Housing for Canon S80 - Canon or Ikelite

[tkring]

I have finally selected my next camera - Canon S80. Now I need to select the housing. I have two to choose from - The Canon Housing sells for $169 and the Ikelite sells for $300 and up. Is Ikelite so much better that it is justified to spend the extra $$$.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[HowardE]

The canon housings work well, as long as you're staying below the max depth.

 

[Jamdiver]

I would recommend the Ikelite if you're planning on getting really serious in underwater photography.
Adding lenses, strobes stuff like that.
Not the Canon can't be used to do this..

The Ikelite housings are generally sturdier, more robust, have a greater depth rating and according to some are better designed than the Canon.

Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth i'm new to u/w photography... they're a lot more experienced members in this forum who are sure to give great advice.

Just wait and see .

 

[Grajan]

I went for the Canon housing and it looks great.

It is VERY compact in fact there is so little 'wasted' space that I am going to have trouble getting a silica gel pack in there.

The buttons are really well laid out and easy to operate. It is a big improvement on their earlier housing which were not bad anyway.

The lens cover is double glazed - a nice touch (I think)

The only slight issue is that the flash diffuser projects a long way from the camera and maybe subject to damage.

I am off to the Flower Gardens this weekend to get it wet so I will report back.

I have finally selected my next camera - Canon S80. Now I need to select the housing. I have two to choose from - The Canon Housing sells for $169 and the Ikelite sells for $300 and up. Is Ikelite so much better that it is justified to spend the extra $$$.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[HowardE]

I would recommend the Ikelite if you're planning on getting really serious in underwater photography.
Adding lenses, strobes stuff like that.
Not the Canon can't be used to do this..

The Ikelite housings are generally sturdier, more robust, have a greater depth rating and according to some are better designed than the Canon.

Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth i'm new to u/w photography... they're a lot more experienced members in this forum who are sure to give great advice.

Just wait and see .

The canon housing for the S70 which is the one we use, has ALL of the camera functions available to use. While the Ikelite is more robust, and may have a deeper rating, the canon housing is rated to 130' which is deep enough for most.

The S80 wide angle lens, pretty much covers you fine for wide angle, so I wouldn't know what other type of lens you'd want to add for simple digital photography, and you can't use cable fired strobes with either housing.

While my review may be one sided, since I have ONLY used the canon housing, i would be interested to know if the ike has any worthy features that would make it twice the expense.

 

[Jamdiver]

Howarde you have some good points there, i'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the Canon housing..
I have one and love it!

Just get the feeling that the Ike might stand up better over the years...
Good point though, the S80 has a normal sized housing port so most add on lenses will fit it just fine.

The A610 housing on the other hand is a totally different story .
Anyway as I said i'm fairly new to it all, so I suppose we'll hear convincing arguments from either side.

 

[Tom Winters]

When Canon starts giving cameras away for free, then I'll buy another Canon housing.
The Ikelites get discounted pretty well, and there's no reason not to spend the extra money to get a better housing.
If you're just going to take pictures of your kids in the pool, save the money and buy the Canon. Going diving? Splurge before you submerge.

 

[tkring]

I really appreciate all of the information guys. I don't have anyone local that I can ask.

Here is my 2nd question while I ponder the UW housing... I also have a Sea and Sea YS90 strobe with fiber optic cable. Does anyone know any reason why this strobe won't work for either housing?

 

[Jim Ernst]

i hear the canon housing is a good one ,but i with my canon pro 1 also went with the ike-lite housing and am glad i did, there service is outstanding and they back thier product like no others i have known of. ihad a dropplet of water enter my housing after almost a year and many dives with my housing, sent it to ike-lite they could find no problem, so instead of just sending it back they took the time two days in a row to call me, after i explained the circumstance they said no problem and simply replaced the function with a brand new one just to be safe and retested the housing and then shipped it back to me at NO CHARGE!!!! that to me says a lot, and they were very prompt about it all. completed in 7 days. i go ike-lite all of the way!!

 

[DesertEagle]

Just one thing to remember about the Canon housing- it doesn't have a dial for the command dial. Without that dial you are supposed to use the print share button to toggle those controls.