Two annoyances about the ikelite housing for the 40D.

The camera goes into the “busy” mode sometimes during a shoot and the only way to reset it is to remove it from the housing and remove the battery, which is a pain in the butt if I’m in the pool shooting. The camera only does this when it is in the housing, never has it done it outside of the housing.

The flash compensation buttons on the ikelite TTL system seem to reset back to no compensation with no rhyme or reason. I will toggle the flash down two stops, then for whatever reason….who knows what triggers it…but it will toggle back to full flash. Any ideas on that?

I've actually just gone to using the camera for flash compensation and will watch for that funky BUSY state that my camera goes into. Perhaps the TTL issue is related to the BUSY state problem.

Anyone seen these kind of issues?

Thanks!

MP

No direct experience but:
* are you sure there are no buttons accidentally pressed down in the housing
* are you sure that the strobe connection is firmly in the hotshoe.

You cant use the flash compensation as long as the camera is busy (aka showing a picture), the only times it switches back is when I switch the main strobe on and off.

(all with the 20D housing)

I have that housing, never had either of those issues.

All I can suggest is eiter camera or housing is a bit dodgy.

Otara

MP,

What Gerard says is likely your culprit. Canon cameras (I've owned many in Ikelite housings) respond to buttons pushed, then giving it a command. i.e. they're computers with lenses. If trying to change EV flash compensation quickly after a shot you have to wait for your Canon camera's light meter (4-6 seconds) to "time out" before pushing to a different amount of compensation. Push too fast right after a shot and sometimes the system gets "confused" as to what you want it to do. Then as Gerard said turn off your strobe(s) and turn them back on. The TTL system will reset back to ZERO compensation. Adjust and go back to shooting......

Another trick I show my fellow Ikelite housing users if buttons are sticking is to take your housing back (or wherever you have the small push buttons) and without the camera attached push in the buttons one at a time FARTHER than they go when contacting a camera button.

Then with a toothpick (wood, non-scratching tool) put a teenys bit of the Ikelite o-ring grease on the shaft of each of these push buttons. Work it back and forth and voila', your problems will likely go away

Good shooting!

dhaas

P.S. - You never said what Mode you are shooting in...........Avoid the preset "SCENE" modes and use "M" manual as TTL works. It will try and adjust flash output to whatever f-stop. ISO and strobe to subject distance you are shooting. Up to a FULL power flash output.....

I have had really weird problems with my Ikelite housing and 5D due to the minimal distance between the hotshoe connector and the "roof" of the housing. When I inserted the backplate with the 5D attached to it into the front part of the housing, the connector often was pushed a tiny bit backwards, leading to inconsistent behaviour with both flashes and camera. I have now cut a small piece of a rubber eraser that exactly fits between the backplate and the hotshoe connector and the problems have vanished. Maybe worth a try.

Regards

Bent

Thanks all for the replies. I actually did a test session in the pool on Wednesday and had the housing set for no compensation, but just did it in the camera, knocking it down two stops. I did exactly as I did in previous shoots and had no issues with the camera. For the last couple of sessions that I did, I had the housing doing the compensation, setting if for 1 or 2 stops under, basically setting and forgetting....then when I checked the back of the housing after several frames (of course with no predictable trigger) the housing would be back on no compensation. I do shoot on M so I can get consistent results. I've checked and double checked the connections and everything is cool. I have also checked for buttons sticking and that doesn't seem to be an issue.

Ikelite tech support suggested that I might need a firmware update on my housing....not sure why the engineer who gave me that advice didn't accompany it with directions on just how to do a firmware update on it...oh well.

I think that for now, I'm good with using the camera's flash compensation control, as it didn't make my camera go into a busy state...so I'm happy for now with it.

Thanks everyone for your input!!!

MP

You would have to send your housing back to us in order for the firmware to be updated.