Housing for S2? Ikelite or Custom Ikelite?

I am in the process of buying a standard Ikelite housing for my S2 but I am in a quandry as I have been offered a custom built Ike housing which could offer more benefits. However, as I am new to UW photography I would like to seek some advice.

I recently purchased an Ikelite housing which I thought I could modify for my S2, I couldn't. The guy I bought it from has modified another Ike housing which he is now in a position to sell as he is upgrading to an EOS having used his housing with an S2 down to 40m without any problems.

The modified Ike housing has an Aquautica screwthread mount rather than the Ikelite to Aquatica bayonet mount allowing him to use all the Aquatica ports including 8" domes (of which I have one). Whilst it does not offer all the in-camera editing that the official housing does; it offers mode select dial, focus/zoom control, primary and secondary control dials, focus area select and shutter release. There is a large viewfinder and the LCD screen is visible. It also has 3 Nikonos flash bulkhead connectors.

My diving mainly consists of wreck diving in the UK and I am looking at getting a Nikkor 12-24mm for the S2. I also use an 18-70dx. The questions I have are:

1. If I get the new Ike housing, I plan to get an Aquatica 8" dome port with adaptor to fit it as I understand the Aquatica domes ports are much better than the Ikes. Will I be penalised if I buy this port which does not allow (as I understand it) many options such as extensions to be used? Cameras Underwater (UK) have said that as 8" dome ports are like hens teeth they will lend me a 6" port until the 8" ports come in.

2. I have read on several threads that the Aquatica housing is superior to the Ike because of the large number of options it gives with the minimum number of ports. If I use the 12-24 with an 8" dome and the Ike/Aqautica adaptor, will I lose some of the (already limited) wide-angle from the 12-24?

3. Do I need to use a +4 diopter on the 12-24 and the 18-70 with an 8" dome on the Ike?

4. If I had a standard Aqautica housing, would I still need the +4 diopter on both of these lenses?

Thanks for your help. I am going to Tenerife on 7 Jan and was hoping to take my S2 with an Ike housing however, I now have some questions which may mean I postpone the purchase of the housing and just take a compact with me.

Regards

Gareth

This housing conversion scares me. Sounds like it is or will be terrible advertising for Ikelite. We will have plenty of 8" domes with interchangeable stalks later in January, but this doesn't help your January 7 need. I vote for taking a compact or getting an Aquatica............

I agree with Ike, small DIY projects are one thing, but changing the thread of a housing to fit a different port system is another. It may work for a while, but you never know when it will fail because it wasn't tested like the original. I wouldn't do it. If you decide to go with Ikelite I think it is best to wait until the 8'' dome is available.

Luiz

Of course it depends on who did the conversion and how they did it and what their track record is. If I were Ike, I would respond the same way since if it floods then "my Ike housing flooded" not, my highly modified or home made housing flooded. On the other hand, if the guys who did the conversion are knowledgable and competent you might have a winner on your hands. I am not sure that I would expect a new port attachment piece to be any more prone to failure than the existing one, but I would certainly take a very hard look at the design, and workmanship.

Our shop guys can and do make all sorts of complex stuff from all sorts of interesting materials so I am a little jaded or just comfortable with having complex stuff made or modified by hand but again a lot depends on who and how.

Bill

Thanks for all the comments guys. Ike, I understand your concerns too which is why I am asking the questions here. I am confident that this housing is as likely to flood as another housing ie user error rather than system design as he has taken this housing on lots of dives, including some to 40m plus and the housing hasn't failed.

My concerns were more of the high quality port availability for the standard Ike if I went down the standard Ike route.

Unfortunately nobody has answered the questions I posed...anybody got any ideas?

Thanks

Gareth

Here is all you need to know about Ikelite ports:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_nikon.html

The 12-24 should work fine with the Ikelite and the 8'' dome, Karl Dietz has used it and may give you some feedback. For a review of the dome used with the 10-22 look here:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/canon-10-22...te-8-dome-port/

For more discussion about the 8'' dome, look here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7735

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8734

As far as diopters go, I think you will need one for the 18-70 but may not need one for the 12-24 (although I would use one anyways). For more on diopters look here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10372

I hope this helps,

Luiz

Thanks Luiz for the links. I had already found one of the 8" dome port threads but thanks for the other ones. The use of a diopter was an interesting thread which sort of said; yes, no and maybe....

Oh well, what is £50 for a 77mm +4 diopter ontop of the £500 for the lens, £1000 for the housing and £300 for the dome port!!

It seems my problems have sort of gone away as the Ike S2 housing is out of stock at the moment so it looks like I will be going with a P&S

This leaves me some more time to do some research into the pros and cons of an Aquatica housing and their port system. New Thread about to appear....

Thanks again

Gareth