Ikelite Canon 100D / Rebel SL1 : review ?

If that dome becomes available at a decent price point I would certainly be interested.

 

Below are two pictures taken with the ikelite housing and the Tokina 10-17 lens set at 10mm. The first picture is taken with the ikelite dome and the second one is taken prototype precision dome. Both pictures were taken from the same location, withe the camera mounted on a tripod with 18" between the front of the dome and the same subject. I have full size images but I loaded these into the editor and re-sized them only. I hope to be able to get some pictures with both domes at 12mm soon.

How would the coverage compare if the test photos were taken underwater? Would it change much from a surface test?

John MCracken

Posted Today, 06:15 PM

 

How would the coverage compare if the test photos were taken underwater? Would it change much from a surface test?

 

John MCracken

The pictures were taken underwater. The domes would not effect the picture in the air except for the vignetting. If you will notice the ikelite has a smaller field of view than the prototype dome. You can tell this by the distance between the white Velcro strips on the background as well as the apparent size of the background.

If you conserved the sensor plane distance to target rather than distance from front of dome would you get the same difference in coverage? If so you may have made a breakthrough. Many of us use wide ports rather than hemispheres with fisheye lenses and may have been getting more subject magnification without knowing it.

Bill, thank you for showing us your prototype results. It looks good !

Steve, your crabe picture is really good. I think this example is very well

suited for a quick "content aware filler" processing in photoshop for the

corners.

If you conserved the sensor plane distance to target rather than distance from front of dome would you get the same difference in coverage? If so you may have made a breakthrough. Many of us use wide ports rather than hemispheres with fisheye lenses and may have been getting more subject magnification without knowing it.

The distance from the sensor to the subject did not change as the housing was mounted on a tripod with a quick disconnect. The tripod was never removed from the pool and did not move during the session so the distance from the sensor to the subject remained constant. The subject / target was suspended in front of the tripod. The reference distance from the front of the dome to the subject of 18" is just a reference distance.

If you research the subject you will find that it is known that a full hemispherical dome will provide a wider coverage than a smaller section of a larger dome. Yes if you have a wide angle lens fish-eye or rectilinear and you are not using a full hemispherical dome you are not getting the maximum view.

 

The distance from the sensor to the subject did not change as the housing was mounted on a tripod with a quick disconnect. The tripod was never removed from the pool and did not move during the session so the distance from the sensor to the subject remained constant. The subject / target was suspended in front of the tripod. The reference distance from the front of the dome to the subject of 18" is just a reference distance.

 

If you research the subject you will find that it is known that a full hemispherical dome will provide a wider coverage than a smaller section of a larger dome. Yes if you have a wide angle lens fish-eye or rectilinear and you are not using a full hemispherical dome you are not getting the maximum view.

Thanks! One learns something new every day! I recall a thread from a few years back where it was shown (here on WP) that diopters reduced angle of view but not without them, which I assume is the case here since you were using a FE lens.

I found the thread I was thinking of:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28444&page=5

See post 98 for example. This led to quite a bit of discussion in the thread.

Any new experiences with this setup anyone wants to add?

Very interested in more info about the dome or modifications to avoid the vignetting using the Tokina 10-17mm in post #61. blibecap; how much for the custom dome?

Just thought I'd share some surprising test shots taken with the Tamron 60mm F/2 Macro inside the dome port.

http://blog.housingcamera.com/product-reviews/shooting-macro-dome-port

I was glad to see how well it functioned and allowed a lot of possibilities for shooting, ranging from medium shots to very close macro shots.

Taken with the SL1 in an Ikelite housings, with a YS-D1 connected via sync cord and S2000 triggered optically from the YS-D1.

Just thought I'd share some surprising test shots taken with the Tamron 60mm F/2 Macro inside the dome port.

http://blog.housingcamera.com/product-reviews/shooting-macro-dome-port

I was glad to see how well it functioned and allowed a lot of possibilities for shooting, ranging from medium shots to very close macro shots.

Taken with the SL1 in an Ikelite housings, with a YS-D1 connected via sync cord and S2000 triggered optically from the YS-D1.

Just curious.

The images you posted seem a bit soft. Is that a characteristic of the camera? I am considering this camera for travel as I am tired of lugging my full sized DSLR around the world. But I want to know that crisp and sharp photos are possible with this camera. I am very uneducated with this technology, as of now.

And, I am interested in when a dome will be available for the 10-17 without vignetting,as it is one of my favorite lenses.

And, I am interested in when a dome will be available for the 10-17 without vignetting,as it is one of my favorite lenses.

Bill Libecap already has such a dome. It's the precision 5" dome, available directly from him at uwcamerastuff.com or also available from bluewaterphotostore.com

Maybe someone who has seen/handled this housing can answer this for me. Given the technical capability, would it be possible to make an adapter to fit a standard or modular dome port to this housing ?

This camera/housing seems to tick most of the boxes for me (especially with a mini-dome) except that I have a couple of over/under and snells window shots I'd like to try and get if the situation arises. It seems a bit silly to have both this and my existing 40D setup just in case. Any thoughts ?

Steve.

The part you are looking for is in the pictures below. I made a prototype to use the modular port system on the housing. You have to unscrew the current port to put this one in then you can use the modular port system. The big problem is you do not have zoom or focus controls.

Although it could be done I don't see the reason to make the standard ikelite port system work on this housing.

That's interesting. Is that something you sell and/or is it part of your mini-dome setup for this housing ?

Hmmm. If I sell this and that and those and ......

Steve.

Hi Steve

Sorry for the delayed reply, I have had some personal problems here that have keep me to busy. The SL1 to ikelite modular port adapter is something custom that I made up. If you are interested in one drop me a message and I can make one up for you.

There was some discussion on how to add fiber optic strobes to this housing and I thought that I would share my observations and ideas with everyone in this thread. The is not enough room inside the housing to pop up the flash. So if you wanted to add fiber optics you would have to cut a hole in the top of the housing to allow room for the flash to pop up. You would also have to put the flash down to get it inside the housing and then pop it back up every time you put the camera in the housing. A doghouse for the flash could be manufactured that would attach to the top of the housing and seal the hole necessary for the flash to pop up and provide the fiber optic connections. Needless to say this would be a major undertaking to manufacture and install but I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.

By the way a Inon, Nauticam, Sea&Sea or Subal viewfinder make a excellent addition to these housings. The Aquatica viewfinder is to large for the ikelite viewfinder hole.

I've been considering this rig, mainly because I've been pretty happy with the SL1 as a general bang-around camera. I'm a professional ichthyologist and shoot a lot of above-water fish macro stuff (yes, you read that right!). I would likely use the Ikelite housing for freshwater snorkelling, often in systems with water so shallow that I would have trouble getting a larger unit submerged. I'd also much prefer picking up another SL1 as a backup than deal with hauling larger (and more $$$) systems all over the place.

However, it seems like almost everyone who participated in this thread sold their 100D/SL1 kits... anyone want to elaborate on whether there were other issues with the system that made you decide to do so?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

It was mentioned earlier that I was working on a prototype dome for this housing and after extensive field testing I will report that I have a few of these in stock. I have attached pictures and hope to update the web site soon. Please PM me if you are interested.

Both are tuned for the tokina 10-17 lens and do not vignette but also are not capable of zooming. The difference is one is a 5" and the other is a 3.8" dome. Please see the attached pictures. These attache the same way the ikelite dome attaches.They come with a dust cover, shade and neoprene cover.

Hi Brine shrimp! I've been using this housing for two years now, the only complaint I have is battery life on the SL-1 camera. I use it with the Tokina 10-17mm with an Ikelite 8 inch dome. There is no vignette even at 10mm, but there is no zoom control.. the 8 inch dome adds a lot of buoyancy which is nice. These images were all shot with the SL-1 in the Ikelite housing https://ikelite.smugmug.com/Canon-EOS-100D-Rebel-SL1