Ale Reynoso

Old Ikelite for Nikon N90 modification to fit a Canon 7D https://picasaweb.google.com/103663213378011391777/FotosEstanco?authkey=Gv1sRgCP650NXyqv3gSg#5619024358728115650

Hi!! Sorry but I hadn´t seen your message! No. I did not made any kind of drawing... Just used my housing but never too deep, so it´s in an experimental fase. I´m planning in modifiyng a new housing, so I will have to review this to make a new set of buttons (I will leave my 7D housing to my girlfriend who makes UW photography). If you are still interested I can make the drawings then Best regards! Ale

Anyone?

Hi!: I`m thinking in getting a Gates housing for the HVX 200 P2 Panasonic camcorder because I found a cheap one and I can still work in DVCPRO HD. I would like in a future to fit a different camcorder as DVCPRO HD will be outdated sometime. Could I still use the SWP 44 port if I could mount another camcorder in the position I could need to match the port requirements? It would be useless at all or could I find a "sweet spot" where I could still use some percentage, if not 100%, of the zoom? what depends? I´m thinking in a newer Panasonic camcorder with similar zoom range that could share the HVX 200 body configuration Best regards! Ale

I had problems with my Delkin 400X in my 7D (even the Kingston 133X worked better)... so I sticking to Transcend by now

Hi Steve! The housing is just slightly positive, front light. But it handled very well. I added an Ikelite tungsten light to the housing, and was just a little bit negative. Again handled very good. May be I need to fine tune with some little weight (I´m planning in 2x housed LED lights), but the results are great for me. Thank you! Best regards from Buenos Aires.

Here is how a ended modifying an Ikelite for Nikon N90 housing into a Canon EOS 7D housing. My interest in underwater cinematography, my girlfriend interest in underwater still photography, and the fact that todays DSLR´s are broadly used in the professional field, inclined our choice to the Canon EOS 7D 18Mp cámera as a UW video/photo camera. I made some early tests to make an aluminium housing. Aluminium could be easier to work with (I thought) and cheaper than acrylic (at least in Argentina). I tried to bend two “U” of 6mm aluiminium to weld them and add a cover. An acrylic back-cover would give a transparent view to the LCD screen and a base for the main controls After a couple of test (the aluminium just broke during the bending. Anyway now i found the right aluminium to be bended...for the next housing) then suddenly an Ikelite for N90 appeared (not that cheap, but was the only housing that was in mercadolibre, latin american version of ebay, that had appeared there in months (or years). The used market for undewater here is really small...or none at all. So then I started to modify this housing for the 7D First of all I had to make a new back cover. The original was very narrow to accomodate the 7D plus controls. And it was black, so I couldn´t see the LCD screen either. I took the original one to an acrylic shop, so they could copy the outer shape in order to fit in the housing, but made it in transparent 20mm acrylic (in fact, 50mm, but they “shaved” 30mm with a milling machine to give enough room for the 7D and controls). https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023638426195410 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023654003215250 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023703998612610 I added some controls there: the main buttons , and the scroll wheel. I had some controls made by a machinist. Made them this way because I wanted them modular. So in case I change the camera, just need to re-arrage the position of these same controls only drilling new 10mm holes. https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/UN...081732830962194 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/UN...081664650730274 I could use most of the original Ike controls. Just made some modifications to acces the controls in the 7D. In most of them I had to cut the original 1/8 shaft and drill the ¼ shaft with a 3mm drill, glue a 3mm hard wire (the one that allows you to bend it) and use the original rubber end caps. https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023489686687282 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023515662200850 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023952828791362 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023925146103474 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...024003183168530 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...024036023870818 I had to make a new base plate. The original was too thick, and the 7D was just off center with the port. I had to make a 2mm plate (the original was close to 6mm). I made it in aluminium and it´s a little bit weak. I´m planning in a new stainless steel 2mm plate. I bought an Ikelite port in advance (5503), without knowing wich lens I was going to use. I choosed that because it was the shortest, and I could add a spacer when I knew the real dimensions of the lens. I ended buying a Tokina 11-16 2.8, mainly because it´s a very popular lens here for surface photography (so I thought in a double use). I had made an aluminium extensor by a machinist to make the dome work: I measured the distance lens mount-housing mount, I found the Tokina entrance pupil distance (in some panoramic photography website. I will try to find it to give them a credit!) and calculated the extensor lenght so the dome center of radius coincide with the entrance pupil of the lens. The front lens it´s just at the base of the dome! It slightly vignetes in this position, but it is the theoretical best place to be... https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023724852705858 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023744964466946 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023761884630466 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023785736303970 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023822649578834 I think I can get rid off the vigneting using the lens in 11,25mm. The other problem is the sunshade. I can see it. In the tests I had to use the lens in 13mm to not see the sunshade. I could only see the sides, so I will cut them. I need to check the sunshade with wider settings...The 11-16 NEEDS a dipoter. The focus ring was mostly in its closest settings. 30cm. And objects very close to the dome were out of focus. I made some test in a pool and, and sure that everything was OK, I made a trip to Perú for a norwegian tv documentary for the first job. It was an easy dive in Paracas, south to Lima. Cool waters (16C aprox) and 10-11m deep. The results are very good. It handled OK and I got some good footage. It was not a touristic or nature doc, but ecological. Although the water conditions were not optimal, the images are powerfull and right for the doc (the last ones are from a Gopro as a “backstage” camera. My partner and guide: Stefan Austermuhle). https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/Fo...023445971361362 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/UN...718319815352370 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/UN...718355789908802 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/UN...718391680855218 https://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/St...CP-q48bSuNGE0AE I would like to thank this website, forum, and all the people that helped. Thank you!

A sealed (o-rings) acrylic box seems the obvious... A dome in the front could serve to not reducing the angle of coverage of the light. Some kind of switch... I saw one DIY housing made with this. http://www.otterbox.com/otterbox-8000-case...default,sc.html Don´t know depht rates or if there´s a box with the measures you need... Good luck!

I have mine machined. Not full tested yet, but worked well in basic test. I´m on a trip until next wednesday. But if you are interested I can take the measures so you can have an idea to get them machined. It was not that cheap. But the machinist charged the hours of test and try. With the measures I will draw a CAD design and take them to a CNC machine shop for the next set to see if it´s cheaper ("machine exactly this" instead of "ok, lets try with this shaft a little wider"). The cost was a little more than U$ 200 for eight pushbuttons and seven lever controls (not photgraphed). For this last you could just buy them from Ikelite. The buttons: http://picasaweb.google.com/XTREME.ALEK/UN...gCIC0-LGyjKPcMw# I wanted modular pushbuttons, so in different housings for different cameras I have just to drill a hole (10mm in this case) where the button should go. There is another member that just machined the acrylic cover of his housing to acomodate the pushbuttons. Good luck with your search. Best regards Alejandro

Hi: Yes, the dome does matter. Different domes (different radius) will have a different distance to the lens. And I think a standard dome could have a different distance than a WA dome (like the Fathom). Wich dome have you bought? I purchased a 6´Ikelite for the housing I´m planning for a 7D. For the Z1 could work if I desing it to work in wide angle, but I doubt I could have zoom through capabilities. I´ll keep searching and let you know. Best regards

Hi: I´m working in two DIY housing projects: One for DSLR Canon 7D and another for HDV Sony Z1. For the latest: Would someone using a Z1 housing and standard dome port please measure the distance from inner center of the dome to the front element of the zoom lens? or info regarding this? Thank you! Best regards from Buenos Aires Alejandro

Would be a good idea too if someone using a Z1 housing with standard dome port (not WA dome like the Fathom) could measure distance from inner center of the dome to the front element of the zoom lens. Thanks in advance!! (I will ask in underwater video too...)

I like the large siemens star (can be printed in A4) for surface shots. To check focusing and focus rendition in the center compared with the edges... I have to check it underwater... http://www.panavision.asia/resources/panavision-tools/

Hi: I´m slowly advancing in my DIY still photo housing. I´m selling my Nikon D200 to start out a housing for a Canon 7D. I´m receiving these days some push buttons and levers from a machinist and will start to work out the housing body (thinking between acrilyc and bent/welded aluminium). In the meantime I´m thinking with a colleague (my primary job is camera operator, film/video) in assembling a housing for an HDV Sony Z1. We´re thinking in a first place to try a still photo dome port (maybe a 6´Ikelite) as our front element. I´ve read articles about determining de dome/lens distance regarding the entrance pupil measure. I do assume that is the same with video. I´m trying to find out how to determine this distance in this camera (or any video camera)... Any clue where to dig the info? Any empirical method? An idea could be to assembly one simple set up where I could place the camera in different distances from the dome and check the results (may be shooting a siemens star or something similar to easily determine focusing errors). Any other and simpler idea? Thanks in advance Best regards from Buenos Aires

Thanks a lot Edward and Davichin!!!!!! Very helpfulll By the way Davichin, I was in El Hierro covering the open fotosub (as a surface cameraman, the UW cameraman was Gorka Leclerq, from Lanzarote). Wonderfull place Canarias!!! Best regards Alejandro