Preliminary review for WP-DC53 UW-case for G1X mk II

I just acquired the G1X II with its underwater housing. As there are already enough threads about the G1X here, I will now focus on the underwater housing. I did not dive with the G1X II yet, so this preview is only about the general impression of the housing, not of the achievable image quality.

I have been diving with Powershots and Canon housings for over 10 years (see here for some of my dive-pictures). However, the G1X II is my first camera with a relatively large sensor.

In general the housing is very familiar; it looks a lot like my other Canon uw-housings. However, there are some differences:

• I like the connector for optical fibers. I have this connected to my Inon D-2000 UW-strobe and it is a lot nicer than the velcro solution I had to use with my G10 housing.
• I like that the camera has the option to use automatic (TTL) flash in M-mode (first for a powershot?). This works very well together with my Inon strobe, see also last image below.
• The flash diffuser looks good as well. It is even possible to quickly change between it and the fibre-connector underwater.
• Almost all functions can be controlled from the housing. However, I have two problems with controls:

1. The control for the clicking)lens barrel wheel is quite hard to turn and sometimes slips on the control wheel. I have to see how easy this will be underwater, especially while wearing gloves.
2. The other two wheels cannot be directly controlled but instead one should keep the shortcut button pressed, while either pressing up/down or left/right for the two different wheels. This is similar to what was used on my G10 housing. In principle this is a workable solution. However, on this housing/camera combination I find that pressing the shortcut button requires quite some force. Also it is placed very close to the arrow buttons. Together this makes it quite a task to control the functionality of the weels. When in M-mode, I want to assign exposure/aperture to the clicking wheel and ISO to the back wheel. Therefore I can easily switch between changing exposure and aperture by pressing up to change the wheel functionality. However, ISO is a different story. As far as I can see, I can only change this by using the shortcut key trick, which is not very comfortable.

• The housing is quite large and therefore contains quite some air. I don't know how buoyant it will be. I think in my case my heavy strobe and tray will compensate for this.
• The handgrip is very big and comfortable.
• The shutter button feels responsive, also for half-press although it is quite small and not so easy to reach due to a ring for the neck-strap. Maybe I'll end up cutting of this ring.
• The zoom lever is large and very easy to use.

In general I look very much forward to my first dive with the G1X II, especially because of its much faster focus than the G10, its wider angle lens and its better low-light capabilities.

The whole set + camera

The camera in its housing

The camera inside its housing. Note the large amount of empty space on top and left of the camera and the closeness of the buttons on the right.

Image made with G1X II in housing, with Inon D-2000 and snoot, using TTL flash. Although not underwater, the conditions are quite similar to many UW-macro shots. I find the exposure and detail excellent in this image.