Canon WP-V1 Housing!

[ronscuba]

Hi H20Doctor

I'm looking for a lens to go on my ikelite 6091 and HF200 - I cant bring myself to spend £200+ on the ikelite w-20 but splashing £30 on a topside lens and drilling some holes in it sounds quite fun.

Would you be able to give us all some details as to how and where you drilled the hole?

Thanks in advance

You might want to consider the Ikelite dome port and internal mount the Raynox 5050 wide angle adapter lens. Costs about $350 for the the dome port and Raynox lens. The combination is working pretty good on my Canon HV10 and Ikelite housing. I should have some sample video up for viewing in about a week.

 

[Bobspadger]

I did look at that option but these items are fairly expensive in the uk - i've just made an 'oopsie' ebay purchase of the w-20 lens and waiting for it to arrive from the states

 

[aquaspider]

If you attach one of the popular wet wals to this case, the balance will shift forward. If you are comfortable spending the money and don't mind adding bulk and appendages, there are accessories available. But, you can do it yourself and keep the compact size and ease of handling. I addressed this issue in my how to video on YT, but there is still more that can be done.

The weight balance was less than ideal even after moving the weights rearward 2.5". A mounting point on the rear of the case near the bottom could move the stack another 1.5" rearward. A bracket was fashioned out of stainless and it tied into the new mounting point, the existing modded mount, and lower original handle mount. Three points might seem like overkill, but things hanging off the case can get knocked around even if you are careful. Case breakage or falling off will not do.

With this change, the stick-on wheel weights could be removed (4oz) and the balance was about the same. A side benefit was that the camera would sit flat on the table and counterweights are in the same horizontal plane as the lens.

The corrugated tubes placed around the lens neck filled about half way after one week of diving and they didn't provide as much buoyancy as hoped. A pool float tube toy looked like a good candidate. It was easy to cut but left an open edge at the cuts that absorbed water. A hot soldering iron did not fully close the pores, so silicone sealer was applied and spray painted for appearance. This resulted in a stiffer and less buoyant piece that was flexible enough to conform. I doesn't look nice, but it is not the final solution. The combined rig now weighs 8.75oz in water where it was 16oz before. The lens end is slightly more buoyant, but may become neutral or slightly negative at depth depending on how the material behaves under pressure. Ultimately, I would like to see the balance brought closer to neutral by using a better floatation ring and reducing the counterweighting. A trip to San Clemente Island is planned where it will be tested.

 

[Bobspadger]

cool stuff

Is the consensus that the W-20 lens is a good bit of kit for the HF200 underwater?
I'm after getting as close as I can as I have no lights so the WAL was the cheaper option to remove as much water as possible.

Other than that can anyone recommend a cheap way of getting U/W lights?

 

[jhelmuth]

I've used the Ikelite WAL (WA-20 67mm) wet lens... and not bad - but too soft around the edges for my taste (and it gets really bad if you zoom "in" - so you have to stay in full wide out).

...AND the WA-20 is so heavy...

Here is what I'm thinking might be a good solution (weight AND optics)...

Fisheye FIX UWL-04 52/67mm x.45 with 6" dome port

 

[Conchchowder]

You might want to consider the Ikelite dome port and internal mount the Raynox 5050 wide angle adapter lens. Costs about $350 for the the dome port and Raynox lens. The combination is working pretty good on my Canon HV10 and Ikelite housing. I should have some sample video up for viewing in about a week.

What does an Ikelite housing have to do with an WP-V1 housing? Shouldn't it be in another thread? How does this help with the Canon housing???

 

[ronscuba]

What does an Ikelite housing have to do with an WP-V1 housing? Shouldn't it be in another thread? How does this help with the Canon housing???

I was responding to Bobspadger. He asked about W/A lenses on his Ikelite housing. i Quoted his question in my response.But you are right. A separate thread should be started. Sorry.

 

[jhelmuth]

I've used the Ikelite WAL (WA-20 67mm) wet lens... and not bad - but too soft around the edges for my taste (and it gets really bad if you zoom "in" - so you have to stay in full wide out).

...AND the WA-20 is so heavy...

Here is what I'm thinking might be a good solution (weight AND optics)...

Fisheye FIX UWL-04 52/67mm x.45 with 6" dome port

Going to order one of these tomorrow (seems like backscatter and reef/ryan carry this). Just using rough dimensional caculations, the FIX UWL-04 ought to be 35-40% or ~ 250-260g "lighter" underwater (while just 30 grams heavier topside). That would be a big bouns and that's nothing to the even bigger benefit of the ncreased performance in optics (at least I think/hope).


I'll let you all know what I find...

 

[H20doctor]

Hi H20Doctor

I'm looking for a lens to go on my ikelite 6091 and HF200 - I cant bring myself to spend £200+ on the ikelite w-20 but splashing £30 on a topside lens and drilling some holes in it sounds quite fun.

Would you be able to give us all some details as to how and where you drilled the hole?

Thanks in advance

The lens i use is for the wp canon housing Only ... it wont work for a Ikelike.. I didnt drill any holes in the lens , you just have to burp the air out of it when you get down to depth ..

 

[aquaspider]

[/Going to order one of these tomorrow (seems like backscatter and reef/ryan carry this). Just using rough dimensional caculations, the FIX UWL-04 ought to be 35-40% or ~ 250-260g "lighter" underwater (while just 30 grams heavier topside). That would be a big bouns and that's nothing to the even bigger benefit of the ncreased performance in optics (at least I think/hope).]

Specs for the FIX UWL-04 show a weight of 600g in air and 160g (5.65oz) in water. Compare this to the DCL-20/Ikelite U-20 weight of 650g in air and 400g (12.5oz) in water. With the UWL-04 wanting to see 35mm or narrower camera lens, this should be fine with this camera set at full wide and not have vignetting. This sounds like the best lens yet for this camera and should make balancing much easier. I am concerned about scratching on the dome cover. Anti scratch coatings on plexiglass are a joke, but you can buff scratches out if they are not too deep. Glass would be great but more expensive. I am interested to hear about your results.