Any advice on EWA Marine housings

I would like to receive comments about using this kind of housings with 35 mm AF SLRs with an external TTL flash mounted. I have the purpose of taking nude pictures on shallow waters using a 28-80 zoom, and body details maybe with a large zoom. Any advice on specific models of EWA Marine bags? What about using close-up lenses for macro photography with this housings?

It might be slightly easier to use a Nikon AF SLR because of the HP finders --

the killer system would be a F5 with the DA-30 action finder, but since you can get a new N90s for

the price of a DA-30, it's probably not a realistic choice (the HP finders are nice because you'll

probably have a mask or goggles on and need a bit of distance between your eye and the eyepiece).<p>

The EWA-Marine U-FGM is fine for a short zoom and a large (handle) flash; I think the FZL

would be all right with a smaller flash (not sure, though). Since the EWA-Marine bags are designed for manual focus SLRs, too,

you might want to look into getting a used F3 and the DA-2 (total price maybe ~700 USD) action finder.<p>

Close-up lenses should be fine (not sure I understand your question there, though) since you're using an SLR.

Howard Schatz has done some beautiful underwater work with nudes. His technique is described in the March issue of Practical Photography, and there are several images presented there. Interestingly, after months of experimentation, he settled on daylight balanced film and a technique which lit the subjects from above the water with color filtered flash. I believe that he shot in the 35mm format with Nikon equipment.

 

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If you like the magazine article, you may want to consider the book in which much of the work was published. The title is Water Dance, and I think it had a 1995 copyright date. The hard cover version is out of print, but the paper bound collection is still available. List price is $29.95.

 

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The underwater environment gives the subjects a sense of being suspended in both time and space.

I own a couple of the EWA Marine bags and hate using them. They are too buoyant near the surface. They scrunch in on the camera controls and make the camera impossible to use at depth (10 meters and below). In fact, I keep meaning to get around to selling my U-FX housing (which is designed for a body like a Nikon 8008 and/or older Nikon + motor drive + standard SB-24 or Vivitar 283 size flash + mid-size lens). Ewa makes a bag with an accordion lens pouch. They call it the "AF" something or other. I had one and sold it on rec.photo.scuba...

 

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Anyway, the EWA bags do work to keep out water. And you can probably stuff some lead weights in there to make them neutrally buoyant. And you can probably won't get any vignetting with your 28-80 (I like wider lenses).

 

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However, I'd much rather use my Nikon Action Touch ($175 P&S camera with a 35mm lens and scale focusing), good to 10' under according to Nikon, 30' under according to everyone else.

I have used an EWA bag for my EOS 650 and Elan IIe, and have been extremely dissatisfied with the results. At first, I used a 35-70 zoom, but I found that the pressure of the glass port against the front of the lens interfered with focusing. I then tried a 28-105 that had a non-rotating front element, and that solved the focus problem, but I could not zoom the lens. I also had problems with the bouyancy of this system, and the difficulty of opperating camera controlls with the glove.

 

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I recently purchased a Kenko-Delphinus aluminium housing for my A2E, and feel that this is the best way to go. The housing is neutrally bouyant, has interchangeable ports to fit every lens, and gives full access to every camera function. Yes, it costs a lot more, but the bennefits clearly outweigh the cost.