PatW
Contributor
There are several excellent underwater photography shops in the US. Now Reef Photo is just down the way from me in Fort Lauderdale. So I can GO down and see them if I have to. I know the are 2 shops with California stores: Blue Water Photo (I think that is what it is called) and Backscatter. I know that Reef Photo is excellent. I have had good luck dealing with Backscatter also. I would strongly suggest talking to someone at one of these stores. They get to handle all the gear. They probably handle more stuff than any normal photographer even sees in a lifetime. I think the Reef Photo, Backscatter and Blue Water all carry Ikelite products. None of these shops would carry a product that they did not think was adequate.
Now, I had an Ikelite housing for my Canon G11. The housing worked well. The problem and benefit of the the Ike housing is that it is inexpensive. But it is essentially a water tight box. Ikelite jury rigs the controls. Since the controls are a bit wobbly, they can get out of adjustment and not really work all that well. But I used my housing for over 100 dives with just the odd minor problem (which I was always able to work around). If things get dicey, you can send the housing back to Ikelite and they will tweak it back into the sweet spot.
I have moved onto a DSLR with an aluminum housing. Aluminum housings are purpose built and the controls are much more precisely fitted to the camera. As such, the control is far more precise and the feel is better. But then again, you pay a whole bunch more too.
Gilligan, who posts on the Canon board, uses a Canon G12 with the Canon housing. He tends to go towards macro photos and his work is impressive. My point is that in the hands of an excellent photographer, a modest camera and housing can perform quite well.
I hope this helps,
Pat
