What Housing Would You Recommend For The G9?

[PhilK]

I know this has been asked a few times, and I am looking at those threads too but they seem to deviate a lot..

I'm doing my research on a housing now for the Canon G9 I bought. I don't love the look of the Ikelite housing (I find it a little too chunky for my liking), and the Canon housing doesn't allow access to the manual settings wheel directly. So I'm thinking of the Patima housing, but don't like the fact that it doesn't allow the internal flash to work, as I won't be able to afford a strobe etc for a long time...

Any thoughts please?

 

[Geoff_H]

I would go with the Canon housing (thats what I did). I don't find it hard to change the settings manually, thought if you dive in heavy current and need to hang onto a rock while composing pictures I can see it being annoying.

However in the mild conditions I dive in it is pretty easy to operate the manual settings.

 

[PhilK]

Are all the settings still accessible?

All advice appreciated.

 

[Geoff_H]

Yes, all settings are accessible through the Canon housing. The functions I have used that need two hands:

manual focus
varying the shutter speed
varying the aperature

Everything else can be done using the right hand only, as far as I am aware.

 

[BrianMayes]

The speed dial is unavailable in the Canon housing. First you use your right thumb to press the jump button, this toggles either the F stop or the shutter speed. Then you hold down the custom button with the thumb in your left hand which is holding the camera and then with your right hand you use your thumb to press the left or right button to change the setting up or down. It sounds complicated, but it's quite straight forward and very easy to do. I must know about 20 or so Canon G9 users and no one I know has found it a problem or complained about it.

I haven't used a Patima housing but looking at an image of the back, I would say that it doesn't allow you to use the speed dial control either.

 

[kadleck]

I haven't used a Patima housing but looking at an image of the back, I would say that it doesn't allow you to use the speed dial control either.

I don't use the Patima either (I have G9+Ikelite), but have seen one in use, and it does allow access to all buttons and dials. The control for the dial on the back is the silver knob on the right of your photo. It controls the dial at an angle which, as you say, is not immediately apparent!

 

[Chris Walrod]

At first I thought the Ikelite housing was huge and extremely bulky, but once underwater, all of that goes away. In fact I laughed about this concern after a few dives with it. I like everything about it save for the zoom knob. It would be much better if it were a lever, something I am planning to design and have machined to become a lever.

I recommend the Ikelite housing for the G9.

 

[SCOOBA PHAN]

chris, i really liked your idea of having a lever machined for the zoom. i think it also needs a spring to take it back to nuetral automatically. keep me up on your ideas of doing it. i have a client who has a shop if you don't know of one. it would probably be cheaper to make several and we could share costs. tom

 

[ChristyV]

I am a new member and I have been following along on a bunch of questions and replies for a couple of weeks. I am not a very good photographer on land or underwater. I am primarily interested in photographing opisthobranchs and other small creatures. I have a G9 with the Canon housing, no external strobe. I have been using it for about 6 months in preparation for a trip to PNG where I will do some shore diving and 8 nights on a live aboard. I want to take pictures of nudibranchs on my trip. I have been looking into a sea and sea strobe with a fiber optic cable but I am wondering if I would be better off to get the Ikelite housing for the G9 and an ikelite strobe. I am also wondering about these extensions that ( apparently) somehow go on the lense port of the housing. Do these make it easier or harder to take macro photos. What is the difference between the macro I have now and is an extension an advantage for a novice photographer. I am a real nerd about all this. I have been diving since the late eighties with about five to six hundred dives, mostly here on Maui where I live, a few in Bali. I am a divemaster and consider myself to be a good diver but a terrible photographer. I need lots of help and advice so that I can come back from New Guinea with pictures of what I see. Thanks for any help and advice! Christy on Maui

 

[jbb]

I know this has been asked a few times, and I am looking at those threads too but they seem to deviate a lot..

I'm doing my research on a housing now for the Canon G9 I bought. I don't love the look of the Ikelite housing (I find it a little too chunky for my liking), and the Canon housing doesn't allow access to the manual settings wheel directly. So I'm thinking of the Patima housing, but don't like the fact that it doesn't allow the internal flash to work, as I won't be able to afford a strobe etc for a long time...

Any thoughts please?

I have a G7 so not much different but I found even with the canon UW case that the camera flash doesn't work so great especially for closeup shots. Once I got a strobe(Inon 240z) wow! Now I hardly take a photo without the flash - at least close up and macro. The RAW feature of the G9 might help a bit with the white balance issue but I can't see being able to do much below 20 feet.