I returned last month from a week in Grand Turk, and overall, I'm happy with my setup.
To begin with though, I wasn't very happy with Ikelite, as it was a problem getting consistent and accurate information from them, and I was advised incorrectly a few times and at other times, was told there was no one around who could answer my questions. Initially, I explained I was using ultralite arms, and on my Sea&Sea, had little flat brackets that slid in and were tightened down to hold the arms secure. I wanted to know if I needed to purchase some extra part so I could connect these arms to the Ikelite. I was told I didn't. Well, after I got my housing, it was obvious I did need them, and was perturbed I ended up being charged and extra $40 in shipping to get them to me in time for my trip, when they could easily have been included with my housing. I did my research and that, along with misinformation about a port for my 105mm, left me feeling VERY cautious about Ikelite, this housing and any problems I may have. Because it's a new housing, the local dealers didn't have much, if any, information for me.
I learned that for me, calling Ikelite was not a good way to get information. Sending an email, was the best way to get accurate information and I suggest that over a phone call. Now that I’m more familiar with the Ikelite company and particular issues I’ve had with them, I feel any future communication with them will be better because I’m more aware of what falls through he cracks… on their end and mine.
I use a YS120 and SB105, and purchased a T connector (I was told ikelite no longer makes a T connector for these strobes) from a local company and everything tested out fine above water.
LUCKILY, I was able to speak with James Wiseman the day I left for GT, and the info he passed on to me was invaluable.
Ok, so the first dive, the T connector flooded. It felt a little loose when I connected it, so I disconnected it, double checked the connection and the O ring. Oh well... was it my error, or an inferior after market product, I don't know.
UNFORTUNATELY, I did not bring a single strobe cable that would work with my Ike housing and either of my strobes, so I was out of luck with my photography, EXCEPT, I continued to brainstorm since I had several days of diving left.
SO, this is when my happiness with the Ike housing really started to show. Initially, I tried some pics using the flash on the S2 with no strobe. That actually worked fine since I was shooting macro (60mm). HOWEVER, the port suggested to me by Ikelite is WAY long for the 60mm, and the bottom half of the flash was blocked by the black ring around the end of the port.
The next thing that occured to me was to use the strobes in slave mode off of the S2 built in flash. I was able to take pics, but this still left me with no ttl. So, I set the YS120 on 1/2 and that is how I finished out the week. Some of the pics turned out pretty good, with a few I'm happy with.
The images tended to be a bit under exposed, and this was hard to reckon with since the preview screen appeared to be lighter than the actual image taken. JW told me of the same experience and said there was a way to reset that, but I already had enough on my plate. I shot in manual mode, and the few times I went to aperature or shutter priority, the pics were way too dark. Not being able to use TTL was a sort of fun experiment and the flooding of my dual connector put me in a position to learn things I otherwise would not have learned.
About the housing and...
What I didn't like so much...
The port suggested is unnecessarily long for the 60mm lens and was bothersome to me.
No ability to use the 4 way adjustment button.
No way to use the function buttons... I would have liked to switch to a diff resolution to get more pics at the end of my dives.
The strobe arm 'locks' that fit down in the housing handles are secure enough they don't come out, but they don't lock down tight and I don’t particularly like the movement.
I had a problem getting the ON-OFF switch to work consistently and I usually had to open the housing to turn the camera on or off.
What I do like alot...
No grease on the housing O rings! (thanks James W!)
The clear housing allowed me to continue taking pics even though I flooded my cable... as well as giving me the ability to look for seeping water.
If I were to let go of it in water, it will float.
Easy to assemble, disassemble.
The focus lever, which seemed very sensitive at first was easy to get used to and worked very well.
Although the shutter and aperature control knobs sometimes required some 'fiddling' to get them working, they adjusted much more consistently than on my Sea&Sea, and I think with time and familiarity with the housing, that would improve.
I’ve posted a few pics at http://www.mindspring.com/~zdbradley/. The Arrow blenny has been cropped, but other than that, I’ve done NO tweaking to any of the pics. I wanted to show how they actually came out of the camera, but realize some tweaking would be an improvement.
It was an interesting trip, and I’m looking forward enough to using this housing that I’m planning to get going with cold water diving (Monterey Bay) so I can use it more often. I was so distracted on this last trip with this whole new setup and the flood thing, I couldn’t remember which, +1 or –1 would give me more exposure/light on my subjects!
All in all, I saw MANY baby ~1-3” long puffers, a 2” long honeycomb cow, my first ever baby scorpionfish (2 1/2”), and for my first time out with this, (and having to depend on my creativity) am happy with the S2 and the Ikelite.
Thanks to all who gave me info.
Margaret
