120 replies to this topic

[john70490]

No, but service like that really does not have to be done by the manufacturer, easily done yourself if you are so inclined or at the nearest underwater equipment sales and service place. My Subal does not go back to Austria for that type of service. It's really manufacturer repairs like strobes in particular that can be a PITA like with Subtronic. (At least in the US)

Wouldn't that invalidate the warranty?

[loftus]

What warranty after a year? Anyway I should hope not if you get it serviced at an authorized dealer / service center who use authentic parts. Is your regulator warranty voided if you have it serviced at the dealer? And if one only keeps a housing for a couple of years or so as you do, really should not require service at all.

Edited by loftus, 22 December 2010 - 06:58 AM.

[johnspierce]

What warranty after a year? Anyway I should hope not if you get it serviced at an authorized dealer / service center who use authentic parts. Is your regulator warranty voided if you have it serviced at the dealer? And to get back to your assertion that one only keeps a housing for a couple of years or so, really should not require service at all.

Like Loftus, I do my own service on my housing. I like checking everything myself, all of the controls are easy to take apart for checking the little o-rings and ensuring everything slides back and forth properly.

I did send my housing into Ike last year to get the upgrade from two port locks to four and found Ikelite service to be excellent. I called and talked to the service guys, they told me exactly what to do and turnaround time was very fast. It is nice they did a pressure test on it before sending it back and gave me new O-rings too.

Now, if I might gripe for a moment based on Loftus' comment on regulator warranty, do I have to say anything more than "Scubapro"? How on earth can they get away with voiding your lifetime warranty if you don't get it serviced by an authorized dealer every 12 months. It ain't really lifetime, is it?

JP

[john70490]

What warranty after a year? Anyway I should hope not if you get it serviced at an authorized dealer / service center who use authentic parts. Is your regulator warranty voided if you have it serviced at the dealer? And if one only keeps a housing for a couple of years or so as you do, really should not require service at all.

I get your point re after a year but. as Bent C pointed out, Ikelite don't have a service centre in Europe, whereas my regulator manufacturer has a number of authorized service centres in Sweden and dozens in Europe, so it's not really comparable. I won't be keeping my housing for only a couple of years, by the way. My 15-year-old Audi A6 TDI doesn't have AC or GPS but it gets me from A to B as comfortably, safely and quickly as a new one would. I reckon my D80 will do me fine for the rest of my sports diving career, which at my age presumably means 5 years at the most

[Deep6]

Now, if I might gripe for a moment based on Loftus' comment on regulator warranty, do I have to say anything more than "Scubapro"? How on earth can they get away with voiding your lifetime warranty if you don't get it serviced by an authorized dealer every 12 months. It ain't really lifetime, is it?

JP

Oh please start a Trash Scubapro bean counters thread. I'll love to vent. I am done with them FOREVER.
Bob

[Balrog]

I am really surprised at the depth of feeling between housing brands that is coming out in this thread.

Doing less than 100 dives a year, my choice to date has been Ike and I haven't updated my camera body for 4 years.
That said if anyone chooses Nautie, Huggy, Subal or any other brand you care to mention with the exception of a plastic bag, I have no comment to make. They all do the same job of keeping your camera dry and having a window for the lens to look out of.

I'm sure there's already enough information in this thread to point the OP towards his own process of making an informed choice without starting housing wars.






Personally I think he would have been better off with Canon

[loftus]

I am really surprised at the depth of feeling between housing brands that is coming out in this thread.

Doing less than 100 dives a year, my choice to date has been Ike and I haven't updated my camera body for 4 years.
That said if anyone chooses Nautie, Huggy, Subal or any other brand you care to mention with the exception of a plastic bag, I have no comment to make. They all do the same job of keeping your camera dry and having a window for the lens to look out of.

I'm sure there's already enough information in this thread to point the OP towards his own process of making an informed choice without starting housing wars.






Personally I think he would have been better off with Canon

Hey, nothing to do with 'depth' of feeling. The original poster was asking for advice. I think Ike housings are fine, but like anything else, generally one pays for quality and features. To say it's just about a box that keeps the camera dry I think is stretching it. There are reasons that the more expensive housings cost more, and Ikelite owners should recognize this, whether or not they think the extra is worth it. Even though I own Subal, I probably will not buy another one, because I think I can now get similar quality, feel and ergonomics, for less money, in a Nauticam or possibly an Aquatica, so I have no particular brand affiliation. Anyone who's held and played with a Seacam housing for example, would immediately appreciate what a wonderful piece of engineering it is. The balance of the housing, the ergonomics of the controls, just the ability to feel the smoothness in the shutter release, half pressing it etc. The magnifying viewfinder is awesome. I bet that any Ikelite owner would gladly accept a Seacam housing over an Ikelite if the price were the same. Blind Diver has some special requirements that I think go beyond price alone, that's why I think the advice to really try and hold various housings, try the viewfinders etc is pretty important advice for him. If he finds the Ike is everything he needs, great, but on the other hand he might find that his photo experience is greatly enhanced by better ergonomics and a good viewfinder.

Edited by loftus, 22 December 2010 - 12:44 PM.

[Bent C]

I have to disagree with Bent on this. Shipping to Indianapolis is not cheap but Ikelite's turn-around time is, in my experience, very short and return shipping to Sweden very fast, usually only two days, by DHLR. Also, Ikelite will move you to the top of the list if you can give them a good reason, like an overseas trip in the near future. A service centre in Europe would only reduce the shipping cost by about 10%. For example, a 2 kilo parcel costs 298 Swedish Crowns within Europe, 328 outside Europe - and I doubt very much if you would save more than two days at the most in total turn-around time.

We obviously have very different experiences. I have needed Ikelites service on several occasions, mainly because the strobe connections did not work well on my housings. I have never been even close to that turn around time. Some of the instances has been sent through the Swedish vendor, which might add some time, I guess due to collection of service items in order to get total costs down. However, I have also sent stuff by my self, and I honestly do not recall any instance with less than one months total turn around time. I do not quite remember the postage costs, but they have definitely been way higher than the 328 Swedish crowns. Different experiences from those you describe, but for me the service occasions have been highly frustrating, and also quite expensive. That said, I really have enjoyed using Ikelites, and I find that they are great value for the price. I would probably consider them again with a service center close by, but till that happens I will not use Ikelites. I am changing to optical firing now and hope that service intervals will decrease with that solution.

Regards

Bent C

[Blind diver]

I think i will buy the nauticam or aquatica housing somewhere in june.


I would wait a little bit to buy a WA lens and port, beacause thats a lot less buget i need.
And upgrade later.
In murky waters it is very dificult to take WA shots i think ?
Meanwhile i will use my 18-105mm lens for WA shots and buy the macro 60mm lens and port.

At this moment i have a S-2000 inon flash.
Will this flash be goud enough to take shots for macro and fish portraits ?
If i have to buy 2 new flashes, thats a lot of buget, i would upgrade later like the WA lens.


And i would buy a bigger viewfinder.
The inon or nauticam, i dont know it.



Is this a good choice ?



PS. Anyone nows if there is a video review of the nauticam housing ? I would like to see it in video....

[Blind diver]

I think i will buy the nauticam or aquatica housing somewhere in june.


I would wait a little bit to buy a WA lens and port, beacause thats a lot less buget i need.
And upgrade later.
In murky waters it is very dificult to take WA shots i think ?
Meanwhile i will use my 18-105mm lens for WA shots and buy the macro 60mm lens and port.

At this moment i have a S-2000 inon flash.
Will this flash be goud enough to take shots for macro and fish portraits ?
If i have to buy 2 new flashes, thats a lot of buget, i would upgrade later like the WA lens.


And i would buy a bigger viewfinder.
The inon or nauticam, i dont know it.



Is this a good choice ?



PS. Anyone nows if there is a video review of the nauticam housing ? I would like to see it in video....

Anyone who has a defenitive advice ?

[loftus]

I have not owned Inon S-2000, but for macro and fish portraits essentially any strobe should be fine. It's only for wide angle that strobe power, angle of illumination etc become more important considerations. Merry Christmas, hope you enjoy your new toys in 2011.

Edited by loftus, 25 December 2010 - 08:57 AM.

[bvanant]

I think i will buy the nauticam or aquatica housing somewhere in june.


I would wait a little bit to buy a WA lens and port, beacause thats a lot less buget i need.
And upgrade later.
In murky waters it is very dificult to take WA shots i think ?
Meanwhile i will use my 18-105mm lens for WA shots and buy the macro 60mm lens and port.

At this moment i have a S-2000 inon flash.
Will this flash be goud enough to take shots for macro and fish portraits ?
If i have to buy 2 new flashes, thats a lot of buget, i would upgrade later like the WA lens.


And i would buy a bigger viewfinder.
The inon or nauticam, i dont know it.



Is this a good choice ?



PS. Anyone nows if there is a video review of the nauticam housing ? I would like to see it in video....

I have 2 S2000 (and a bunch of others) but much prefer them for macro and fish portraits if I am traveling. You will do fine with them. If you are into really WA stuff then you will have to think about other strobes. I use the S2000 also for close focus wide angle, illuminating only the foreground subject and it works well for that too.

Cheers and safe diving.

Bill

[Alex_Tattersall]

There is no definitive answer to any question really but a few things to consider. Your choice of lens for wide angle 18-105, until now, Nauticam does not support this lens and I doubt if other manufactures will do either. It is not an ideal lens for underwater use so zoom gears are unavailable for this. For a list of lenses which are supported by the Nauticam system, have a look here

http://uwvisions.com.....Sept 2010.pdf

If money were no object, I would buy a Tokina 10-17 and then a 1.4 teleconvertor. Then use a Zen minidome for Tokina shots together with the Nauticam zoom gear for Tokina 10-17. I'd then add a 20mm extension and a zoom gear for the Tokina with 1.4 teleconvertor. I'd also go with the 60mm macro and port.

I used a single S2000 with the SOny NEX5 to take some fish portraits int he Red Sea and it is a good starting point although you would quickly be thinking about adding an additional strobe (probably a Z240) for anything wider than this.

This for eample is taken with a single S2000 but you can see that the reef behind the fish is not lit because of this



This one is also a single S2000 on full power






Hope that helps

Alex

[Scuba307]

John

I'm thinking about a Canon 7D in an Ike housing. I also have dual DS-125's I would go with the 10-17 and 8" dome port. I have not purchases arms yet. I'm concerned about how negative the rig would be with standard ULCS arms Would I need to use buoyancy arms? Also, What advice would you give on arm length?

Thank you,

Mike

I will respectfully disagree with your statement for one essential reason. Building your system around a camera body/housing is always a poor investment.

Bodies change every single year and get massively better. And a new housing will be required every single time. Lenses are MUCH more important than the housing. My 60mm Nikon is over 10 years old and it's still a fantastic lens. I'm on my 4th body in the past 6 years. Strobes will also last much longer (in terms of obsoleteness) than housings. I know people that are still getting excellent photos using Nikonos SB105's that are like 20 years old, but they have a modern camera and housing. Ike DS-125/DS-160's, S&S 120/200's, Inon Z220/240s'. All of those strobes have been around for quite awhile and even the older ones are quite usable.

The original poster already said he won't have money to buy all the lenses and two strobes if he gets the Nauticam. So that means two years from now when his D7000 is at the end of it's release cycle, he'll finally be able to afford the strobe and lenses to get decent photos, but oops! then his D7000 body is essentially obsolete. I also personally wonder if it's worthwhile to spend $1200 on a camera body and $3100 on a housing most people will only use a few times per year. The OP didn't say, but if he isn't a diving professional or local, that's a huge chunk of money for a small amount of use.

To buy a more expensive housing and have to live with one strobe and the kit lens means limited, mediocre photos for the next 1-2 years merely to own the current state-of-the-art housing which by the way, will also be on the way to being obsolete in 2 years. If you stay with one housing brand, your investment in ports can be leveraged, but I've also found the ports tend to change and get better every couple of years too. There is just so much "churn" with bodies and housings I would never consider either an investment in my photography future.

If a person is willing to go to all the trouble of housing their $1000+ SLR, it doesn't make sense to cripple your output by limiting your underwater options. To me, this means at least one good macro lens and one good W/A or FE lens and two strobes. Having a Subal or a Nauticam or Aquatica would be awesome because they are great housings, but will they make your photos better if you only have one strobe and the kit lens? No. When I first housed a DSLR I tried to live with one strobe and the 18-70mm Nikon lens. It'll work and you can get "some" nice photos. You can do fish and people portraits but very little else. In general, most of my photos were fairly unmemorable from that period.

Make a smart decision on strobes and lenses right now and a person can keep those for 4-5 years or more and then in 2 years, maybe think about upgrading to the D8000 and maybe a better housing.

Again, if you have the bucks, the more expensive housings do give some ergonomic advantages, but having the right strobes and lenses is much more important. I can tell you as a person who has taken photos right next to a guy with an Aquatica and a D300 just like I have, the only thing that will determine the best photo is the guy clicking the shutter, not the housing. And mine were better heheh!

John

[MarkD]

John

I'm thinking about a Canon 7D in an Ike housing. I also have dual DS-125's I would go with the 10-17 and 8" dome port. I have not purchases arms yet. I'm concerned about how negative the rig would be with standard ULCS arms Would I need to use buoyancy arms? Also, What advice would you give on arm length?

Thank you,

Mike

Hi Mike,

I currently have a D80 in Ike housing with dual DS-125's and 8" dome port. I use ULCS arms and with a 17-70 sigma lens, yes the system is slightly negative. I didn't find it a big problem, and prefer a bit of negativity, but there is a continuous turning moment as the dome tries to rotate upwards. I added Stix floats to the arms, and this reduces but doesn't entirely eliminate the effect with normal arm positioning.

Mark

[Blind diver]

Anyone who has experience with aquatica housings ?

Better then nauticam, especially in cold water ?

Anyone knows when wetpixel will do test with all the d7000 housings together ?

[Aussiebyron]

I used 2 8 inch ULCS bouyancy arms either side when I had my Nikon D90 in and Ikelite with 8 inch dome and Tokina 10-17mm. I found it just slightly negative. I didnt get a sore arm after a days diving like I did when I used the Ikelite arms.

Regards Mark

[tangler]

You must have a lot of careless acquaintances! If the housing's and port's o-rings are properly seated and compressed there is no reason why anyone should flood their housing, unless the o-rings for the controls leak due to the owner's failure to send the housing to Ikelite for its annual service. Actually, I have two friends who are excellent photographers (one semipro) who choose to use Ikelite housings because they upgrade theeir cameras to the latest, most expensive, models every couple of years.

My own experience is Ike housings are prone to crack at certain points such as where the tray bolts are drilled into the acrylic, causing a leak. I'm not sure whether that's due to mechanical stress or the thermal expansion and contraction of the bolts. Either way a bit more thought in the design could probably solve it. Also accidents happen on dive boats in lumpy seas, and acrylic is more easily damaged. I can speak from experience again, having busted out a bulkhead!

Regarding avoidance of the DS51 raised by Otara; the reason is the battery closure, which is a poor design and a flood waiting to happen. Compounding that is the interior base of the battery compartment often develops a crack, so when the flood happens, frequently the whole strobe is ruined and not just the battery compartment. I and everyone I know who owns a DS51 (with one exception), has flooded it despite fastidious care and assembly. Aside from that the DS51 is a great little strobe

[loftus]

My own experience is Ike housings are prone to crack at certain points such as where the tray bolts are drilled into the acrylic, causing a leak. I'm not sure whether that's due to mechanical stress or the thermal expansion and contraction of the bolts. Either way a bit more thought in the design could probably solve it. Also accidents happen on dive boats in lumpy seas, and acrylic is more easily damaged. I can speak from experience again, having busted out a bulkhead!

Regarding avoidance of the DS51 raised by Otara; the reason is the battery closure, which is a poor design and a flood waiting to happen. Compounding that is the interior base of the battery compartment often develops a crack, so when the flood happens, frequently the whole strobe is ruined and not just the battery compartment. I and everyone I know who owns a DS51 (with one exception), has flooded it despite fastidious care and assembly. Aside from that the DS51 is a great little strobe

Thanks for reinforcing that; as I've seen this issue with other folks' Ikelites without rough treatment. Drilling a hole in acrylic always sets up a potential stress / failure point.

Edited by loftus, 29 December 2010 - 06:14 AM.

[derway]

To me, the ds 51 could not be simpler, nor more bomb proof.

I've been using 2 SS50 strobes, from the early 90s with an n90s film SLR. Then using 2 DS50's, and now ds51's.

They all have exactly the same, dead simple, design on the door.

Just tighten down until it is not completely clamped, then back off 1/4 turn.

So, I've been using this design for 18 years, and never had any slightest problem or flood.

Let them sit in a tub of fresh water for an hour after each day of diving...

I guess someone can break anything.