Housing, Lenses, And Lights For Canon 30D

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wcj786

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Messages
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Location
Diego Garcia, BIOT
# of dives
50 - 99
I am a newbie and am looking to find out what people think would be the ideal setup for someone who owns a Canon 30D, with a 580EX flash, and three lenses, the Canon 17-85 mm IS, a Tamron 28-80mm, and a Tamron 70-300mm lense.

I do not have a housing or anything for UW. I am looking for recommendations on what else I need. Will I need a strobe, or can I get a housing for the 580EX and then use it? Do I need different lenses to shoot macro and/or wide angle? Will I need an 8" dome, or does a cover come with the housing?

I plan on shooting in Florida, Cozumel, Thailand, Indonesia, Diego Garcia, and maybe the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. (Of course, not all in the same vacation. :wink:) At this time, I do not plan on shooting on night dives. I also want a setup that will allow me to capture salable photos. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
The best thing to so is look at housing websites and get a handle on how much you're willing to spend. Sea and Sea and Ikelite offer good mid priced housings and you may find that your lenses are compatible. I am a Nikon shooter using a 12-24 mm zoom for WA and a 60mm for macro and you may want to check to see if canon has something similar. Next you need to see if the lenses you have/choose are compatible with the ports for thehousing you choose. I would suggest buying strobes (2) as the nature of UW photography requires they be positioned away from the camera to avoid backscatter. You will soon want strobes anyway because of the color lost at depth. I have bought alot of my gear from Backscatter in Monterey CA, (backscatter.com) and beenvery happy withthe service. That should get you started, let me know if you have more questions and there are a lot of other people here that can answer them too.
Good Luck,
 
wcj786, when you say you are a newbie do you mean you are a new diver or just new here?

I am going to suggest you read as much here as possible before making the leap. You are obviously an experienced top-side photographer but sometimes that experience and equipment don't translate as well as imagined underwater. The housings for large DSLRs are huge two handed affairs with essential arm mounted strobe(s) so you not only need to be an expert photographer but an expert diver.

Also, would you have any reservations about taking your beloved 30D under water with the knowledge that one day you just might brine it? And, by the way, there is little market for salable pictures. It is mainly just an expensive hobby and personal artform.

I am raising these issues to suggest you start a little smaller. Maybe a high-end point and shoot setup with an external strobe. The housings for a P&S camera are usually half the price of one for a DSLR. Even if you are a money-is-no-object sort of guy, many actually prefer the action of a P&S setup. In any case there is a long learning curve to UW photography and it is not made any easier by leaping headfirst into a pro DSLR setup. Just my opinion as someone who has both a Canon 20D w/Ikelite case and my more favorite cheap (so cheap I bought a spare!) Olympus SP-350 in Ikelite case with wet lenses (both with external strobe).

Since you are in the Canon fold already take a look at the G9 (I have not used it but if I were to replace my Oly it would probably be it). Anyway, whatever you decide you will get great information and support here.
 

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