I've spent the last 2 weeks shooting with my new Canon 7D inside a modified Aquatica 5DmkII housing (thanks to Scubapix), and as promised, here's a few shots I got.
I've done about about 20 dives with this settup now, 15 or so with a Sigma 17-70mm, and a couple of a Canon 60mm (no chance to try out anything wider yet), and while most of the time I was busy working while in the water, I did manage to snap off the occasional shot like those below.
The housing itself gives me pretty limited controls (I'm waiting on the Aquatica 7D housing to arrive next month - hurry up Jean!), with access to just the shutter, rear wheel and review buttons, but it's been enough for the time being. The camera feels great however, autofocus seems to be slightly faster, and the new auto focus systems are a treat. The zone autofocus has been great for wide angle, however I found it was a little painful for macro stuff as it wasn't always getting the exact spot I wanted it to focus on, so I ended up going pack to manually selecting a point. I can't really comment on the new 100% viewfinder, as although it's in a pretty good line with the housing, it's not perfect, and does restrict my view more than my old 40D housing did. Can't wait to get it in a 7D housing, I'm hoping it will make me want an extended viewfinder a little less. On land the 7D's view finder is great though. The LCD is amazing too when campared to my 40D.
Some of the below shots are straigh jpgs out of the camera, which I really did very little too, the camera seems to do quite well with them (and I dislike processing jpgs anyway), while some are raw files that I've had a tinker with. All shot with duel Z240's, on Norman Reef, GBR, Australia. Any feedback would be great, and hopefully I'll have a few more over the next few weeks.
Unedited clownfish shot, straight conversion to jpg using ACR. Sigma 17-70mm @17mm, 2x Inon Z240's, ISO 125, f10, 1/125.
Imperial shrimp on a sea cucumber. Canon 60mm, ISO 100, f22, 1/100.
Titan triggerfish (at the start of nesting season too!). Sigma 17-70, ISO 200, f13, 1/100. (sorry about the backscatter, was the the dirtiest I've seen the water out there that day, and I obviously haven't bothered cleaning it up yet).
Clam. Sigma 17-70, ISO 200, f13, 1/100.
It's a goby of some sort, right? Canon 60mm, ISO 100, f16, 1/100.
Wally! Sigma 17-70. ISO 200, f11, 1/100.
The reef. Sigma 17-70. ISO 125, f9, 1/125.
Hope you enjoy! More pics and larger versions of these ones at my flickr site.
Ryan.
