Meikon / Polaroid Canon T3i /T2i Housing Review

[theu1991]

Why am I writing this review? I'm writing it because I could find nothing online about the Meikon or Polaroid Canon T3i housings online. I wasn't sure about anything other than the fact that the housing was cheap. I'm sharing my experiences so that other people can make an educated decision on a housing setup, and that there will be at least some information out on the web on a cheaper alternative to expensive housings for people (such as myself) that are on a budget deciding which system to purchase.

Background:

I've used a GoPro (both the Hero 1 and Hero 3 Black) before and liked taking pictures and videos with it, but wanted to get something different. IMO, I think the GoPro is great if you decide you want to go spearfishing and film yourself while doing it. Lately, though, I've wanted to go out with the intent to take pictures/videos instead of spearing.

Well, I ended up selling all my spearguns and bought a Canon T3i with the money. I picked it up on Craigslist for $325 in used (but great) condition. If you're interested, there are some deals for them for ~$430 online.

The following morning I ordered an underwater housing on eBay for $350. The housing is made by Polaroid, but it seems like there are similar housings by a brand called "Meikon." These housings are identical to the Polaroid one I bought but are a little more expensive and ship from Hong Kong (they go for about $450). This housing is also available for the Canon T2i, it seems.

All in all the setup ran me $675. Not a bad deal, I don't think. The new GoPro Hero 3+ will run you $400 plus tax, so I spent a little more for a camera with a little bit different of a purpose.

Here are some stock pictures of the housing:

The Housing:

The build quality of the housing is good. It isn't flimsy and I trust it in the water.

There is no way to manually adjust focus while the camera is in the housing, so you'll be forced to shoot in autofocus or set your manual focus before entering the water.

The zoom wheel does not always match up with the lens: sometimes it jams, sometimes it works- I don't plan on relying on the zoom before entering the water on a dive because I don't trust that it will always be reliable. This is my biggest complaint with the housing. I'm not sure if this problem will only exist with the kit lens, as I haven't tried any other lens in the housing.

I've seen specs that say you can and specs that say you can't access the main dial. You *can* access the dial.

There is a small area for the camera's flash to spread in the water. I can't comment on how well it works in the water, but it seems alright on land. I've never needed to use it underwater. I wouldn't trust it to make any huge improvements on lighting underwater.

You can attach a tray to the bottom of the housing thanks to tripod inserts on the bottom of it.

Cant comment on depth capabilities, but the camera has 160' written on it, the manual says 130', and the Internet says both 100' and 120'. I've taken it down to around 40' with no issues at all.

I am not sure if you can attach strobes to this setup. There seems to be a spot on the top of the housing that would allow a strobe to be attached but I can't confirm this as I haven't tried to use it yet.

Sample Photos:

 

[oskartorres]

Great pictures, I'm also considering buy a underwater housing for my T3I and I'd like Ikelite but it's little expensive, I found this Meikon brand housing is same as your Polaroid, but they don't have enough review, how about it, any suggestion?

 

[wighty]

Thanks for posting. I'm really considering going with one of these housings for vacation in a few months. How easy was it to use the viewfinder for composition? I imagine difficult, so I'd probably think of using a wider focal length and then just cropping as needed.

edit: I'm also curious how effective the flash is, could you try taking a few examples (doesn't have to be in water)? Thanks in advance.

 

[wighty]

So I bought the T4i/T3i Polaroid case ($350 on ebay) and it looks like it will work okay with the T5i. Right now I don't have the 18-55mm lens to test it with (hoping the STM version will still work okay even though it is 1mm wider and 5mm longer).

Problems I have with it (again, using T5i):

No access to the top wheel for changing aperture or shutter speeds (I usually like to use Tv for underwater). Hopefully something like magiclantern will let me customize the button functions so I can get this functionality back.

Menu button doesn't seem to press it, though this may be because I don't have the lens attached. Work around is custom fn that lets you use the select button as the menu button.

Flash doesn't open enough to be used, camera gives an error. Again I wonder if you can use ML to get rid of the error and let the flash fire? If not I don't see how you could get external strobes to work with this setup.

Big problem here: in the current state you can't switch to movie mode. I'm wondering if I remove a piece of plastic that prevents you from moving the dial further will allow for this... also hoping maybe ML gives you another way to activate movie mode (maybe live view button?).

 

[Mscdex]

I am considering buying this case. Is it heavy or extremely bulky? Also, I couldn't find any strobes that have a hot shoe connector. Any suggestions?

 

[rob1967]

I would be leery about buying an SLR housing without interchangeable ports. Most kit lens aren't that great underwater. They can shoot wide-angle and they can shoot macro, but typically neither very well. I am sure the T2/T3i would shoot nice macro with the 60 mm macro lens, and nice wide-angle with say the Tokina 10-17, but I don't think you will find many outstanding shots taken with a kit lens. For mirrorless and SLR, the most important factor limiting image quality is the lens, not the camera body.

If you want the versatility of shooting wide angle and macro on the same dive, I think you would be much better off using a compact Canon, i.e., G16, S110/120, or maybe wait for the G7x (camera out now, housings coming soon). I would say a high-end compact will shoot much better macro, and similar wide-angle IQ compared to an SLR with a kit lens, and be much cheaper and compact, and easier to use underwater.

 

[Mscdex]

I was planning on using my 50mm prime which has always been my go to lense. I have a Nikon AW100 but I would love to use my T5i instead.

 

[rob1967]

I was planning on using my 50mm prime which has always been my go to lense. I have a Nikon AW100 but I would love to use my T5i instead.

The prime lens will be sharper than the kit lens, but check the minimum focus distance. If it is 45 cm, that will you have you tearing your hair out in frustration underwater. The key to underwater photography, be it wide-angle or macro, is get close, then get closer. You could try putting a diopter on it, but a dedicated Macro (or wide-angle) lens will be much better. Or just get a compact!

p.s I am assuming you checked that the prime lens is the same size or slightly smaller than the kit lens and will fit in that housing.

 

[Mscdex]

Yep, a reviewer on Amazon used my same lens. I would love to use my 10mm but I know that would be way too wide.

 

[bourbon2682]

interesting conversation how has everyone made out so far with there housing