A620 housing advice

[Albion]

having buggered up my sony P10 (which wasn’t giving great results anyway) im looking to get a new camera and housing. The A620 seems to give some good results, however i ties over the housings


OEM housing is a good price and i can probably just get a new tray to mate it with my exisitng sea and sea arm and strobe. However i note that there arent any converters for the sea and sea macro lenses on this housing (in fact it has a fairly weird shaped lens)
So how good are the macro shots with the standard camera? Im not into really small stuff but some nice nudi shots and othe rlittleish critters is good.


Alternate is i bung down some extra (err double the camera cost by the time i get macro lens etc) cash and go with the ikelite and inon macro. Ive got some UL parts to make half an arm system up for the strobe.

Any advice?


Maybe not the best place to ask but another option is the Fuji E900, ikelite housing is cheaper but camera is more, but am I getting a better bang for my buck?

 

[Blitz]

That is the exact progression that I took and I am very happy. I have shot the A620 in cold PNW water and in Mexico and it has taken some awesome photos.

 

[jdcpa]

I have an A620 and really love the photos. I think it does a great job. You should love the camera.

 

[shugar]

i have an a620 and just got a housing for it (not looking into strobes or lenses in the forseeable future)

still have to get it wet though but i LOVE the camera (great piece it is) and very clear u/w shots of my little girl in the beach last may

Jag

 

[aic007]

I have A620 as well and went with the Ikelite housing, seemed like a better choice since you have the option to add to it as opposed to the canon with the rectangle lens port.

 

[diversteve]

I'd go with the Ikelite also. My buddy has the Canon WP-DC90 and the square shape of the front lens interferes with the flash giving you a dark shadow in the lower right corner when using the on-camera flash - it's really visible at night.

PM if you'd like to see an example.

 

[aic007]

well the ikelite also gives the shadow, (picked up a strobe for that) but when I looked at the WP-DC90 the build quality is what turned me off to it. It looked cheap and the plastic buttons certainly didn't help the situation. When I pulled the Ike out of the box I was sold. Really thick poly with all metal controls that move very smooth. Plus I can always keep adding to it with different lenses, filters, strobes which the can't be done with the WP-DC90.

 

[Albion]

well the ikelite also gives the shadow, (picked up a strobe for that) but when I looked at the WP-DC90 the build quality is what turned me off to it. It looked cheap and the plastic buttons certainly didn't help the situation. When I pulled the Ike out of the box I was sold. Really thick poly with all metal controls that move very smooth. Plus I can always keep adding to it with different lenses, filters, strobes which the can't be done with the WP-DC90.

I have a S&S strobe so the shadow should not be a problem. althogh this seems a canon problem as a friend has the S1 with canon housing and suffers the same.

thanks for all the advise so far

 

[Halthron]

I'd go with the Ikelite also. My buddy has the Canon WP-DC90 and the square shape of the front lens interferes with the flash giving you a dark shadow in the lower right corner when using the on-camera flash - it's really visible at night.

PM if you'd like to see an example.

That only happens if you don't use the diffuser. I've used the flash on 99% of my shots and it works fine.

 

[mach2plus]

I'd go with the Ikelite also. My buddy has the Canon WP-DC90 and the square shape of the front lens interferes with the flash giving you a dark shadow in the lower right corner when using the on-camera flash - it's really visible at night.

PM if you'd like to see an example.

For what it's worth, I've taken well over a 1000 underwater shots with my A620/DC90 using the flash diffuser, and haven't seen the shadow that you WILL get if you don't use the diffuser. In my months of deliberating and researching for a good underwater setup, I decided on the A620/DC90 (for about $350) because of performance and cost. I could have opted to spend several thousand dollars, but for about $350, do I dare say it?!, the A620/DC90 almost becomes a throwaway camera. Not a helluva lot of money down the drain should it get stolen, swamped, damaged, etc. Everybody that I dive with is amazed at the clarity of the photos, and it's a great post-dive debriefing tool with the kids and adults that accompany us diving (I bring along a little portable laptop computer so everybody can share in the fun). At $350 it's also the kind of system that you don't mind letting your buddies use or letting the kids press the buttons...I probably would be a little hesitate doing that with a digital SLR/Ikelite combo.

The points are well taken with regard to the Ikelite, however, with its robust construction and ability to use the different A620 lenses available. In the long run I'm gonna wait for a true digital Nikonos type camera, which I would guess is just around the corner. Anybody heard anything about one?

Regards to all -- Mach