Ikelight or Olympus Housing?

[Kengar]

Greetings, folks.

I've never been anything but a point-and-shoot land photographer, with no UW photography experience at all. (I've been diving since '88.) Nevertheless, wishing to pick up a new hobby, I just bought an Olympus C8080 and am looking to get a housing for UW photography, too.

I like the design of the Olumpus housing that is made for the camera, but the Ikelight housing is rated for 200 feet whereas the Oly housing is "only" rated to 130. A friend of mine who was working as a photo pro in Grand Cayman until the hurricane suggested that the Olympus housings tend to be better quality than the Ikelight housings. (He also suggested that problems with the Ikelight strobes are not uncommon.)

Any comments? Suggestions? Advice?

Thanks

 

[Chris Bangs]

The oly housings are fine But the Ike housings are much more robust and tend to be less flood prone, but they are substantially larger

Ike housings also offer the option of hard wiring your strobe which gives much more manual control capability!

 

[Chris Bangs]

forgot to mention

Ike Quality is superb.

PERIOD!

I have used Ike housing for years!

never any trouble!

The oly housings are great for recreational divers who will never venture below 130 ft ( 40 m )

I have taken a IKE OLY 3040 housing below 300 ft ( 100 m ) no trouble!

chris

 

[Chris Bangs]

I found a review compairing the IKE and OLY housings

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gallery/underwater_photography/up_equipment_5060.htm