don_julio
Registered
In hindsight of purchasing an Ikelite RX100 housing I'd like to offer up some additional information on my experience. I gave the housing a good chance but after four dive trips with the ikelite it will be getting replaced with a nauticam. Here are the reasons why:
The housing is bulky and heavy. I shoot mainly one-handed and the size of the housing make it a bit difficult. After a while the knuckles on my ring and pinky finger got quite sore from supporting the weight of my single YS-D1 strobe setup. This issue was able to be remedied by attaching a styx float to the strobe arm to lighten things up.
It's hard to block the light from the stock flash. The stray light from the stock flash gives unwanted lighting and also a barrel shadow when close up. I sorta fixed this by making a small hood out of plastic and glued some of that light-blocking infrared film to it and positioned it to sit in front of the flash. DIY fix seems to work okay but it's not 100%.
The buttons are very difficult to press, especially without gloves on. You'd think it would be the opposite but it's more of a problem of the amount of pressure required to move the button. The close proximity of the rear buttons makes it so that you have to use your fingertips and it doesn't take many pushes before they get sore. Although due to the stiffness of the buttons, I can say that I've never had a button press accidentally.
The missing "bite" section of the rear wheel gear is annoying. Since there is a missing section the rear control dial only turns 60% of the time when you turn the dial. Not a major issue but it would be nice if it was continuous.
The front ring control does not work at all. This may be a big issue for some divers who use manual focus. I don't use manual focus much and I got used to making aperature and shutter speed changes by only using the rear wheel. I like this way better than having to change grip to use the top dial control knob.
Zoom function requires a change in grip. Also as I mentioned earlier, there is no spring action to return it to a neutral position. Easy to be left in a zoom-in or zoom-out position which will kill your battery as the camera will not go into standby. I learned this lesson the hard way on two occasions.
The internal mount attached to the rear portion of the housing doesn't fit the camera. I had to remove the protective rubber covers over the metal posts which keep the camera in place. The metal posts will scratch the camera so I had to put electrical tape on the camera body to protect it. Even so my camera suffered some scratches. The fixed mount system also makes changing the battery and memory card a pain. Every time you want to change you have to unscrew the camera from the mount and re-fasten the screw after changing.
The pop-up flash makes contact with the top of the housing. Everytime the flash is deployed inside the case it smashes into the top of the housing. This can't be good for the flash, not to mention it startles me every time. You could avoid this by deploying the flash before inserting the camera but I've only managed to remember to do this a few times.
I think I need to mention that despite the flaws of the housing, I was able to get some very nice pictures from the rx100/ikelite setup after some of the workarounds I mentioned. Nice macro results with a single Inon UCL-165 macro lens. So if you can deal with the shortcomings of the Ikelite housing and enjoy DIY fixes, it does the two basic functions well: Keeping your camera dry and taking pictures.
The aluminum housings are a lot more expensive and at the time I thought, "wow, with the money I save with the ikelite I can get a strobe, wet lens, etc.". My previous opinion was that I got good value for the money but that turned out to be wrong because now I have a nauticam housing for full retail price PLUS the full price of the ikelite which will sit in my closet. My advice is to go to the shop first and compare both housings side-by-side before you buy. If I had done the same I would have an extra $400 in my pocket now.
The housing is bulky and heavy. I shoot mainly one-handed and the size of the housing make it a bit difficult. After a while the knuckles on my ring and pinky finger got quite sore from supporting the weight of my single YS-D1 strobe setup. This issue was able to be remedied by attaching a styx float to the strobe arm to lighten things up.
It's hard to block the light from the stock flash. The stray light from the stock flash gives unwanted lighting and also a barrel shadow when close up. I sorta fixed this by making a small hood out of plastic and glued some of that light-blocking infrared film to it and positioned it to sit in front of the flash. DIY fix seems to work okay but it's not 100%.
The buttons are very difficult to press, especially without gloves on. You'd think it would be the opposite but it's more of a problem of the amount of pressure required to move the button. The close proximity of the rear buttons makes it so that you have to use your fingertips and it doesn't take many pushes before they get sore. Although due to the stiffness of the buttons, I can say that I've never had a button press accidentally.
The missing "bite" section of the rear wheel gear is annoying. Since there is a missing section the rear control dial only turns 60% of the time when you turn the dial. Not a major issue but it would be nice if it was continuous.
The front ring control does not work at all. This may be a big issue for some divers who use manual focus. I don't use manual focus much and I got used to making aperature and shutter speed changes by only using the rear wheel. I like this way better than having to change grip to use the top dial control knob.
Zoom function requires a change in grip. Also as I mentioned earlier, there is no spring action to return it to a neutral position. Easy to be left in a zoom-in or zoom-out position which will kill your battery as the camera will not go into standby. I learned this lesson the hard way on two occasions.
The internal mount attached to the rear portion of the housing doesn't fit the camera. I had to remove the protective rubber covers over the metal posts which keep the camera in place. The metal posts will scratch the camera so I had to put electrical tape on the camera body to protect it. Even so my camera suffered some scratches. The fixed mount system also makes changing the battery and memory card a pain. Every time you want to change you have to unscrew the camera from the mount and re-fasten the screw after changing.
The pop-up flash makes contact with the top of the housing. Everytime the flash is deployed inside the case it smashes into the top of the housing. This can't be good for the flash, not to mention it startles me every time. You could avoid this by deploying the flash before inserting the camera but I've only managed to remember to do this a few times.
I think I need to mention that despite the flaws of the housing, I was able to get some very nice pictures from the rx100/ikelite setup after some of the workarounds I mentioned. Nice macro results with a single Inon UCL-165 macro lens. So if you can deal with the shortcomings of the Ikelite housing and enjoy DIY fixes, it does the two basic functions well: Keeping your camera dry and taking pictures.
The aluminum housings are a lot more expensive and at the time I thought, "wow, with the money I save with the ikelite I can get a strobe, wet lens, etc.". My previous opinion was that I got good value for the money but that turned out to be wrong because now I have a nauticam housing for full retail price PLUS the full price of the ikelite which will sit in my closet. My advice is to go to the shop first and compare both housings side-by-side before you buy. If I had done the same I would have an extra $400 in my pocket now.
