D90 underwater housing for trip to Hawaii

[ulrichsd]

Hi everyone, I'm going to Hawaii (Maui and Oahu) this June where I will be doing some snorkeling and would like to get an underwater housing for my D90. I don't have $1500 to buy a hard-case, so I'm looking at a bag, like the DiCAPac WP-S10. Does anyone have any experience with these bags or similar? The DiCAPacs are rated to 5 meters deep.

Also, I was curious if anyone has any advice or recommendations on focal length for fish photos while snorkeling? I was thinking about using my 35mm since all the reviews say it is pretty much impossible to use the zoom in these bags.

As for general Hawaii photography, I'm thinking about taking along my D90 w/ 12-24mm, 35mm and either 24-120mm or 70-300mm. And my Yashica Mat w/ some Ektar 100.

Thanks in advance for any info/advice!
Scott

 

[Dillard]

I was part of a scuba forum a while back and heard some horror stories with those type bags. Some people never have issues, and other encountered flooding. Personally it was scare me to have a grand of electronics underwater in a bag.

 

[jwbryson1]

Can you rent the housing?

 

[chris]

You might want to go wider than 35 mm. Several years ago when I was involved in commercial diving operations we used Nikonos IV 35 mm film cameras with 15 mm or 28 mm lenses. The 15 mm lens was excellent for stand-off views of structures while the 28 mm was used mainly for close-ups with a dioptre lens.

 

[ulrichsd]

You might want to go wider than 35 mm. Several years ago when I was involved in commercial diving operations we used Nikonos IV 35 mm film cameras with 15 mm or 28 mm lenses. The 15 mm lens was excellent for stand-off views of structures while the 28 mm was used mainly for close-ups with a dioptre lens.

Thanks, I could throw on my 12-24 which I could use. I think that 12mm is going to just too wide to get any close up fish pictures, but on the longer end at 18-24mm it would be ok. I just liked the idea of a fast prime lens for under the water.

Can you rent the housing?

I'm not sure who would rent a housing, I guess a dive shop would be the best place to look. I'm not sure I want to have to pack a huge glass bubble though...

 

[ulrichsd]

Alright, I went ahead and ordered the WP-S10. I'm hoping to use my 12-24mm (start around 18mm to avoid vignetting with the case) along with an external flash. I might just throw the flash with radio trigger in a ziplock bag as it is only a $40 yongnuo.

The Tokina 12-24mm has a minimum focus distance of just under a foot, so that should work well, thanks for the tips Chris!

Just to share, I thought this website was very helpful for tips on underwater photography

Thanks!
Scott

 

[Mike_E]

https://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=underwater+camera+rental+h&sugexp=chrome,mod=7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=underwater+camera+rental+hawaii

Why risk your own camera with a rig you've never tried?

 

[ulrichsd]

https://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=underwater+camera+rental+h&sugexp=chrome,mod=7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=underwater+camera+rental+hawaii

Why risk your own camera with a rig you've never tried?

Thanks Mike for the link, I checked out a few of the rental places like Hawaii Photo rental and renting a housing would cost $396 for 7 days.... Thats almost half the cost of my camera plus lens.

But I definitely plan on testing out the WP-S10 at home before I put my camera into the water with it.

 

[ulrichsd]

Hmm... I debating on getting the Bower 8mm fisheye since its just under $300... after reading it seems the fisheye is nice for underwater use. At 180 deg view, I'm guessing I'm going to catch a slight bit of the camera housing in the frame, so I might have to crop a little. Can't decide if its worth it or if I should just stick with my 12-24mm.

Also, I appreciate everyones concern for my gear, but after a little more searching on dive sites, I've read about people who have taken these Dicapacks scuba diving past 100ft (well below the max recommended 15 foot depth) without problems. I think given adequate testing and careful attention to detail loading the camera its really a pretty small risk.

 

[Carny]

We have one that we've used several times, but only with a point and shoot. We never had any problems but I would still be leery of using one for an expensive setup. We've had the same one for several years and have even loaned it out, seems to hold up well.

I would recommend removing any kind of strap from the camera before using it in the bag. Her p&s has a small wrist strap that ALWAYS ended up in front of the lens.

Also, I don't know how the bigger bags are set up, but zooming a dslr lens may be difficult or impossible.

Edited to add:

If i was going on vacation again, I would probably just buy one of those waterproof p&s cameras. We saw several people with them and their pics seemed to come out better than ours. I think it was due to the bag mostly, as it's not exactly "L" quality, lol.

One last thought, I'm a fairly proficient swimmer, but even having one hand tied up with the p&s made it more difficult. I don't know what your experience is, but I'd definitely try it in a pool before I jumped in the ocean with a big dslr.

 

[ulrichsd]

Thanks Carny for the info. I thought I'd post my insights in case anyone stumbles across this thread.

My camera was successfully protected from the water, which is good. It is not easy to make any adjustments once the camera, which I knew from reviews, so I set it on aperture priority. One day I set the focal length of my Tokina 12-24mm to 12mm. The second time I set it to 19mm. I would have loved to get out more than three times, but it gets quite windy in the afternoon in Maui and only the morning is good for snorkeling.

I realized 12mm is a little wide for normal fish on a dx camera, the 18mm range worked a little better for me. Unfortunately, 18mm was set when I saw a sea turtle, which was more dificult to frame with the 18mm (12mm would have been best) and I never did get him all in the frame. He was about 15-20 feet deep swimming, so it was not easy for me to dive down, adjust body position, compose without looking into the viewfinder and still get him all in frame at 19mm (he was about 4 feet big).

I tried using with and without on camera flash. At 0-20 feet I don't think it made a big difference, I was getting some back scatter in some photos with and without the flash. This visibility was ok (about 20 feet), but not great.

The photos of the fish have been cropped heavily to center the fish and I had to photoshop to get rid of the blue tint that was in almost every photo (maybe if I adjusted white balance to something different it would have been better). I shot these in raw+jpg, the jpgs have a bluish tint, but I don't have a program yet that can read/edit raw images.

I accidentally had the focus set to manual on the second day, not too bad of a mistake since infinity on this lens is anything beyond 2m and at f/8 everything isn't horribly out of focus (but some are still a little out of focus). HI was usually about 2-4 feet away from the subject. However, this did enable me to press the shutter and take a picture without having the camera try to focus underwater, so maybe it wasn't a bad thing...

1. Sea Turtle f/8, 1/100, ISO 200, 19mm

2. Snowflake Moray eel f/8, 1/100, ISO 200, 19mm

3. Pennant Fish f/8, 1/100, ISO 200, 19mm

4. Unicorn Fish f/8, 1/80, ISO 200, 19mm

5. Ornate Butterfly f/4, 1/400, ISO 200, 12mm

6. School of fish f/8, 1/125, ISO 200, 19mm

7. Coral f/4, 1/400, ISO 200, 12mm

 

[Joshonator]

Yeah definitely test it out in a bucket or something beforehand. Pre-focusing for your subject with a prime is probably a good idea so you don't have to fool around with it underwater (of course this limits what you can shoot), and just move the camera until it's in focus. I bought a waterproof pack for canoeing in case it tips, but I might try it out underwater this summer.

 

[Forkie]

I wouldn't trust that bag from Amazon as far as I could throw it.

 

[ulrichsd]

I find it a little funny that more than half of the responses are people responding that *they* wouldn't use this. Oh well, IMO if you want to take your DSLR underwater you only have 3 options. 1. Buy a camera housing >$1200. 2. Rent a camera housing ~$75 per day. (one week rental would exceed the cost of my camera) Or 3. Buy one of these bags for $70.

Whenever you take your camera into the water, you are taking a risk even if it is in a $2000 camera housing. Even then you could have a bad o-ring or some sand cause a leak. These Dikapaks are well made and if properly tested, setup and inspected before use it is a pretty low risk, IMO. For someone interested in underwater photography there's not a lot of options. If you set it up at the beach where there is sand, wind, humidity, you are rushing etc. you are asking for problems. If you set it up in your room, double check your seals and inspect the bag both before and when you first put it underwater you greatly reduce the chances of malfunction.

Underwater photography is definitely a skill that takes a lot of practice to learn all the variables. It definitely makes me appreciate the awesome underwater photos you see in magazines.

 

[Canuk]

Glad you had fun on your trip and your camera made it out high and dry.
I personally wouldn't put my camera in one of those bags and take it in the water. I do scuba dive and do alot of snorkelling. The risk of leaks w/ an underwater housing are there, but not nearly the same as a bag.
I use and Ikelite housing for my G12, did not want to take my DSLR underwater while learning. One thing that you mention is that you were unable to change your settings underwater, a proper housing allows for all your functions to be accessed and adjusted.
The blue blueish "tint" you see is caused by the light refracting w/ the water, it happens at surprisingly shallow depths and gets worse the deeper you go. Setting a custom white balance at the depth you are taking pictures will help with this, or using a diffused flash.
This is example of what my G12 does, probably only at a depth of 20', so not out of the realm of snorkelling.

Oh and I forgot to mention, I by no means consider myself a professional, but as you found out there is alot more involved to underwater photography than it appears.



IMG_0452 by Canuk313, on Flickr