Sea & Sea MDX-PRO MKIII Underwater Housing for Canon 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III
Review by Eric Cheng and Don Kehoe

The Sea & Sea MDX-PRO MKIII underwater housing for the Canon 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III digital SLR is beautifully machined. It appears to be machined from a solid block of aluminum, and has a nice, smooth finish (flat, black, hard anodizing).

Sea & Sea underwater housing for 1D/1Ds Mark III
with optical glass dome port and Ikelite DS-125 strobes


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, open view of front piece


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, open view of back piece

The housing has a leak detector installed, which is a nice feature. However, the detector's battery is mounted dangerously low on the back half of the body. I would have preferred it to be mounted a bit higher so minor leaks don't have the potential to destroy it.

The camera's rear LCD was easy to see through the large plastic window in the back of the housing.

The housing has been cut for an automatic focus light bulkhead, but there is no bulkhead in place. If you use this hole for an accessory bulkhead for any reason (e.g. remote shutter switch), you should be aware that large dome ports will cover the bulkhead and will not allow a connector to be inserted. However, the smaller optical glass dome port does allow access to the bulkhead opening.

Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing with
INON 45-degree viewfinder custom-installed by Backscatter


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, close view of back
with INON 45-degree viewfinder installed

The 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III is mounted on a low-profile camera base plate. It is different than the dovetail plate used in past Sea & Sea housings, and slides in easily on top of a grooved, fixed plate inside the housing. A large thumbscrew holds the two plates together, and is easy to tighten and loosen. The thumbscrew does come off of the base plate, so it's probably a good idea to keep a spare somewhere in your accessory kit.

Without a zoom gear attached, the camera and lens -- with mounting plate attached -- dropped perfectly into the housing. With a zoom gear attached to a lens, I had to wiggle the zoom knob a bit in order to get the gears to mesh together, which then allowed the camera to drop into proper position. It is still easy to do, but it can be difficult unless you are aware of the issue.

Canon 1D Mark III with base place attached


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, view of installed body tray and port lock


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, open back with Canon 1D Mark III installed


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, view of hotshoe

Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, top view. The red bulkhead is designed for
the TTL converter. The one of the right is designed for normal use.

next: ergonomics

Sea & Sea MDX-PRO MKIII Underwater Housing for Canon 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III
Review by Eric Cheng and Don Kehoe

Eric Cheng at Crystal River with Sea & Sea underwater housing for 1D/1Ds Mark III

Ergonomics

Ergonomics are greatly improved when compared with earlier generations of Sea & Sea housings. All control buttons are clearly labeled and were easy to use, even with gloved hands. All controls worked right out of the box with no adjustments necessary.

The zoom knob worked perfectly, and turned smoothly.

The shutter lever has a light, easy feel to it.

The focus lever is designed to depress the * button, which can be set to focus the camera by switching AF-ON and * functions in the camera's menu system. The focus lever is actuated by pushing up with the thumb, just like in earlier Sea & Sea SLR housings. However, the focus lever does not have a return spring, and it is hard to tell when the focus button is depressed and released. Note that this lever also doubles as the AF point select button, which can be actuated by pulling the lever out before pushing up with one's thumb. Because of this, it is difficult to change the focus point quickly. If you don't need to change focus points often, it shouldn't be a problem.

The shutter speed knob is a long reach even with large hands, and because the knob is partially covered by the shutter lever, it is possible to accidentally trip the shutter while making a shutter speed adjustment. I think this is something I will get used to avoiding as I use the housing more.

Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing. My hands (medium-sized) can just
reach the front dial, which is placed overlapping with the shutter lever

The aperture knob is a bit of a reach with hands on the handles, but it was still easily accessible. If you have small hands, you will probably have to let go of the handles just a bit for the reach.

Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing. My hands (medium-sized) can just
reach the back dial, which controls aperture and menu options

In the Water

With glass optical dome port and two Ikelite DS-125 strobes attached to the housing, the rig was slightly negative in the water. Although the dome did cause the housing to tilt up when released in the water, the rig was well-balanced and did not cause fatigue even after 6 hours of continuous use in the water.

Like all Sea & Seas housings I have used, ports were a bit difficult to remove after the rig was used in the water, even with will-greased o-rings.

After using the housing in the water, there appeared to be water between the o-ring and the acrylic back plate. The wet o-ring is visible in the photos of the back of the housing (lower left corner). However, upon close inspection, it was clear that there was no leak despite the wet o-ring.

prev: design | next: INON viewfinder

Sea & Sea MDX-PRO MKIII Underwater Housing for Canon 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III
Review by Eric Cheng and Don Kehoe

Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing side view
with INON 45-degree viewfinder custom-installed by Backscatter

Custom INON Viewfinder Installation

I had an INON 45° Viewfinder custom-installed by Backscatter. The machining of the necessary hole was flawless and impressive, although it does prevent the use of the stock eye piece. No custom drilling of the viewfinder is necessary in order to use the INON viewfinder, and the stock eyepiece can still be used.

The INON viewfinder glass was crystal-clear and bright. Even on 1D-series cameras, you can easily see the entire viewfinder.

The viewfinder can be rotated a full 360°, and there are detents that hold the viewfinder in 90° increments to allow easy viewing during both horizontal and vertical shots.

The eyepiece is protected by a rubber eye cup, which was comfortable to use. It did, however, have the tendency to hold water, which made shooting splits difficult without first rotating it to drain out the water. The eye cup could be improved by drilling a drain hole in the rubber protector.

The viewfinder obstructs part of the camera's LCD, and makes the left button of the multidirectional joystick difficult to access. Tilting the camera down makes it possible to view the entire LCD.

For those photographers who do not like 45° viewfinders, INON also offers a 180°viewfinder than can also be installed by Backscatter.

Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing side view
with rotated INON 45-degree viewfinder custom-installed by Backscatter

Installation of the INON viewfinder is easy. It is inserted into the stock hole in the back of the housing, and a custom rear retaining ring is screwed on the inside by using a Backscatter custom tool. The installer tool fit perfectly into the rear retaining ring, and was easy to use. We wonder, however, why the custom tool wasn't drilled out to make it lighter. Note: Backscatter reports that the new design of the custom tool will be lighter and double as a body hole cap. It will be available for an additional charge.

I was really impressed by the INON viewfinder when used in conjunction with the Sea & Sea housing. I highly recommend getting in touch with Backscatter to get a custom INON viewfinder for the Sea & SEa housing! It will change the way to do photography.

More from Backscatter: Custom modified Inon 45 or Straight is $900 installed. Unlike other Inon VF offerings on-line, ours is custom designed for each camera / housing combo. Others are using a universal adapter and this will lead to fuzzy corners or loss of coverage. Custom tool is approx $100 or we supply a standard spanner wrench for $40. Original Sea & Sea viewfinder is easy to install, but is best installed with standard spanner wrench. We recommend only users with intermediate to advanced mechanical skills replace the viewfinder themselves. It's actually very safe and easy, but certainly someone will rush and make a mistake.

INON 45-degree viewfinder, without rear retaining piece


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing with Backscatter custom installer tool


INON 45-degree viewfinder attached to housing before custom retaining piece is screwed on


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing with viewfinder tool attached


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, rear piece with stock viewfinder hole


Sea & Sea 1D/1Ds Mark III housing, rear piece with stock viewfinder hole

prev: ergonomics | next: testing/conclusion

Sea & Sea MDX-PRO MKIII Underwater Housing for Canon 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III
Review by Eric Cheng and Don Kehoe

Wide-angle Testing

We tested the new 7.2" glass optical dome port with a Tokina 10-17mm lens mounted on a Canon 1D Mark III. A modified gear from a Nikon 18-35mm lens was attached to the Tokina, and the zoom gear on the housing worked flawlessly.

Canon 1D Mark III with Tokina 10-17 lens and
Sea & Sea 18-55 zoom gear modified to fit on the Tokina

We found that the Tokina 10-17mm lens worked perfectly on the Canon 1D Mark III body (1.3x crop factor) until it was zoomed out to around 12mm. At 12mm, the system vignetted just slightly. Zooming in to 13mm produced images with no vignetting whatsoever.

At 12mm on the Canon 1D Mark III (1.3x crop factor)
the Tokina 10-17mm lens vignettes slightly


At 13mm on the Canon 1D Mark III (1.3x crop factor)
the Tokina 10-17mm lens does NOT vignette


Manatee photo, taken at 17mm
Tokina 10-17mm lens on a Canon 1D Mark III

Additional Testing

I mounted a Canon 100mm macro lens onto a Canon 1Ds Mark III (full frame) and took it under the Blue Heron bridge (using a Sea & Sea flat port). The rig felt comfortable and light in my hands. The "thumb up" focus lever wasn't quite as convenient as are normal levers operated by pushing down, but it still was easy to use. Again, the lack of a return spring was a little annoying because I was never completely sure that the focus lever was disengaged, but I was still able to shoot effectively.

Atlantic longarm octopus (Octopus defilippi)
at the Blue Heron Bridge


Atlantic longarm octopus (Octopus defilippi)
at the Blue Heron Bridge


A cute little blenny at the Blue Heron Bridge

Conclusion

The Sea & Sea MDX-PRO Mark IIIunderwater housing for the Canon 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III digital SLR is a fantastic housing, and is in every way worthy of its flagship product status at Sea & Sea. At a retail price of $4,650, it is significantly cheaper than both Subal and Seacam 1D/1Ds Mark III housings.

We highly recommend this housing.

The Sea & Sea MDX-PRO Mark III is available from our sponsors:

Backscatter Underwater Video and Photo
Marine Camera Distributors
Reef Photo & Video

prev: INON viewfinder

Bonus: for reading to the end, you get a link to a cool video of the housing in action. :)

BONUS: Video of the assembled Sea & Sea MDX-PRO Mark III / Canon 1D Mark III / 2 x Ikelite DS-125 strobes firing at 10 frames per second on 1/8th power for around 18 seconds.  We looked at the images from the burst, and not a single frame was dark.  This setup is incredible!