Canon v Ikelite housing

[Rhone Man]

On the advice of my instructor, I am planning to buy a Canon A650 IS for u/w photography.

In relation to the housing, he warned me to go for an Ikelite rather than the Canon housing to preserve more functionality underwater, but I notice that the Ikelite housing is 3 times the price! I assume that there must be a serious loss of functionality to justify paying the extra money, but can anyone advise?

(Apologies if this has been discussed before - I couldn't find anything on a search through the threads.)

 

[bperrybap]

I'd say look very carefully and think about it before you decide.

The Ikelite should be more rugged.
The Ikelite should allow additional lenses to be used.
Sometimes you can still use lenses with adapters on the Canon housing
but sometimes they don't work as well as with the IkeLite. Some housings
may not support external lenses.
IkeLites come with some spare parts and small parts can be serviced in the field.

The Ikelite housing for the A650 has the same issue as the housing for the SD850is.
For the Canon sd850is you lose button functionality with the Ikelite.
There is a "print" button on the camera. Ikelite didn't put a button on their
housing for it. Big oversight on their part. This button can be re-assigned
and becomes quite useful underwater when you reassign it to custom white balance.
This allows you to push the "print" button to adjust white balance then shoot
your shots. Very quick and easy. Without this, you have to push multiple
buttons and go through menus to do this, which is a PITA.
I told Ikelite about it, but they still didn't want to add the button to the housing.
They said they could add it for like $150 - gee thanks.
I consider proper white balance critical to getting proper colors especially
for shooting jpeg images.
Because of this I ruled out the IkeLite for my SD850is.

The A650is will have the same issue. You will have to decide if the IkeLite
has some other capabilities (like external lens/filter capabilites) that you need that
justifies giving up having access to the print button which can be used for a single
button custom white balance.


When you look at housings, make sure you consider how you will use the camera.
Do you want external lenses? Will they work with the housing?
Do all the buttons you want/need to use exist on the housing?
Will you be adding an external flash/strobe?
Not sure about the housing for the A650 but the housing for the SD850
is kind of difficult to get a sync cord attached. It really wasn't meant for
using with an external flash. The case is curved when you need to stick
on a flash sync cord.




--- bill

 

[still new]

hey there Rhone Man, I use a Canon SL1S and a cannon wp=40 case with no problems. Just keet the seals lubricated prior to use.

 

[Nemrod]

If your interest is macro and simple snaps that should do with either housing. The long zoom ratio, 6X, of the A650 makes it diffucult to use external wet mount wide angle lenses is my bet. That is why Canon did not bother with a round port and gave it a square port housing and that is a BAD thing for me. The Ikelite housing does have a 67MM thread that will accept thread on lenses but I don't see that they have a short port available for use with wide angle lenses. If you have to zoom to prevent severe vignetting with a wide angle lens then there is no advantage to it.

I have both the Ike and the Canon for my wo 579IS cameras. I have come to the conclusion that the Ike is more rugged and rebuildable, the Canon is more flexible and smaller and easier to use. The Canon housing is easier to use because the camera simply drops in ready to go. The Ike requires threading onto a tripod socket with a steel screw each time. The Canon can be reworked as well by their service centers but we all realize Ikelite is going to be more responsive. Here is the deal, if the housing,either of them flood two years from now, the camera is ruined and it will be long obsolete and discontinued. So Ike can rebuild your housing, good deal but your camera is ruined and there arre no more.

Frankly, I am not impressed with this camera (A650) or any available options for it, that is why I got the 570IS instead, it was not for lack of cash, it was for lack of capability. If you insist on a 12MP camera then at this point if I did that I would get the G9 with Ike housing and the "short" port option, if that is to rich, then hurry, hurry, to find a deal on a 570IS with the Canon DC-12 housing, better hurry!

N

 

[under water]

I have used a few canon P&S cameras with the canon housings. Currently the G9. You do get the built in ability to add external lenses with the Ikilites and you will join a group that is more 'professional', but for the money the canon u/w case does offer the best value. You do get more features with the Ikelite, but you pay the price in $$ and convenience.
I am going to jump to the 'professional' housings when I jump to an SLR, probably in the near future. To me, that is the combo that makes sense right now.
I might get flamed for this, but I liken putting a P&S in a 'professional' housing like putting those race car bodies on a VW chassis.