bullshark

Since the AF35 strobe will work with any case for the S100 is the ikelite worth it or go for the canon which is cheaper? i am getting rid of my 30d and ikelite with tamron fisheye because its just too big. Went diving today and i just had it with lugging it around.

-Josh

Neither. I just had the Fix/Recsea housing in my hands, and it is beautiful. There is just no comparison to those plastic things. Fit and finish and 100% accessible controls. It was side by side with a Nauticam NA-LX5 and if the FIX name was not on the front you would have thought it was made by Nauticam. Same closures, buttons, finish and detail. Small, solid, and worth every penny.

While I agree that both the Aquatica and Nauticam are very nice indeed to say their is no affordable housing under $1000.00 is wrong.

Don't understand how the Olympus camera only going to ISO 200 is any different than the Sony NEX camera going to ISO 200.

The question about affordable housing was for Nex 5, not Oly. There are dozens of housings available for less than 1K, if your're going to choose random cameras.

The ISO 200 issue is no different for Nex 5; it's just overshadowed (for me) by the lens issues. That said:

The M43 sensors are ~5 times larger than a G11's.
The Sony APS-C sensor is ~3.5 times larger than M43. That has got to make for some hellatious low-light video capability.

Nobody said plastic = low quality. Its definitely not High quality.

So far I have firmly declined to buy any EVIL camera because they're all being crippled by their makers, or else the housings are prohibitively expensive/poorly supported.

The main attraction for the NEX 5, if there is any left, is that it shoots very nice video, accessed with one button. Man, there are a lot of times I wish I had that!
The second attraction is the size. It's tiny.

Looks like the Olympus range is well worth a look. It looks like my G11 has started working again. Not sure if it works full yet. But I certainly have some options for a new camera.

Canon service center is pretty reasonable if you have trouble with your G11.

I think the olympus epl1/2/3 and the oly housing should be high on your list.

It's very high on mine, but I can't live with ISO 200 sensitivity and that's the best you can do unless you go back to the P1

There is not a more high quality, cost effective solution out there.

"Cost effective" and "high quality" are generally incompatible attributes. "Good enough" is more like it. It's plastic which is good for it's light weight, but bad because it is easily damaged. Its only rated to 40 meters or so. Over all, the housing is pretty large for what it contains. That said, I would consider it, if the camera wasn't limited to ISO 200. I don't go beyond 150 ft all that often. Last time I took a camera there it was a 200ft rated [plastic] Ikelite that collapsed thunderously. So with the potential for having lenses more costly than the camera in the housing, I'm not all that comfortable about being anywhere near the limit depth with a "cost-effective" housing. I dive and shoot in the 100-130 range very often.

The Sony NEX 5 fits the bill. But is there an affordable housing for it? What features should I be looking at? I guess I need a sync cable bulk head. what about interchangeable ports?
What other cameras are comparable?

I don't know what "affordable" means. If you mean less than 1K for housing + ports, then "no there are no affordable housings".

The NEX 5 is nice. I've been looking at it ( and the M 4/3's ) for months and months.

The Sony is beautiful until you take a close look at the lenses. The 16 pancake is ok, but not very fast at F/2.8. The 18-55 is rife with spherical and chromatic aberration. There is nowhere else to go but sony for a lens and that's not a happy thing for me.

The NEX 7 is coming soon, so wait a few and you'll get better prices on the the 5.

Best thing about it: it one-button video access to shoot 1080p video.

You don't need any synch cable for the bulkhead because I don't think there are any offerings.

Nauticam, 10bar and Aquatica are all making housings. I like the Aquatica best for it's form now that it has all the parts. 67mm flat port means versatility. They have a very cool glass 4" WA dome to use with the 16mm. Adding Sony WA adapter for the 16 pancake, you just need an extension ring. The 18-55 might be unnecessary with all the diopters you can add to the 16 flat port, but it depends on a lot of factors.

The 10bar housing looks kind of shabby (they should really do something about their website). I haven't ever seen a 10bar in person, so I don't know what their quality is but I see a buttload of ugly on their website, like the boxes they bolt on the the housings when they need a bump-out.

Nauticams pricing is hysterical.