Canon 5d mk iii vs. Sony a7r ii

[JessieCho]

hi everyone, I'm absolute new to UW photography. In fact I just got certified! But I was a wedding photographer before with a canon 5D mk iii and almost every single L lens that canon makes. I'm debating of selling my canon stuff and switch to Sony, as I do backpacking as well and really need a smaller body. But I do want to ask for your opinion before I liquidate all of my canon stuff, that i should switch to sony for UW photography. I'm not familiar with the housing but I assume the ones make for a7r ii won't be able to accommodate a metabone for canon lenses right? Or should I really keep my canon camera and lenses and invest in 5d mk iii housing? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[BoltSnap]

You should check to see if the Sony will have all of the lenses you will need U/W and there are housings/ports for them first.

I'd talk to these two vendors and see what they recommend. They are expert professionals in this matter. They have presence on SB also (I don't remember their SB id's):

Bluewater photo & video | Underwater cameras and more

Optical Ocean Sales, Seattles Underwater Camera and Photography Store

 

[mattia_v]

You should be able to find a suitable combination for a MetaBones adapter and any Canon lens you would like to use underwater among Nauticam's various solutions / port extensions (they mention the MetaBones adapter and Canon lenses explicitly on their website). Phil Rudin (poster here and on Wetpixel.com) should be able to help out if the Nauticam website doesn't provide the answers you're looking for.

There are a few considerations to make. I switched from a Canon 5DII and a variety of L lenses (mostly the F/4.0 zooms, plus a variety of L primes) to a micro-four thirds system and then added Sony's A7r when it came out later, precisely because I mostly photograph while travelling, and the weight was a big issue for me. One thing to consider is that your overall system size will only shrink marginally if you keep the Canon glass and 'only' upgrade the body, although the housing for the 5D is quite a bit chunkier.

On the Mirrorless end of things, if you shoot anything requiring continuous AF / action, your DSLR is still going to be much, much better. I don't, so I'm thrilled with the A7r in most ways, and the mk II (which is a little out of my price range for now) fixes almost every annoyance I have with the original, save the persistent lack of a touchscreen (AF point selection is annoying) which is a non-issue for underwater use. The files are gorgeous, and I'm a big fan of the 55/1.8 and 16-35/4.0 native lenses. No way in hell I'm going back to a DSLR.

Having said all that, my choice for underwater housing is...a sony RX100. Why? because kitting out a full frame camera was too expensive for me, and an RX100 in an aluminum housing, with good (second hand) wet lenses from Inon can be had for a fraction of the cost (like 20%-25%, give or take), with the major advantage that it is a much, much smaller package to travel with. I also only dive when travelling, really, so if I live somewhere where I dived my camera semi-regularly, I might have different priorities.

Buying new, an A7R mk II housing with ports and extensions for an ultra wide lens costs about 6,000 USD. Add at least a strobe an arms (say minimum 500-700, more like 1000 for a larger strobe, or double that for a pair of strobes) and things get very pricey. My idea A7R setup would actually probably be the Sony 28/2.0, and the Nauticam wet lenses (WWL-1 and CMC), which would be a package costing 8,500 dollars, but allowing wide-angle and macro on a single dive using high-quality wet lenses.

 

[bvanant]

If you are going to use Canon Lenses (metabones in my hands at least is less than stellar) then use Canon bodies (you already understand them). If I were going to use Sony then I would use Sony native lenses but for my personal eye, the files from eh 5Diii are spectacular and the auto focus on the Canon is so much faster than on the Sony that you might be disappointed. Why don't you rent/borrow a Sony/Metabones and see what you think on land.
Bill

 

[JessieCho]

thank you for all of the suggestions! i guess i won't sell all of my canon stuff just yet. I do like my camera but just so cumbersome when I travel, but i've been carrying DSLR in the past 10 years so i'm in no rush of getting a mirrorless.

another question i have is what f stop do you usually shoot with? i don't know if i'll need the f/1.2 and f/1.4 lens and I would like to sell some lens so i can use the money for pay for the housing.

thanks!
Jessie

 

[James R]

Rarely, if ever, below F4 using Nikon full frame. Usually F8 and up wide angle and much smaller for macro.

 

[Manneca]

I have a Sony a7R that I use with my Canon L lenses and a Metabones adaptor.

Focusing is much, much slower than with the Canon 5DMarkIII. Focus peaking is nice and it works well for landscape photography (but works only in manual).

I would switch to Sony lenses, but Sony doesn't make a long lens for this camera (yet). Right now, I am thinking of selling both the Sony and the Canon and getting a 1Ds (whatever the latest iteration of it is). Yes, it is heavy.

For UW, I use an Olympus E PL5 with a 60mm lens. I also have the lens that came with the camera (28-40). I do mostly macro and it's a good system. I went with the Olympus housing cause it's cheap. I've used a Canon G9 in the past for UW too. Both make prints up to 13x19.

 

[bvanant]

For underwater use on a 5Diii your major lenses will be the 100 macro maybe the 8-15 and some other wide zoom (16-35, 17-40). The advantage of fast lenses is that they focus faster.
Bill

 

[rob1967]

I was once a big proponent of mirrorless: same image quality as DSLR, but way more compact. BUT, I finally realized there are two very important limitations to mirrorless as compared to DSLR: auto-focus and battery life! I was always frustrated by the very pokey AF of my mirrorless. Having to open up my mirrorless housing on an open boat in order to swap batteries, and then getting fog in my housing (due to lack of access to air-con room) pushed me over the edge and I made the switch to DSLR. I am now happily using the Canon 7DMII, and love the amazing AF and long battery life.

The 5DMIII is perfect for wedding photography but may be a bit of overkill for a new UW photographer. Most of the advantages of FF vs. cropped sensor do not really apply underwater. You will rarely if ever have to shoot wide-open or at high ISO underwater. Especially for macro, a cropped sensor body may be better, as you can get more depth of field before running into diffraction issues. To save a bit on size, you could consider keeping your Canon glass and getting a Canon cropped sensor body, i.e., 7DMII, 80D or SL-1. The money you save in getting a housing for a cropped sensor camera rather than the 5DMIII would come close to paying for the cropped sensor body (depending of course on which one you get).

 

[EricTheDood]

thank you for all of the suggestions! i guess i won't sell all of my canon stuff just yet. I do like my camera but just so cumbersome when I travel

If I were in your shoes, I'd stay in the Canon family and maybe upgrade to the MKIV which will be out imminently. I'm a GH4 user because I'm more into video than stills and Canon was too slow to come out with an affordable 4K camera. Jumped ship from Canon about 2.5 years ago.

Consider how much dive gear you'll be transporting - enough to fill a check-in bag to the brim. The incremental difference in bulk between a 5D and an MFT setup for UW purposes (just one or two lenses), will be moot compared to the rest of the crap you'll be hauling.