Ikelite housings versus non-Ikelite

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Probably the thing I miss the most though is the option to use optical firing with my Z240's, I find the electrical cords bulky and fragile and expensive. I think they will be under ongoing pressure to change that given its increasing popularity with DSLRs.

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Hi Otara, actually you can cheat a little. I did a small experiment and managed to fire my Inon strobes using fibre optic with a 40D in ike housing. After inserting the camera into the housing, use a small pencil to hit the flash pop-up button. The flash will pop-up partway, just enough for it to fire. You can then stick your fibre optic cables in front of the housing and it should fire just fine.

It might be a little different with the 7D housing, but might be worth a try.

Hi Otara, actually you can cheat a little. I did a small experiment and managed to fire my Inon strobes using fibre optic with a 40D in ike housing. After inserting the camera into the housing, use a small pencil to hit the flash pop-up button. The flash will pop-up partway, just enough for it to fire. You can then stick your fibre optic cables in front of the housing and it should fire just fine.

 

It might be a little different with the 7D housing, but might be worth a try.

Thanks for that.

I tried the same a while back with my 40/50D but found it was unreliable, ie the gap between when it would fire and wouldnt was very small and any movement of the camera inside the housing could have it turn off. Sounds like yours worked out better!

With 7D, nogo at all for me, the fit is way too close.

Otara

I am looking for a DSLR housing for my new Nikon D90. I currently use two Ikelite DS125 strobes, thus was considering getting the Ikelite housing for TTL connection purposes. I have noticed from reading many posts in this section that it seems as if many DSLR owners prefer other housing brands. (I am aware that Ikelite housings have upgraded their ports from two to four clamps.)

Question: Would there be any particular reason to steer clear of Ikelite housings for DSLRs, and if so, can other housing brands accommodate TTL with Ikelite strobes?

There are no reasons to steer clear of Ikelite. It is a good product.

No doubt that the more expensive alu-housings are better, but are they worth the extra money? Only you can answer that question and it depends on how deep your pockets are and if you are prepared to sacrifice other things in life to have an alu-housing instead of a plastic one.

There are no reasons to steer clear of Ikelite. It is a good product.

No doubt that the more expensive alu-housings are better, but are they worth the extra money? Only you can answer that question and it depends on how deep your pockets are and if you are prepared to sacrifice other things in life to have an alu-housing instead of a plastic one.

I realize I am a bit late to this thread but I wanted to point out a concept that I rarely see mentioned in this forum, what you might call the "technology cycle cost multiplier." In the olden days of film cameras, we often kept the same camera bodies and housings for many years (I had a canon F1 with speedfinder in an Ike housing for roughly 15 years). These days, we all fall in love with the latest improvements in digital SLRs, if not pixel counts, then better autofocus, HD video, whatever. SO, this leads to a short product life cycle. So, when you invest in that beautiful Subal, Seacam or even less $$ aluminum housing, think of how often you'll want to replace it down the road. In the last few years I have gone from a Canon 10D to 20D to 40D and now I'm eyeing the 7D. That's a lot of hounsings and when you multiply the price difference between Ikelite and the next most expensive housing, that's a lot of cash. I know a number of Subal and Seacam owners of somewhat outdated camera bodies who groan out loud every time a new canon or nikon SLR hits the news.

So, I'll stick with Ikelite. But, I should mention an important negative of Ikelite housings. The viewfinders are really poor, IMHO. I purchased a nice Dyron 45 angle enlarged finder that fixes this problem fine for me (and I'll just move it along to that 7D housing when I decide to buy it).

Mike