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Sold. Thanks to all who inquired.

Hi Tom... ok... I will be in touch if I end up selling the housing without the viewfinder. Hi Francesco, yes, the housing is still for sale. I just sent you a PM.

Tom... sorry I didn't see your post until now. Thank you for inquiring, but I do not want to sell finder by itself.

I am the original owner of this Canon 1Ds Seacam housing. At first it housed my 1Ds. When the 1Ds MarkII came out, I sent it back to Stephen Frink / Seacam USA for the slight modifications it would need to work with the 1Ds MarkII. It is still configured for a 1Ds MarkII, but could easily and inexpensively be converted back to 1Ds spec if the new owner needed it to be done. And of course the 1Ds MarkII and the 1D MarkII have exactly the same body, so they can both be used interchangeably in this housing. When using a 1Ds MarkII, the only differences between a 1Ds housing and a 1Ds MarkII housing is that the 1Ds housing cannot access the 3 buttons below the LCD screen. Since I always shoot RAW files, I never felt the need to set the white balance underwater, nor have I ever wanted to delete photos underwater, so I never missed these buttons. While the housing was being upgraded to work with my 1Ds MkII, I had the * button lever replaced with the extended version (which I believe was first suggested to Seacam by Eric Cheng). This allows for much easier operation with your right thumb, while still maintaining a good grip on the right housing handle. The housing is in very good condition. I am a hobbyist... not a pro, so it was only used on 2 or 3 trips a year for the past 5 years. I have always been religious about soaking the housing in freshwater immediately after removing it from saltwater. It has never leaked and never given me any trouble at all. It comes with the body caps, and a barely used Pro Viewfinder. It does not come with any ports, but it uses the standard Seacam Canon ports which are all readily available from Seacamusa.com . It has 2 Nikonos V bulkheads. More detailed pictures of the housing are available here: http://www.s233645489.onlinehome.us/seacam/index.html I am asking $1,500 for the housing. I am also selling my 1Ds MkII body. It has only 5,173 shutter actuations and is in excellent working condition. It comes in its original box, with all of its original accessories, as well as a spare battery. The only real sign of use is the slight brassing on the edges of the hotshoe. I am asking $2,750 for the 1Ds MkII body. I will sell the housing and the body together for $4,000. More detailed pictures of the 1Ds MkII body are available here: http://www.s233645489.onlinehome.us/1dsmkii/index.html

Tom, I tried, but then the whites were getting blown out and the blacks plugged up. Corey

That's interesting... I hadn't thought about that or noticed that before. Are you saying that in your experience, you notice particulates in the water showing up more in the red channel than the blue or green channels? I remember the water did have some particulates in it that day, so maybe they are contributing to the splotchiness in the red channel? I remember reading that from the original article. But since the article was over a year and a half old, I was just curious if you had come to any additional observations in the past year. What you are saying makes sense though. I was using a FL-D on a 16-35mm lens at 16mm. I was at 15-20 feet. With the wide angle of view the lens provided, the water below me was deeper, and maybe needed a FL-B, and the water above me has less noise in the red channel, so the FL-D was probably fine.

Craig, thanks for your input. I'm thinking that maybe I didn't phrase my questions very well. In a post from September 2003, CeeDave said: "When there is excess blue-green light, the blue ( B ) and green (G ) pixels in the CCD array will tend to limit the exposure time (to avoid blooming), whereas the "not blue-green" ( R ) pixels will have low input and thus will be subject to noise. Inserting a red filter will block portions of the blue and green light. Thus, a longer exposure (or lower f-stop) can be used. This allows the red pixels to "fill up" better and avoids noise in the R without blowing pixels in BG." Now, here's the important part, to me: "This is fundamentally different from postprocessing the image, because if BG is blown/clipped or R is noisy, these are hard to repair without introducing artifacts. 'Precorrecting' the light balance with the filter better uses the dynamic range of all pixels, which can theoretically lead to a superior image." That made sense to me, and seemed a good explanation for why a filter, during image capture, is a better solution than just adjusting WB later in the RAW converter. In fact, looking at the histogram of the image from my last post in ACR (showing each channel seperately), the bulk of the red channel pixels are farther to the left (underexposed... more noise) than the blue (farthest to the right) and green (most central) ones. I always shoot RAW files, but I'm trying to figure out which filter, when used in conditions similar to the shot in my last post, would yeild the least red channel noise and would require the least drastic RAW conversion settings, without making the highlights too red. I realize there is no perfect "one size fits all" solution, but I was just curious if you or Alex (or enyone else with experience in this technique) had any comments about which filters, in your experience (nearly 2 years after the start of this thread), have worked best for this type of situation (wide angle, blue water, relatively shallow). Regarding the white card, I usually try to take a couple shots with one at the depth and lighting conditions I will be shooting in, so I can use it later in ACR to click adjust the white balance of the white card shot, save the settings, and load them as a starting point on other images from the shoot if AWB isn't yeilding a good starting point. I was using the white card in a set of Warm Cards, but I recently lost it and was curious what anyone else was using before I get anything new. Thanks again for taking the time to answer, and for all your valuable input in these forums. Lurkers like myself have learned alot here. Corey

Hi Alex and Craig, I've really enjoyed your posts over the past couple years! I regularly check this thread for any new info. After originally reading the thread, I tried a B+W FL-D in 2003 in Hawaii and got this photo. The interesting thing is the noise in the red channel, that gets worse towards the bottom. As I understand it, the idea of the filter is to cut down on the red channel plugging up? Do you think the B+W FL-D is too weak for the depth at the bottom of the photo (I was only 15 -20 feet down), but too strong for the light areas at the top (in the original RAW file, the light areas near the top are too pinkish)? Looking at the channels on this jpeg is not a good representation, as i did some levels & channel mixing to make it look better on screen. But in the original RAW file, the red channel noise is so thick in the bottom half, that it's hard to get a decent print. The photo was shot with a 1Ds at ISO 400. After all your experiences over the past year, what are your suggestions for the appropriate FL (or UR Pro equivalent) filter this type of natural light shot (wide angle, large subject(s), relatively shallow depth)? I love the colors you have achieved, and want to play with it some more, but the splotchiness of the red channel turned me off on the shots I've taken so far! Also, I've read over on the Rob Galbraith site, that it's better to use a white card for custom WB with Canon SLRs. Are you guys using gray or white cards these days? Any suggestions on appropriate waterproof cards at this point? Many thanks for all the valuable knowledge you (and many others) provide on this site! Corey

Hi Stephen... thanks for the fast reply and the detailed information! Yes, you are correct that I have a 1Ds Seacam housing and I want to use it with a 1Ds MKII camera. I see your point regarding the new design for the * button and would love to have it. Unfortunately, I can't justify an all new housing right now. I just sent you a PM with my email address and some questions about the potential modifications.

Hi, I remember reading in this forum a month or two ago that the 1DMKII works in the 1D/1Ds MK1 Seacam housing, but without the use of the 3 buttons below the LCDs. So, I was wondering if anyone knows if the 1DsMKII is the exact same body as the 1DMKII? ie: will a 1DsMKII fit in a Seacam 1Ds MK1 housing and work properly except the 3 buttons below the LCDs? Many thanks to anyone who can help with this information!

hi, i have a related question. can a microdrive be used at depth for scuba diving, or is the pressure at depth a problem due to the moving parts. thanks!

murderone... were you using a d60 or a 1d or a 1ds?

hey, i'd like to thank all of you that have responded. sorry my post was so lengthy! i've been reading the info on eric's site for quite a while, but i only discovered the forums this month (duh!). i usually try to research a forum before i post any repetitive questions, but i'm embarrassed to say that i had only been searching on the digital slr forum (which i hadn't realized was so new). after reading eric's post, i searched the whole site and found a wealth of info in other forums (lighting, consumer digicams, etc...). sorry to make you repeat yourselves! i'm still not sure what i'm gonna do, but i have a bunch more forum posts to catch up on thanks again for your replies, and i'll let you know what i end up doing (or i'll bug ya with more questions). corey

hi, i am new to this forum and new to using digital underwater, but i am not new to digital. i got my first digicam in 1999, and currently have a d60 and a 1ds. i have been wanting to take a digital camera underwater since i got my d30 in the fall of 2000, but my main interests in the water are larger, faster moving subjects (whales, dolphins, seals, people, etc...). the d30 and d60 focusing systems are pretty pathetic for moving subjects in moderate to low light situations, so i have been hesitent to make the move. i have followed eric's reports on wetpixel when he started using his uk germany housing with his d30, and then his d60. i see that he has now switched to the sea & sea housing. his reports have been helpful and informative, but i need to know even more i am taking 2 dive trips this summer (1 in may & 1 in august). i would love to start using digital underwater on these trips. so, i am looking for any input any of you who have canon uw dslr experience might be able to give me. -has anyone had any experiences (good or bad) using a d60 uw photographing larger moving subjects? -eric ( and anyone else who has done the same), what made you decide to move from the ukgermany housing to the sea & sea? easier to use? better port optics? -about a year ago i thought i had read that uk germany was making housings for canon 1d cameras, but now i can't find any info. has anyone here seen one or know anything about it? -i've heard that ikelite will make custom housings. i was thinking that might be an option for my 1ds. have any of you used ikelite housings? good or bad experiences? have any of you had a custom ikelite housing? -does anyone have any info about whether any of the manufacturers who are talking about 1ds housings might actually be selling them by may? -there seem to be so many d100 housings these days. should i sell my d60 and get a d100? i hate to do it... i have alot of canon glass... any canon users ever tried the d100 underwater? or above? -i have never used a housed camera underwater... i have always used nikonos film cameras. i'm curious about flash options for use with housed cameras. are nikonos ttl strobes (sb104 & sb105) compatible with the nikon d100 in a housing? what about with a canon d60 in a housing (i would think not)? i saw a picture of eric's uk germany rig with a pair of ikelite strobes. eric (or anybody who knows), how do you use those strobes with the d30/d60? i assume ttl is not an option due to the d30/60 being ettl, so is the only option manual exposure and manually controlling the output of the strobes? -has anyone used a canon 1d or 1ds in any sort of housing underwater? if so, what housing, and how did you like it? sorry for so many questions! many thanks in advance to anyone who can help point this uw digital newbie in the right direction. i haven't used film on land in over 3 years, and i really, really want to be able to stop using it underwater (preferably with my 1ds). eric's site has really been helpful and a great place to lurk and learn. i hope that by the end of the year i might have some underwater digital experience too so that i can contribute something useful instead of just lurking. thanks! corey

hi eric, i'm not sure if this is related to the problem you were having, but i can't seem to upload an avatar to my personal profile. i can browse my hard drive and find the file (64 x 54), but when i try to upload it, i get an error message telling me to contact an administrator. it's no big deal, but i thought you might want to know in case it is a related problem. thanks for the great site! corey