mschiff

Which dome port?

The housing is sold. Other items are still available.

Yes, it is still available.

Pictures of the gear are available here: http://www.pbase.com/mschiff/ikelitegear Click on the thumbnails to see a large image. The chip I mentioned is right next to the "M" in Made in Japan on the front of the 17-85 lens. It does not affect picture quality at all. Let me know if you have any other questions. The housing is in excellent working condition and has been serviced by Ikelite and updated to the latest electronics. It has never been flooded.

Should have been in Boynton Beach on Sunday morning, Sept 5, on the wreck of the Castor. About 70 goliaths aggregating there. Very good vis and almost no current that day. Unfortunately, Monday was not as good. Ripping current and average vis. More pictures here: http://www.pbase.com/mschiff/boynton201009&page=2 -- Martin

Reduced price.

For sale: Ikelite 350D housing $650 Canon 350D camera body with 3 batteries $200 Canon EF-S 17-85 IS lens $230 (slight chip at edge of front lens where it meets the body of the lens. Does not affect images at all) Ikelite 5503.9 port for 17-85 lens with zoom control $190 Buy it all for $1200 Including ground shipping anywhere in the continental US. Photos from Boynton Beach taken with this camera and housing here: http://www.pbase.com/mschiff/travel Pictures of equipment available on request. -- Martin

Yeah, I missed the external flash part. Still, you can adjust the internal flash down two stops with FEC. -- Martin

Yes, it has both a "Manual Flash" setting, and FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation) of +- 2 stops. Manual is here: http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/9/0300003169/0...s550d-im-en.pdf Search for "Manual Flash". -- Martin

If you are interested in selling just the 8" dome port, I would be interested. -- Martin

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8698 -- Martin

You don't have to remove the shade to get a much better result than the one you posted. You just need to make sure that it is positioned correctly when you attach the port. The wide fins on the port need to be on the top and bottom, exactly vertical with the axis of the camera up and down. That will still give you some very slight vignetting, but only a tiny bit in the corners and it's very easy to crop without losing much of the image. A worse problem for me is reflections from the strobe. The gear wheel for the zoom reflects onto the dome and shows up in the image. That causes the need for a big crop. I find that with the 6" port, it is much better to stay from about 14mm to 17mm. It's still a fantastic lens even with that limitation. I'm looking to buy an 8" port too. I did not and will not remove the shade. Too much chance of damage and the reflection problem would likely still be there. Keep in mind I'm talking about underwater completely. With an over/under shot, it is probably different. -- Martin

Tim, When you use the Kenko 1.4, does the lens act like a 14-24 zoom with w/a capabilities, or are you limited in the focus to close stuff? I've already got a Canon 1.4, shame that wouldn't work. -- Martin

Very nice! Looks like the same variety of seahorse too! -- Martin

Thanks Tim. I was just telling my wife on the way home from this dive trip that I'd like to dive Indonesia. ;-) -- Martin

OK, so you're shooting W/A, and you come across a macro subject that you just can't live without. If you're using the Tokina 10-17 (mine was on a Canon 350D in an Ikelite housing with a Substrobe DS125), you just get the dome port in close and... -- Martin PS I believe that may be the first sea horse I've seen in 40 years of diving!

Great job, Jeff! Peyton is a great model! I really like working with her. -- Martin http://www.martinschiff.com

Lots of very nice shots. I agree about the softness of some, and also the color balance seems off in some of the open water shots with purple and reddish water. -- Martin

My wife has an SD500, and a Canon housing for it, and it works very nicely. Here are some pictures I took with it at Stingray City in Cayman. If I were you, I would get the SD870IS. It has a wider angle lens which will help you get closer underwater, and it is very small which will please your wife. I have some pictures at home that my son took in Belize on a reef with the SD500 if you would like to see some. He got some very respectable pictures. Actually, if you can find a used S70, it makes a great underwater camera and is small (though not quite as small and light as the SD series), AND it takes RAW images which is a HUGE plus for UW photgraphy. I took this one with an S70 in Belize using an Ikelite Substrobe 125. You can see lots more pictures with the S70 from Belize here. -- Martin

Try an "S" curves adjustment in Photoshop. That makes the crab "pop" a bit more, and a bit of vignetting also brings out the crab.

I use Panavue Image Assembler and have been well satisfied with it. It adjusts exposure and does a really nice job blending. Here are a couple of handheld ones that I did. Click the image to see larger ones. Sunset in Boynton Beach Inlet: Here's one of an orchestra that is particularly difficult because of movement. Panavue did a great job: -- Martin http://www.pbase.com/mschiff

Vernon, My housing and flash are in for service at Ikelite right now, and I pointed them to this thread asking why it happened with the 5503 port. I'll let you know what they say. I'm not sure why you doubt the reply you got though. Phil posted a detailed message above about the problem and he concurs with that advice. Have you tried it? The fact that it happens only under certain conditions kind of rules out an optical problem. -- Martin

They probably built remote video cameras into the pool when they built the venue. -- Martin

I also think this is a great image. Here's my take on it. In CS3 did a quick mask separating the two fish. Then I darkened and blurred the left fish. Then I selected the right fish and did an s curve adjustment and sharpened. Then I selected just the eye and did a shadow/highlight adjustment and sharpened just the eye. Sorry about the blur on the copyright message. -- Martin

I highly recommend Leonard Maggiore in NY for prescription masks. I had one made by him in the early 70's that is still perfect today. It went through 3 mask skirts and over 500 dives before I finally bought another one because the prescription was so old I could not see well. He even furnishes a mask if you desire (that's what I did), and the price is very reasonable. My new mask is bifocal (old one was not) and I can see perfectly with my Ikelite housing, and also while diving and looking around. It's the best diving investment I've made. http://rxdivemask.com/ -- Martin