Port mounts designs

I use an Ikelite DSLR housing which is a little over a year old, it has probalby done 150-200 dives with no leaks or "trade mark" dribbles. I will get another Ike housing when the need arises. The port latch mechanism seems secure to me, once an o ring is seated in the groove and properly lubed it will do its job.

With all housings it is important to get into a predive drill about assembly, don't be too anal but clean and lube the obvious o rings and the double check visually that they have all seated correctly when the housing is closed.

I agree, user error is probably the biggest single cause or housing flooding.

I'm on my third Ikelite housing in 10 years with hundreds of dives on them from snorkelling to 30+ metres. So far I've never had the 'trademark' dribble of water. Had I had such an incident the housing would have been returned as unacceptable if new or serviced if I'd used it a while.

Here's my philosophy: a port mount design should be "fault tolerant." That means that we all make mistakes, and the design should account for this.

So my order of preference is like this:

#1 - Threaded ports. These can be rotated 90 degrees by accident and won't pop off. There are no clips to forget to fasten, and it's very hard not to get the o-ring "right."

#2 - Bayonet. These are somewhat tolerant, but without a lock to keep them from twisting, if you rotate one 90 degrees it will come off. I know this doesn't seem likely, but I was photographing a shark from the Shearwater's swim-step and was bowled over. When I got back upright, my threaded port was rotated 90 degrees but didn't come off. I bet a bayonet port (not locked) would have come off. I have handed a bayonet type housing to a (land) photographer friend in a pool, and she grabbed the port and spun it off. That wasn't pretty.

#3 - Press fit w/ clips. This type of port is held on by 2 clips. You can tell the clips are closed because they click down into place. If one of them isn't fastened properly or comes off (stuff happens) then there is actually a compression force in the o-ring which absent hydrostatic pressure will actually PUSH the port off. If a third clip was added, that would make this a lot more reliable connection, IMO.

So anyhow, all designs have their strengths and weaknesses - these are just my opinions and experience. Unfortunately, I've gained some experience the hard way - with 3 associated housing floods using various housings.

Cheers

James

This discussion has reminded me of an incident on a trip when my buddies Sea & Sea dome port had a small dribble of water inside on surfacing after each dive.

On returning home he checked it out and was told that the sealing material between the dome and the port body breaks down over time and needed to be stripped out and replaced. Not sure if this is a true reflection of the reliability of Sea & Sea or not. I've not heard of this before or since.

This discussion has reminded me of an incident on a trip when my buddies Sea & Sea dome port had a small dribble of water inside on surfacing after each dive.

 

On returning home he checked it out and was told that the sealing material between the dome and the port body breaks down over time and needed to be stripped out and replaced. Not sure if this is a true reflection of the reliability of Sea & Sea or not. I've not heard of this before or since.

I've just had exactly the same experience.

On last weeks trip I noticed a couple of drops on the inside of my Sea & Sea dome, but couldn't identify the cause.

Back home and I went to give the dome port a polish & noticed some play between the dome & the port body. Upon investigation I got the dome to pop out with little pressure; the silicone gasket that fits between the dome & body appears to have perished; in two places it has noticeably thinned and the adhesive that secures it was brittle & flaking off.

It's three and a half years old btw. :glare:

R

In the 3.5 years you had it, did you ever get it serviced? How often do people send their rigs in for servicing and how expensive is that? I assume with Ikelite you just pack it in a box and mail it to them, much like one does with repairs.

Someone posted that ikelites are very popular due to pricing, and that more experienced people tend to use other housings (making user error more likely to be seen in Ikelites because there are so many of them and of those many, the users are beginners...)

But why do more experienced people tend to stay away from Ikelite housings? I'd like to learn from those people. While i hate spending as much or more on a housing as I did on a computer, I'd like to know the pros as seen by the pros, of the more expensive housings.

The real question is, do insurers charge more to insure an ikelite housing? If not, then they probably don't flood any more than any other housing.

Someone posted that ikelites are very popular due to pricing, and that more experienced people tend to use other housings (making user error more likely to be seen in Ikelites because there are so many of them and of those many, the users are beginners...)

The real question is, do insurers charge more to insure an ikelite housing? If not, then they probably don't flood any more than any other housing.

As far as experienced users go, I think fundamentally that other housing manufacturers cater to the interests of that group more than Ikelite does. Ike strobes continue to be popular with all experience levels however. I don't think that one manufacturer's popularity with certain shooters can be traced to any specific feature. There are experienced people using Ike housings.

In the 3.5 years you had it, did you ever get it serviced?

No.

And it hadn't crossed my mind to do so.

I've had the housing serviced - and the strobes - but not the ports.

Do others on here do so? And what's the recommended service periods?

R

The 8" dome port extension for the fisheye lenses is probably to most suspect. Unlike any others (8" modular port system or traditional 6" dome) it screws on bayonet fashion. Its possible to rotate it off at the surface especially if you are adjusting the dome shade.

I just bought an Ikelite housing for my D200, and have witnessed how easy it is to accidentally rotate it too much. I think I found an easy and cheap way to prevent this. I've posted it in the DIY section. here.

Let me know if you guys like the idea. Comments are always welcome, as long as they're done in a polite manner.