Canon SD960 looking for housing, strobe and fisheye lens... need recommendations

[MariaDives9]

So I have a Canon powershot SD 960 that I would like to start using during diving. (I also have the Canon Rebel XSI... but I can't stomach the cost of buying a housing for that camera yet .

So I am torn between the Canon and the Ikelite housings. I would like to eventually get both a slave strobe and a fisheye or wideangle lens as well. Which housing is best suited for the use of these additional products? I am not sure which brand of strobe I would like to use. However, at this point I am more concerned about which housing would allow me to use either a fisheye or wide angle lens? I have been looking at purchasing the Inon lenses but am unsure of how well there lenses work with each band of housing. Any recommendations? It looks like each housing would require the use of an adapter....
Thanks for your help!

Cheers!
Maria

 

[ozziworld]

Just get the Canon housing or the ikelite housing for your camera. Play around with it a bit and see if you want to expand on the system after that.

If you will want strobes you can look at the ikelite af35 or the inon s2000

Then you will want some close-up or wide angle lenses. Again you can look at Ikelite or Inon depending on the housing you choose.

Then you might want a more advanced camera to house. Are you sure that is the camera you want in a housing? When all is said and done. The camera itself is not that expensive compared to the rest of the system. The sd960 is fairly basic and does not have any manual controls.

At this point I would recommend the Canon housing and just shoot with it with the in-camera flash before you decide to buy the rest of the kit. You might just find you want a camera that can grow with your interest in UW photography.

 

[HerraduraDivers]

You SD960 is a nice camera but not very good for underwater use as she can not record RAW pictures and a small sensor squeezing 12 MP on it.
I would make first a in-deep analysis what the whole system for the SD960 will cost you and what you can reuse stepping up to a better rig.

Reusable would be:
- Inon D-2000 / S-2000 / Z240 strobe, Inon ISS2000
- sturdy tray with possibility to mount 2 handles/grips
- flex or the much better ball arm(s)
- wet lenses may not be flexible because they may not fit your next rig

I would suggest 2 solutions:

1. Cheap "first steps" SD960 rig:
Ikelite housing, Intova ISS2000 strobe and tray/arm, no wetlenses
Using a P&S without a external strobe rarely produces nice photos.

2. used "do it once right" DSLR rig
used Rebel XSI housing and continous expanding the rig

Chris

 

[tuner fish]

Maria,
What did you end up doing? I'm curious because I just bought the Ikelite housing and Ikelite DS-51 strobe. That will go on one trip, if my wife has fun, she can upgrade with an add on lens.

 

[slowhands]

So I have a Canon powershot SD 960 that I would like to start using during diving. ...

So I am torn between the Canon and the Ikelite housings. I would like to eventually get both a slave strobe and a fisheye or wideangle lens as well. Which housing is best suited for the use of these additional products? ....

Cheers!
Maria

You can still buy the Canon housing at Adorama for $169:
3602B001 Canon WP-DC32 Waterproof Housing for PowerShot SD960 Digital Camera

The Ikelite housing is listed as available for $219:
624096 Ikelite Underwater Camera Housing for Canon Powershot SD-960 IS, Ixus 110 IS Digital Cameras

The Ikelite shows more wide options. They both accept an optically fired strobe, either the Ike AF35, Inon S2000, or one of the cheapies like Intova ISS2000.

I sort of agree with others about considering a step up to a better camera. The reason is you spend so much on the rest of the system, why not make it a better investment. The Canon S90 is the Swiss Army knife camera right now, does pretty much everything you need and is inexpensive. The rest of the system, housings and strobes, cost the same no matter what camera, so think about it before you leap.