Any current problems with Ikelite housing for Canon S110?

[Alexx007]

Hey guys,
I think I've finally narrowed my choice down to the Canon powershot S110. So I've been reading a lot of articles and whatnot for use as an underwater camera, and a few have mentioned problems with the Ikelite housing. Granted most of these that I've seen are from back in 2012, but I'm just wondering if there are any current problems or anything? Should I steer away from the Ikelite and more towards the Canon housing? Or are most of these issues likely to have been dealt with already?

Thanks!!

 

[Mario V]

Hi Alexx.
I know a lot of divers love their Ikelite housings however IMHO they are far from optimal.
Ikelite uses one housing and adapt it to match many different compact cameras, this will always create issues with control alignment.
I do work in underwater photography retail and the company I work for made the decision not to sell Ikelite housings based on the bad history we had in the past. I would say about 40% of the housings came back some with minor problems like one or two buttons not working but some others came back with horrific problems.
In more than one occasion the back door felt apart when the housing was open. This is because is made from two separate parts. A frame attached to the hinge and a poly-carbonate door. Unfortunately because the housing does not have any way to equalize pressure, the two parts can detach easily.
Other known issues involve the front port. because is made of a relatively soft plastic, it is very easy to cross thread it when attaching a wet lens and even more scary in a few situations the hole port came undone when trying to remove the wet lens, not really what you want to happen underwater.
I have used Ikelite housings a lot and I have never experience any of this problems but I have seen many housings that have.
They are relatively inexpensive and have a great depth rate but this problems are a serious issue.
Patima and Nauticam made the nicest housings for the S110, Rec sea also makes a very nice housing however the adapter needed to attach lenses is incredibly expensive.