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James, when you used the 24L in your aquatica 5d housing did you have it in the 8 inch dome port without and extension rings? If so, I presume there were no problems with the reflected image and the size of the glass on your lens and you were happy with the results? Thanks again for your help.

Thanks guys and all the power to you with the 17-40L. I had it and it collected dust with the 5D. I personally much preferred the 15mm than what I captured with the 17-40. Perhaps I'm not very good with focus gears and zoom lenses and my talents are better used on focus gears with prime lenses. I've even had great success in the pool with my son just putting the lens on automatic and letting the camera do the work. It will be interesting to see if I notice much of a difference in quality between the mark 2 and the old 5d. James (or anyone else for that matter), I see you mentioned the 24LII which i demoed and adored yesterday. Have you taken that lens underwater in an aquatica housing with nice results? It's not listed as supported with a focus ring and therefore one would HAVE to dive with that lens on automatic as opposed to manual until they support it (I reached out to Jean and she confirmed this is in fact on their to do list). If anyone has dove with the 24LII, I'd love to see some photos because I'm skeptical until I know for sure that I can dive with a focus ring as it is possible with a lens that wide that perhaps there is some distortion from the dome?

Thanks fellas. FWIW, I did get an email back from Jean @ Aquatica who said they are working on extension ring placement and focus gear for the 24-105 and will soon be on their price list. However, i think you raise a good point since that specific lens will do A LOT of hunting especially in dark conditions. I have used the 70-200 before with some nice results and notice they have a rebate at the moment so will probably place an order for that topside for capturing the children. I was not aware of the "new" 24L. I wasn't too fond of the old one but last used it over 3 years ago. I'm a sucker for prime lenses and went and demoed the new 24L yesterday and wow is that a beauty. Given that I'm not replacing many of the lenses, or 15 years worth of jewelry, and replacing the macbook pros with less expensive macbooks, i've got some spare money from our insurer to use on quality rather than quantity. I think I've got it now: 15mm & 24L (the two i'll most use diving) and the 85L and 70-200 IS L for topside photos should have me covered very well. And should my patience return or I develop a sudden passion for macro photography, i can always use that 100mm and the macro port which have gone unused for the better part of 2 years and were sitting in storage in a closet that the thieves did not open. thanks again for your help.

Hi all, our house was burglarized last week but chubb was quick to step up to the plate with a check covering all replacement costs. That means i'm on my 3rd acquatica housing (yet to take delivery of this). in replacing my lens army I realized i've only really been using the canon ef 85 1.2L topside and the 15mm fisheye underwater over the past year. the 17-40L was collecting dust and i see little reason to replace it. I just started shooting video yesterday with this new 5d and love that feature over the old model (though it takes forever to upload clips to flickr so probably need to reduce the quality). Long winded point of this thread being, has anyone tried the canon ef 24-105mm lens underwater? I do not see it listed under the aquatica lens chart and was hoping this might be a half decent replacement for the 17-40 for video topside though i've never once tried that lens. FWIW, they don't list the 85 1.2L either on their lens chart and yet i was able to take that beast underwater as an experiment a few times with the old 5d and get some decent shots. i've long since given up on macro photography as it just doesn't interest me and the thieves left me one stupid lens- the 100mm macro of course. I've never been one to grab the big white lenses either but would appreciate any tips forum members have for video out of the 5d for family shooting which is what most of my top side subject matter is. thanks in advance for any help (i did try searching the forums before posting but got nothing regarding the 24-105 lens). As a follow up question, now that I've spent the day reading about lenses, I didn't even know about this canon 16-35 f2.8 lens. I've already got the 15mm on order but must presume that the 16-35 works SIGNIFICANTLY better underwater than that old 17-40 given the better sensitivity to light. Again, any thoughts would be appreciated. thx

Mark, thanks for posting those photos, very interesting. My gut was telling me that given the right circumstances the 85 prime lens would work underwater. Were you using that with a 5D or another camera? Underwater photography is such a long learning curve and the 100mm macro was one of the worst for me to learn just to use adequately underwater. At least I know I could try the prime 85L in different situations and just see what comes up. I sincerely appreciate everyone's input. the 5D should arrive before noon and I can't wait to start practicing.

Thanks a bunch for all the replies as that is quite useful. Bummer to hear about the prime lens being useless underwater as I thought that might be a fun one. Jim, no problem on the extension ring on the port for a 50-70mm macro as I have been using it for a long time with the 100mm macro lens. In essence, my remaining dilema is which medium macro lens to buy? I was in the Tuamoto's about 1.5 years ago and swapped cameras with another photographer who was using the d100 with nikon's 60mm maco and those were some of the sweetest photos I ever had the pleausre of taking. Everything was in perfect focus and the the background contained some of the softest, most eye-pleasing elements I've ever seen. The 70mm macro sounds interesting because for me in the past 100 can be too difficult to shoot at times and 50 just wasn't enough (and mind you this was with a crop factor of 1.3). Without the crop factor, I've got to think that a 60 or 70mm lens would be just what the doctor ordered for northern california waters which is unforunately where most of my practice comes from. I really wish I could be shooting somewhere that a 15 fisheye as others reccomended would do the trick, but those days are so few and far between around here that the 17-40 should do just fine. So, for those that have tried all the various lenses in the 60 to 70 mm macro range, which lens do you think is the very best? Again, many thanks for the input as it's already been quite helpful.

I've been using the 300D for the past 3 years in an aquatica housing and can finally say that I have outgrown that camera, but it sure took a long time. Today, I was able to dump my 10-22 lens with ease over craigslist ($550 fwiw) and now have just ef lenses, the 17-40L and 100mm macro lens remaing for underwater photos. I am going to buy the 5D this week and since the mrs. is pregnant I'm going to grab the EF 85mm f/1.2L lens along with it for baby photos. Are any of you using this lens underwater and if so, how do you like it? Do you have any advice either way with this particular camera? I'm looking at probably spending another 3 years of learning with this slr and looking forward to the challenge. Since I already own 2 different aquatica ports and have always loved the service I've gotten from Blake and Norma, I will most likely just get the 5D housing that they support but I want to try this camera out topside for a week or two before committing myself to another 3 years of learning. Any other lenses that you think I should seriously consider in addition to the 85 prime lens and the others 2 for underwater shots? Thanks in advance for your help.

i've got an aquatica 300d housing with TTL ICU boad and dual connectors that I paid $1800 for in November '04. In addition I own a pair of canon eos 300d's that are for sale and one 18-55 kit lens with the focus gear for the housing. I also have 2 spare o-ring kits for the housing which I'll include with the sale. I bought 2 canon bodies because I travel pretty far and wanted insurance in case I ever flooded the housing which I am proud to say I did not. This is a great set up for someone looking to get an slr underwater. I am keeping both the macro port and the wide angle dome port as I am ordering the 20d hosing from aquatica. As with all of my other hobbies, I keep upgrading and want the best. This was a great step up for me and my photos coming from a point and shoot but now I want to upgrade to the 20d. A quick scan of ebay showed me the 300d cameras are going for $500 a piece. I am willing to sell the housing for $1200 with a camera and kit lens for $1700. If you want both cameras for the same reason that I did, I'll do the whole package for $2100. Bascially, you get the housing, camera, and a lens for the same price I paid for just the housing about 15 months ago. You should be aware that you will need to buy one port (either macro or wide angle) to get this underwater and each port costs around $400 and I have ordered all of my gear in the past from ken ashman at cadigitaldiving.com and he has been great. The ports work with all aquatica housings and I enjoyed this housing a lot and am ordering the 20d housing so I will be keeping my ports to use with that housing. In addition, you will want to buy strobe arms and a strobe or two so factor that into the cost equation as well. I'm keeping my strobes to use with the new camera. The housing is in good condition, it has been on about 80 dives and I've never had a problem with water getting inside. I have had to tweak with a couple of foam pieces that touch the camera itself but that is pretty standard with underwater housings. if the housing was a 10 when i bought it, it is a 9 now and every camera function works in the housing. If interested, please email me at lar@sfsentry.com. Also, I will pay for tracked shipping anywhere domestically and I live in San Francisco should someone local want to check it out. I'm happy to email photos to interested buyers. Thanks in advance

>>Is the optical connector included? What more, besides strobe arms, is needed to make this strobe work with a P&S digicam? Thanks. <<<< Yes, the optical connector is included and is part of the strobe's construction. The strobe has a sensor on the bottom that detects light coming from your camera's flash and immediately the strobe fires off its blast and since the speed of light is so quick, your point and shoot camera will take a picture with the stobe blasting the subject with as much brightness as you designate on the back of the stobe. all of the olympus, canon, and sony housings that i have seen for point and shoot cameras are clear or see through to permit use of an external stobe through an optical slave detection system. the following website has more infor on the d-180 as well as pictures. You can also use a fiberoptic cord on the d180; however, i never bought one and only used it in optical slave. As to the second part of your question, the only other items you would need to use with a point and shoot digital camera would be a housing and stobe arms. http://www.scubacam.com.sg/pages/strobes/inond180.htm

I have one inon d180 strobe for sale. This strobe cost me about $525 a year ago and I can no longer use it because I upgraded to a digital slr (the d180s use an optical slave and are great for point and shoot cameras.) The d180 was on approximately 30 dives with never any problems. I will pay for ups domestic shipping so that it is trackable. I will only accept pay pal and the price is firm at $350. Thanks

>>What you called viewfinder is the LCD display that shows the shots taken. << Got it, thanks. I'll begin with the * key.

>>I have trouble imaging the viewfinder stop working when you change modes. What happends? You can frame the shot on auto and when you change to manual the view goes away? <<< herb, I'm sorry but I'm not sure if you're asking for more detail or trying to communicate a solution. I type fast too, but rereading that comment isn't helping me decipher your intention. Specifically what happens is that my viewfinder works in automatic all day and all night. it never works in manual. i'll try switching between modes tomorrow night (i won't be around this evening) to see if that could be the problem. As for your last sentance, I've only used my viewfinder to review photos after their taken. Spefically, I'm intersted in that 2-second flash after the photo is shot to let me know about exposure. To be honest I didn't realize I could frame the shot in the viewfinder on auto mode. I've read the manual in full but obviously that portion didn't making much, if any, impact on me as the reader.

Hi, all I promissed a reply once I isolated the problem and this past weekend I did- the TTL board in the housing. I had been away on a shark dive off catalina and spent a week on maui with the mrs using this setup so much that I just let it lie for the past week. This past weekend I sat down to correct a few things and swapped out the TTL board that aquatica had sent to me within 2 days and had the inon z220 working right away. Unfortuantely, the pointer and the laser on the 220 are not compatible with the TTL chip and thus, users are fine with just the inon z220s in this setup. Ken Ashman from california digital diving gladly agreed to send out a 220s and credit me $70 once he figured out they're not compatible. I thought I'd give a quick plug to him as he has been incredibly patient and helpful to me during this entire process. So, now I'm down to one nagging problem and even have it isolated. When I latch close the rear of the housing my camera's viewfinder works fine in automatic mode but not at all in any of the manual modes. If the housing is unlatched everything works great. So, one of the buttons on the housing must be pressing against something on the camera to not let the viewfinder work. Anyone seen this or have any suggestions as to which one? I'll just file it down ever so slightly once i giure out for certain which one it is. Thanks again for everyones help and suggestions. I've taken the camera on ~ 15 dives and love it underwater as it is incredibly easy to use. I'll include a pair of links below to photos from each trip.... http://img42.exs.cx/img42/5589/IMG_0513f.jpg http://img100.exs.cx/img100/3116/IMG_4747f.jpg

i ordered a digital rebel with kit lens and spare battery from them for a GREAT price. i had the package within a week.

Joe, i would have loved to add considerably more light; unfortunately, I still haven't been able to solve my TTL issues with my housing and dual strobe so that will have to wait for another dive. James, yes this was the aquatica charter's blue/mako shark dive that departs from long beach. I had an incredible time and can't wait for more next year (I'm sreiously still riding a little wave of adrenaline that has me smiling from ear to ear.) Unfortunately for the boat and the crew, we got caught in that freak so cal weather over the weekend which had terrible swells and had to cut our trip short on sunday for the return. The seas ripped the shark cage from the boat on the return and there was no way to get it back on. The crew tried everything they could to salvage it, but were forced in the end to pop the flotation devices and sink the cage so that no other traffic would hit it. They were visably upset about it as they had been using it for, I believe, 15 years and I'm sure that is quite the sentimental loss, not to mention the economic cost of replacing it. I hope they find a replacement soon and are back on track as quick as possible. I am already scoping out weekends for next fall to go back out with them for another saturday shark dive and spend saturday evening and sunday diving various sites around Catalina. I'll include the link below should anyone have any interest in booking their own trip. http://www.diveaquatica.com/sharks.html