Which 20d housing to buy?

[pedpete 0]

Hi. I'm quite new to photography but have bought a 20d to play with. It's a great camera and now i'm getting a housing. Previous experience has been limited to 'point and shoot' underwater, and i have no idea what to look for in a housing.

 

The points in a previous post stating what an ideal housing should have is a help. But can anyone let me know what is a good housing to buy for my 20d and why?

 

I would like to add a strobe or 2. Would one housing have an advantage over another with the addition of strobes?

 

Any help appreciated,

 

Many thanks, Peter

[Peter Schulz 1]

I have a Nikon D70 in an Ikelite housing and I love the housing for it's function and it's price.

 

Thus, for your 20D, I suggest you consider the Ikelite housing with eTTL support with Ikelite DS 125 strobes as the bench mark to compare with the other more expensive alternatives.

 

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2d20canon.html

[mdshope 0]

I will 2nd the Ike suggestion. I have one for my 20D and love it.

 

Regards,

Micaeal

[Dixter 0]

From what I can tell most of the 20D housings seem to be very good these days...

 

Metal housings will cost you more... but they are great.

 

Ikes housings have a few nice things to consider.... you can see if you have a leak

and if you want to use strobes, the Ike housing has TTL2 for no muss no fuss strobe

shooting... he also now offers an 8" port that works quite well.

[pedpete 0]

thanks for the replies guys. I'll look into it.....and try to find out what TTL2 is also!

 

Cheers

[Snappy 0]

I just got out of the water with my new Ikelite for 20D. I am still shaking my head, thinking : "Ike, what were you thinking??" Why? I'll tell you why: the flash cable/connector collides with my regulator!

 

Being a right-eyed photographer using the classic Poseidon Cyclon I may have the worst combination ever! How on earth am I going to look into that tiny viewfinder without tilting my head 45 degrees? Take the regulator out of my mouth?

 

You could be saying: "why dont you switch side so the reg is on you right side" (as the flash connector is on the left)?

 

My response: Duh! What about the hose, what do you think that comes into conflict with..?

 

othe than that, it all seems to work fine...

[james 0]

When using the Ikelite housing with my Dacor Viper reg. the sync cord presses on my purge. I got the housing for Sarah and it's not a problem w/ her reg.

 

Cheers

James

[ikelite 0]

Right hand column explains why: http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/explain1.html

[Rocha 0]

Oh, now I finally understand, the entire problem is because the camera attaches to a tray on the back of the housing, and not on the bottom as previous film cameras did. If the camera was attached to the bottom the connector would have to be on top of the housing.

 

So let me see if I got the explanation, does this mean that you can't have accuracy of push buttons (on the back of the camera) with the camera attached to the bottom of the housing? That's odd, all other housing manufacturers have the cameras attached to the bottom of the housing and I never heard anybody complaining about push button accuracy.

[famorim 0]

It was one of reasons about my decision for Aquatica to my 20D. <_<

 

Regards

[Peter Schulz 1]

Snappy, I wrap the pig tail of my sync cord around the tray one time before routing it to the connector on the back of my Ikelite D70 housing. The net effect is that the sync cord makes an almost 180 degree turn coming out of the housing as it heads under the tray and with it rigged this way I have no problem with my mask or regulator interfering with the sync cord. YMMV.

 

Also, rigging this way results in what I consider to be an uncluttered layout for a dual sync cord rig.

[Rocha 0]

hmmm... got any spare sync cords? I had an ikelite housing for the F100 and the connector was on the bottom of the housing. My sync cord also turned 180 degrees to reach the flash, and in one year I had about 3 defective cords (mostly because of flooding due to the 180 turn, I suspect). That's why I upgraded to S&S.

[Peter Schulz 1]

Re "got any spare sync cords?"

 

I have replaced two sync cords over the course of two years and 600 plus dives.

 

The only thing special I do is instruct the people handling my gear to place it on it's base and not it's back. But I can see how having the sync cord come out the bottom would present a real topside handling challenge.

[Kasey 0]

Ike leads the industry in 2 important categories - 1) time to market 2) price/performance. There are very definite disadvantages to the modular approach to building housings, but this modular approach is what makes it possible for Ike to build housings faster and more economically than any other manufacturer. Perhaps placing the camera on the back of the housing, and the complications of doing so, is a function of getting good button alignment with the multiple cameras that will share that housing. In contrast, most other manufacturers have molded their housings specifically to a given camera, and this may make placement in the front half of the housing more simple.

 

There are certainly superior housings out there at 2-3X the cost. Only the user can determine whether it is worth that to him. Most of the Ike users on this and other forums love their housings, but most are first time buyers and have little experience with the high end housings on the market. I'd recommend getting your hands on a Seacam or Subal before making your decision. I don't recall whether Nexus makes a housing for the 20D, but if they do that might be a good compromise - ergonomic aluminum with a superior port system to Ikelite and at a lower cost than Subal or Seacam.

 

The first question a first time buyer needs to be asked - what is your budget? We can be much more helpful once we have that bit of info.

[Snappy 0]

Snappy, I wrap the pig tail of my sync cord around the tray one time before routing it to the connector on the back of my Ikelite D70 housing. The net effect is that the sync cord makes an almost 180 degree turn coming out of the housing as it heads under the tray and with it rigged this way I have no problem with my mask or regulator interfering with the sync cord. YMMV.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'll have to get a longer cord, then I'll try that. I suspect the acutal plug still will be in my face though.

 

Ike: I read the explaination and I am glad you have reached the only (in my humble opinion) conclusion: "we will work on moving bulkheads to the front. "

[Kasey 0]

Moving the bulkheads to the front would require a long cable for the hot shoe or moving the camera to the front half of the housing. Long cables aren't so good because they can get pinched in the main door.

[Snappy 0]

it wasn't that long on my old subal, and even if it turns out it neeeds to be I'd much prefer that over the situation I have now. I 'll see if I can post a picture.

[Snappy 0]

see what I mean?

[MikeVeitch 0]

Re "got any spare sync cords?" 

 

I have replaced two sync cords over the course of two years and 600 plus dives. 

 

.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not sure if you are saying this as a good thing or a bad...

Personally i used one double synch cord on my Nik V for over 4 years with over 2000 dives and then ended up getting a touch of water in it and screwing it up that way.

If you ask me, 1 synch cord for every 300 dives is not a good selling point...

 

Back on subject,

Aquatica has just released their 20D housing and its aluminum and is very competitive price wise so you may want to check that out.

I use an Aquatica for my D70 and am very pleased with it, i used to own an Ikelite for my N90 and had to replace the back because the plastic cracked...also it didn't do all that well at depth (ie more than 150 ft) caused me to miss a great hammerhead shot because it froze up a bit. Not sure about new designs but have seen a few ikelite video housings freeze at depth as well.

 

Mike

ps not bashing Ikelite, the housing served me well and i did many, many a dive with it

[Rocha 0]

Ike: perhaps the (temporary) solution would be designing some kind of extension to the viewfinder like the one from Subal? If you have a screw in tube-like viewfinder that magnifyies the viewfinder of the camera in a way that it makes the diver's face stay further from the housing you can solve the cable problem leaving it where it is, and make a lot of customers happy by magnifying the viewfinder at the same time. Something like what you had for the N90 (a magnifying extension for the viewfinder), but outside the housing.

[pmooney 6]

The aquatica housing for the D20 is pretty hard to beat.

[Snappy 0]

Ike: perhaps the (temporary) solution would be designing some kind of extension to the viewfinder .... you can solve the cable problem leaving it where it is, and make a lot of customers happy by magnifying the viewfinder at the same time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It sure would make me a happy snapper! :-) Yes please, I want one! Too bad I won't get in time for my red Sea trip tomorrow. B)

[tomc 2]

I too have been disappointed in the location of the sync cord connector on Ikelite housings (5050 &20D). Location on the back of housing makes the cord subject to accidental damage by dive boat crews who place the housing down onto the deck with the lens pointing up (upon exiting the water when you hand your rig to the deck hand). This is done to protect the lens port and I appreciate their efforts. However when you lay the housing on its' back, the sync cord is the point of contact. Do this a few times and soon the cord has a crease at the connector. My cord's rubber exterior was close to being cut through. I called Ikelite, they said they were working on a solution but nothing yet. Attached is my solution. It may not be pretty, but so far, it works. I laid out the cord in the desired configuration and each day applied a coat of epoxy until I had built up a permanent and rigid elbow.

 

I have only used this cord on approximately 20 dives since the modification but it has held up beautifully, a few dings on the paint where it hit the deck show me that it has protected the cord. Now, if I can only keep water out of my housing...

 

TomC

[pedpete 0]

Thank again for the replies. I have things slightly clearer now (I think). This discussion has lead me to make one decision: I'm gonna head off to London and visit somewhere that sells housings and try them out for myself before i purchase. I'm not too fussed about the price - what i want is the housing that will be right for me. I'm planning to head off to the tropics for good by next year so want something that will serve me well. It seems both Ike and Aquatica have fans out there so they will be the first housings i will look at.

 

Thanks again

[Snappy 0]

If price isn't that important, I'd consider the Subal as well. I had that for my 35mm kamera and was very happy. Now with the 20D I couldn't afford it and settled (Ike'll love this ;-)) for Ikelite. I would probably have been just as happy with my new housing if it wasn't for that darn cable in my left cheek!