Underwater Bags: EWA Marine and Dicapak?

[Loren E.]

So I checked out the underwater photography thread there was some amazing stuff. I would love to do some underwater shooting for trips to the tropics. I don’t want to invest in an all out DSLR housing because of the price, space, and need to have an extra body just for this or shooting only underwater because of difficulty of getting the camera setup in the housing. I have an underwater point and shoot (pentax optio) but it won’t shoot raw.

So how about either an EWA Marine bag or a Dicapak for my Pentax K-7 and DA* 16-50 F2.8 lens? I might get an UWA lens eventually, but I think the wide end of this lens should be plenty fine for now. How do these two options compare? Are they easy enough to setup that if my buddy caught a 10 pound bonefish I could flash some photos of him, and then while he revived the fish I could get my camera setup in the bag for underwater shots in something like 60 seconds if I am speedy?

Thanks for any advice -Loren

[Ronnie Moore]

I have the Dicapak and there is no way that I could get my camera in it in 60 seconds. You don’t want to be in a hurry and not get it sealed properly.

But it takes good shots above water while in the bag.

[Morsie]

My two options are a Canon G11 with housing. You can pick these up pretty reasonably at the moment. I’ve had double page spreads shot on my G9, haven’t had the same opportunity with the G11 but it will come.

I have one of the Dicapaks and use my 5D in there with a 17-40. This is a great set-up but as mentioned by Ronnie not easy to set-up quickly and I would be too concerned with making a mistake. I would like a better quality port glass, you can see imperfections in it because it is only plastic of some sort.

When I set up this bag I have a couple of pieces of foam and a bag of silica gel that use to prop the body in place. I remove the front port and squeeze all the air out then without letting anyback in screw the front port on. This prevents it from moving away from the lens and causing vignetting. I also take the time to push the bellows back in because I want that front port right up hard against the front of the lens. Apart from that i am impressed with the bag. One of the reasons I bought it was so that i could get shots like this.

Morsie

[Loren E.]

In doing more research I read the dicapak uses a plastic front element while the EWA uses a higher quality glass element. Also it looks like there is the aquapac to throw into the mix!

[Morsie]

Just costed the EWA v the Dicapac – $500 v $150, must be a bloody good piece of glass. ;D ;D ;D

I haver searched the net for a retailer and an opportunity to compare prices but apart from the Australian importer have not been able to find any other retailers. Anyone have any suggestions???

Morsie

[Loren E.]

In the US it is $275 vs $100, that is a nasty markup on the EWA.

[Loren E.]

Wow that is frustrating: the EWA has a max 72mm filter size and my 16-50 is 77mm…..

[angus drummond]

loren,

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