Ikelite Housing for 7D

Hi all i am thinking about buying a Ikelight housing to put my 7D in,

does anyone have one

would you buy one again

can i put a sigma 10-20 f3.5 in one, ive read that the zoom does not work

ive only got about £2000 so is there anything else out there for that price

Might be pushing the price a bit but mozaik in canada have aquatica 7d housings for around £1750 plus postage. Probably more dealers if you search around.

I used to have the 7d Ikelite housing, I sold it because it couldnt take the nauticam viewfinder due to button placing, and because it doesnt do optical firing, where your strobes are triggered by the camera flash. One thing you have to add on to the cost is the expense of electrical sync cords for your strobes, and they can cost a fair bit, as for dual you need a new cord each time and I strongly recommend having a spare for holidays. With optical if one optical fibre breaks you replace just that cord. But it you prefer electrical anyhow this is a non-issue.

It was OK, other than the issues above the other thing I enjoyed was getting access to the button pad for moving the focus, particularly for liveview/video.

The main difference from other Ikelite housings is that it has a long exposed rod for the video/liveview trigger, and you cant get to easily to clean it as its behind a acrylic plate with very small screws. It was starting to rust a little by the time I sold it - not a big deal but irritating. Also some of the buttons are pretty close together and the button you use to change focus style can be pretty irritating as you have to rotate it, which is a pain to do when its dark.

So there are advantages to going with other housings, but for the price its OK as long as none of the above are 'must haves'.

Otara

I have the Ikelite housing for my Canon 7D.

And dual Ikelite DS161 strobes for it.

Tokina 10-17mm lens with 8 inch dome.

Canon 60mm EF-S macro with the flat port.

Has worked pretty well but the Live-view-select/Movie-start-stop lever broke some time ago, after about 35 dives. The polycarbonate plate that covers the lever and is screwed to the housing body has fractured due to the force of operating the button.

As a "workaround" I am now using long pin that I can use to press the button itself. Not so convinient, but works anyway

I could send it back to Ikelite at USA for repair, but due to a long turnaround time, I have postponed this until the local diving season ends.

Another annoyance is that the Ikelite port is limited to lenses with a maximum diameter of 84 mm.

Now that I am starting to get bored using either 10-17mm wideangle or 60 mm macro all the time, I have looked at some wideangle zooms, like Canon EF-S 15-85 or 17-55 and the likes, but these are too thick for Ikelike port system.

I have looked at other housings, but they are so much more expensive than Ikelite .

Thats the lever I saw rust on.

Did wonder how well that would work in the long run.

Wideangle zoom wise, the Sigma 17-70mm is the most popular one, and fits Ikelite fine. If you want to use a diopter on it, you will lose a bit of zoom as the fit with the recommended port is quite tight.

Otara

I really wanted to like the Ikelite housing because of the price point, but I went and tried it out, and found it difficult to use. It was hard to access/turn the knobs for shutter speed and aperture, and in general the buttons weren't as easy to access and push as other housings. I ended up getting the Aquatica 7D housing. It goes for about $2800 USD, so that should come in around 2000 pounds.

I really wanted to like the Ikelite housing because of the price point, but I went and tried it out, and found it difficult to use. It was hard to access/turn the knobs for shutter speed and aperture, and in general the buttons weren't as easy to access and push as other housings. I ended up getting the Aquatica 7D housing. It goes for about $2800 USD, so that should come in around 2000 pounds.

The way buttons feel above water is way different than the way they feel below water. They are MUCH easier to push underwater.

The way buttons feel above water is way different than the way they feel below water. They are MUCH easier to push underwater.

Agreed to an extent, but I upgraded from an Ikelite housing for a G9, and controls were still were a bit difficult underwater (especially the knobs). The Aquatica is a huge improvement, above and below.

Wideangle zoom wise, the Sigma 17-70mm is the most popular one, and fits Ikelite fine. If you want to use a diopter on it, you will lose a bit of zoom as the fit with the recommended port is quite tight.

 

Otara

Are you sure the sigma 17-70 would fit?

On Ikelite web chart it says:

17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC Macro HSM

17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens diameters are too large to operate in port system.

But the older non HS OSM would fit?

But then on Sigma datasheets all models have same diagmeter of 79 mm, which should fit to Ike port.

Confusing.

If it indeed does fit, then I am definetly tempted to get one.

Thats the lever I saw rust on.

 

Did wonder how well that would work in the long run.

 

Otara

Yes, it will rust too, but it will break much sooner than rust becomes an issue.

I could post some pictures showing how it breaks, if there's any interest.

Are you sure the sigma 17-70 would fit?

On Ikelite web chart it says:

17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC Macro HSM

17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens diameters are too large to operate in port system.

 

But the older non HS OSM would fit?

But then on Sigma datasheets all models have same diagmeter of 79 mm, which should fit to Ike port.

Confusing.

If it indeed does fit, then I am definetly tempted to get one.

I have the 17-70mm non-OS, it definitely fits, Ive used it. You do need to make sure you use the right focus gear/wheel assembly as per the chart or it will be too tight.

Not sure about the non-OS - my guess is that theres something that hits the flange on the wheel assembly the focus gear fits into, but its just a guess.

Otara

Yes, it will rust too, but it will break much sooner than rust becomes an issue.

I could post some pictures showing how it breaks, if there's any interest.

There is interest.

Here you can see a close-up of the entire lever assembly attached to the back door of the housing.

Here you can see in detail how the covering piece has fractured around the two screws, it can no longer hold the lever such that it can apply the necessary pressure to the button, instead it now flexes where the fractures are.

Here are all the parts disassembled and you can see better the fracture patterns on the cover part.

After I had disassembled the parts, I concluded that it would be really easy to make a replacement part for the broken cover myself by cutting a similar piece out of a polycarbonate sheet, and I happened to have all necessary tools available. Since it seemed likely that the original part made of 1.6 mm (.062”) thick sheet would soon break in the same way again, I decided to try thicker material, 3.2 mm (.125”) polycarbonate sheet.

Here you can see the part that I made myself, it only took a few minutes make.

On next image you can see the new part attached. I decided to add one more screw to the left bottom corner, as it seemed that the lever caused the greatest pressure at this point.

Unfortunately, now the cover became too strong for the screws to hold it. When testing the assembly, the lever caused such a big pressure that two attachment screws broke off the housing completely, chipping off pieces in the area where they were attached to. The resulting damage can be seen here:

I will be sending the housing for repair to Ikelite soon. Maybe after the next weekend's diving trip, which might the last one of this season.

As a temporary workaround I am using a long thick weaving pin to push that button. Not so convenient, but better than nothing

Higher resolution pics here:

picasaweb link

Here you can see a close-up of the entire lever assembly attached to the back door of the housing.

Here you can see in detail how the covering piece has fractured around the two screws, it can no longer hold the lever such that it can apply the necessary pressure to the button, instead it now flexes where the fractures are.

Here are all the parts disassembled and you can see better the fracture patterns on the cover part.

 

After I had disassembled the parts, I concluded that it would be really easy to make a replacement part for the broken cover myself by cutting a similar piece out of a polycarbonate sheet, and I happened to have all necessary tools available. Since it seemed likely that the original part made of 1.6 mm (.062") thick sheet would soon break in the same way again, I decided to try thicker material, 3.2 mm (.125") polycarbonate sheet.

Here you can see the part that I made myself, it only took a few minutes make.

 

On next image you can see the new part attached. I decided to add one more screw to the left bottom corner, as it seemed that the lever caused the greatest pressure at this point.

Unfortunately, now the cover became too strong for the screws to hold it. When testing the assembly, the lever caused such a big pressure that two attachment screws broke off the housing completely, chipping off pieces in the area where they were attached to. The resulting damage can be seen here:

 

I will be sending the housing for repair to Ikelite soon. Maybe after the next weekend's diving trip, which might the last one of this season.

As a temporary workaround I am using a long thick weaving pin to push that button. Not so convenient, but better than nothing

 

Higher resolution pics here:

picasaweb link

Thanks!

If I understand correctly, The lever is on the outside of the housing back?

Can it be replaced by an ordinary button?

Thanks!

If I understand correctly, The lever is on the outside of the housing back?

Can it be replaced by an ordinary button?

That is correct, the lever is outside, so it could be replaced by an ordinary button. But that needs to be done by Ikelite.

Under the lever tip there's is a recessed button, which can be pressed with a pin if the lever is gone.

That button on the camera IS indeed not in the best possible place for the underwater photographer, so moving it to the right side using the lever is in principle a good idea. Unfortunately on my housing the mechanism didn't stand against normal use.

That is correct, the lever is outside, so it could be replaced by an ordinary button. But that needs to be done by Ikelite.

Under the lever tip there's is a recessed button, which can be pressed with a pin if the lever is gone.

I finally sent the housing back to Ikelite factory for repair and just got it back.

They replaced the broken lever with an ordinary push-button per my request.

The repair was done under warranty.

Personally I like this better and it seems to work just fine now.

Really good service!