Housing Setup

Hi all,

I'm in the process of getting my diving certification but my wife has been diving since she was a kid.

We're planning a trip through the South Pacific and although I have a D200 I don't want to carry around a housing for it because we're going to do more traveling afterwards....anyway, after much hand-wringing I bought the Canon SD850. It has very few reviews but I needed a small P&S cam for the 8 months of the trip that we're not diving and had to compromise for size rather than go with a G7 or something.

Now, I bought the cam and am trying to figure out the housings. If I have this whole thing figured out, I need to get a:

- Ikelite Housing(Just Ikelite because it seems to have good rep and money isn't too much of an issue for this.)

- Tray with handle

- Strobe Unit with manual sensor

Are filters used mainly for shallow color correction and no strobe?

Can anyone recommend a different brand that might be better in their opinion.

I think that's it...my wife knows little about these but I want to surprise her with the setup. Going to Cozumel next month and might be a good time to test out the setup before taking off next year.

Thanks and great forum.

You're pretty much right on for what you need. For the strobe, a lot of ppl use fiber optic cables that connect from the housing (usually velcro) to the strobe's slave sensor, that way it fires pretty much all the time.

Filters are used most effectively in shallower depths where you have more ambient light. And you are correct, they are generally used without strobe(s).

I'm not sure of the cost of other brands, but for trays and strobe arm, you can check out ULCS (Ultralight Control Systems) for their stuff. Seems a lot of ppl have used it and liked it. Ikelite also has their tray/arm. You can also check out Sea&Sea's products. Not sure on compatibility with the Ikelite housing but those are some brands out there for you to check out.

I'll also be going to Cozumel, but Sept 4, if I remember correctly. I've dove there before and it's really a great place.

You're pretty much right on for what you need. For the strobe, a lot of ppl use fiber optic cables that connect from the housing (usually velcro) to the strobe's slave sensor, that way it fires pretty much all the time.

 

Filters are used most effectively in shallower depths where you have more ambient light. And you are correct, they are generally used without strobe(s).

 

I'm not sure of the cost of other brands, but for trays and strobe arm, you can check out ULCS (Ultralight Control Systems) for their stuff. Seems a lot of ppl have used it and liked it. Ikelite also has their tray/arm. You can also check out Sea&Sea's products. Not sure on compatibility with the Ikelite housing but those are some brands out there for you to check out.

 

I'll also be going to Cozumel, but Sept 4, if I remember correctly. I've dove there before and it's really a great place.

Thanks a lot for the response. I think I'm just going to go with the Ikelite stuff as I haven't heard anything bad about it and it seems like the best stuff. Since we're hopefully going to be using this equipment for a while I assume it's best to buy what's best. I wish I could buy a housing for my D200, but the housing will just take up too much space as we're more of backpackers than luggage-havers.

Cheers and have fun in Cozumel, I'll post some pics when I get back if I'm not too ashamed.

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