Ikelite Housing for D300

B&H already have listed the Ikelite Housing for the not yet released Nikon D-300 for 1349.95$,

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5218...IKON_D_300.html

So… I feel like speculate a little, about new features Ike´s users will like…

Starting by me, I really will like a mounting ball on top for a focus light, also the bulkhead on top wouldn´t hurt anyone and´ll avoid any obstruction to access the focus knob and the left side knobs by any lose cords, and provides easy access to left side buttons too. The "right angle bulkhead" still difficult access to some buttons.

The TTL/Manual dial I think is superb, so of course I expect that by default…

New ergonomics on handles and tray? A new look won’t hurt anyone, but in the tray I definitely seal the weight space left under the housing, the way it leaves an air space to compensate for the weight of the D300, even more I place some sort of capsule inside the handles wich also retain air.

I definitely move the command dials knobs closer to the handle, and change the shutter lever for something a little more thick and handable, this certainly provide a more precise shoot.

Well.. that´s me.. I´m pretty sure everybody that alredy plan to get a D300 on Ikelite, have a comment on this...

Great thread - great opportunity for Ikelite, and a truly great opportunity for real users to influence parts of a design. Here I am 100% certain that the information in this tread will be viewed by those in a position to make changes.

Here is an idea - I doubt that the good guys at Ike can accommodate it but.....

I would cheerfully pay more for less.

There are a whole load of controls on my Ike housing that I would pay not to have in the first place - each one is a candidate failure point - this also includes the TTL stuff which I find gets in the way (for me - other users will have their own view - which is again very reasonable).

Paul C

B&H -- Nicknamed "Big & Hebrew" has been my "candy store" for a number of years now, so let me tell you a bit about them & how they work.

[cut; to keep the thread on topic]]

For underwater, though, B&H is at the top of the heap in the NYC metro area, as they have a large number of housings in stock. Granted, most of them are for P&S; but at least it's better than having to special order & drop-ship from the factory.

UPDATE: I almost forgot, until I proofread my post: B&H monitors "wish list" items for statistical purposes; and also notifications when out-of-stock items are back in stock; both to gauge potential demand.

B&H already have listed the Ikelite Housing for the not yet released Nikon D-300 for 1349.95$,

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5218...IKON_D_300.html

B&H -- Nicknamed "Big & Hebrew" has been my "candy store" for a number of years now, so let me tell you a bit about them & how they work. They are the largest camera store in the world, with over 700 employees. Their main store is a whole city block long, and most of it now, with their renovations, is two floors. They also have 10,000 feet of overhead conveyors threading throughout the store and their stockrooms in the basement, itself an engineering marvel. They also have a huge warehouse in the old Brooklyn Navy Yard facility.

 

Their philosophy is simple, according to insiders: Sell boxes with merchandise in them, which is why they recently added HDTV to their product lineup. To them, a $1395 Ikelite housing is no different than a $1395 iMac.

 

That being said, unlike most of the other camera stores in the Photo District, their sales staff is *not* on commission; and also they are well trained.

 

The only downside is that their darkroom department is shrinking a bit, as they are moving all but the basic E-6 & C-41 color chemistry to special order status, instead of keeping them on the shelf; which is a pain in the ass, since they don't ship any haz-mat items (fear of cradle-to-grave liability), so you have to order it online or in the store, and go back to pick it up.

 

There are other stores in the Photo District that compete, and do well. Adorama is a mini circus, Alkit carries a shorter line but keeps their color film in the refrigerators, FotoCare is a high-end shop for studios, carrying lots of digital backs and large format, Lens & Repro is tilted towards large format as well, Digital Transitions sells high-end digital capture gear... And of course, Calumet has a branch.

 

For underwater, though, B&H is at the top of the heap in the NYC metro area, as they have a large number of housings in stock. Granted, most of them are for P&S; but at least it's better than having to special order & drop-ship from the factory.

 

UPDATE: I almost forgot, until I proofread my post: B&H monitors "wish list" items for statistical purposes; and also notifications when out-of-stock items are back in stock; both to gauge potential demand.

 

Cheers!

Dan

 

PS: Sitting right next to my desk is their "Career Opportunities" brochure. Milton, their darkroom department manager, keeps asking me if I'm coming to work for them!

With all the respect you deserve Dan, this is waaaaayyy out of topic. This thread is intended to talk about Ikelite housing design and windows left for improvement. This is supposed to be about what "real users" think about what is lacking on ikelite design, and their needs. If you feel like talk a lot about B&H or your carrer opportunities, please start a new thread about it, or go to B&H carefully examine a couple of Ikelite housings and tell us what you think about them. Even more, get a couple of your insiders and tell us what is the estimated release time for this housing... let´s start gossip about it... (already feelling sorry for that last idea ike guys!)

My suggestions would be:

Dual bulkhead (mounted on top)

Fewer controls. Just because the camera has it doesn't mean we need to be able to change it underwater.

A better zoom ring/clamp design. When I was shooting an Ike housing my zoom ring felt like it needed a bit of oil to turn smoothly.

Good observation Felix in spotting this especially since this is still the only message on the Ikelite website:

"This camera has been announced by the manufacturer but is not yet available on the US market. Once we obtain and evaluate the camera we will have more information about the likelihood of offering a housing for it. Please keep checking our website for the most current status."

I'm sure Ikelite will be one of the first to offer a housing for this camera once its realeased. But the reason they will be first is due to the simplicity of their DSLR housing design.

Their housing is basically a box big enough to fit any prosumer level DSLR inside loosely. They have a standard mold and just move the buttons around to fit. Its a pretty simple concept and it keeps R&D costs down and it works. They started with the digital Rebel and since then the only substantive shanges have been in the location/style of the TTL knob and the TTL connector. I doubt they will be making substantive changes for the D300 as much as I doubt the statement on their website that they are seriously considering "Not" offering a housing for this camera.

You are making some good suggestions about changes but I think they would be hard to implement without a total re-design of the housing.

1) The DSLR housing mounts the camera to the backshell. This gives a good solud connection to most of the buttons, but unfortunately makes it impractical to offer a strobe connection on the top of the housing because it would be difficult to connect to the hotshoe if the camera and housing were on seperate pieces.

2) A top mounted ball for a focus light would be handy, but could offer a potential failure point in the housing since it would add stress to the top of the housing. I for myself am pretty satisfied with ultralight's solution here: Neck Ball adapter AC-NB

3) There are buttons that I don't use underwater but it can be pretty frustrating if you can't access something on the housing. I think the risk is small due to flooding through these controlls. Most floods are through the main and port seals. Floods through controlls are usually minor drips that aren't catastrophic anyway.

Ikelite seems to be keeping their info closer to the vest than they were when Ike was at the helm Too bad I miss Ike.

Felix, you're right: I cut pretty much everything from my post.

That being said, B&H is the 800 pound gorilla in the camera retailer industry: If 20-30 people put the Ikelite D300 housing on their "wish list," then you had better believe this will be conveyed to Indianapolis. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if B&H put this on their site just to monitor page hits, to gauge interest.

With all the respect you deserve Dan, this is waaaaayyy out of topic. This thread is intended to talk about Ikelite housing design and windows left for improvement. This is supposed to be about what "real users" think about what is lacking on ikelite design, and their needs. If you feel like talk a lot about B&H or your carrer opportunities, please start a new thread about it, or go to B&H carefully examine a couple of Ikelite housings and tell us what you think about them. Even more, get a couple of your insiders and tell us what is the estimated release time for this housing... let´s start gossip about it... (already feelling sorry for that last idea ike guys!)

Expect then the fewer controls I totally agree with cdoyal.

Thumb Focus. Had to modify the arm on my D200 to return the Thumb Focus I had on my D70.

Move the front dial button some place else. I modified the shutter to be a hair trigger pull back (as opposed to the full-throw pull down it arrived with) and as I adjust the front dial with dry gloves on, I will sometimes fire the shutter.

A small bag of "blanking buttons" so I can pull out the actuators I never use and simply plug the holes.

Focus light shoe on top of the housing. We'd all love that.

Love the cut outs for batt removal and card removal without the need to pull the cam from the tray. Also love the recessed knob on the tray of the D200 - no need for a nickel to tighten it up like my old D70.

Those are my tops.

---

Ken

Ikelite Promises for December!

Housing for Nikon D-300 dSLR Camera

 

Ikelite Housing #6812.3 ...... $ 1,500 US Market MSRP ( camera not included )

 

This housing is currently in development and expected to be in production sometime in December. Product photos and details will be posted as soon as specifications are finalized. Keep checking the "What's New" for the latest information on product availability.