ice diving and photography

I am seeking advice from anyone who has done any ice diving with their photographic equipment. This weekend I am signed up for an ice diving ceritfication course and would like to take some pictures. Specifically I have a canon 20d with an ikelite housing, dual 125s etc. Is there anything I need to be aware of with this housing to prepare it for below freezing air temps and mid 30's water temp. My concerns center around the seals and how they will respond to these kinds of temps and whether or not they are more likely to fail.

The equipment will be sealed at home prior to going to the dive site, with special attention taken to insure as little humidity as possible is present within the housing prior to closing it up. I will not open the housing again until it is safely at home and it is once again at room temperature. (common sense in my neck of the woods).

Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,

imasleeper

imasleeper,

Biggest concern is making sure your camera and strobe(s) batteries are charged. Water under the ice (you're diving inland, right?) is usually about 35F. Ikelite housings work fine in that temp, although the LCD on your Canon 20D might be a little slow to respond. Get in and shoot a ton of pics and worry what you got later

Do at least one dive first and then take your camera in. Best shooting is usually up under the ice, divers descending around the hole, etc. unless you hvae no snow cover and light comes through the ice pretty well. Then you can drop down for more dramatic effects. I'd still shoot maybe 15' deep max....plus the safety line / harness will be a pain in the butt.....

One other thing I used to worry about was the oil from chainsaws floating around on the surface. Never had a real problem, though...

Good luck!

dhaas

I have taken my Ike D70 housing/DS125’s ice diving several times. I ice dive in Minnesota, USA so I can only speak to freshwater ice diving.

Most of the extra care needed for ice diving happens before and after the dive. Once you are diving, it is just a cold-water dive with a camera (and a rope, an overhead enviroment and so on).

In general: I set up everything at home and then put it back in the Pelican case. I leave it all there until I someone hands it to me while I am underwater. I do a short dive first to make sure all is well with my other dive equipment then return to the hole and have someone hand me the camera. I use it for one dive and then back in the case it goes. If I do another dive, I don’t’ take the camera.

I had one problem last year, a tiny leak in the form of a few drops. It came from the control that turns the camera on and off. I saw it right away and handed the camera back up. I could not duplicate the problem in the pool and Ikelite found nothing wrong with the housing. I think that the tiny bit of water that gets around the controls froze, expanded, and pushed on a gland letting in some drops of water. Hence, I only use it for one dive a day and or don’t let it freeze. I have found it very useful to dive from a heated shelter so that the camera and housing don’t get too cold. --- OK, so I don’t freeze either.

You might want to insert a silica gel packet to suck up the humidity, and avoid change of temperature as much as possible, once it's cold its better to leave it cold until your done diving, a good add on is a magenta filter if you shoot available light, somewher around a 20 to 30cc of magenta or even a FLD filter. it will help with the green cast on these dive, (works for me I did a cover for Scuba Press with this technique). stay close and shoot with your widest lens and have fun,

Ice Diving is cool !

First time overhead-restricted (under the ice)? If so, might I suggest keeping your mind free from anything except procedures (staying alive).

Come back with a camera another day. Just sayin'.

All the best, James

Or better yet, do has I did on my certification dive, have your Buddy/instructor carry the housing with the explicit understanding that if you are a total screw up you should not get the housing from him, bet you will behave at the same time ask him to shoot a few frame of you, its nice to be on the other side of the camera once in a while. but by all mean enjoy, its the coolest (pun intented) diving. I'm an ice junky B) since trying it.