenses like the 12-24mm (MF also does not have zooms for the most part), the instant preview of histogram and LCD all give 35mm type DSLR's a BIG advantage.

Let's face it, MF has it's place, but I'm not sure UW is it for all but the highest paid UW professionals, and I'm not so sure even then.

 

[crestgel]

Of both the Nikon D2x and the Canon 1Ds and 1Ds mark II I am not sure that MF UW (or above for that matter) is all that big of an advantage.

Combine that with RAW, adjustable WB, and immediate review via the histogram, and I don't see it as an advantage period.

To make it more interesting figure that MF in generally have VERY limited WA capabilities. I have a 50mm lens for my Hassy system, which is about EQ to a 28mm lens. The 35mm lens for the H1 (3K) covers 89degrees with is somewhere in the 22mm eq for 35mm. It does NOT focus as close, and that is a LOT of money to put UW with a housing that if not made by someone who REALLY knows their stuff, is likely to flood.

IMO the quality of a camera like the D70 or 20D combined with the flexibility of WA lenses like the 12-24mm (MF also does not have zooms for the most part), the instant preview of histogram and LCD all give 35mm type DSLR's a BIG advantage.

Let's face it, MF has it's place, but I'm not sure UW is it for all but the highest paid UW professionals, and I'm not so sure even then.

Points well taken.

 

[f3nikon]

That would be the only advantage that I can think of. Lets look at it a different way. using same film and everything else being the same.

A 11x14 printed from a 645 will look better then the 35mm print.

645 (42x56 mm) is about 2.7xlarger then 35mm (24x36 mm) I have more freedom to crop into my 645 to get the composition that I want.

I love panoramic my xpan shoots 24x65mm panoramic. Shooting 645 and cropping to 20.5x56mm will give me a panoramic of the same ratio. I can even change the composition with the cropping.

I would love to take a Hasselblad H1 down but that would mean buying a whole new camera system.

You got that right. Also the viewfinder on my Bronica is HUGE! Almost the same size as the camera body, the screen size of this action finder is 2.5 inches dia.!! I could see the entire frame in the viewfinder, from almost a foot away, great for underwater housings and a dive mask! And with a 645 you get more pics from a roll of film when compared to a 6X6