junior2725

I have the new / modified wide body, and the original control would not actuate the focus collar of the 105 VR. I snt it back to Ikelite and the put the "old style" control with a larger rubber sheath (instead of an o-ring) in the focus port. Now it works fine.

I just recently got everthing fixed and back from my flood incident. I was in Roatan last week and tried out the 105 VR again. Even with the new wider port, I still have to be very careful putting the port on so that the M/A swich doesn't get moved. For the life of me I still can't get the lens to manual focus at all. I think that I will give ikelite a call as soon as I get back from my Canada trip. Maybe they need to modify mine also.

Michelle

Juan,

Thanks for the post.  I am definately going to modify my setup like this.  Twice while I have been carrying my rig after the dive, the port has fallen off.  It doesn't seem to have any problems while diving but seems to get turned while am carrying it.  

Michelle

I'm so sorry for your loss.... I hope it was insured. Let us know if you find the cause.

Were you using the 105 when you had the flood?

Best wishes.

It is insured. I have a feeling that I may be dropped from my policy after this one. Almost all of my equipment was stolen a couple of months ago and now this. I was using the 105 VR when the flood occured. I didn't find anything wrong with my o-rings although I wasn't the one to open the back of the housing after the flood. The divemaster on the boat did that for me. I'm thinking that the camera got hit on something during the hand down or on the line at the surface. The boat had a line from the boat to a bouy and then down to the wreck. Surface conditions weren't great alghough they were better than the night before. It was choppy out and a decent amount of current. Geting down the line was sometimes difficult. The night before I got my masked knocked down by the bouy. That is the only conclusion that I have come to. That or one of the o-rings in the port system was pinched or something. Didn't see anything when I opened each one of them up. Now I just have to wait for the whole process of dealing with getting the ttl circuitry fixed and the camera and lens replaced.

Michelle

Wow. Seems like a lot of task loading on one dive. Try it again when you have the opportunity and diving is simpler. I've done the same with similar results. We spend so much time landlocked with these new toys that once we get into the water its everything at once. Not the best way to get good pics. I need less hobbies and WAAAY less gear.

I went on a trip to Pompano this past weekend. We were mostly diving wrecks and I was using my wide angle lens but on Sunday I decided to try out the macro lens again. Unfortunately the first dive of the day I flooded my camera. I can't figure out why it flooded. I spent about an hour the night before making sure everything was clean and set. So now it will be quite a while before I get to try out the modular port system. Although I did get the lens to autofocus while in the port. I taped the switches as you suggested.

Hi Michelle,

Its possible that in mounting the port that you bumped the AF/MF button on the lens. The upgraded port bodies are wider in diameter, I presume so that you don't brish the buttons when mounting. For me I only brush the VR switch but I could see that you might have hit the other ones too. In this case, I would expect that you could trigger the shutter, but I would not expect that the green light would be on unless its in focus.

As far as the port length goes, it does look a little long , but the focus wheel/paddle contacts the focus ring albeit on the end. It takes a bit of pressure to make it turn. This is only a problem topside. Once underwater water pressure takes care of it (it says this in the manual too). I had the same problem with the .16 topside as well but when I used it underwater there was no problem.

If all you want to do is shoot the 105mm then the .16 is ideally a better fit. Unfortunately, it won't work with the 6T diopter that way. I prefer using the .22 because that extension works with the 12-24mm and the diopters on the 105mm. I had to send the .16 I tested back to Ikelite.

Try it again with the buttons taped up to see if the MF switch was your problem. Then try it again underwater and see if you are still having trouble.

Happy shooting.

Thanks. I am pretty sure that the MF wasn't getting hit as I kept taking the port off and trying to see what the problem was. I did notice that the VR switch had gotten moved one time. Perhaps the switch was somehow getting hit both when I put the port on and when I took it off, so that when I looked at the lens it seemed like the switch wasn't getting hit. I do want this port setup to work out for me at I want to use my 5T diopter. I did read in the manual about the pressure on the focus knob but it seemed no matter how hard I pushed topside it would not turn. Thinking back I don't even think I tried it underwater. I had determined before my dive that I was just going to have to have a fixed focal length and deal with it. I didn't get any descent pics because the surge made it almost impossible to just stay in one spot. It probably didn't help that this was my first dive with the camera in my drysuit. Thanks for the advice. I will try it out. I plan on sending my 5510.22 back to ikelite for modification once I receive the 5510.16.

Michelle