Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for Canon 5D Mark II

Comments about Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for Canon 5D Mark II:

I use the product for my commercial work and was very pleased with the fast, friendly and efficient service I always receive at B&H. I needed this addition to my kit before the holidays and you did not disappoint. See you in 2012. Happy Customer.

Comments about Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for Canon 5D Mark II:

I'm a professional photographer living in Hawaii. I've used the DC-5 with my 5D II for a couple of seasons for wave photography. Bottom line: This housing works very well for over/under shots in calm water... but I can't recommend it for heavy surf work. I was trying to photograph some heavy shore break, here in Hawaii, a few weeks ago... and discovered that the housing was leaking. One of the 4 clips had let go (apparently after taking a heavy hit from a wave - I never hit anything solid with the housing). Fortunately, I caught it before the camera was completely ruined, but it still did a few hundred dollars worth of damage. After contacting Aqua Tech, the rep told told me that the clips had been known to let go in "rare instances". My view is that when you take an expensive camera and lens into the water, you need to be able to rely on your housing to keep the water out... 100% of the time. I think the system works well enough for calm water conditions, but I will never take it into heavy surf conditions again... for that I would recommend SPL, Water Housings Hawaii, or Essex housings. All of these housings utilize simple wing nuts to seal the housing. There is no chance of a wing nut "springing open" as is the case with the Aqua Tech clip system.

Comments about Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for Canon 5D Mark II:

Review:I rented this Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for my Canon 5D Mark II during a local underwater mermaid modeling shoot both in my pool and at a local creek both at the surface and had it down to a maximum depth of 20 feet.You have to completely remove the camera's strap and mount a special plate (included with housing) to the tripod mount before installing the camera. Plus make sure all rotating controls are pulled out before sliding the camera in so they won't hang up the camera. The reason I mentioned all this is I only have one 5D Mark II and was trying to do surface modeling and quickly change over to underwater mode so my model didn't have to wait. This strap on / off can be time consuming and I don't like shooting without the strap.While it never leaked a drop I did have a couple drops fall off my wet hair into the housing which ended up on the dome port leaving a water spot during shooting. So moral of story be smarter then me and always make sure to completely dry yourself before leaning over the open housing.The front port is very easy to mount just spin on and tighten until the port label is straight up. The back plate though requires very careful handling making sure the O-ring is very clean and mounted in the groove just right and not pulled out of placed or pinched when mounting the back plate. I also found closed the latches in opposing fashion top left then bottom right then bottom left then top right helped.The handling was very good both on the surface and once diving with just slightly positive bouncy both with the 17-40 zoom lens and the 15mmm Fisheye.In warm water all controls operate easily but as the water temperature dropped to around 60 the rotating controls especially the one for reviewing photos got pretty hard to rotate.Also Aqua Tech tried to talk me through the hanging the camera ISO while the camera was inside the housing and I never got this to work meaning I had to remove the camera to change it. So beware that some functions cannot be controlled with the camera inside the housing.Conclusion:I came to love this housing and plan on buying one instead of renting. I rarely go below 33 feet and value the ability to use a 70-200mm zoom lens and many other lens options in the surf more than the deeper ratings of other housings. The balanced easy feel and the fact it never leaked have won me over.Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions at grantbrummett[@]

Comments about Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for Canon 5D Mark II:

The housing works great. Exactly what I hoped for.
In my opinion, the best choice when using natural light and freediving. From what I know, the only choice for larger lenses underwater. Like the Canon 24/1.4.

Comments about Aqua Tech DC-5 v2 Underwater Sports Housing for Canon 5D Mark II:

I use this case everyday and it works amazing! Quick and easy to set up and if you ever have any problems the people at aquatech will go out of there way to help!