Ikelite D200 Housing Impressions

First off I am an unabashed Ikelite fan due to the value one gets with the products and the service, which is second to none. So, I guess, one could take my comments with a grain of salt,

I spent 9 days diving with my D200 and Ikelite housing shooting mainly with a DS125 strobe. The fit and finish of the Ikelite housing is the usual good work by Ike and company. The camera fit is a bit tighter than the D70 but I quickly got used to that. The trigger to fire the strobe has to be pushed forward instead of pulled towards you and that took me a few dives to get used to after diving the D70. The only time it was a "problem" was when I dove the D70 (set up with 105 lens that my "I would be dangerous if I understood photography" daughter dove with the whole week. Occasionally I would push away to fire and realize I had to pull the trigger towards me.

The controls were easily accessible except one has to set the metering one wishes to use topside.

I like the new bulkhead for the strobe cord being angled up as it makes the cord much less likely to get in the way.

The new adjustment for exposure is much more convenient that the pushbutton system on the D70 housing.

The D200 worked quite well under water. I thought it was quicker focusing than the D70 and did so in much lower lighting conditions. The "hunting" my D70 did for the proper focus was almost absent in the D200. I didn't use my Fix Fisheye light as much as I did with the D70.

Lastly, I used a Nexto DI unit to copy photos. Wow is it fast, much faster than any portable hard drive I've ever used when it comes to copying files, including the big files from the D200. Though a bit bigger than a photochute or other similar device, it is quite light, intuitive and did I say FAST?

Steve Dingeldein

One more thing. The control to turn the camera on is a little touchier than the D70 housing. On the D70 you just get it on either side of the part of the switch that sticks out and push the switch to the on or off position. That works for turning the D200 off but to turn it on you have to get the tip of the control in the notch on TOP of the part of the switch that sticks out. It took me a while to recognize that fact and once I did, it was no big deal.

SD

I too am an unabashed Ikelite fan. The D200 housing is my third Ikelite housing and I love it. Even more impressi than the product is the Ikelite customer support. Second to none!

The housing did everything very very well sporting dual DS-120's. The whole system pretty heavy above and below water, but I used Ikelightener's to make it about 2 pounds negative and very manageable.

After getting to know the system and learning what it can and can't do, I can't think of much to change unles....

When using the 8" dome, the weight of the system rests on the bottom lip of the dome and tilts the housing back. This makes me uneasy about the weight on the dome plus makes it harder to read the menu.

If Ikelite were to make a 3/4 - 1 inch hollow plastic or high density marine foam riser, it would raise the housing to level. This would allow the user to adjust the camera much more easily AND make it more bouyant.

Just a thought. Way to go Ike! Love your stuff!

Ikelighteners???

I too just returned from a week using the D200 and Ikelite housing. Had pretty much the same opinions as you. I did loosen the shutter release lever and move its lever below/behind the rear command dial control so I could pull the trigger rather than push. Had no problems. Had one interesting problem. With two DS200 strobes attached (Ikelite's dual cord) when the strobes fired full charge the flaching indicator in the viewfinder sticks and continues to flash stopping any further picture taking. Easily fixed by turning strobe on and off, but took me awhile to figure it out.

Wahoo,

If you send your housing back to us we will fix problem with a reprogrammed micro controller in the I-TTL circuit in your housing. The other option is to set the meter in your camera to infinity.

Will send the housing back in a couple weeks. Do I need reference number or just include a note? What meter in the camera would I set to infinity?

Set your meter off setting to infinity

Karl

Yes, it is just as Karl said.

There is no need for a reference number. Include a small note describing the problem.