i-TTL for ikelite/Nikon 8400

The forum has been very helpful so I will contiune to ask questions. This is my newest one. I have a Nikon 8400 w/ Ikelite housing. I have just ordered the Sea&Sea ys-110. I plan to learn to shoot with this setup in the manual mode as I don't really want to use the fiber optic ds connection.

I know Ikelite was working on i-ttl for this housing, but did not finish it in time. Can I, or will I ever be able to add i-TTL to my setup? I've read a lot about manual vs. TTL and want to learn both ways. Just part of my quest for the ultimate compact uw setup.

Ike once e-mailed me and said that they couldn't fit iTTL into the housing. That was some time ago.

ya, there isn't alot of room inside. I've looked at some photos with the Ikelite's i-ttl system, but can't get a good look at how much electronics are involved. What about the sea&sea converter? This looks like an external device. I've also read a little about the OEM converters, I think they are Heinrichs. Perhaps I can have one of these installed.

It's not the end of the world if I don't have it, just thought it would be cool to have a tricked out housing.

I tended to enjoy a large degree of success with running the Ikelite EV controller and the DS125 set to ttl, obviously this is all manual strobe use. Going from full wreck vistas to shooting pygmy seahorses on the same dive with quality pictures was quite fun. Lens, focus speed, that was lacking.

With hesitation, I moved on and I sold my Ike/CP8400 to a friend but recently asked Ikelite if they had figured iTTL circuitry for this camera or not? I was told no. I was hoping they did so my friend had the choice either way.

To my understanding, and from the lack of Ikelite providing much further discussion on this camera, I believe that Ikelite has simply moved on past this camera (and almost did from the beginning). I don't ever see Ikelite providing any effort to put circuitry into this housing because there is not enough demand. I do not see it being a "enough room" issue as the lastest batch of Ikelite dslr housings are thinner in the main body, but the rear housing panel is similiar thickness to the CP8400 and they have simply carved out a section for the circuitry to be inset within it. There really is no reason that Ikelite couldn't receive your housing and inset the circuitry board within the backpanel as the dslr systems (if they wanted). In my opinion, Ikelite simply looks at this as "why?". To my knowledge, I know of only 4 people who shoot this camera u/w, so for Ikelite to take manpower to make this happen isn't cost effective on a camera that is more than two years old.

That's too bad in my opinion, I think the market overlooked what to me is far and away the better of most all compact digicams to be produced to date. You has extremely good macro, 24 mm (film equiv) wide-angle photography (all on the same dive!), ttl viewfinder, 8mp with RAW, complete full manual control, and a host of other features right out of the box without any additional lenses or add-ons; still not yet equalled in the market even after two + years.

I would suggest a serious look into the Heinrich circuitry for this if you need TTL, there is room in the corners and along the back of the housing should you want it and hopefully Heinrich's works? You will need the help of someone like Ryan to install it and not muck it up. At least you have a bulkhead there waiting....

Good luck.

The heinrich's optical slave, with a newish ike ds50/51, or ds 125 might very well allow full TTL with the 8400... Worth the experiment.

That's too bad in my opinion, I think the market overlooked what to me is far and away the better of most all compact digicams to be produced to date. You has extremely good macro, 24 mm (film equiv) wide-angle photography (all on the same dive!), ttl viewfinder, 8mp with RAW, complete full manual control, and a host of other features right out of the box without any additional lenses or add-ons; still not yet equalled in the market even after two + years.

 

I would suggest a serious look into the Heinrich circuitry for this if you need TTL, there is room in the corners and along the back of the housing should you want it and hopefully Heinrich's works? You will need the help of someone like Ryan to install it and not muck it up. At least you have a bulkhead there waiting....

 

Good luck.

I took a long and hard look at a UW compact solution. I started looking at the Oly 7070, but the Nikon 8400 had a wider lens, more MP on a larger sensor as well as the electronic viewfinder (not used underwater). I used to own the Oly 5060 and while it was a great camera, the optical viewfinder was horrid and I saw the 8400 as a step up in several areas. The 8400 was an expensive camera (MSRP $999) and has a very sweet lens. I've tested it and it resolves as much detail as a 8mp DLSR at ISO 50-100.

On top of that, I really liked the Ikelite housing. A two handle tray as opposed to most single handle trays on compacts. A real bulkhead and super thick housing walls. Best of all is a dome port that mounts the Nikon .75x wide angle conversion lens. This puts the 8400 at a very wide 18MM FOV, and I believe this will be at a higher quality than an external add-on lens due to the elimination of defraction via the dome port. It has a decent movie mode and can shoot a very close macro.

I am only a couple of hundred dollars shy (okay more like $400-600) of what a DSLR setup would cost, but I didn't really want a large setup. I do a lot of beach diving and have no plans to become a pro.

I was supprised that only a handful of people shoot with this setup, but I am very happy thus far.

I will see how I do with the YS-110 on full manual and look into installing Heinrich's TTL in the future.