Is it worth upgrading from my Sealife 2.0 to get a housing for my Canon EOS R?

[Arbu]

I own a Sealife 2.0, and a Canon EOS R for photos above the water. While I'm reasonably happy with the photos from the Sealife, I do sometimes find them a bit grainy. And quite a lot of them come out blurry - I think this may be where the light conditions are poorer and the camera presumably opts for a longer exposure. Examples of better photos from a recent trip to Hawaii here and here.

So would I get a significant improvement from buying a housing for my Canon EOS R and taking that instead? The housing and Canon wouldn't take up much more space in my bags than the Sealife and Canon currently do. But it's quite an expense, and the lifetime of digital slrs only seems to be about five years, so it's not very satisfactory if that is all the life that I get out of it.

Also, does anyone have any tips for avoiding blurry photos? Do you steady yourself on the seabed to take photos? I'm always wary of what I might be putting my hand on if I do that. With my Canon, if it's dark, I use a higher ISO, but I don't think there's any way to do this with the Sealife.

Thanks.

 

[WS007]

The cost of a good housing (e.g. Nauticam) is in the pricerange for the camera itself, to my opinion not worth for a Canon R. I would look out for a second hand housing for the Canon R, but not a new one. Another possibility is to upgrade the camera and then to buy a new housing...

The weight/space will be much more compared to Sealife, as you need additional (dome)ports and extensions to house also the lenses, not just the camera. If this is an important factor, better stay with Sealife..

In case the photos are motion-blurred, you need faster shutter speed and flashlight. Works also with sealife...

Wolfgang

 

[js1221]

You didn’t mention it but what about adding a video light and tray to your camera to help with the poorer light conditions?

 

[Arbu]

Thanks. I like to photograph wildlife above the surface too on my trips (birds), so have a really big lens for that. Plus binoculars. The problem is that all of this has to be carried hand luggage. So it does sound as if a camera housing for diving as well is taking things too far. Plus it's clearly expensive once you add in the costs of the ports etc. I'll stick with my sealife until there comes a time when money and space are no object.

I did leave my light and tray at home for Hawaii, for reasons of space, but am now seeing how they are important for dives of any depth, so will make sure I take them in future.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Ikelite housings are realtively affordable and a good choice for budget minded photographers... I shoot with a older Canon SL-1 in an Ikelite and with Sea & Sea strobes. When I was shooting with a Canon S-95 with add on macro and Wide angle lenses it worked really well, but the drawback of slow shutter response and slow auto focus was limiting the quality of my photos, so I bought the SL-1 and housing with some lenses and ports used quite a few ago and have been really happy. No more missing the shot because of camera limitations. Just because cameras are "old" doesn't mean they are junk it just means there are more bells and whistles. Stobes and their accessories last forever so that amortizes that $ and there is always someone with what I call "camera envy" so used strobes and used camera's can ease your purchase pain. You can use someone elses "camera envy" to your advantage since you do'nt need a new and $$$$ rig, and upgrade to something that will give you the functions you want.

After having the SL-1 for 5 years and it being 5 years since I bought it and yes it's re-sale value is low, but I still like it's features. Yes I am thinking of an upgrade for faster auto-focus and even faster shutter reflex as occasionally there are action shots that I are out of focus.

Maybee I should sell you my SL-1, and get a bit of an upgraded and we will both be happy.

 

[PatW]

Underwater photography is ……….. challenging. Even a mirror less full frame camera costs less than a good housing is for housings, you want a really good one. And you will need more than a housing, you will need ports and domes for your lenses. And you will need strobes. And you want to shoot RAW files so you can adjust white balance in port processing and you will need the software to work on the RAW files like Lightroom.

You can go to Backscatter’s web site (they are specialists in underwater photography) and they have reviews of the options in underwater photography at various price points.