Ikelite XZ-1 housing now available

[Prop Joe]

Underwater Housing for Olympus Digital Camera

 

[BluewaterPhoto]

With a Dyron or Subsee macro lens and a DS-51 strobe, this will be a great macro setup.

The Ike housing allows for electrical TTL, which means you don't need to wait for the flash to recycle, and there is less drain on the battery.

 

[Adam608]

Sorry, am I missing something, but what does this offer for the extra money over the OEM PT-050 housing??

EDIT :

On first glance the PT-050 seems to be quite a bit cheaper ($300 -v- $550), has a top shoe, takes 67mm wet lenses, weighs a lot less, is a lot smaller and looks a damn sight lot nicer...

The ikelite housing has a second bottom mount point and is rated to 60m not 40m. I think that it isnt it?

 

[Prop Joe]

weellll....
If you already have Ikelite stuff (like me), cords, tray, arms, 67mm WA wet lens and dome, dual DS-50/51 strobes, this is really tempting. I was going to go EPL-2, Oly housing and Inon strobes. This has me re-thinking. Then there is the new EPL-3 that Oly should be releasing an UW housing for any day now. I can't make up my mind and this offering just clouds my decision even more... What really wanted was an Ikelite EPL-( ) housing but they already said no to the making of the EVIL series housings.

 

[Adam608]

but surely all your cords, tray, arms and 67mm wet lens and strobes will work just as well on the OEM PT-050 housing and you will be a few $ better off to boot???

 

[cardog]

but surely all your cords, tray, arms and 67mm wet lens and strobes will work just as well on the OEM PT-050 housing and you will be a few $ better off to boot???

Not if he is going to use TTL via the Ike housing and his Ike strobes..............

 

[Adam608]

but you can use TTL with the XZ-1 in the PT-050????

 

[cardog]

but you can use TTL with the XZ-1 in the PT-050????

No.....You can't.
You can use SIMULATED TTL ( s ttl) with the PT-050. With the Ike you can use the hotshoe on the camera if you are using the Ike strobes.

 

[Adam608]

hmmm, ok then I dont understand the difference. Can you please explain a little more how this works via the hotshoe? Sorry, whilst I dont have a strobe yet for my xz-1 / PT-050 Id like to understand any such constraints.

Ta

 

[cardog]

hmmm, ok then I dont understand the difference. Can you please explain a little more how this works via the hotshoe? Sorry, whilst I dont have a strobe yet for my xz-1 / PT-050 Id like to understand any such constraints.

Ta

Proprietary conversion circuitry allows two-way communication between the camera and Ikelite Substrobes providing true TTL exposure. In addition to providing the most accurate automatic exposure, this ensures a faster recycling time and longer camera battery life as compared to fiber optic TTL systems. Take advantage of this powerful feature by attaching any current model Ikelite DS Substrobe. See the "External Underwater Strobes" section for complete details.