Needing a little info please

[AndyT]

The 5050 went into the PT-015 housing
The 5060 went into the PT-020 housing
The 5060 and 7070 fit into the PT-027 housing

My favourite accessory is the Inon 165 macro lens followed by the Oly wide angle WCON-07C in an Athena dome.

For filters try M A G I C - F I L T E R S

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I have never seen an Ikelite housing (for these cameras, anyway) which did not come with a handled tray as part of the package, and it is usually a single handled tray.

To some extent this is a moot point, as Ikelite has discontinued the housing for the 7070. You are right, in that the Ike 6130.61 housing did come with a single handle tray. It does not appear that substitutions were possible, getting a dual handle tray meant you spent an extra $75 (USD) and end up with both trays. If that housing comes up on eBay (or dive photo forum) it might not include any tray.

My least favorite Ike designs are the single and dual handle trays, although polycarbonate threads would move to the head of that list if true(?).

I dove for many years with Nikonus V cameras, and my first major purchase in diving was an Ikelite SS200 Photo Case ($1200 in '01). I still use that strobe regularly with my 5050 (modified). My prior strobe use was an inherited Nikonus SB-101, and I still use the tray from that system! Somewhere on the web is a page on building your own 5050 tray; although I did not like the Slave Sensor set up I would have gone that route over either of the Ike trays.

A similar set up is possible with PT-027, DS strobe and EV Controller. Both these systems do not shoot ttl; manual settings only.

I do like the Sea&Sea dual strobe tray, as you just remove one screw and it's a single strobe tray, but it would need modification for the Slave Sensor/EV Controller.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I am possibly getting off-topic, but I find that the ability to disconnect the housing from the tray during the dive is a great feature. I can remove the tray, WAL and flash reflector to stick the stock housing into pretty small spaces for really cool shots I could never get with tray attached. The Oly housing has a strong tray thread connection so I have never given disconnecting it a second thought. More than once I have just left the tray & strobe(s) on the bottom, while chasing fast critters or when strobe batteries failed, to be picked up later in the dive (or even the next day).

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Granted, this will do for awhile, but eventually you will (in all probability) want a two handled tray, as this is where the strobes mount, and you will probably be wanting two eventually. I am not saying that you will want this right away, but eventually you will, and then you have to buy another tray. All I was trying to say was that if you got the two handled tray at first, maybe you could save some money by not getting the single handled tray, which you would eventually put aside.

As a full time guide/instructor here in Hawaii since '02, I only know a couple divers who regularly dive with dual strobe, out of the three divers I know who have dual strobe rigs (4 counting me). I see mostly Oly and Canon p&s's in Oly/Canon housings, without strobes. Perhaps a third of the camera divers have single strobes, with most being medium power/price rigs. I have not heard more than a handful of camera divers who desired to go dual strobe.

I only ended up with dual strobe rigs because the price was so good (eBay), and I don't take them in the water that much. My dual strobe images are not enough better than my single strobe images to convince me to shoot dual strobe except on special occasions. The manta night dive on the Big Island would be one; whale shark and humpback whale trips would be another but dive instructors can rarely afford trips like that.

I appologise for my ranting; I will leave this thread alone for now and go start a poll.