I just upgraded my U/W Camera system

[Hoag]

Recently, I sold my Sony A6000 with a few lenses, Nauticam housing & a couple ports. Of course not long after I did that, the local dive shop announces that they are planning a trip to the Maldives, so I suddenly have to replace my U/W camera and housing.

I had a few requirements for my new system that I wanted/needed it to meet. It had to:
Be small enough to pack the camera, lenses, housing, port(s) and a pair of Inon S2000 stobes in Carry-on
Have full manual control
Be low cost enough that if something happens I can accept the loss (Expendable to a degree)
Be simple and easy to learn, and use
Have multiple lenses can use the same port (this was a "want" not a "need").
Be capable of firing my strobes by Fiber Optic Cables and
Have a vacuum to confirm water-tight integrity


I was able to meet all of those criteria with the Canon R100 with the 18-45 "kit lens" and the 10-18 wide angle lens. I will house them in an Ikelite housing and 6'dome port that is designed to work with both of these lenses (they even use the same zoom gear). The Ikelite housing was ordered with the Fiber Optic TTL adapter and the Vacuum system.

It has been a while since I shot Canon especial as my U/W Camera, but I think that this will meet my needs nicely! (For the record, I use a Nikon Z8 above the surface, but I am aware that no matter how meticulous one is, accidents can happen so there is no way I will risk taking it U/W. Besides, there is no way I'd get it in a carry-on with a housing & ports.)

Has anybody used the R100 with kit lens U/W and if so, how did you like it?

 

[David Haas]

I have this set up for testing and heading to N. FLA next week. Will shoot with both the Canon RF-S 18-45mm IS STM lens and RF-S 10-18mm IS STM lenses behind the dome port on the Ikelite housing.

It's seamless with the zoom clamp captured in the dome port (don't need to constantly disassemble and all) and should be interesting.

I'm also testing the Ikelite TT5 Canon Optical TTL convertor Initial testing shows the TTL functions fabulous with Ikelite strobes. I'm taking a pair of DS160 I'll shoot as single and duals.

Since I also own a Canon R50 setting the R100 how I like to shoot was a breeze.

I'll also see how to flip to manual flash (if that's your thing) is and advise.......

Stay tuned!

David Haas
Stow OH

 

[Hoag]

I have this set up for testing and heading to N. FLA next week. Will shoot with both the Canon RF-S 18-45mm IS STM lens and RF-S 10-18mm IS STM lenses behind the dome port on the Ikelite housing.

It's seamless with the zoom clamp captured in the dome port (don't need to constantly disassemble and all) and should be interesting.

I'm also testing the Ikelite TT5 Canon Optical TTL convertor Initial testing shows the TTL functions fabulous with Ikelite strobes. I'm taking a pair of DS160 I'll shoot as single and duals.

Since I also own a Canon R50 setting the R100 how I like to shoot was a breeze.

I'll also see how to flip to manual flash (if that's your thing) is and advise.......

Stay tuned!

David Haas
Stow OH

View attachment 891101

David,
Thank you for your reply. This is exactly what I was looking for. I look forward to seeing your results & reading your impressions when you return.

This sounds very much like the system I have on order. I have the R100, the RF-S 18-45 IS STM and the RF-S10-18 IS STM in my hands now, and have the Ikelite DLM 200 Housing, 5515.14 Zoom Gear, 5516.15 Dome port, Vacuum system and the TT5 Canon Optical TTL Converter on the way with an ETA sometime either this week or next. The Housing, TTL Converter, and Vacuum Valve are expected to come assembled (and presumably tested) from Ikelite.

I will be using this with INON S2000 strobes, so hopefully the TTL will give good results with those as well.

Hopefully this will give me a small, lightweight system that will allow me to get some good (I don't need great) images. My next planned dive trip will be the proverbial trip of a lifetime to the Maldives with a 3 day stop over in Dubai next winter.

 

[tarponchik]

So you simply rebranded your kit? The R100 is pretty much Canon's version of a6000, except for 4k video. If you switched to a6300, you could keep your lenses at least. So what was the point?

 

[Hoag]

So you simply rebranded your kit? The R100 is pretty much Canon's version of a6000, except for 4k video. If you switched to a6300, you could keep your lenses at least. So what was the point?

Because, as I said in the very first sentence, "I sold my Sony A6000".

 

[tarponchik]

Because, as I said in the very first sentence, "I sold my Sony A6000".

You could buy another a6000.

 

[Hoag]

You could buy another a6000.

Why do you care?

 

[tarponchik]

Why do you care?

I am trying to figure out if there was any rational thinking here. Not that I care about you (though I consider you to be helpful sometimes) but I am interested in underwater photography.

 

[Hoag]

I am trying to figure out if there was any rational thinking here. Not that I care about you (though I consider you to be helpful sometimes) but I am interested in underwater photography.

Several months ago, I sold my camera, housing & ports. That left me with no U/W camera gear, but that was no big deal because, at the time not only did I not have any dive trips planned, and I had none on the horizon. That changed recently though when my local dive shop announced a trip that would, for me, be a trip of a lifetime, so I replaced my camera gear that I had sold with something more current.

 

[Nemrod]

A Sony Alpha user here, my A6400 in Nauticam aging gracefully, just had it serviced and good to go another five years or so. Underwater cameras are a compromise because none of them currently are actually made for UW use so they have touch screens and shooting modes and airplane focus identifiction (maybe work on Eagle Rays??) and all sorts of nonsense of little use UW and when it comes to the Sony Alpha with all the things it does super well there are two things that are a major PITA! What are they you ask, or not?

1. No way to cancel pre-flash (without purchasing a $500 trigger board that sometimes works and sometimes not). Both the new Nikon Z50II and the Canon R50 have a preflash cancel and manual strobe control to set to a minimum value.

2. The somewhat slow though not awful 1/160 X-sync speed vs the new Canon R50 and the Nikon Z50II having a 1/250 maximum X-sync would be nice (using the aforementioned $500 board that occasionally works I can get a 1/250 sync).

Okay, so why do I not run out and buy a new camera? I will tell you, once you have experienced BBF on a wonderfully smooth trigger like the NA6400 has, it is a game changer and screw the 1/250 sync speed deficit. And there are other things, like the lightening fast focus, some weather sealing on the camera body for use outside because some folks like to go outside. And bunches more like using the onboard booster battery I can run as many as five dives.