Canon Rebel XTi

[scottsax]

Amazon.com link

Anyone have one of these? My step sister is selling hers for about $400, and I'm thinking about buying it. Looks like a good intro dSLR, and if I can find a reasonable Ikelite package for it, seems like it would be a good starting place.

[defied]

Buy it.

That's an excellent price for a 10.1MP Canon. They are great cameras.

I call that a Flooding price, which means if I buy it for that much, I'll be okay if it floods. I will feel bad and upset for a while, but not as long as if I had spent 16 hundo on the D5.

D(B)

[Dusty2]

They are a great camera but I wouldn't recommend it for underwater use for two reasons. One the housings and accessories are way pricey and two SlR's tend to be a handful both in size and complexity. A housing for that camera will run well over $1300 bucks and TTL strobes are in the $500+ Range. NOt to mention accessory ports and lenses. Even with a $400 camera price you'll be way over two grand for just the basic setup without any extra ports and lenses.

This is what you would be dealing with and that's without strobes, arms, and ports!

[cardiver]

Amazon.com link

Anyone have one of these? My step sister is selling hers for about $400, and I'm thinking about buying it. Looks like a good intro dSLR, and if I can find a reasonable Ikelite package for it, seems like it would be a good starting place.

I would start with a p&s, Scott. You will be in a really nice camera and housing for 400.00 and you can get some amazing pics!

[scottsax]

Yeah, I have a p&s already, with a borrowed housing. It's cool, but I like having more control over my shots. If nothing else, it's a really nice topside camera that I can expand to shoot underwater with.... I don't know. I'm on the fence on this one, and I'll need to think about it more...

[Dmitchell]

I have one it's a great little camera. I started with it and moved to a 40D. Love them both.

As far as housing it, If you want to shoot underwater it's a great choice but it's going to cost you more than you expect and the end result will be a camera that dominates your dive, it will be alot to swim with. The good news is that housing aside, strobes arms, lenses etc all will carry forward if you upgrade.

My minimum far a camera is the ability to shoot RAW. IMO shooting jpeg doesn't allow you the freedom to manipulate the images in post so you're shooting with your hands tied. So for P&S something like the G9 /G10 I think might be it. Though the 26mm wide is limiting.


Also, $400 is alot for a used Xti $300ish is better -

Look here

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... p?t=706541

Dave

[Gooch]

I have a rebel xt and was thinking about housing it but after looking at all the options, I think it would be more prudent for me to get a good point and shoot with a housing (canon g10 I'm thinking). Its just soooo much for the housing for the eos and then you have to buy a strobe no matter what. It was tempting with the eos setup but the cost for me was a killer. I actually have decided to sell off my entire eos setup to fund my underwater photography....

[nice-diver]

I only use Nikons

One thing to keep in the back of your mind is that not all Cannon lenses will fit on all their cameras (a lens that fits a Rebel film will not fit on a Rebel digital)

[Dmitchell]

I only use Nikons

One thing to keep in the back of your mind is that not all Cannon lenses will fit on all their cameras (a lens that fits a Rebel film will not fit on a Rebel digital)

And Nikon is even worse (IMO). Nikon lenses might fit but won't AF. It's a classic Canon vs. Nikon argument.

[scottsax]

Well, she did say she was negotiable on the price.

I did some research on Backscatter, and the housings out there a holy-hell expensive, not to mention the strobes and arms. Maybe I'll do something ridiculously old school and find a housing for my OM-10 35mm camera!

Or maybe I'll just get a G10. It was my original plan, anyway...

[defied]

I actually happen to have the original Ikelite SLR housing. It's a little bigger, and has a black back, but for all intensive purposes, is the same thing. I'd probably be willing to let it go to a good cause for a decent price. It appears to work the same with the dslr.

D(B)

[Dusty2]

I'd go the G-10 route. You can get a brand new one for that $400.00. More pixels a newer camera, Image stabilization, RAW and a host of other goodies. The ike case is a bit bulky but cheaper than the other ones that are available by $350.00. The case that Bob has is really nice and there are a couple others out there but your back in the $1000 plus range again. You also have the option of using a slave strobe for starters and then going TTL later if you want.

Just my 2psi

[Dmitchell]

For the record more pixels is not necessarily better. Megapixels is mostly marketing unless you are printing posters.

Compare the sensor size on the G10 0.43 cm² vs the Xti 3.28 cm² the xti will be way better in low light. The G10 is a darn nice camera, I wouldn't mind having one myself for know around shooting.

comparison:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare ... d&show=all

[dphershman]

The camera body of a dslr underwater setup is the cheapest part, so it doesn't really make a lot of sense to buy a new housing for an older dslr camera. I'd recommend getting the G10 or similar setup with an Ikelight DS160 strobe (don't mess with slave strobes for a G10!) You can also get a nifty wide angle port for the G10 housing that makes it a lot more versatile than the usual point and shoot.

Having said that, the best pictures will be from a DSLR owing to their larger size photosensors (larger as in great physical surface area, not megapixels). But when you use a DSLR system you have to decide "am I going to shoot macro or wide angle on this dive?", since there's no changing your mind during the dive. It becomes a bit of a specialty camera. If you go with an Ikelight strobe system you can upgrade to a DSLR housing later on and the strobe and arm will work fine with the DSLR housing.