New 7D with Hugy?

[andy_g 0]

Hi Guys

 

Looking at taking my 7D u/w on a trip to Galapagos following many years of playing with compacts.

 

Having looked around it seems that the hugyfot is a neat housing (access to all controls, light, and I like the hugycheck system) but the main question is lenses etc.

I have 15-85, 100 macro and 100-400L and believe I can use both the first two uw although I may need a +4 dioptre for the 15-85.

 

The Hugy will come with a dome and flat port with extensions to fit both lenses but the questions are still many :

 

1. is the housing a good choice?
   
2. do I really need the +4 and if so which of the many makes (Hoya, B&W, fox, kood, massa, zeikos, neewer etc)?
   
3. will the 15-85 be a reasonable general purpose lens?
   
4. I'm used to using a fuji f31fd with 0.5x but I assume that a 15mm w/a behind a dome will be similar field of view overall?
   
5. should I get a 'real' w/a as well which could be used in the same dome (eg Tokina 10-17 or Canon 10-22)?
   
6. what is the best way of controling TTL strobe (TTL converter to use with cable and YS60, optical with my inon D180s or epoque DS150a, or new Z240 etc) does anyone use optical ttl with the 7D ?
   
7. do people have favourite settings for UW use using C1-3 or do you always run it mannually?
   

Thanks in advance

 

Andy

[james 0]

Hello,

 

You lucky SOB! sorry, just had to get that out of my system:

 

1. is the housing a good choice?

 

Sure, if you're in a country where you can get good customer support

 

2. do I really need the +4 and if so which of the many makes (Hoya, B&W, fox, kood, massa, zeikos, neewer etc)?

 

Better yet, get a 10-17 for your trip. That is the #1 lens that you are going to need. Depending on your dome, you can use the 15-85 with a +2 diopter. A +4 sounds strong to me

 

3. will the 15-85 be a reasonable general purpose lens?

 

Yes, that is a good focal range but I don't know the details for that lens. Does it focus close?

 

4. I'm used to using a fuji f31fd with 0.5x but I assume that a 15mm w/a behind a dome will be similar field of view overall?

 

Yeah, more or less.

 

5. should I get a 'real' w/a as well which could be used in the same dome (eg Tokina 10-17 or Canon 10-22)?

 

Get the 10-17. You're going on a HUGE trip and the cost of the lens will be lost in the noise.

 

6. what is the best way of controling TTL strobe (TTL converter to use with cable and YS60, optical with my inon D180s or epoque DS150a, or new Z240 etc) does anyone use optical ttl with the 7D ?

 

Basically, none of those strobes is a good choice if you really want TTL except for the Z240. I would check with Hugyfot or their dealer and see if the housing has an optical bulkhead.

 

7. do people have favourite settings for UW use using C1-3 or do you always run it mannually?

 

Most people shoot manual, but they set up a custom setting for Macro for C1 for example, and C2 for wideangle.

 

Cheers

James

[philsokol 1]

Let me reiterate and concur with what I think James is saying:

 

Get the Tokina 10-17. Get the Tokina 10-17! Get the Tokina 10-17!!!

 

Have great trip and post some pics when you get back!

 

Phil

[Ferg42 13]

Hi Andy,

 

The 7D's a great choice. I'm loving mine. In answer to your questions:

 

1. I beleive Hugy's are pretty good, but I'd seriously consider Nauticam- I've used on one my last couple of trips and love it. I think it's a fair bit less expensive than the Hugy, and Alex gives excellent UK-based support, plus the viewfinder is brilliant.

 

2. The 15-85mm is a nice lens topside, and I'm not sure about the need for a dioptre, but I think you'd end up finding the Tok 10-17 a more useful lens underwater.

 

3. For general purpose, consider the Sigma 17-70

 

4. Not sure

 

5. Yes- Tok see above

 

6. I think fibre optic TTL e.g with the Inon z240 is a good way to go.

 

7. Yes, custom setting can be useful for underwater- I sometimes use them for video settings.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Cheers

 

Fergus

[serge 2]

I would check with Hugyfot or their dealer and see if the housing has an optical bulkhead.

 

You can have a optical Inlet installed on the Hugy and it works flawless ... i tested a Hugy 7D with that inlet for a month and must say, that it is a very nice housing and the optical inlet worked flawlessly.

 

Serge

[adamhanlon 0]

Hi all,

 

One more!

 

You NEED a 10-17mm! It is a fantastic lens. For me, a mostly Nikon cropped frame shooter, although I have a Sigma 17-70mm and a Nikon 12-24mm, I find that I almost never use them!

 

I've used a Hugy/7D combination and found it very good indeed.

 

Adam

[andy_g 0]

Thanks for the advice guys - looks like the Z240 as a strobe with the optical bulkhead.

 

As for the lens - the tokina 10-17 seems to be ~£400 and will work with the standard dome on the Hugy as a very compact package.

Alternatives would be the Canon 10-22 or the Sigma 8-16 (both ~£550) but I guess these are rectliner and dont give the same effect as the tokina underwater.

 

I have to say i'm tempted - although reviews seem to imply that I would then need two strobes as well and also need to get very close to use it to best effect.

 

Will I (or in fact do I want to) get close enough to the sharks in galapagos to enjoy it?

[adamhanlon 0]

Hey Andy,

 

A lot of shark pictures are actually ambient light-with big fish the strobes don't travel far enough to light them evenly.

 

Personally on the Hugy, I would choose the wired bulkhead. I tend to use manual mode on my strobes, and the wired connection is very reliable. TTL on wide-angle is very iffy anyway. (but great for macro.)

 

I reckon you will enjoy Galápagos with a box brownie wrapped in clingfilm!

 

Adam

[andy_g 0]

but if I go wired I would need a ttl converter or do it all manually I guess ...

there again I gather many people do just fire the flash on full and use the camera to chose the exposure to compensate.

can always add the wires later though I guess.

[stewsmith 14]

I have been to Galapagos and also Cocos and to be honest I ended up taking my strobes off the rig as the sharks very rarely come in close enough for them to be switched on. Regarding the 10 - 17mm V's the 10 - 22mm for me the Tokina wins all the time. I sold my 10 - 22mm once the Tokina coma along as it never got used. What ever housing and lens you decide on you will have a great time. Darwin Arch is an amazing place to dive when it is kicking off. Be sure to post your best efforts.

 

Stew

Edited June 27, 2010 by stewsmith

[Tjsnapper 0]

In Brief,

I would go with the 10-17mm

Nauticam Housing,

Optical on z240s

Hope this helps

 

Tristan

[andy_g 0]

In Brief,

I would go with the 10-17mm

Nauticam Housing,

Optical on z240s

Hope this helps

 

Tristan

 

Thanks Tristan

 

What are the advantages of the Nauticam over the Hugy?

[stever 0]

i started out with a 20D and 17-85 and a single manual flash - as anyone with experience (including now myself) knows this didn't do anything well. i got a macro port and tried both the 60 and 100 macro and settled on the 100. i got a 10-22 which was okay, but has been replaced by a Tokina 11-16 (but i'm sure most people would be happier with the 10-17).

 

got very frustrated with manual flash for macro and got a H&W TTL converter and a second flash -- it's a big waste of time for most people to use manual flash for macro. on the other hand, i have found no situation where the TTL has gotten in the way for wide angle

 

my limited experience with big animals is that flash is useless

 

in short, i strongly recommend you get a housing with both an optical and a wired port - cost is minimal for the flexibility and redundancy you get

[andy_g 0]

my limited experience with big animals is that flash is useless

 

in short, i strongly recommend you get a housing with both an optical and a wired port - cost is minimal for the flexibility and redundancy you get

 

 

Cheers Steve

The wired port (with TTL converter) will set me back an additional ~ £350 but then I need to know whether to go with a 5 or 6 pin connector ...

 

(I agree natural light seems to work best with big critters but I always seem to need good TTL control for decent macro.

[stever 0]

sorry i didn't make that clear. i'm recommending a optical connection which will give you TTL, plus a conventional 5-pin wired connection for manua flashl/ backup

 

as far as i know, the only downside of fiber compared to a TTL converter are cycle time limitations that may be imposed by the camera (doesn't seem to make a difference to most people)

 

if you use an internal TTL converter you can use a 5 pin Nikonos connector

 

i'm also not recommending spending more than necessary for a housing which is likely to have little value when the 7D is replaced. on the positive side, the images i'm getting from the 20D are good enough so that i can't justify a housing for my 7D which has a bit better resolution, no improvement in high ISO noise, but much nicer to use. you should expect very satisfying results from the 7D for many years - but think about a backup 7D in case something nasty happens.

[Otara 0]

With the 7D you can easily do a minimum manual flash using the internal flash thats good for about 4fps according to Gudges tests.

 

Many housings have the option of an electrical bulkhead being added later if you ever do decide on a strobe needing one, I cant see why you'd spend the money before you had to with this particular camera.

 

Otara

[Gudge 58]

With the 7D you can easily do a minimum manual flash using the internal flash thats good for about 4fps according to Gudges tests.

Just a tad over 3.5 fps on an extended test. My external strobes (Z240) can't keep up with this rate unless they are on a very low power.

[Timmoranuk 10]

In Brief,

I would go with the 10-17mm

Nauticam Housing,

Optical on z240s

Hope this helps

 

Tristan

 

I'll go with TJ's recommenation too. Its exactly what I have and it works, very, very nicely,,,

Edited June 28, 2010 by Timmoranuk

[Viz'art 24]

I just spent a week at the Digital Shootout with 3 boat loads of shooters, as I was sort of one of the maintance geek in residence and saw every little problem that happened, lets put it this way, I have seen zero problem with optical connection, zero complains about frame rates versus recycling and had the week to shoot with both my own wired strobe system and with a pair of optically triggered strobes, my 2 cents, go optical, if you feel nostalgic about pinched O-ring, corroded contacts, sync cord breakdown and battery failure on the TTL circuit board, then get a second wired bulkhead installed

 

Whatever housing you get, get the 10-17mm Tokina and a mid size port, I found large port to be overkill with this lens and the smaller 4" port requires too much depth of field to bring them online when shooting big animal and wreck, remember that you will be shooting available light and moving subject, having to stop down to f/11 to get crisp corners will cost you too much in shutter speed. a mid size 6" dome port is way more generous and will handle easier as well.

 

Cheers

[pmooney 6]

I just spent a week at the Digital Shootout with 3 boat loads of shooters, as I was sort of one of the maintance geek in residence and saw every little problem that happened, lets put it this way, I have seen zero problem with optical connection, zero complains about frame rates versus recycling and had the week to shoot with both my own wired strobe system and with a pair of optically triggered strobes, my 2 cents, go optical, if you feel nostalgic about pinched O-ring, corroded contacts, sync cord breakdown and battery failure on the TTL circuit board, then get a second wired bulkhead installed

 

Whatever housing you get, get the 10-17mm Tokina and a mid size port, I found large port to be overkill with this lens and the smaller 4" port requires too much depth of field to bring them online when shooting big animal and wreck, remember that you will be shooting available light and moving subject, having to stop down to f/11 to get crisp corners will cost you too much in shutter speed. a mid size 6" dome port is way more generous and will handle easier as well.

 

Cheers

 

Hey Jean ,

Good to hear that you enjoyed the time out of the office.

That's great advice on the ports - the 6" port has been a longtime favourite of mine.

P

[Viz'art 24]

Hey Peter, I brought the office with me and did my tech support out of resort web connection, beat's Canada as far as office space goes! and yep! it was really great diving too,

 

The 6" dome port and Tokina 10-17mm is my workhorse, just perfect combination, altought I did try our 4" dome with the Tokina (both with the 1.4x converter and without) and have taken a serious liking to that dome, but agai as mentioned earlier, if shooting big stuff in ambient, you will see me running back to my 6 incher in a flash!

Edited June 28, 2010 by Viz'art

[andy_g 0]

Just a tad over 3.5 fps on an extended test. My external strobes (Z240) can't keep up with this rate unless they are on a very low power.

 

Can you advise on how you do this?

Is it using the internal strobe via fibre to trigger but then just setting the Z240 to a manual setting or triggering via cable and hotshoe?

[BradDB 0]

I have to say i'm tempted - although reviews seem to imply that I would then need two strobes as well and also need to get very close to use it to best effect.

 

Will I (or in fact do I want to) get close enough to the sharks in galapagos to enjoy it?

 

Yes, the sharks will get close enough for strobes. Just hunker down behind a rock and be ready. You will get a few good, strobe-worthy passes (3-4 feet away) per dive if you choose your location well. Wolf Island is a good place to practice this technique.

 

The 10-17 is the lens to use. I brought a 12-24 but soon realized it was the wrong lens for close subjects.

 

-Brad

[Otara 0]

"Is it using the internal strobe via fibre to trigger but then just setting the Z240 to a manual setting"

 

Yes. You set the internal flash to manual and 1/128th power so it can cycle as quickly as possible and just put out enough power to trigger the Z240's via optical cable, then use the strobes on manual.

 

Otara

[loftus 42]

I think on a trip like the Galapagos you should be prepared for anything. I would take a 10-17, but definitely don't leave behind a moderately wide rectilinear. I think the Sigma 17-70 would be ideal as a fish lens and with some macro capability. Depending on conditions and visibility, you may well be studying seahorses on the rocks while a ripping current plasters you to the wall, and you will get a lot more out of the 17-70 in those conditions than the 10-17.

2 strobes are essential for adequate strobe coverage of the 10-17. Even if the strobes are ineffective at a distance, having them always on and set to low power is a good idea for when the big guys do honor you with their presence up close. Just set your overall exposure for the ambient light, then adjust the strobes to provide fill should anything show up close.

Edited June 29, 2010 by loftus