Reputable online order for photography materials in Thailand

[limbo]

Am considering buying a Canon S100, probably with an Ikelite housing instead of the Canon housing, does anybody have a recommendation for an online order service in Thailand.

Regarding the housing any recommendations, I like the Canon cameras but am not impressed with their housings.

 

[Buadhai]

I'm sorry to divert your thread, but can you tell me why you don't like the Canon housing? I'm considering the same camera but had myself convinced to buy the Canon housing. I was recently on a liveaboard (White Manta) on which one of the dive guides (Ohn) took many fine photos using an S90 with the Canon housing. She said that she preferred the Canon housing to the Ikelite because the Ikelite was bulky and boxy.

Her photos were really nice. She used no external flash, but made white balance adjustments several times (at different depths) during the job. She seemed to be easily able to easily access all of the camera's features with the Canon housing.

That said, I've ordered some Ikelite stuff from One Stop Dive. They've been quick, helpful and reliable.

 

[limbo]

Buadhai, I'm on my second Canon camera with Canon housing and both housings start to develop problems after a while. The buttons get 'stuck' at depth and the camera goes into one m ode and doesn't go out of that mode again. I've just cleaned all buttons and put silicone on them, it worked well for two dives and now I'm back to square one. I'm fed up with the Canon housings, but on the other hand, they''re cheaper than Ikelite.
The Ikelite S100 housing doesn't seem bulky at all btw.

Don't think you hijacked the thread, it's a valid question.

I know one stop, thx for the link, now I need to order an s100 online, anybody any url's?

 

[Buadhai]

Interesting. I've been diving for years, but I am a real tyro when it comes to underwater photography.

To start, I bought an Ikelite housing for the Canon A1000IS that I already had. I've taken it on two or three dozen dives now. I'm not real happy with it. Maybe it's just clumsy me, but I'm always hitting the zoom lever by mistake. I find the shutter lever difficult to use. It just developed problems with sticky buttons which I will now attempt to remedy with some silicone grease. (Thanks for that, I never would have thought of it!)

I was leaning toward the Canon housing only because the dive guide seemed so happy with hers. Now I'm not so sure.

BTW, ToHome has the S100 for 15,690 baht. Not a great price, but they are OK to deal with: Canon PowerShot S100 (Amazon has it for around US$400.)

I hope you'll keep us posted on what you end up buying and where.

 

[Quero]

I have a Canon G-series camera that's great, but I hate, hate, hate the Canon housings.
My first housing was for an Ixus camera, and it had a faulty o-ring at the shutter button that took me two flooded cameras to figure out.
I switched to Olympus.
Then I went back to Canon for the G-11, with the OEM housing. But by this time, I had got used to the round port of the Oly which accepts threaded wetmount lenses directly, so the crummy Canon housing, with its rectangular port that requires an (expensive) adapter ended up being a huge PITA for me. Since I really hesitate to invest in an Ikelite housing for a cheap camera, I went back to the Oly and bought a XZ-1. I'm happy with the housing for it.

So, Mike, there's my story about the Canon housings.

Camille, I've used a Manila supplier for online purchases. They offered the best prices (including with comparison to Singapore and Hong Kong), were quickly responsive, and packaged the product very well, I ordered when I was in Bali for a week, and by the time I got back to Thailand, the item had arrived by FedEx. Very pleased. I'm off to dive right now, but I'll look up the supplier later if you're interested. Let me know.

 

[Buadhai]

Well, I guess that puts the final nail in the Canon housing coffin....

 

[limbo]

Budhai, don't just use silicone grease but liquid silicone, here's a guide on how to do it, interestingly enough on a Canon u/w housing

@Quero, very interested to receive a link or contact for the Manila store. How would you compare the XZ-1 to the S100? Are they kind of in the same league?

 

[Quero]

Limbo, here's the supplier I used: Splash Under Water Photography and Accessories but it looks like they only sell the housings, strobes, trays, lenses, etc., and not the cameras themselves.

As for the comparison between the XZ-1 and the S-100, I think just in terms of the optics and the features, the S-100 has an edge, but it's a Canon, so there's the OEM housing issue.....

 

[limbo]

Thanks Quero, will have a look into the XZ-1 nonetheless.

Anybody out there with a reliable online supplier for u/w cameras in Thailand?

 

[Buadhai]

Anybody out there with a reliable online supplier for u/w cameras in Thailand?

Have you decided what and where to buy, yet?

I'm still vacillating....