Do any of the newer Canon +

[sandrascuba]

Thanks 29South. I was looking at the G7 too and still have the A710is as a back-up plan if I can't get the S80 or G7. I saw I was able to get the A710is from Amazon and that the housing was available from at least 1 supplier. In the coming weeks the A710is housing should become more readily available. I don't need the housing until the beginning of January as I don't go to Yap until end of January so I could wait if necessary. I do want a few weeks to play with the housing before taking it U/W with me though. I'll know in the next few hours if I've won the Ebay auction on the new S80. If not, I'm leaning heavily toward the the G7. I like the idea of a hot shoe and don't mind that it doesn't shoot RAW or have a swivel viewing screen (something else to get broken or screwed up). It just depends on when it becomes available. If the G7 isn't realesed soon (and a housing too) my fall back position is the A710is. I have until mid November.

Have a great time in Bonaire. Looking forward to some pics from the A710is. Be safe and have fun.

Sandra

 

[sandrascuba]

Got it on the weight bar Ron. Thanks.

Sandra

 

[sandrascuba]

I am the soon to be happy owner of a brand new Canon S80. Let the games begin for all the do-dads for my shopping list. I'll order the housing this afternoon and touch base with Reef Photo to talk about the strobe and wet lenses. They seem to be highly reguarded here.

I can't thank you all enough for all of your help. If any of you ever plan a trip out to the Southwest please be sure to give me a shout. There's some awesome photography to be had out here.

Yee Haw.

Sandra

 

[RonFrank]

I am the soon to be happy owner of a brand new Canon S80. Let the games begin for all the do-dads for my shopping list. I'll order the housing this afternoon and touch base with Reef Photo to talk about the strobe and wet lenses. They seem to be highly reguarded here.

I can't thank you all enough for all of your help. If any of you ever plan a trip out to the Southwest please be sure to give me a shout. There's some awesome photography to be had out here.

Yee Haw.

Sandra

Be careful what you offer, someone might take you up on it!

WooHoo on the S80. Dispite it being discontinued, IMO there are not many better camera's in that class on the market. My wife uses the S70 I purchased as my original UW camera, and she likes it a lot. She can take great images without a lot of work which is the entire point for a lot of users of these camera's.

I think you will be very happy with the S80.

Ryan at Reef is good people. I met him this summer and purchased a bunch of stuff from them. You will get good service, good advice, and generally free shipping on larger orders. Reef is great, and one of the few places that stock a lot of high end and harder to find brands in dive camera gear, like Inon.

 

[Jamdiver]

....

I want to use the S80 for land shots as well as u/w. Should I get the WC DC10 wide angle and TC DC10 teleconverter along LA DC20 lens adapter or be looking at the wet lenses? Here's a dense question... do the wet lenses attach to the camera or the housing? If housing.... shoot, I'll have to get both sets. Darn!
.....

Sandra

External wet lenses fit on the housing itself.
So during the dive you could for example put a macro or wide angle lenses on and off.

Inon has Macro/wide angle lenses that will fit on your housing .

As for the topside attachments (wide angle/teleconverter) i've seen some reviews where people have been less than pleased by it..

Vignetting seems to be a big problem with the wide angle unless you zoom in a bit.

 

[RichKirby]

I don't need the housing until the beginning of January as I don't go to Yap until end of January so I could wait if necessary.
Sandra

Need a dive buddy?!?

 

[sandrascuba]

Love the dog in your Avatar Rich. I can always use a dive buddy. Interested in Sipidan, Thailand and Lembeh Strait, Indonesia (in some reasonable order depending on the live-aboard in Sipidan schedule) in June or July? I'm looking to take a 30-40 day trip and as of right now I will only have my camera and spare air as a buddy.

Well..... it looks like I'll probably need a Sherpa too. I've been in touch with Ryan at Reef Photo and have a quote.....

Inon Z240 deluxe lighting package, ULCS tray and strobe arm system, UWL 100 28AD WA Conversion lens, Ikelite housing for the S80 and misc do-dads. Are my knuckles going to continue to drag on the ground carrying this stuff around?

After compairing the sizes of the Canon housing to the Ike housing, there's not much difference in size. 5.6"x3.5"x3.3" on the Canon and 6.0"x4.75"x5.5" on the Ike. The only thing I don't like about the Ike is that you have to have the base and handle on as there's no way to grip it without them. Also, I really didn't want to get into "wet lenses" (remember I just want to dive) but this lens sounds like a good idea.

The main thing right now is just to be able to PnS with the external strobe firing. I can grow into the strobe package and wet lens. Is this setup going to meet my criteria guys?

Sandra

 

[CompuDude]

Love the dog in your Avatar Rich. I can always use a dive buddy. Interested in Sipidan, Thailand and Lembeh Strait, Indonesia (in some reasonable order depending on the live-aboard in Sipidan schedule) in June or July? I'm looking to take a 30-40 day trip and as of right now I will only have my camera and spare air as a buddy.

Well..... it looks like I'll probably need a Sherpa too. I've been in touch with Ryan at Reef Photo and have a quote.....

Inon Z240 deluxe lighting package, ULCS tray and strobe arm system, UWL 100 28AD WA Conversion lens, Ikelite housing for the S80 and misc do-dads. Are my knuckles going to continue to drag on the ground carrying this stuff around?

After compairing the sizes of the Canon housing to the Ike housing, there's not much difference in size. 5.6"x3.5"x3.3" on the Canon and 6.0"x4.75"x5.5" on the Ike. The only thing I don't like about the Ike is that you have to have the base and handle on as there's no way to grip it without them. Also, I really didn't want to get into "wet lenses" (remember I just want to dive) but this lens sounds like a good idea.

The main thing right now is just to be able to PnS with the external strobe firing. I can grow into the strobe package and wet lens. Is this setup going to meet my criteria guys?

That'll do fine. It's hardly a streamlined package, but once you start adding strobes, it's hard to maintain streamlining.

The one thing I liked about the Canon housing over the Inon is the slightly smaller package DOES make a difference. The overall external measurements don't tell the whole story: The Canon housing is shaped to very closely fit the outline of the camera, while the Ikelite housing is shaped more like a brick with a lens port. Also, while you can use the Ikelite housing just fine with no strobe (and no handle... just the housing and the camera, which is how I started out), the Canon housing actually works better in this manner, because it really is smaller (remember, it conforms to the contours of the camera more, so the the max rectuangular measurements listed in the specs don't tell you the true size, just the max), and the flash diffuser is more effective sans strobe than the Ikelite one is, especially in the lower right corner. You can grip either without any extras, but it's easier with the Canon.

Bear in mind, even after all of those points, I went with the Ikelite case also. But they warrant mention.

I have the D2000 strobe, but I think they're pretty identical to the Z240, size-wise, so this is pretty much what your rig will look like (Oh, and I have the Ikelite handle/tray with my ULCS arms). I highly recommend the coil lanyard pictured, by the way. You don't want to drop this rig!

 

[sandrascuba]

Thanks CompuDude for the picture. Is it true or not that with the Canon housing does not offer access to the jog wheel where the Ikelite does?

Your rig looks very similar to my Sony rig (which is too much for me personally). The only difference really is that my Sony rig has 2 Ike grip handles and a DS125 attached.

Perhaps I should just get the Ike housing and wet lens for now and be done with it for the time being?

Oh, and why are you using the diffuser and not the "clear film system"? Hummmmmm maybe I should rethink what I want.


Sandra

 

[CompuDude]

Thanks CompuDude for the picture. Is it true or not that with the Canon housing does not offer access to the jog wheel where the Ikelite does?

Your rig looks very similar to my Sony rig (which is too much for me personally). The only difference really is that my Sony rig has 2 Ike grip handles and a DS125 attached.

Perhaps I should just get the Ike housing and wet lens for now and be done with it for the time being?

Oh, and why are you using the diffuser and not the "clear film system"? Hummmmmm maybe I should rethink what I want.

It is true that the Canon housing doesn't let you turn the wheel. Apparently there is a work-around that the people using them are quite satisfied with, however, so it doesn't seem like that's a huge issue.

Why do you need the wet lenses? My recommendation would be to buy just the housing and camera, and get comfortable with them first before you decide you need to buy a bunch of add-ons. You WILL want a strobe, at some point, but I took an awful lot of photos before I bought my strobe.

The clear film system is nifty, but is pretty much assumes you are dedicating the camera to underwater use only, or want to purchase a never-ending stream of replacement films and mess with attaching them and removing them on a regular basis. I use my camera on dry land quite a bit, and even take land shots between dives, so if I were to use that system I would be putting the film on and taking it off every few hours on a given dive trip. You can re-use one film a couple times, but that doesn't cut it for my needs. Far easier to just use the blocking panel that came with the Ike housing, and attach the fiber connector line. Then there is nothing sticking to my camera and I can take pics easily on land or u/w just by popping the camera out of the housing. (Of course, I can take land pics in the housing, too, but if I need the flash on land it doesn't work very well within the housing, and the strobe just a tad overkill for vacation snapshots!)