G 11 housing question

[Nemrod]

While the OEM housings like the Canons are "good" to 130 feet (in theory) after a few uses the buttons will become soft and often depress from water pressure at depths as shallow as 60 feet or they will press and not release which locks the camera. They also tend to get stuck. While I do not have the G11 OEM housing I have one exactly like it for my 570. There were also two mold lines which tended to seep water which I had to break over with Micro Mesh.

No fogging issues however, I use the silica tubes or packs. Load the camera when possible the night before and keep it cool. The cameras get warm during continuous operation, not just from the flash. As the camera heats up and the battery heats up moisture is driven off and condensation could form but it has not proven to be a problem with my Canon OEM housing.

Really, I am so singularly unimpressed with the OEM housings and tired of the clunkiness of the Ikelite housings I had to go to a different route for my new camera.

As to Auto modes vs Manual, I kind of think it is the other way, since for years we shot manual cameras that had NO electronics like the Nikonos I, II, III everything was done Manual, we even had to actually focus our own camera, wow. I think the industry has people buffaloed into thinking that Auto modes do not work underwater when in fact, it works very well. I think that is a holdover from real mechanical camera days.

Good luck.
N

 

[JackConnick]

I have 2 housings available for the G11. I don't sell the OEM one, but as Nemrod says, it's not going to stand up to a lot of abuse. Silica gel packs should be used with both the Ike and the OEM one. The Ike is a great package with one of their strobes, I have a set with metal arms, as the Ike ones are whimpy. The TTL with the DS-51 or DS-160 is awesome.

I have a new Aluminum G11 housing from 10Bar that's very nice, extremely durable, tested to 300', and has a working depth of 200'. W/A ports and options available, has a 67mm screw thread for a macro diopter. Also has a canon bulkhead if you want to electrically sync it. I sell it with a package of spare parts, covers and a plug for the bulkhead if you use optical sync. It's not all that much bigger than the OEM housing too.

More photos on my site.

Jack

 

[ScubaMarc]

the buttons will become soft and often depress from water pressure at depths as shallow as 60 feet or they will press and not release

FYI: With a few hundred dives on my sd550/g7/g11 oem cases, i never had this issue.

 

[skynscuba]

FYI: With a few hundred dives on my sd550/g7/g11 oem cases, i never had this issue.

I never had any button operation problems with my S50 OEM housing either, but never took it much past 100 feet. First time I used it, in humid Honduras, I had a real battle with fogging. The included Canon anti-fog liquid didn't help at all. Silica packs totally fixed that, and they can be baked at 150-175F for 15 minutes and reused over and over -- baking them at 250F made them rupture.

 

[vondo]

I never had any button operation problems with my S50 OEM housing either, but never took it much past 100 feet. First time I used it, in humid Honduras, I had a real battle with fogging. The included Canon anti-fog liquid didn't help at all. Silica packs totally fixed that, and they can be baked at 150-175F for 15 minutes and reused over and over -- baking them at 250F made them rupture.

You and the guy nuking them might want to find the SB thread on damp rid, which is how I rejuvenate my desiccant capsules now. No risk of destroying them.

 

[ronski101]

Never had a button auto depress due to pressure on my G10 Cannon housing but then again I don't think I have been deeper than 100' with it either. It the button is so loose that the pressure can push it in, I would think that it would leak first. Gotta have a gel pack especially in high humidity environment. Going from an A/C room to 90F and relative humidity is just asking for fogging problems or worse.

 

[skynscuba]

You and the guy nuking them might want to find the SB thread on damp rid, which is how I rejuvenate my desiccant capsules now. No risk of destroying them.

There is also no risk of destroying them if you bake them at 175F. Works much faster than damp rid, doesn't require buying damp rid, and they can be baked and reused indefinitely. I have never damaged one since I dropped the bake temperature to under the boiling point of water. I haven't tried the microwave method, but that could come in handy if accommodations don't have an oven.

Another method that can help if you have just a little fogging on the port it to warm up the port glass by putting your finger on it. Only works for slight fogging. Again, never been an issue since I started using desiccant.

 

[Charlie59]

I have nothing against the Canon housing and I am sure you would be happy with it. Having said that, I am very happy that I bought an Ikelite housing for my G11 due to the ability to use the TTL feature. I do not need to spend as much time adjusting flash and manual settings and more photos come out with decent lighting.

I may just be lazy, but the TTL made the cost difference acceptable for me.

 

[damage]

Just as with any camera housing; avoid letting it in the sun, and put some disecant gel inside the housing, I put two small bags on each side of the lens port.

 

[Quero]

Speaking of the Canon OEM housing, what's the story with the lens adaptor for threaded 67mm wet mount lenses? I've read that you can mount a macro lens, but not a wide angle lens with this adapter. Why?