ikelite housings

[RTRski]

I just purchased an Ikelite housing for a Fuji E900 and I like just about everything about it.

However, if you are considering an Ikelite housing with a “clip on” removable port system, may I suggest that you compare port attachment systems before purchasing. A side by side comparison with a name brand aluminum housing (Subal, Sea & Sea, Nexus, etc.) would be best. Attach the port to the aluminum housing. Then, get out the Ikelite instructions and attach the “clip on port” to the Ikelite housing exactly as instructed. This should point out the poor design in the Ikelite. If it looks OK to you, buy it.

My experience was that the “clip on” system gave me problems about 2% of the time. I drowned 2 SLR cameras in approximately 80-90 dives before I gave up and got a Nexus housing.

I was shown a 10bar plastic housing (Fantasea) recently. The port fastening system on this housing looked reasonable and I would look into these housings further if I wanted to house a DSLR.

Be aware that Ikelite is likely a sponsor of this forum and criticisms of Ikelite products may be unwelcome.

Good luck.

Aloha
Siki

You've clarified your concern is with the clip arrangement on dSLR housings, which is helpful. Still no alternatives to some sort of port swapping without severely hampering dSLR use, though, to my knowledge, so regardless of whose you pick to house a dSLR, there will be a port interface of some kind or another. Since you like the Fuji case I'm guessing you've gone away from dSLR completely, and haven't gone back?

But defending your opinion with conspiracy theories seems a bit outlandish. Thread sponsorship is clearly visible in the manufacturer forums, and doesn't exist here. I do think it's likely many satisfied customers might jump on negative posts, but accusations of astroturfing* seem a bit unfounded.

Regardless, you have had negative experience with the port attachment, and that's noted, and a valid, quantifiable issue to bring up.

An Ikelite housing with a changeable port is not worth having. I know from personal experience. Stay away from them.

But you don't have any experience with the alternatives, do you? I have seen similar negative commentary about threading systems which don't have any positive 'lock' so they can rotate without you seeing, especially in an aluminum housing, though, so this still sounds to me like a "6 of one, half-dozen of the other" situation. Here's a lengthy thread pissed off at Subal and Seacam for this reason:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13793#

Sounds to me like no one has a foolproof port system. Maybe flood risks with the port just come with the territory.

For the record, I am aiming at purchasing my housing from Ikelite for a new E330, when I can afford one. But as I haven't committed to anything yet I'm still looking for feedback myself, actively researching before buying, but have no experience with any of them.

If the only criteria is port attachment, Fantasea does look good. But I've read many complaints about their quality, button placement, customer service etc. at least for the specific housing for my choice, so seems like a tradeoff from one area to another. Most obvious post to that effect:

http://scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2809581&postcount=1

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*astroturfing in this context is 'false grass-roots' effort, usually used to describe funded lobbyist or commercial organizations who blog and post under the false pretenses of just being 'average citizens' without disclosing their funding and that their agenda is paid-for, not just individual opinion. Basically another form of underhanded viral marketing....

 

[Siki]

For the record, I am aiming at purchasing my housing from Ikelite for a new E330, when I can afford one. But as I haven't committed to anything yet I'm still looking for feedback myself, actively researching before buying, but have no experience with any of them.
http://scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2809581&postcount=1

Choosing a camera housing is not easy.

I doubt if there is any such thing as a perfect housing. There will always be small things that are not quite right with each housing- Placement of controls, lack of return springs, poor balance etc. Many of these things are quite individual. What is suitable for one person may not be suitable for another.

Keep in mind that the basic job that a housing must do is to keep the water out of your camera. If the housing can’t do that, everything else is meaningless.

My Ikelite housing kept the water out of my camera more than 98% of the time. This is not good enough in my opinion.

My suggestion would be to look for comments from divers experienced with the Fantasea and Olympus housings for the E330.

Happy hunting.

Siki

 

[Warren_L]

Keep in mind that the basic job that a housing must do is to keep the water out of your camera. If the housing can’t do that, everything else is meaningless.

My Ikelite housing kept the water out of my camera more than 98% of the time. This is not good enough in my opinion.

Also keep in mind that you are saying the fault of the leaks you have experienced lie completely with the housing. I doubt that you'd be able to definitively say one way or the other whether your leaks were due to the housing or operator error. By that same token then, one could then also surmise that you should not be loading cameras in underwater housings since your success rate at properly doing so is only slightly more than 98%, which, by your own standard is not good enough.

 

[Siki]

I doubt that you'd be able to definitively say one way or the other whether your leaks were due to the housing or operator error. .

This is a point that is worth making. A flooded housing is always operator error.
The reason for my floods was something that I did or did not do.

I have been using “O” ring cameras and housings since the 1960s and have set up various cameras and housings several thousand times. I have had two floods (mentioned above). This would make my batting average better than 98%.

A well designed housing cuts down on the variables and makes operator error unlikely. Think about it. In order to have a leak problem from attaching the back to my new Ikelite housing, I would have to be extremely careless or unlucky. The same with the back of a Nik V or the port of an aluminum Nexus. There simply aren’t that many variables.

The “clip-on” Ikelite port system has way too many variables and is prone to operator error. If you are considering a purchase, I caution you to try it first. Take the port on and off several times and see what you think.

The many people who write in to defend Ikelite are probably the result of good customer relations. Many large businesses and corporations could learn from Ikelite in this respect. Good customer service equals loyal customers.

There is enough in this thread to give anyone shopping for a housing something to consider. I’m outa here! I need to get ready for a dive trip.

Good diving

Aloha

Siki

 

[RTRski]

Siki:

Personally I thank you for the insights. Some of the earlier comments re: post manipulation seemed a bit wacky, but I've gone off the deep end way worse than that in postings before (I almost think the month of lost SB threads is a blessing - some of my crazier rants went *poof*). But in these last few posts you've made some quite valuable points for consideration. You're very clear you don't like the clip design, and won't be backed down from that, which is indeed telling, and while I sense you're very firm in that opinion I don't sense the defensiveness I was reading before. (Dratted low-bandwidth text-only information transmission - easy to get the wrong impression.)

Peace, and enjoy your dives!