Whitewater Camera Housing

(Matt Ogburn, of Colorado Springs does his thing in hole number 3 in the Pueblo Whitewater Park during the Pueblo Chile & Frijole Festival recently)

I finally got the chance to get my Ewa-Marine underwater housing out during the Pueblo Chile & Frijole Festival held recently here in Pueblo. I have used it a few times in swimming pools once briefly at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail and once in the ocean during a vacation to Pensacola Beach, Florida.

I am still perfecting my skills for using it. The housing is basically a $500 Ziplock bag on steriods that I slide either my Nikon D200 or D2H into before sealing it closed with a clamp system. I have to admit that more often than not I work on the fly. I grab cameras, lenses, batteries and disks out of my bag as I walk or run from my truck to an assignment. This isn't a good way to work if I need to get my camera into a housing such as my Ewa-Marine. It takes a while to get everything "just so" and set up before I can start shooting with it. So if I am going to use it I need to be a bit better at planning for it.

The housing gives me the best results when I use my 20-35mm zoom. It fits that lens like a glove. I have used my 14mm lens, I just need to adjust for it when I do. The lens doesn't snap into place like the 20-35mm does so I have to press the lens housing back against the camera as I shoot to get the best possible results. I am also hoping to give my 10.5mm lens a try too. I will post those results here when I get the chance.

At some point in the future I would like to get my hands on the same kind of housing that surf photographers use while shooting from the water. Unfortunately I can't justify the expense for the limited amount of usage I would have for such a piece of equipment. The housings cost more than the cameras they protect. So for now I will just continue to "zip" mine up and get into the water that way.

With water levels in the river receeding I may get the chance to try it again if we continue to have favorable temperatures and people will come out to surf.

Til next time...