Problems with dome on Ikelite housing

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JohnN

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This is an (old version) Ikelite housing for a Canon G16 with the Ikelite dome (WD-4), and my first time trying this setup. The first problem I had was that the space between the dome and camera only partially filled with water (yes I had the fill/drain holes vertically oriented) The second was when I removed the dome to let the cavity fill, small bubbles of air were trapped on the backside of the dome.

Neither of those contributed to very successful picture taking. What should I do to avoid this?
 
Hi @JohnN. I don't have the WD-4 but looked it up on Ikelite's site. I used the old Dome ports and have moved to the new system they have.

Why not take the WWD-4 off underwater and have the space fill with water. To avoid lots of particles/sands getting into the WD-4, you can open it only so much. I do that with my GoPRo filters that slide on. Now like you said there were bubbles once formed, I would brush them gently with my hand.

Hope this is accurate and helpful.
 
This is an (old version) Ikelite housing for a Canon G16 with the Ikelite dome (WD-4), and my first time trying this setup. The first problem I had was that the space between the dome and camera only partially filled with water (yes I had the fill/drain holes vertically oriented) The second was when I removed the dome to let the cavity fill, small bubbles of air were trapped on the backside of the dome.

Neither of those contributed to very successful picture taking. What should I do to avoid this?

OK, I had this exact setup except it was a G12 instead of a G16. Here are a few things you need to know:

- Inside the lip of the WD-4 sits an O-ring. This needs a thin coat of grease. Not exactly related to your problem but keeping this O-ring lubricated will make the next part MUCH easier.

- I always go into the water with the WD-4 mounted on the housing. It's heavy and I don't want it swinging around as the deckhand passes the camera to me.

- On the way down, take the WD-4 off. Swish it around in the water. Look at it closely and make SURE there are no small bubbles on the inside of the dome and/or the port on the housing. If you miss any, you'll either wind up with ruined photos or you'll be cloning them out of your shots later.

- The front of the WD-4 has "wings" that stick out. When you put the dome on the port, orient those wings vertically instead of horizontally. If you go horizontal, they will vignette your shots with the camera at full wide-angle.

This simply has to become part of your process. After I forgot it once and ruined (what could have been) some good shots, I just adopted it as practice. After you do it once or twice, it'll become second nature.

-Charles
 
You will have to remove the lens after entry into the water and fan any bubbles off of both the port, the lens rear element and the front element. You would have to do this on any underwater camera with or without a wet lens, fan the bubbles off of the glass. A wet lens just adds a step, thus the popularity of bayonet mounts vs the old fashioned threaded solution for water contact optics. Some wet lens mounts have large openings sufficient to normally clear bubbles by flooding quickly but the threaded type mounts, rarely. You can usually see them in the VF or display if present. In which case, remove the lens and clear the obstinate bubble(s). You may find sometimes when amongst a heard of diving cattle that if another diver swims under you and exhales, a nice crop of new bubbles can be found on your front port :/ .

N
 

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