housing choices for cp5000

I am a trying to decide what underwater housing to use for my cp5000. One of the problem is that unless I fly out to dema there is no place for me to look at housings available. I would have really liked to touch and feel the housing to see how easy the buttons are to work and how the balance feels etc.

I have been looking at the ikelite, subal, tetra, and aquatics housings. Let me tell you my criteria ( and if this makes no sense fell free to add other criteria I should look at) to choose the proper housing for me.

I am new at digital photography, I am an old nikonos die hard and have taken thousands of beautiful photos with it.

This is some of my criteria:

Ease of use and ergonomics

TTL functionality

price

quality

use of all of the camera's features

I was also thinking of giving up my nikonos sb-105 and using an ikelite ds125 stobe with ttl sensors (instead of a sync cord)

Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Jack,

I have only "touched" the Ikelite housing but here are my thoughts:

Ease of use and ergonomics - The double handles on the Ike housing make shooting dual strobes feel really good.

TTL functionality - Probably the same on all available housings. The front of the WHOLE ike housing is clear, as opposed to the aluminum housings. That flash sensor is pretty touchy, so this could make a difference - remains to be seen.

price - The prices are what they are. Why spend more for a housing when you don't need to though? Get the cheapest - it will be outdated in 2 years.

quality - Probably the same across the board. I have been shooting an Ike Coolpix 990 housing for 2 years of flawless operation.

use of all of the camera's features - Ike has a wideangle port for the 19mm lens. Others do also. Don't buy a housing w/o getting this port!

Sync cord - you MUST shoot using the sync cord. That is because you can adjust flash compensation (+/-) on the camera. This is an absolute necessity. You will want to set it to -1.0 or -1.5 in MOST situations.

HTH

James

James,

Thanks for the reply. That leads me to a couple of other questions.

You say that I should get the port for the 19mm lens. I dont really have an interest in taking wide angle photos topside. So I was thinking about the ikelite wide angle lens instead. Any thoughts?

When I talked to a guy at marine camera he talked up the wireless sensors bigtime. (maybe he was just trying to make a sale) I thought it might be a great idea not to have sync cords since I seem to have gone through many of them with my nikonos rig.

Also what about getting rid of my sb105 and getting a ikelite ds125?

I just got the Aquatica housing and it seems to match all your characteristics. For $1049 for the housing I don't think you can argue the price.

It it a quality housing and the service has exceeded my expectations.

All features are available for use and it has dual strobe capabilities. Rated to 300 feet.

I will have it in the water for the fist time this week. Leaving tomorrow!

yahsemtough,

Thanks, the ikelite housing is $800. I am wondering if the aquatica is worth $250 more. I like aluminum housings, on the other hand with the ikelite you can see the o-ring seal and can see if any moisture is getting in.

What strobe(s) do you use?

I have the Ike housing with the wide angle dome port. It handles all camera functions, is compact and light weight, and easy to use. I handled the Tetra 5000, Subal, and Aquatica housings at the Long Beach scuba show. All seemed fine. Can't answer if they control all camera fucntions. The Tetra was very compact, but definitely larger than the Olympus tetra housing. The Subal was up to their usualy superb construction and function, but very large. The Aquatica had their dome port for the 19 mm lens on display.

They all look like they would be good picks. I would make sure of two things. First they should offer a dome port for the 19 mm lens. You shouldn't take the camera UW without this lens on it. Second it should control all camera functions. All of these housings advertise that they will come with a dome port for the 19 mm lens avalible.

My own thought was that with a consumer level camera like the 5000 you should get the least expensive housing that is of high quality and allows use of all necessary camera functions and lenses. I believe that the Ike housning does this best and that is why I bought one. As second choice I would get the Tetra becomes it's compactness will make it a valuable back up housing for many years.

I should add I have owned two subal housing and they are the best. But I have no doubts about the durability or reliability of the Ike housing.

To elaborate on the 19mm lens. It is the most versitile lens you could take UW for any camera or platform period. It gives a wider angle than any lens you can take UW digitally and just about any lens for a film camera that you could take UW. Yet at the same time you can get very close macro with the lens.

The key to all UW photography is to get as close to your subject as possible. This is to limit backscatter as much as possible and to decrease the water collum that you shoot through as much as possible. The the water collum will decrease the sharpness of your image. You therefore want either the widest lens possible or the closest macro. The 19 mm lens does both of these about as well as any camera or lens you can take UW.

Dave,

Thanks for the input. Maybe I am a liitle thick here but I want to be real clear before I start laying out all of this cash.

Are you saying that I should get the ikelite port that will handle the nikon 19mm lens and NOT use the optional Inon UWL-100 wide angle lens (that attatches to the standard port) that I can remove underwater?

If that is the case how does it work with macro. I am used to shooting macro with entension tubes on my Nikonos V and I am used to taking wide angle close ups with my nik v and a 15mm lens. The wide ange closeups are great but they are not macro. Will I be able to use the nikon 19mm lens and still shoot the tiny critters? You can probably see why I am a bit confused.

This digital stuff seems like a real fun challenge and I feel like I am starting all over again even though I have been taking underwater photos for 10 years.

By my estimation you can shoot the equvilent of a 35 mm cameras 1:1 macro WITH the 19 mm lens attached as well as 99 degree wide angle. You only have to tell the camera to focus in macro. Also in TTL macro with the lens you have to back off your strobes 11/2 to 2 ft or you will blow out your photo. Under member galleries I posted a link to some photos I took with this lens. ALL the images were taken with this lens including the macro shoots.

Jack r, look for CP 5000 photos in the category member galleries link for these images.

Thanks again Dave. Some of those photos were really great. I suppose if I want to get in even tighter I can pull the lens off before the dive and go with the standard port. At night I usually like to shoot the really small macro critters.

I must say that I am suprised to see shots of the nudibrancs that close with a 19 mm lens. I am impressed.

Jack

Dave,

I looked at your Komodo pictures - NICE! That is how close I want to shoot macro I have a trip to Papua New Guinea next summer and I want to get rid of my nikonos v. I have plenty of carosels of slides full of shots that quality but I have really lost my interest in film. Maybe it is not a challenge anymore but this digital thing seems to be very promising.

I live in southern Florida and will have plenty of time to practice in the ocean here and in my pool.

I know that the cp5000 is not a professional camera but I also know that it is capable of some very nice photographs. You proved that.

Jack, just added a few more pics to the site. I actually have some smaller macro but the focus was better on these. You might get a little better mag with the standard lens and a little longer working distance as well. For everything else the nikon 19 mm lens is best. I think as the nikon lens is designed for the 5000 it is going to be sharper than the Inon add on lens. I have shot nikonos and a housed SLR for years and can say the 19 mm lens for this camera is the most flexible system you can take UW. System isn't perfect. The focus is slow and the shutter lag can be a pain in the b....

I linked to my gallery. All were shot with the 19mm lens, Ike housing and DS125. As far as I am concerned, this setup will work for any shot a beginner (like myself) could dream up.

Jack, the Komodo pics were taken with an F100 and 60 mm lens and scanned with a Nikon 4000. This trip convinced me to get a digital camera. On every dive I missed great shots as I had run out of film. Matting cuttlefish, frogfish, spanish dancers and so forth. The other thing was that you could never decide which lens to take as the wide angle was just as good. Thats why I keep touting the abilities of the 19 mm lens for the 5000. It can get every shot except the pigmy seahorses.

If I was to go back their I would rig my 5000 housing on top of my film housing. I have all the parts to do so. I even have an Ike synch cord that will hook one DS125 to both housings. The other DS 125 you hook to Ike's digital slave strobe and you can fire both strobes with either camera. Can also set up the system to fire two Nikonos cameras using a different Ike synch cord.

The only problem with this system is bulk. That is why I considered the Tetra 5000 as it is almost as compact as a Nikonos and would make the system less bulky.

Krash,

Where is the link? I would love to see the photos.

Its listed under member galleries links. Just below mine I believe.

That sounds like quite a setup Dave. A little too much for me though.

You have some nice pictures there Krash. I really like the silloute shoot. Some of the others need some work, but I really enjoyed it. It showed me the potential that this camera has.