G7 + Wp-dc11

[manumit]

Has anybody any experience with the G7 + WP-DC11 combination or any experience with the G7 for u/w pics at all?
I know there was a previous post but no follow-up re. actual taking pics u/w.

Cheers.

 

[DesertEagle]

Welcome to SB!

The DC11 would be a waste of the G7's capabilities. No support for macro or wide angle lenses. No hot shoe for the flash. If you're going to spend the money on a G7, you may as well house it in an Ikelite. Then you can get a hard-wired strobe and plenty of optical choices.

I would rather have a Canon A570is. It's less expensive and also has full manual controls. The Canon housing can take add on lenses. Don't let the megapixel hype fool you. The G7 may have marginally higher true resolution, but the A570 with 7MP and the right accessories will make better pictures.

 

[hlsooner]

We have the G7 in the WP-DC11 housing, along with a Sea & Sea YS-27 strobe. After taking pictures for a few months, I am pretty pleased, although you should be aware of some limitations:

1. No use of external macro lenses like on the Olympus cameras, you can't get any macro lenses for the G7 underwater. Ikelite makes a housing and says you can use a few marcro's, but reports from other users are that lens length keeps this from being of any practical use.

2. The full manual controls, which are one of the reasons to spend the extra money on the G7, are not accessible via the wheel on the back of the camera when housed in the WP-DC11. The nicer Ikelite housing allows you to access the wheel. To access manual settings of f-stop and shutter speed in the WP-DC11 is a real pain and more complicated than I care to explain right now.

3. No RAW. All shooting must be done in jpeg. While there are those that swear you can take just as good pictures using jpeg as RAW, you should be aware of the extra trouble that is necessary. With RAW, you don't have to worry much about the white balance, and can set it properly in post processing. With the G7 shooting in jpeg, you are constantly trying to set the manual white balance for changing conditions, so that it will be close enough to make it look correct with a bit of photoshop work when you are done. Having done it, I am pretty comfortable saying any of my future cameras will have RAW.

With all of that said, the G7 and WP-DC11 can take some great shots, just know the limitations of the rig when purchasing.

 

[hlsooner]

Here is an example of what the G7 can do.

 

[zahner]

there is an option for wetmounting macro lenses on the WP-DC11, though I don't know anyone who is using it. it is a M67 thread adapter made by a French company called Dyron. I posted a thread about it a few weeks ago. It should take Inon lenses.

If you have any doubt about the G7 macro capability, look up some threads posted by Ed_Dman. He is using stacked macro lenses on a G7 and the results are outstanding.

 

[zahner]

looks like all the excitement on this thread got lost when the site crashed. :14:

anywho....

got to dive with my G7 and WP-DC11 last week in Grand Cayman

very happy with it. here are two pictures of my setup. I attached the Inon fiber optic cord for my D2000 to the flash diffuser that came with the housing.

will post pix when I get done editing them

 

[r&wc]

i just did my first dive with a canon g7 and canon housing and had a great time, granted this is coming up from a stylus 500 but in anycase, it was much easier to get good pics, less shutter lag better focusing and higher resolution allows me to take the shot a little further off (to not spook the critter) and then zoom in and crop later. i still have a lot of technique to learn and really dont know what im doing with the manual controls but for the moment the scene mode works just fine until i learn how to use the manual modes

 

[alcina]

OK, we've lost the posts about this great little setup...which is not a terrible thing as maybe we can distill the info down to the relevant this time! For those who have used and/or are using this camera, PLEASE post your images and your impressions in this thread so I can add it to the Sticky again. Thanks!

 

[zahner]

ok, I've posted shots from my first trip with the G7 + WP-DC11 here

overall I had a positive experience. I shot nearly everything in Av mode and set the strobe intensity manually. The only annoying thing I can think of is when switching between modes, say Av and Tv, you have to reset the macro setting each time.
the button workaround for the dial on the back seemed like it would be clumsy, but it was quite easy underwater.

I would like to add a pair of macro lenses at some point next time I go somewhere with lots of nudis

 

[cirwin]

I have been using G7 plus the canon housing since December, and I am quite happy with it. I use it with just the flash diffuser and no external strobe, and here's a couple of pics I took when I first got it. I just got back from a trip to Roatan where I spent more time fiddling with the manual white balance, and it makes a huge difference.

I hope this helps!