Upgrading to DSLR - 600D, 60D or 7D

[drcolyn]

Hi All
Thanks for all the advice - I have peace about my choice now.
Seeing a recent ad in local classifieds was scary.
The person is trying to sell a 2003 model 6 megapixel Canon dsrl with Aluminum Sea&Sea housing and all the accessories you can dream of for R17 000 (US $2 400). Although there is more to the camera than the pixel count 6mp is associated with cellphones these days.
Regards

 

[mntlblok]

I've had Ikelite housings with three versions of Rebels - 300D, 400D, and now the 550D. I don't know anything about the two different control knobs for the fancier Canons, but I know that I *love* the new "Q" button on the back of the 550D (T2i). It allows very easy changing of any setting that I might want to change - even under water.

I've grown accustomed to my heavy Ikelite strobes and love the rapid re-charging (or whatever you call it) - one second vs. the nine or so I had with my old SB 103 and Nikonos V.

I recently tested out diopters with my 60mm macro lens (a cheap set from Zeikos). I tried combos on three different dives that resulted in +4, +7, and then finally +6. (I've never tried teleconverters). These fit just fine in my flat port. Most all of the stuff that I shoot at the Blue Heron Bridge allows close enough approach that the diopters worked out just fine. Trying to get a young, five or six inch batfish's face was a problem with the +7. +4 added enough magnification, yet left enough distance to get most small fishies, that I'll likely make that my standard setup for the bridge - at least for a while.

Kevin

 

[M_Bipartitus]

Hi All
Since I have to swop the live view for the view finder - do you agree that the brighter 60D is worth the price difference?

I personally love nice big viewfinders (and big camera bodies that fill the hand). I'd buy medium format, if I had a small fortune sitting around.

Since I will have a dslr now where the aperture changes really makes a difference the 2 dials on the 60D seems a plus?

This depends on your style. Myself, I normally set an aperture then use Av with -1 to 2 stops exposure correction and eTTL strobes with exposure correction. When on land I do prefer both wheels, but underwater I'm less likely to use both.

The only gripe I have with the Ike housing is the loss of optical trigger for the STTL function on my Inon Z240 & YS01 strobe. I cannot believe that all the Ikelite users out there use only Ikelite strobes?

I came up with some ideas for ways to get around this this a while ago, but I was too busy. Thanks for reminding me. I may post a DIY project to accomplish this in a few weeks.

More to the point I'll mention the biggest negative I experience for the Ikelite wired strobes. I have a dual strobe connector which works great for two strobes. Right now I have one strobe out of commission ( battery sent in for a repair). Since I can't use both my strobes and I don't own a single strobe connector, I'l left without any strobes. That is I would flood the unused connector If I were to try and connect a single strobe.

... my strobe positioning that will probably not make that much of a difference as I experienced with the YS01. It kept underexposing on ETTL setting so I went to manual and quite like the predictable constant power...
drcolyn

It won't keep power consistent , but the buttons on the back of the Ikelite case allow you to make a flash exposure compensation, so if you feel you are often getting too much power, you just turn it down a little.

Hi All
...
Seeing a recent ad in local classifieds was scary.
The person is trying to sell a 2003 model 6 megapixel Canon dsrl with Aluminum Sea&Sea housing and all the accessories you can dream of for R17 000 (US $2 400). ...
Regards

That's more than I spent on my 5D + Ikelite. I think my Rebel XT (6mp, no housing) was about a tenth of that when I bought it used 4 years ago.