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Author Topic: Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.  (Read 6233 times)

sperera

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« on: December 31, 2009, 12:10:26 pm »

hi there, thinking of getting a housing for my Nikon to shoot in water etc when i need to....anyone out there using Ewa-marine housings which seem more affordable....can anyone comment on their products and what to buy or not to buy and give me a review for want of a better word!? thanks. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010.
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Stephen Perera
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ddk

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2009, 02:59:16 pm »

Quote from: sperera
hi there, thinking of getting a housing for my Nikon to shoot in water etc when i need to....anyone out there using Ewa-marine housings which seem more affordable....can anyone comment on their products and what to buy or not to buy and give me a review for want of a better word!? thanks. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010.


They're pretty good for what they cost, easy and straight forward to use. My only negative is the lack of eyepieces, make sure to buy enough Desiccant and check out if you need the Autofocus Adapter Ring for your lens.

Have fun!



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david
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Jeremy Payne

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2009, 04:17:44 pm »

Quote from: sperera
hi there, thinking of getting a housing for my Nikon to shoot in water etc when i need to....anyone out there using Ewa-marine housings which seem more affordable....can anyone comment on their products and what to buy or not to buy and give me a review for want of a better word!? thanks. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010.

I wouldn't use a bag like that for anything other than light pool shooting or easy snorkeling.  They work, but you won't be able to use strobes or access most of the controls ... and I've heard of many of them leaking when submerged for long periods of time.  Also - because of the flat port you will get nasty aberrations with any kind of wide angle lens.

If you want the best quality, you are probably best off with a very wide lens, a dome port and strobes ... but it all depends on what your goal is ...

What kinda of underwater stuff do you intend to shoot?



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sperera

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« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2010, 05:23:30 pm »

whata  superb shot man, the light is fantastic and the crop fierce! any chance of explaining how you shot this and with what equipment? how dyou get the light levels so good....

Quote from: ddk
They're pretty good for what they cost, easy and straight forward to use. My only negative is the lack of eyepieces, make sure to buy enough Desiccant and check out if you need the Autofocus Adapter Ring for your lens.

Have fun!


« Last Edit: January 02, 2010, 05:32:20 pm by sperera »
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Stephen Perera
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sperera

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« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2010, 05:25:29 pm »

i intend to shoot fashion in and out and around water be it at the beach, rivers, pools....everything and anything.....i dont see myself being submerged very deeply though!

WHAT'S A DOME PORT?

Quote from: Jeremy Payne
I wouldn't use a bag like that for anything other than light pool shooting or easy snorkeling.  They work, but you won't be able to use strobes or access most of the controls ... and I've heard of many of them leaking when submerged for long periods of time.  Also - because of the flat port you will get nasty aberrations with any kind of wide angle lens.

If you want the best quality, you are probably best off with a very wide lens, a dome port and strobes ... but it all depends on what your goal is ...

What kinda of underwater stuff do you intend to shoot?
« Last Edit: January 02, 2010, 05:26:32 pm by sperera »
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Stephen Perera
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ddk

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2010, 05:31:42 pm »

Quote from: sperera
i intend to shoot fashion in and out and around water be it at the beach, rivers, pools....everything and anything.....i dont see myself being submerged very deeply though!

WHAT'S A DOME PORT?

Its a large piece of glass that fits to underwater housings to accommodate ultra wa lenses.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=d...itialSearch=yes
« Last Edit: January 02, 2010, 05:35:33 pm by ddk »
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david
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ddk

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2010, 05:50:51 pm »

Quote from: sperera
whata  superb shot man, the light is fantastic and the crop fierce! any chance of explaining how you shot this and with what equipment? how dyou get the light levels so good....

Thanks. Shot with a Fuji S5 and Ewa-Marine bag. Lighting is just daylight, most of the time you don't need anything else when shooting models in 10'-15' depths. Unlike dedicated housings the bags are very handy and portable, I usually have one with me, never knowing when opportunity knocks to use one...





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Jeremy Payne

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2010, 06:15:36 pm »

Quote from: ddk
Its a large piece of glass that fits to underwater housings to accommodate ultra wa lenses.

Dome ports are not just for "ultra" wide lenses ... anything shorter than 60mm should probably have a dome port in front of it underwater.

Here are some other references ...

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/dome-theory/

http://scubageek.com/articles/wwwdome.html

Wetpixel.com is an excellent forum for underwater photography.

Like I said, the bags work ... but they are not the optimal solution.  For a more robust solution in shallow water, Aqua Tech makes housings for less than $2K.

It all depends on what you want to achieve.

Here's some pool work I think is really interesting ... http://www.calmero.com/gallery.php?gid=72

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Jeremy Payne

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2010, 06:20:32 pm »

Here's something else to look at if you are going to shoot with ambient light ... filters to make a natural color balance more achievable 'cause every 5 feet underwater steals a huge chunk of the 'red' part of the spectrum.

I've used these myself and they are a godsend for ambient-light underwater photography at shallow depths.  They steal a bit of light, but it is worth it.

http://www.magic-filters.com
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roskav

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Ewa-marine housings, opinions please.
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2010, 04:35:44 pm »

I have used one for pool shoots with a d2x and a d700.  I found that focussing and composing was a big problem as you are looking through a mask, fiddly bit of plastic which moves around, and then the eyepiece of the camera.  One major issue was that the bag kept compressing the zoom lens, pushing the front element back with the water pressure ( I think they have something which counteracts this).  On the other hand, it is the perfect thing to use if you are on a small budget.  I had no issues with leakage but I didn't go down more than 1.5 m.  It is a big learning curve.  I don't dive, but used a snorkel with weights the second time I tried.... this helped my composition.  The other limitations are the length of time your model can stay submerged.  On my second try I also used a couple of SB800s on the side of the pool attached to a pocket wizard (in ziplock bags)... this really helped hugely as I was unprepared for the fall off in light as you go under.  This is real budget stuff but it means you can do it all for less than €600.



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sperera

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« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2010, 07:56:08 pm »

thanks everyone for your informative replies...appreciate it!
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Stephen Perera
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