Underwater camera housing issues..

[Reefkeeper 18]

Guys these things are expensive as he double hockey sticks. But i want one because im really into photography and diving.. does anyone know a good website that has them for atleast $100+ cheaper or a store? or do you know anyone who's looking to sell one to me? I have the canon Mark D ii

 

[CuttleKid]

With an SLR camera you are not going to finds ANY housings in your 100 dollar price range. You are looking at a few thousand for the housing. You will also need at least one strobe which will set you back another grand.

I'm sorry I couldn't be of any more help

 

[CarlitosReef]

You should do a DIY one of glass

 

[Reefkeeper 18]

No I meant does anyone know where i can buy an ikelite housing for a mark d ii for a few hundred dollars cheaper than retail. which is $1,600

 

[CuttleKid]

No I meant does anyone know where i can buy an ikelite housing for a mark d ii for a few hundred dollars cheaper than retail. which is $1,600

Oh. I get what you mean now. I would look on scuba forums and other similar places for a used housing. Other than that i dont think there is any other way.

 

[purdueav8r]

You can try looking around at your local scuba shops. The ones in my town all have community boards where people have posted things they have for sale or want to buy. If your camera is a common one there's a chance you might find a housing for it that way. I'd be wary of anything you buy used, though.

But with just a little quick Googling, I found Adorama has the housing you're looking for, assuming you really meant Canon 5D Mark II, for $1499, as does Amazon via LeisurePro.

 

[r-balljunkie]

to be honest, unless you are a serious UW photographer, id ditch the idea of bringing a full out DSLR into the water. the learning curve is gonna be super steep. do you have a back up smaller camera?

a full out DSLR rig can get expensive. as mentioned before, dual strobes/arms etc usually go with a setup.

 

[ackee]

A long time ago I did a lot of UW photography. I had a Nikon FE2, a custom housing, double ttl strobes, the works. Traveling with that stuff was like going on a safari. It was just too much. These days I travel light. It's the only way to really enjoy what is supposed to be a vacation.

A Canon D10 takes very good pics if you take the trouble to learn how to use all its capabilities. Not professional grade, but then I'm not a professional, and neither are 99% of the divers I see burdened with all kinds of gear. I'd rather really look at things instead of photographing everything I see.

The little Canon has no housing, fits in your pocket. The only limitation is depth. They say about 40 feet. I've take mine to around 50 dozens of times, and no problems at all. I know people who take them deeper. They sell for $250 on line and will take up less room than a paperback. Just a thought based on my experience.

 

[PFortman]

Yes, I have been the Nikon film in Ikelite housing route too. I really enjoy the ease of my Canon D10 and more recently a Pentax WG-1 which gives a little more depth capability and a great macro/micro feature. I put in an Eye-Fi 8GB memory card that wirelessly transfers pics via W-Fi to laptop. The less you open the camera the better. There is a new WG-2 model out that I am considering. I wish Canon or Pentax would drop the telephoto feature in favor of wide angle lens.

 

[yardboy]

I started out with an Olympus C-4000 and ikelite housing and took pretty darn good pictures with it, especially for the price. Yes, later I went on to a DSLR but it is not a huge step up in picture taking for the price!
My advice would be to start off with something like that. You might find that you dont like it as much as you thought and you won't be out such a huge sum. I got my DSLR rig from someone who started at the top and didn't even end up liking diving!