fiberoptics with Ikelite?

[scuba e]

My point and shoot died recently. The Sea and Sea strobes are still good though.
I have a D90 and am looking at the Ike housing. Can i use the fiber optics with the ike housing?
We are trying to budget in another trip this year so I need to keep costs down.
Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Mariozi]

If you really want to go DSLR uw, I suggest you use good aluminum housings.
Nauticam would be my option today for a D90. It is a bigger initial investment, but aluminum housings are better to sell after a while, and they keep the value better than plastic ones.
Also are more resistant, and lighter/smaller to travel, I would even consider that by "killing" the extra dive trip...

 

[scuba e]

Thanks for your thoughts.
In a perfect world I would love the nauticam housing. Though it is a little new and unproven (never buy a new modle car. wait for the bugs to work out).

A few issues, most financial;

I put over 500 dives on my old DX8000G (plastic). No floods or housing failures. Housing is still good but camera is dead.

As far as resale goes, i usually keep my equipt until it is dead. i seldom upgrade just because a better product has come out.

Ike seams tried and true. Though bulkier than aluminum I do like the idea of being able to see the o-ring and controls. As far as heavier? Really?

and the dollars? For the price diff. in housings I could buy a Nikkor 60mm a Tokina 10-17mm (used). Plus, this is a D90. I love the camera but in this case the camera os pretty cheap compared to housing costs. If i Had a high end pro level $4000+ body, well, I be broke already.

Scuba/uw photo is just one of many hobbies for me. i need to strech those dollars. It is also one of the few hobbies my wife and I share. If I told her we were going to skip a trip so i could get better gear I would probably loose my best dive buddy. Really, that would be like skipping a meal to buy nicer flatwear.

I have seen some very nice work composed thru the Ike housings.
I have seen very pricey aluminum housings flood, followed by the owners eyes.

So I guess, other than wondering if I will need synchcords or if the Ike will fire my Sea and Sea strobes with the fiber optics, what reasons should i not get the Ike.

Image quality?
Longevity?
Customer service?
Parts availability?

Mariozi, thank you again. As a Pro your advise is well placed. I am sure you students are looking for a higher level of hobby. I am just stepping up from PS. Any advice for a rig that will be ok for about 100 dives a year and come in (wide and macro less lenses) complete for about $2500 us?

 

[caribbeansoul]

You will not be able to connect to the Ikelite housing with fiber optic cables. You would need to hard wire with sync cords. And I believe you would be shooting manual, as you will not have TTL with the Sea&Sea strobes. Ike has excellent customer service and are a great choice to go with. The housings are a bit bulkier and heavier than the aluminum housings, but as you noted, the cost is less. You would be looking at somewhere around $2500 for the Ike housing, macro/wide ports and sync cords, add a couple hundred if you need strobe arms and it seems you may still have another several hundred for the 60 mm macro and 10-17 wide angle lenses. So you're really looking at somewhere close to $3800-$4000 with all of that.

Sounds like you were pretty happy with the DX8000G for quite awhile and not really looking to go too high end. You could also consider getting another compact camera/housing kit, like the DX-2G and still have PLENTY left over for a "few nights of fine dining AND the nicer flatware"...

 

[scuba e]

Thanks,
I am set up on arms. The $2500 budget is purely for the housing/ports. Sync cords will have to be added. The lenses are to be aquired outside of the mentioned budget.
i have always wanted to move into a SLR or DSLR format but as I noted I wait for gear to break prior to up grading. Just they way I'm wired. If not I'd be buying a new boat, streetbike, reg., camera, every year.
When my camera died I rented a DX1G for the week. Fairly user freindly but the image quality and color were pretty weak by comparison to my older cam. I have now spoken with a few people that believe that the 8000's glass was superior to the 1G. I have seen no results or reports from the 2G. Though I was happy with the 8000's results I was never very impressed and had been waiting for it's passing to upgrade to SLR/DSLR.
I have always shot my strobes in manual so I see no issues there.
Thanks again,
Erik

 

[slowhands]

My point and shoot died recently. The Sea and Sea strobes are still good though. I have a D90 and am looking at the Ike housing. Can i use the fiber optics with the ike housing? We are trying to budget in another trip this year so I need to keep costs down. Any ideas? Thanks.

The Ikelite DSLR housinigs do not let you raise the flash. Therefore, no fiber. However, you can buy an inexpensive cable from Ikelite that connects to S&S strobes, but only allows manual strobe control. SEE:
http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/sync_cords.html

Manual strobe control is not so bad. The reason is a lot of the TTL flash exposures are not what you want. The camera is fooled. The subject you had in your mind does not get the proper illumination. You can fuss with it using center or spot metering. But for a lot of scenes, we know the distance to the subject will be in a certain range, and you can estimate the correct flash exposure with experience. Most S&S strobes have a 12 step flash control switch, which gives you fairly good fine tuning. Manual works just fine.

You can do the experiment, buy the Ikelite cable, and see how well you like it. That costs a lot less than buying new strobes, arms, the works. If you are not happy, pick up some used Ikelite DS125s. They are fine for stills, but if you do video, you're gonna want to spend the lunch money for the DS161, with the movie light.

I won't knock Ikelite, they sell a good strobe and hope you will buy it, so they cripple the interface to other brands of strobes. Their housings are heavier and bulkier, which can make a difference these days with air travel baggage restrictions. But they let you have full control of your camera, that's what counts. Their support is really outstanding. Year after year. So for those of us who aren't Warren Buffet, they are a good bargain.