bubbless

Hmmmm ... I haven't been here in awhile and so far have just had my housing on a few test dives. The notice from Nauticam comes as a bit of a surprise as I hadn't heard anything from them or the dealer on this. Time to go look a little more closely at my housing as I've got a big trip coming up.

Thanks!!!

I have the strobes set to manual. I guess I'm not sure what I need to do on the camera side of the equation. Edit: Got it working!

I'm finally getting my Nauticam/T2i into the pool (literally) and have everything hooked up and turned on but the strobes are not firing. I always shot TTL in the past and am not having any luck getting the strobes to fire. And yes, the housing has an Ikelite bulkhead and the sync cord is connected. Am I missing something obvious here? The sync cord is the TTL version but I was told that it should work with my new rig in manual mode. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Oh, well. Hopefully they'll come up with a better option. My rubber cap does not stay on at all.

Hmmm ... I have the same problem as the OP and was told there really wasn't a better option. Sounds like that might not be completely accurate?

Guess I'll have to play devil's advocate as I just went through pretty much the same decision making process and opted for the T2i with the Nauticam housing. I was upgrading from an older (*much* older) Canon Rebel so for me it was very easy moving to the T2i. I can see how it might be tougher moving from a Nikon. For me, it really came down to ease of travel as the most important factor, so the fact that the T2i and the Nauticam housing were significantly smaller and lighter was a major plus for me. Saving almost a thousand dollars on the camera body also opened up the option of picking up a spare camera body - something I'd probably not do for years with the 7D. The Nauticam housing (as has been pointed out) really simplifies the controls on the T2i and puts everything important in pretty easy reach from the handles. If I didn't have to travel to dive, I may have made a different choice, but this works well for me. Now to just get it into salt water!

I've got a backplate and wing but use the Oxycheq Ultralight Backplate rather than a metal plate in order to save weight. I've got it set up with a Dive Rite Transplate Harness and Oxycheq Wing. Both for ease of packing/traveling and for comfort underwater, I wouldn't give it up for anything.

This will probably be my last note on this thread since all of my new gear has been delivered and assembled for the most part. I'm sure I still will need to deal with buoyancy issues and getting used to the housing functionality in general, but everything fits together and works as expected on land so far. I do need to wait for a couple of clamps for attaching my strobes to the housing (Nauticam went from 8mm to 10mm between the time of my first quote and my order) but other than that I'm set to go. This rig will definitely be a whole lot lighter than my Ikelite housing and old setup in general. The mini-dome alone will make a huge difference in travel ease! (BTW, the SOLA 600 is much smaller than I expected. It looks large in the photo but easily fits in the palm of my hand. I think this is going to turn out to be a great addition to the rig.)

Thanks, Pam. I'll definitely keep you posted on how it all goes. (P.S. Love your photos; Palau is one of my favorite places - love your manta shots.)

Christmas has most definitely arrived. I just got home after being away for a week and a nice big box of goodies was waiting for me. Now to figure out how it all fits together and get it into the pool. All that is not showing in the pics are the two Ike strobes (well, other than the camera and lenses! ). I can't believe how much lighter and smaller this whole rig is going to be compared to my old setup. I'm curious about how it will feel in the water. Being housing-less for awhile has given me some time to get familiar with the camera on land. Learned a few new things. Thanks again to everyone who has helped getting me to this point. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions now that I finally have something to take photos with again!

Okay, I'm starting to feel like a kid right before Christmas. My fingers are crossed that I'm going to see my new Nauticam housing this week or early next week! Still not sure I'll know how everything all goes together with new arms and all, but I hope to at least play with it in the pool soon! (I'm sure I'll be back with questions and a report.) I did decide to stick with the Ike strobes for now, but pretty much everything else outside of my macro lens will be new.

Thanks for the input, James, and great point about macro vs. wide angle. I tend to shoot much more wide angle than macro and do love the fact that the Ikes are so quick to recharge.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm just having a hard time deciding whether it's worth the cost right now. Then again, if I'm going that route eventually ...

Good point about how to carry gear. I've usually tried to take as much as possible as carry-on although that's been a challenge. (It's tough to make that 40# rollaboard look light as a feather as I'm struggling to get it in the overhead bin!) I shot with one strobe for years before buying a second, so I'm sure I could make due with one in a pinch. Know what you mean about the Canon S90! I get a hefty baggage allowance on Star Alliance flights, but it's always a challenge on other airlines.