Wide angle lens for Canon G15 or upgrade to Canon 7D?

[Monishi]

Hi everyone,

I have a Canon G15 with the Canon underwater housing (WP-DC48) and been using G-series for some time now. I am now considering either to mount the wide angel lens (wet len) on top of the WP-DC48 or upgrade my Camera to Canon 7D with Ikelite housing. Canon 7D's price has come down a lot so if I purchase 7D, I will get one macro lens and one fish eye lens, and purchase the ikelite housing as this seems like the cheapest housing for Canon 7D. But I don't have a budget for strobes so won't mount the strobes on Canon 7D.

I mainly love to shoot Pelagics like sharks, mantas, and occasionally whale shark. Do you think without the strobes, should I really upgrad my camera to 7D and invest in the lenses, housing? Without the strobes, can I really take a good photo of Pelagics underwater with 7D? Or should I stick with G15 and buy the wet lens to shoot Pelagics?

I have never owned SLR so I am a bit confused...

Thanks and cheers,

Mimi

 

[Interceptor121]

Even adding a wide angle lens your g15 set up is not going to perform in ambient light except at shallow depths. There are other option that will give you that possibility for example if you look at the S series you can shoot fine ambient light with a wide angle lens and probably have money for a strobe as well

 

[rks]

Another option to consider is to move to another housing for your G15, the Ikelite housing will allow you to add external strobes which could be used later if you go to a 7d or another housed SLR. The cost of the housing is a lot less than a 7D housing (where you'll need the housing and a port for the lens you're going to shoot) and still allows great control. See my pictures, all done with an Ikelite housing and strobes.

 

[sunnyboy]

Just my $.02. I was in the market for a new camera. My current UW camera was a Canon 570IS with Ikelite housing. I do have a DLSR, but the housing (Ikelite) is $1500, then add money for the ports... you are looking at near $2K to put a DLSR underwater. Even with a relatively inexpensive DLSR (say Canon T3i, or T4i) the housing is the big cost.

A G15 or G16 Ikelite housing is just well under $1k, and if you buy the TTL housing you get a tray with one flash mount included. For the $$$ you really can't beat that, IMO.

Add a video light like the Sola 1200 and an inexpensive strobe and you have a pretty good UW rig. Again, IMO your G15 is a pretty decent camera.

 

[Interceptor121]

Those are the accessories available for your housing
INON NEWS: M67 Lens Adapter Base DC48 for Canon WP-DC48
There is no need to change housing to have access to the wet lenses

Note this remark on Inon website

*Since combined camera is set to focal length approx.80mm (35mm film equivalent) for optimum optical performance, use small aperture setting.

What that means is that you need to close down the lens to f8 to have sharp images, this means pretty much no ambient light wide angle with this lens except at the surface (maybe)

If you want to shoot large animal a wide angle lens is essential, and if you want to stay with canon the Powershot S series offer the best options in terms of working at wide apertures as they do not require zoom lenses

 

[TheBlueElement]

I have the g16 meikon housing with 67mm threat will this lens work with it too? Do i need amy adapter?

 

[Interceptor121]

As I said the lens could work but for stills not for video. You can't control aperture on your canon so when you shoot video and is not so bright you will end up with blurred images. A powershot S camera will have the same lack of control but will work with a traditional lens so wide aperture will be fine. The G series camera are limited when it comes to wide angle and def not work well in ambient light. Sorry for the bad news