# Advice on getting a water housing for my 1DX?



## Cheekysascha (Feb 22, 2017)

After being inspired by a lot of photographers using a housing with their camera for some unique landscape shots from the water I was thinking of getting myself the Aquatech Delphin 1D Camera Water Housing and also the p 100 Lens port with my 24mm 1.4 ii but i'm a bit worried about buying a housing.


So for those of you who have one and use one what are things I should know? how often does water get in and is there anything I should know about water housings for photography?


----------



## AquaTech (Feb 25, 2017)

Hi there,
Happy to help with any information or questions you might have. 

Feel free to email me on [email protected]

Regards,
Phil
AQUATECH


----------



## Zeidora (Feb 25, 2017)

Full housing is a serious investment, heavy, bulky. They are great for SCUBA underwater work, where they usually a neutrally buoyant. For amphibious shots, part of the set-up is in air, and is very heavy. If you just want to try amphibious shots, there are the EWA marine bags that are quite a bit more affordable. Some places rent housings.

Re flooding, if you take care putting the housing together right, they are very leak proof. However, they tend to be shock sensitive. If you attach anything with cables (flash), that is another possible leak area, though usually slow, not a catastrophic failure.

The Aquatec housings are only rated to 10 m, so are not meant for serious SCUBA. Weight at 4 lb/2 kg is not too bad. Never used or seen theirs, just had full metal 80 m rated housings. Given that Aquatec is only 10 m rated means that they are more flimsy, and I would think that the back clear plastic cover is most prone to cracks if banged against hard surfaces. In gentle water situations (pool, pond) may be ok, If you think about flowing water, I would be more concerned.

good luck.


----------



## [email protected] (Mar 8, 2017)

Related question: 
I've been thinking of getting a housing for an upcoming trip, but I've never done this before, and from what I hear, the limitations of shooting underwater are so great that the benefit of bringing my dslr down isn't so big relative to spending less than the housing on a separate, water-proof point-and-shoot. 

Can anyone who has done both waterproof camera shooting and dslr-in-housing shooting comment as to the relative benefits?


----------



## Halfrack (Mar 8, 2017)

What is the end result you want? Shots for personal use, UW or rugged camera all the way (I have a D20). If you want to do one of those shots where the waterline is part of the frame, a fish bowl works really well if you have help & something to set it on in the water. 

Sea & Sea and Nimar are other brands to investigate. Generally speaking, unless you're charging folks, or going to be doing it on a weekly basis, buying an underwater housing is a bad idea.


----------



## Pookie (Mar 8, 2017)

I have rented quite a few housings for work in Maui. All have been relatively huge and a major PITA. I bought a new housing for my 5D4 but when researching it I found this... and decided to give it a try.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1294158-REG/sealife_sl740_dc2000_digital_underwater_camera.html

It's an f/1.8 with a 1" sony sensor and shoots RAW. 31mm normal and I have lenses for 24mm and 16mm.

I've used it 3 times with a fisheye lens and I've got to say I don't think I'll be using the 5D4 for underwater work any longer. It's pretty easy to get the above and below water shots too. Much lighter and I often use it while snorkeling. I've shot at 180' with it while diving and it work perfectly. The IQ is superb... all this and it was under 1K USD with the lens. Highly recommend trying one if going into this type of work.


----------



## kirispupis (Apr 1, 2017)

I've looked into this myself. It really depends on what you want to do.

If you're planning to photograph critters (large or small) underwater, then you really want a dive housing. Nauticam looked the most impressing to me, but there are other good ones. These housing are large and expensive, and the ports for some of the wide angle lenses are even worse. I didn't go this route simply due to the cost of the equipment and the challenge of transporting it across the world. Note that for this route you'll also need quality underwater strobes.

I also looked into the Aquatech. This is more affordable, and is primarily designed for surf photography. That wasn't my purpose, however. I mainly wanted it for over/under landscape photographs. I suspect this is the best choice for that type of work. I didn't go this route because the budget was allocated elsewhere.

In my case I wound up purchasing an Olympus TG-4. This worked fairly good, but for my upcoming trip to Belize I'm going to reopen my search. I'll probably wind up purchasing a decent mirrorless camera and housing that. Sure, the 1Dx2 will do a better job, but the housings are just so big and bulky.


----------

