S90 + Ikelite housing : First Impressions

[CompuDude]

My standing to make this judgment comes from over 25 years of building housings for both the recreational and professional market. To date I have built over 500 housings and have been working in the film industry designing and manufacturing lighting and image capture components for various companies all over the world.

As for other manufacturers commitments to build housings for this camera I'll believe it when I see it, with only Fix "maybe" commiting to build housings (they at least have a drawing of the exterior of one). And as I was talking to the CEO of Patima last week I can tell you they have no intentions at this time to build a housing for what they see as a transitional P&S camera!

I also was not denegrating the camera, I was only saying that I don't believe that it is that suitable for underwater use!

Nemrod already established that the button spacing is about the same as many of the other P&S cameras out there.

I could care less if Patima doesn't want to make a housing, considering with the housing from Fix we're already ahead of 90% of the other cameras on the market, in terms of options.

 

[Maddog59]

Nemrod already established that the button spacing is about the same as many of the other P&S cameras out there.

I could care less if Patima doesn't want to make a housing, considering with the housing from Fix we're already ahead of 90% of the other cameras on the market, in terms of options.

Has anyone actually seen a camera housing from Fix!!! Other than a very crude 3D parametric drawing!

 

[Maddog59]

But the reason for this forum is to try and give accurate infomation about this camera and the accessories available for it. And at this time the only housings available are the OEM and the Ikelite which if you read the many other forums on this camera over the last few weeks all say that these housings have serious limitations at this time! I personally hope that Fix do make a housing for the camera but that doesn't take away from my original statement that IMHO this is not a good choice for a underwater outfit.

And as this is a public forum I'm allowed to state my opinions publicly! It's the readers decision as to what camera they buy and what housing they go with and whose opinion they follow! The original poster of this thread gave his opinion as to his findings about the system and admitted there were issues to be addressed both from his knowledge of the operation of the camera and some technical issues but I think that overall he liked what he got and that with a little more time he would be getting good results. His opinion, his decision! My opinions don't agree with all people but they are mine to express!

Also could someone please show me where I said I've never used this camera!



Peter

 

[Dyron Staff]

Does anybody have tested DYRON WA20 or WA15 on the S90 Ikelite housing ?

With WA20 the result is 24mm under water no vignetting
With WA15 the result is 19mm under water no vignetting

Some nice pictures from Egypt next week !!!

 

[Nemrod]

Does anybody have tested DYRON WA20 or WA15 on the S90 Ikelite housing ?

With WA20 the result is 24mm under water no vignetting
With WA15 the result is 19mm under water no vignetting

Some nice pictures from Egypt next week !!!

Where do we buy Dyron products in the USA?

N

 

[tc]

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[marmagi]

Hello,

I read all of you guys posts very interesting all of them, I am planning to buy the canon S90 my question is:

If I am not wrong some of you dont like the Ikelite #6242.90 case to me seams a little more bigger than the canon WP-DC35 case is it so?

but besides this the most important of all:

Does Canon WP-DC35 allows manual controls of aperture priority and speed priority? it looks like it doesnt right? I dont see in the WP-DC35 the front knob that controls the ring around the lens?

Quote from Professor Caos: "The WP-DC35 housing provides direct access to the front ring to control aperture in M mode.
The rear ring controlling shutter speed is not accessible in the housing, but you get the same functionality by holding down the shortcut button and using the left or right arrow buttons.

A little less convenient (you will probably need two hands to change the shutter speed) but certainly accessible."

If so it means the Ikelite case is better because allows control of both manual aperture priority and speed priority ?

On ikelite website I read: "All camera controls except the rear control dial are operational through the housing" what does this mean?

So at end what is best the Ikelite or the canon WP-DC35 ? anyways the Ikelite case costs much more than the canon case

thanks

Mario

 

[JackConnick]

Mario;

No the Ike case doesn't allow use of the rear control wheel. To change shutter speed you have to switch for Manual to Sp, change it, then back to manual to adjust the aperture.

I think the biggest thing about the Ikelite Housing for the Canon S90 is that it has better construction with a depth rating to 200', better controls, and it has a 67mm threaded port. In the end the extra $ will be made up as you expand your system.

Jack

 

[CompuDude]

Both housings have a knob which turns the front control dial (surrounding the lens).

Looking at the front of the Ikelite housing, pictured in the post above, you can see the black knob to the left of the lens which controls the ring, and on the Canon, pictured below, the blue knob is to the right of the lens tube (again, looking from the front).

It remains to be seen which method will be easier to use underwater... using the left hand for the wheel on the Canon housing, or using the right hand on the Ikelite housing.

The Canon and Ikelite case are similar in that neither allows you to turn the dial on the back of the camera. You can push all the buttons, but you can't turn the dial.

There are two workarounds for this functionality, and both work the same on both the Canon and Ikelite housings:

1) Push the Shortcut button and then the buttons on either side of the dial will work as up and down, respectively. This is instead of turning the dial one way or up, the other for down. A little awkward, but it works. The same workaround has been used by Canon on several of their models, including the S90's predecessor, the S80, and those who used it have said it's not difficult.

2) Use the ring control button to assign one function to the front ring instead of the back dial, and switch back and forth between the two functions as needed, using the same dial to control each.

It remains to be seen which method will work best once you're actually underwater. Possibly a blend of the two.

As for size, I haven't compared the two side by side yet, but they look pretty close in size. The Ikelite may be a small amount larger, but it's hard to say for sure just by looking at separate photos.

 

[marmagi]

Hello,

CANON USA has told me in an email:

"The WP-DC35 underwater housing will allow you to change your shooting modes and all of the settings as well. Unfortunately, you will not be able to set the ring to control your settings like ISO, exposure level, and zoom control."

So there is no way to change uw for the above settings? is it possible with the ikelite case to make these settings uw?

at the end which one is better uw case canon or ikelite?