Hello,

I have a Sony Nex 5N in a Nauticam housing.

I use it with the 16mm and fisheye converter with the 4,33 ‘’ dome port.

And 2 sea&sea Ys110a with fiber optic.

So, I shoot only wide angle and what I like the most are big animals : sharks, whales, dolphins, manta rays…

This setup is more than 10 years old. So, image quality is not very good and the housing begin to not work very well : for example, the trigger button sometimes doesn’t come back at his initial position.

But I really like the size of this setup.

So I m thinking about an upgrade.

For the moment, I have 2 ideas:

1. Sony a6500 with an Ikelite housing with a sigma mc11 or meta bones + tokina 10-17 . What I like is the fact that the camera has an internal flash to my current flash will work in TTL with fiber optics. But this camera begins to be old and investing a lot of money in an underwater setup is maybe not the best idea…

2. A canon R7, again in an Ikelite housing with an RF to EF adapter and Tokina 10-17. The camera is more recent , better custom white balance for video but I would need to buy TTL trigger and my current flashes will only support manual and not TTL.

What do you think about these ideas?

I mentionned Ikelite and not Nauticam for example because it is much cheaper and the port chart includes the Tokina 10-17

Other options?

I also have a question concerning the flashes.

Ikelite ECKO seems to be really light and small. Anyone already tried them? Which results to expect comparing with my sea & sea Y100a?

Note: I also use my housing a lot for snorkeling

Thank you for your help.

47 minutes ago, kalani said:

A canon R7, again in an Ikelite housing with an RF to EF adapter and Tokina 10-17. The camera is more recent , better custom white balance for video but I would need to buy TTL trigger and my current flashes will only support manual and not TTL.

I am using a Canon R7 in a Nauticam housing so will answer only on this part according to my own experience. Personally for bigger animals such as sharks or Manta rays, I prefer the RF18-45EFS + WWL1B combo :

• it doesn't need any adapter and fits a smaller N100 flat port

• I find is more adapted to animals in the distance with a longer range although I can use it for wide coral reef images

• It is often even sharper in the corners than the 10-17 tok fisheye+minidome (which I also own and seldom use it anymore)

Otherwise I don't understand your remark about a mandatory TTL trigger (I am using a manual trigger currently which works fine with the R7 and most of the strobes).

FWIW after having used alu housings of different brands (Subal then Nauticam) I wouldn't go back to Ikelite (which I have also used in the beginnings). I know investment can hurt financially speaking, however when it's time to change you should be aware that the cheaper might be the more expensive in the long run (less reliability, frustration leading to forward another change, etc.).

54 minutes ago, kalani said:

I also have a question concerning the flashes.

Ikelite ECKO seems to be really light and small. Anyone already tried them? Which results to expect comparing with my sea & sea Y100a?

Providing you are mainly focusing on big aniimals, you should invest into more powerful and even lighting than entrry range strobes mainly thought for macro.

There are now a number of brands which have rolled out these 2 past years some quite powerful strobes under the 900€ price tag (think Supe, Fotocore, Kraken, AOI, Backscatter, etc.) : they should be more suited to your kind of subject and worthwhile the investment.

Manual mode is not so much an issue with a little experience and will not need a TTL trigger btw ;) )

Ikelite are fairly unique and were mostly setup to use ikelite strobes with wired connectors but have just started optical triggering recently. They tend to push TTL as they claim no one else knows how to do it. I think after using Nauticam you may find the ikelite housings a bit basic for want of a better word. You need to see what ports they offer and read the fine print for your chosen lens option there are some interesting limitations sometimes. They are also not that compact, basically a big cube with a lot of space inside. They don't offer a compact 4"dome port for fisheyes for example. The dome options for the mirrorless housings like this one are quite limited. the only dome options allowing zoom is the 6.5"dome with a zoom knob on the extension.

Unfortunately you picked camera models that only have ikelite or Nauticam housings available. I'd suggest a good start would be to choose your lens options and work back through the ports to available housings to finally arrive at a camera choice. If you wanted a WWL for example the 18-45 is supported for Nauticam and if you can use it on Nauticam you could also set it up on Marelux.

If you wanted a 10-17, it takes 20mm less extension than the Canon 8-15 so a Nauticam 10mm extension, however Marelux doesn't seem to have a 10mm extension so it looks like it may be a non starter on that system for R7. You could use a the excellent Canon 8-15 with it though on either system.

If you wanted an extremely flexible wide angle setup you could run an adapted Canon 8-15 on m43 and have the ability to zoom from full diagonal fisheye to a field equivalent to a 28mm rectilinear wideangle - full frame equivalent but with barrel distortion from the fisheye. The cheapest way to do that would be in Isotta with a special extension with zoom gear and a 4.5"dome port on their OM-1 housing. So it's a fisheye, part of WWL range setup and a 14-18 (FF equivalent ) lens all in one setup. I use this setup with Nauticam and it is excellent if a little heavy. The m43 sensor is good enough for what I do.

On the question of port charts for EF lenses the main housing manufacturers have their systems to allow use of EF lenses on the RF-EF adapter, Nauticam housings for example setup the housings to you can use the recommended ports and zoom gears for your EF lens from the EF port charts with the RF housing and it all works. Isotta has and RF-EF adapter ring, but they don't support the R7.

You could also look into the Marelux R7 housings They do support the Canon 8-15.

7 hours ago, Luko said:

Otherwise I don't understand your remark about a mandatory TTL trigger (I am using a manual trigger currently which works fine with the R7 and most of the strobes).

Yes . You are right. Sorry. The Canon R7 needs, at least, a manual flash trigger.

Concerning Nauticam vs Ikelite : i am convinced that Nauticam is better but the price is prohibitive...

Maybe if I find one used but it would probably be for an older camera model like maybe an a7II/a7rii but bigger than an apsc housing...

About fisheye lenses , I had in mind :

• Tokina 10-17 for APSC

• Canon 8-15 for full frame -> So this lens makes sense for APSC as well?

On ikelite port chart, I see that with for Sony E mount, Tokina 10-17 can be used either with a 6" dome port or a 8"dome port (good for slept shots). 6" dome port is too big in order to handle easily ?

FOr Canon R7 : also 6" or 8" dome port but no zoom possible for the 8".

On Nauticam side, which dome port can be used for the tokina 10-17 for Sony e mount and for canon APSC?

I don't see any possibility in the port chart

Sticking with Nauticam :

For Canon APSC -> I don't see the rtokina 10-17 in the port chart

For Sony full frame : for using the canon 8-15 : N100 to N120 adapter + N120 Extension Ring 30 II + 18802 (8.5" Acrylic Dome Port) so it seems very big

@Chris Ross : I never looked at the m4/3 world but maybe it is a good option if it is cheaper, lighter and minimal image quality reduction compared to APSC or full frame. Which camera model would you recommend? with an adapter and the canon 8-15?

Thank you very much for your detailed answers :-)

Here's my take from a long time Canon dSLR and now mirrorless shooter......

The R7 is a fine camera no matter what housing you put it in. APS-C versus full frame is in my opinion not as critical as too many whine about. Any print, self printed book, online use or whatever can be done with APS-C or even 4:3.......

As to lenses for Canon the EF-RF adapter (I'd recommend getting the Canon brand) will function fine with several EF lenses and new RF or RF-S lenses designed for APS-C sensor Canon models including Canon R100, R50, R10 and R7.

The Canon 8-15mm is stellar and APS-C designed Tokina 10-17mm can be a good choices. Both lenses are discontinued but can be found on the used market. Since the Canon R7 is APS-C the Canon RF-S 10-18mm rectilinear lens is a bargain producing great sharpness and color. It's all I own for WA shooting now.

Just noticed the poster is more interested in wide shooting but here's info for any potential macro shooters.

For macro several lenses are fine including the discontinued but very sharp Canon EF-S 60mm. With the Canon R7 camera's 1.6X sensor crop factor it "sees" like a 96mm lens. On APS-C sensors I feel the Canon 100mm Macro whether the older EF or newer RF model are way too long and simply frustrate people.

On housings I'm tired of people denigrating Ikelite......

Are they perfect? No, but cost to benefit are still an attractive option......

Full disclosure; I was an Ikelite dealer for over 35 years and user and also owned Aquatica and Nauticam housings. You can search for comments and recent use in 2025 of the Nauticam Canon R50 housing and various WWL and other lenses with sample photos.

Ikelite's smaller DLM sized housings for Canon APS-C and even the full frame Canon R8 and Dry Lock port system can withstand any typical dive conditions. Their full sized housings as evidenced by many top notch shooters (see several web site stories at www.ikelite.com) have enabled photographers to capture great images from Norway's arctic to wherever. If you really need 100M depth rating then sure buy an aluminum housing at 3-4X the price....But you'll still be shooting the same lenses inside any housing.

Famous underwater photographer Chris Newbert long ago at a DEMA trade show told a friend considering an Ikelite housing; "They're all just boxes with o-rings keeping your camera dry". He shot many (all?) of his macro images for his famous underwater coffee table book: "Within a Rainbowed Sea" with Ikelite housed Canon F1 cameras.....At another show I had Michael Aw of Ocean Geographic fame tell me his early Bunaken books were shot using multiple Ikelite housed film cameras.

The argument on acrylic versus glass domes I contend in today's world of shoot, edit, publish and share is simply not as important as touted. I'm sure many will disagree and that's fine......

As I've written the new Ikelite TT5 Canon optical transmitter provides accurate TTL with their newest RC165 and Ecko Fiber strobes. If you have other brand strobes you can trip them in manual flash with a quick change in the camera's flash menu choice.

I find people not even trying TTL to be another disappointment in today's tiny underwater shooting world but that's me.......

Underwater time is limited and unless you're shooting slow macro creatures playing with flash settings is too "old school" for this 72 year old :)

For the original poster here's an article I wrote on DivePhotoGuide shooting the new Ikelite Ecko Fiber strobes in Roatan Honduras. They're all I plan to shoot on my 2026 trips to Palau in March then Philippines in June.

DivePhotoGuide

Shooting the Ikelite Ecko Fiber Strobes in Roatán

My intent is NOT to "stir the pot" but share a lifetime of underwater imaging insights with the original poster :)

Good luck with whatever set up you choose!!!!

David Haas

Edited Saturday at 06:43 PM1 day by dhaas

One thing I will say about Ikelite (I don't own one) is they will sell you parts to service it yourself and it's not expensive.

Getting Nauticam to even reply about parts is impossible.

That said I shoot Nauticam.

1 hour ago, Grantmac said:

That said I shoot Nauticam.

Even though you’re on the West coast, reach out to Reef Photo in Ft Lauderdale if you get in a Nauticam bind. They are connected to Nauticam USA.

Ikelite is the least expensive. There are reasons. I’ve owned a couple and have been much more happy with the build quality of Nauticam. Get what you pay for.

Edited Saturday at 08:30 PM1 day by ChipBPhoto

5 hours ago, kalani said:

About fisheye lenses , I had in mind :

• Tokina 10-17 for APSC

• Canon 8-15 for full frame -> So this lens makes sense for APSC as well?

On ikelite port chart, I see that with for Sony E mount, Tokina 10-17 can be used either with a 6" dome port or a 8"dome port (good for slept shots). 6" dome port is too big in order to handle easily ?

FOr Canon R7 : also 6" or 8" dome port but no zoom possible for the 8".

On Nauticam side, which dome port can be used for the tokina 10-17 for Sony e mount and for canon APSC?

I don't see any possibility in the port chart

Sticking with Nauticam :

For Canon APSC -> I don't see the rtokina 10-17 in the port chart

For Sony full frame : for using the canon 8-15 : N100 to N120 adapter + N120 Extension Ring 30 II + 18802 (8.5" Acrylic Dome Port) so it seems very big

@Chris Ross : I never looked at the m4/3 world but maybe it is a good option if it is cheaper, lighter and minimal image quality reduction compared to APSC or full frame. Which camera model would you recommend? with an adapter and the canon 8-15?

Thank you very much for your detailed answers :-)

Yes you can use the Can 8-15 same as the 10-17. You set the zoom limiter to 10mm and can zoom from 10-15mm with APS-C, better image quality, less zoom range, more weight, and can be used on Marelux compared to the Tokina 10-17

Yes you need to read the fine print in the port charts:

this is because the small housings don't have a zoom control it must be on the lens extension and all they offer is the 6"dome in this format

Regarding the m43 option , I have the OM-1, you have a lot of options for housings and Isotta is a good option if you want to adapt a Canon 8-15. Here is the parts list in this post:

SO you could price out this option. I did it with Nauticam, but it ends up expensive as you need an N85-N120 adapter which are really pricey and Nauticam no longer makes the specific adapter and their ports and extension rings are pricey. I got some of the items second hand. You will need the metabones adapter - the latest model EF-M43 is needed due to geometry of the OM-1, but I have an older version I filed down to fit. The image quality is great though. This gallery is all taken with OM-1 and Canon 8-15:

https://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Walindi%20Resort%20PNG/index.html

I did have a few issues with noise on a couple of deep dives on overcast days, but doing it again I think easily compensated by upping the ISO and shooting a little wider open. Shooting at f8 is generally enough so you can use less powerful strobes. If you can source the FML-3 mini flash to trigger strobes it is a cheap and reliable option for manual triggering.

Be aware though in Nauticam the housing ends up quite heavy and needs a fair bit of flotation, the small housing size is less buoyant and the 8-15 is a heavy lump of glass.

Regardless of housing choice, if you decide to go Sony, don't choose the 6500. Get at least the 6400, which still has built-in flash and has vastly improved AF over the 6500.

I like my Sony A-6400 in Nauticam. I use either the WWL plus a Sigma 19 or the kit lens behind the WWL. I also use the Sony 16mm pancake by itself, with the wide angle or the fisheye adapters inside the 4.33 dome. The WWL easily produces better image quality than the 16mm pancake but at the expense of only a 130 degrees FOV. The problem for me with the A-6XXX series of cameras is the 1/160 sync speed and the preflash that cannot be cancelled for manual only. Using the UWT trigger I can trick the camera into 1/200 sync speed and it works fine. It also has the booster battery or I can run onboard charging thus making it possible to shoot several days without opening the housing if need be.

I really liked my 6500 but that battery definitely didn't last long. I'm currently on the hunt for a 6400 although since a large focus will be video I debate if giving up IBIS is worth the improved AF and battery life.