Re: Ewa Marine housing
Alexandre A. P. Suaide writes: I am considering to attend diving school this summer. The first though I had was: I want to take pictures and don't want to spend a lot of money buying underwater gear. I know that ewa marine makes SLR camera housing for underwater photography. They have a generic house that goes up to 60 feet deep for about $150-200 @ BHPhoto. Does anybody used something like this? Is it good enough to house my PZ-1P and a FA28-70 F4? I intend to go no much deep (20-40 feet). So, can I trust this kind of equipment? Somewhere on the web, I found instructions on how to reload a disposable camera. Took a dot or two of plastic glue to modify the camera to take standard film rolls, and a light-tight bag to load it. The whole point there were instructions of this sort was that the cameras fit into some standard (inexpensive?) diving housing. A bit of work, but certainly inexpensive. hope that helps, patbob ([EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]) - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
Re: Ewa Marine housing
I don't think the aperture and shutter speed would be workable, or? Norm Patrick White wrote: snip The whole point there were instructions of this sort was that the cameras fit into some standard (inexpensive?) diving housing. A bit of work, but certainly inexpensive. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Ewa Marine housing
Alex wrote: I am considering to attend diving school this summer. The first though I had was: I want to take pictures and don't want to spend a lot of money buying underwater gear. I know that ewa marine makes SLR camera housing for underwater photography. They have a generic house that goes up to 60 feet deep for about $150-200 @ BHPhoto. Does anybody used something like this? Is it good enough to house my PZ-1P and a FA28-70 F4? I intend to go no much deep (20-40 feet). So, can I trust this kind of equipment? Hi Alex, Sounds like you'll be having some fun this summer -- good luck! What kind of diving will you be doing mostly? It's been a long time (15 years?) since I've been scuba diving, and my diving has been in Northern California, primarily off sandy beaches and rocky coastlines rather than off of boats. I mention this because it will influence your choice of gear. I always needed something that could withstand hard accidental contact with sharp rocks, sea urchin spines, dorsal spines of fish, and so forth. Thus, flexible housings like those of Ewa Marine would not have been a good choice as they might tear or puncture easily. Another thing to consider is this -- if you put on a pair of neoprene gloves (a must-have in Northern California waters) and a facemask, how well will you be able to manipulate the controls of your camera? I suspect you'd have a hard time pressing the controls and seeing through the viewfinder of your PZ-1P in a flexible Ewa housing. Finally, I always followed the rule of never bringing anything into the water that I'd be upset about leaving there. I lost a small boat motor entering through the surf off Carmel, and a weight belt (and almost a tank and regulator) coming back in through rough surf in Fort Bragg. If an unexpected situation comes up, how bad would you feel about losing a PZ-1P and an FA28-70/4? Yikes!! I'd suggest an alternative for underwater photography. First, you might want to take a look at the Ikelite line of camera cases. BH carries a few, and your local dive shop may carry some as well. They're thick plexiglas with o-ring seals, they have large external controls which are easy to manipulate with gloved hands, and they have big square rangefinder sites on the outside of the cases to facilitate framing your subjects while wearing a facemask. I've still got an Ikelite case and a 110 camera in the bottom of my dive bag -- it actually takes pretty reasonable 4 x 6 snapshots. Second, instead of your PZ-1P, consider using a 35-mm single-use camera. Ikelite makes a case for these disposable cameras, and one version has a diopter on a moveable pivot at the front of the case to allow you to take close-up macro shots. Hope this helps. Good luck with the diving! Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
Re: Ewa Marine housing
Thanks for the suggestion. I will look more carefully. BTW, I will attend a scuba diving school this summer... I think I will have some fun... Thanks again Alex Peifer, William [OCDUS] wrote: Alex wrote: I am considering to attend diving school this summer. The first though I had was: I want to take pictures and don't want to spend a lot of money buying underwater gear. I know that ewa marine makes SLR camera housing for underwater photography. They have a generic house that goes up to 60 feet deep for about $150-200 @ BHPhoto. Does anybody used something like this? Is it good enough to house my PZ-1P and a FA28-70 F4? I intend to go no much deep (20-40 feet). So, can I trust this kind of equipment? Hi Alex, Sounds like you'll be having some fun this summer -- good luck! What kind of diving will you be doing mostly? It's been a long time (15 years?) since I've been scuba diving, and my diving has been in Northern California, primarily off sandy beaches and rocky coastlines rather than off of boats. I mention this because it will influence your choice of gear. I always needed something that could withstand hard accidental contact with sharp rocks, sea urchin spines, dorsal spines of fish, and so forth. Thus, flexible housings like those of Ewa Marine would not have been a good choice as they might tear or puncture easily. Another thing to consider is this -- if you put on a pair of neoprene gloves (a must-have in Northern California waters) and a facemask, how well will you be able to manipulate the controls of your camera? I suspect you'd have a hard time pressing the controls and seeing through the viewfinder of your PZ-1P in a flexible Ewa housing. Finally, I always followed the rule of never bringing anything into the water that I'd be upset about leaving there. I lost a small boat motor entering through the surf off Carmel, and a weight belt (and almost a tank and regulator) coming back in through rough surf in Fort Bragg. If an unexpected situation comes up, how bad would you feel about losing a PZ-1P and an FA28-70/4? Yikes!! I'd suggest an alternative for underwater photography. First, you might want to take a look at the Ikelite line of camera cases. BH carries a few, and your local dive shop may carry some as well. They're thick plexiglas with o-ring seals, they have large external controls which are easy to manipulate with gloved hands, and they have big square rangefinder sites on the outside of the cases to facilitate framing your subjects while wearing a facemask. I've still got an Ikelite case and a 110 camera in the bottom of my dive bag -- it actually takes pretty reasonable 4 x 6 snapshots. Second, instead of your PZ-1P, consider using a 35-mm single-use camera. Ikelite makes a case for these disposable cameras, and one version has a diopter on a moveable pivot at the front of the case to allow you to take close-up macro shots. Hope this helps. Good luck with the diving! Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . -- --- Alexandre A. P. Suaide, Ph.D. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Physics Department University of Sao Paulo - BrazilPhone: 1-313-577-5419 Wayne State University - MI -USAICQ number: 78139605 --- - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
Re: Ewa Marine housing
I don't know about this housing, but I used to dive years ago (in my teens), and I can tell you that you may find a 60' depth restrictive. At this point you might not expect to go deeper than 60', but if you come to enjoy diving, eventually you'll learn that 60' is not very deep. There's much of interest below that. (Although I will say that the majority of my dives were probably between 40 and 60'.) You can probably get a custom housing made, but a Nikonos is a better bet for 35 mm. The problem with using an SLR in a housing is the small viewfinder. Back in the 60s, people who did serious underwater photography had housings built for Rollei TLRs and Bronica or Hasselblad SLRs, with big, ground-glass focusing screens. This is still the way I would go if I were going to do this today. Have fun, Joe - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
