Brand new Ikelite Sony a7 housing Issues.

Evening everyone,

I've got a few questions for anyone who owns a ikelite sony a7 housing, I don't know if the mk ii has the same issues so it may be a question for the original a7 users

Problems listed below:

1. F-Stop scroller issues

My f-stop scroller does not work if the camera becomes slightly twisted on the bottom mounting plate to the camera, if it makes no contact with the camera's f-stop scroller I'm needing to wedge a small piece of cardboard between the screen of the 7 and the plate it mounts to to make sure the right side of the camera is pushed more forward whilst sitting in the tray and mounted so the scroller actually makes contact with the ikelite rubber control. I feel like this might be a poorly designed bottom plate maybe from factory its not been made to its normal exact specs and there for makes the camera placement off when placed inside the housing ?

I've also double checked and I am using the appropriate a7 bottom tray not the a7r or a7s tray, but for a stab in the dark have tried the other tray to see if its any better.

2. Buttons get stuck

All my buttons have the potential to get stuck whilst under pressure at depth, I've had any of the 5 main control buttons jam in and stay stuck for the entire dive until my housing is opened and pressure released.

Have tried replacing the springs / using a service kit on the buttons with no changes to the operation of them. This happens usually at depth's deeper then 5 meters deep.

3. Record button getting jammed beside camera body

I've have on multiple times pushed the button that's meant to make connection with the record button on the right side of the A7 slip past the camera and become jammed along side the camera body, unable to get it to retract once this happens.

If I'm not super super careful pushing the button in to begin recording, and being primarily a videographer for work at the moment this is super annoying and can completely ruin my dive and chance of getting clients footage for the day.

Have tried other shaped rubber ends on the connection to try stop it but so far all has made it worse and more easily jam beside the camera body.

I'm in talk's with my supplier who is relaying with ikelite at the moment and there been very good in trying to solve these issues but I thought I'd call upon the community for some extra assistance.

If these issues are not solved I'll be looking to find out ikelites refund policy's as these issues aren't small problems they completely stop you from using the camera.

The housings literally done around 10 dives and these issues have been with the housing since day one.

A great start to my first underwater housing.......

Thanks everyone,

Trent

Wow, this really doesn't sound good, Trent. How annoying.

Once a camera is out of alignment in a housing - even slightly - my experience has been that it causes all kinds of problems with subtle, continuous pressures on camera buttons. All sorts of freaky camera things happen and increase as the water pressure gets greater with depth.

Really hope Ikelite can get this sorted out for you. As you say, if not, what is their return policy?!?!

Keep us posted eh?

Will do !

Yeah it's not great to be experiencing these issues 2 weeks into owning the housing, if they don't get sorted I'd like to hope ikelite would offer a full refund on their faulty product...

I feel as though this is just a rushed housing design with ikelite trying to get onto the Sony a7 market when it was released and non of the issues solved....

I've thought about cutting the length of the record button so it doesn't have the chance to be depressed so much it slips past the record button on the camera and jam's with the side of the camera body just enough to begin the record button function which might fix that issue.

The sticky buttons seems like a fault on ikelites part, possibly needing stronger springs ?

The f-stop scroller seem's to make better contact with the camera being in the tray marked for Sony A7r & s models so I'm going to try it today whilst at work to see if maybe its been incorrectly marked or something ?

Oh joys ! especially when it's being used work related and it needs to work !

Cheers,

Trent

No one else ever had ikelite issues or keen to shed some light ?

I am considering buying an Ikelite housing and would be interested in hearing whether there was a resolution for your problems.

I am considering buying an Ikelite housing and would be interested in hearing whether there was a resolution for your problems.

Awaiting a replacement housing from Ikelite, I think in this instance because I'm working off the mainland Australia on a small resort on an island and unable to leave here to bring it back to my local supplier and need it for work. They've managed to get a replacement housing.... I don't know if at this stage the housing is a full replacement or a loan while I send mine back to ikelite to be accessed...

I'm hoping it's a alignment issue with the bottom tray and that this new housing fixes everything, but part of me feel's like its poor designed buttons to begin with, water stays in them and could be fixed by having slots for it to drain from and also maybe stronger springs ?

Will keep you posted....

I've got a few questions for anyone who owns a ikelite sony a7 housing, I don't know if the mk ii has the same issues so it may be a question for the original a7 users

Trent, Sorry to hear about your issues with your housing. I've got an a7RII, but I believe the housings are very close in make (in fact, mine comes with a baseplate for an a7).

I think your first and third issue are both a product of your camera being out of alignment. Does your baseplate not have a lip on it to keep your camera from turning on it? If not, you may want to look at the a7 baseplate that comes with the new housing, as it has a lip that rests against the screen side to keep the camera from turning.

It does have a lip that the camera mounts up to with the screen however there is a few mm either side of a gap which allows the unit to have a decent amount of play when it comes to alignment...

I can't wait to compare the two housings and find out what the actual real issue is here, I'm thinking dodgy bottom base plate or that whole mount is off all together is my bet...... Will come back to you all with my findings in the next few days....

On a side note also brought a mk2 sony a7 so wanting to get another housing in the future for it but don't know if ill be going nauticam or ikelite at this stage depending if this new replacement housing fixes the issues

Hey
Please share did You got Your issue solved?

Our customer bought DSLR housing and have several problems.

Also I can see that base plate has very weak and does not support camera inside and buttons gets misaligned.

I have sold several sets during years and never had any problemas.

Just fondering did You got Your issue solved and how.

Interesting. I had the same issue with my Ikelite and my Canon 5d Mark II. Buttons would jam, the back dial would not work consistently and I had to jimmy rig a solution. I put up with it for a few years then sold it.

I've read this about many ikelite housing, and it makes me happy I chose nauticam. If you can try it out locally then I might have risked it and got a ikelite housing but for all of us that only dives on vacation it would be a massive bummer if it broke down on let's say a liveaboard.

My Ikelite D7000 housing will sometimes lose contact with dials/buttons and the camera. This is resolved by making sure the screw on the bottom of the tray is nice and tight. I can often get away with merely using my thumb to tighten the screw, but if I lose contact with buttons all I need to do is use a coin to tighten the screw and that resolves the issue. Your other problems though, I'm afraid I can't help you there!

Since my initial post ikelite has been really good and has replaced the housing and deemed it faulty I'm guessing as the replacement one they let me keep after inspecting the first unit I was using. A lot of the good customer service was from my supplier Digital Diver who sorted out everything for me, even got ikelite to supply them a replacement housing on loan until we found out was was going on with my housing, due to the fact I work as a videographer daily and understood I needed something to be able to work.

The loan one ended up becoming my replacement as it fixed all my issues I was having with the setup, since then been pretty happy with the housing no issues and been diving with it for several months.

Have now brought a second ikelite housing for my Sony a7 mkii due to great customer service from my supplier and I know if I have any issues they'll get it sorted... I guess that boils down to if you want to buy ikelite or not that it just depends who your buying from and who will be looking after your new purchase if things do go wrong.

Down the track I hope to buy a nauticam as its a better commercial designed rugged housing however its twice the price and I couldn't justify buying a double up of domes and ports between the two setups..

Cheers,

Trent

I invested in Ikelite products once, went all out...housing, dome ports... large, medium and compact. Flat ports for macro, pair of strobes-161, focus lights, cables, fiber optic backup system, arms and clamps of all sizes and even a large pelican traveling case to boot.

Every time I had an issue, Ikelite would say... send it back, we will look at it, test it and will get back with you. If it's you, we will send you a bill. If it's ikelite, we will address free of charge. I though that was excellent customer service.

Time and time again, issue after issue, they always had the same response. Essentially, I would ship it to Chicago, they would supposedly service it, test it, send it back with a bill that said zero charge, and nothing else. No explication on what they did to the system, no comment on what they saw, no logic or follow up to what ever they did to it...or didn't do, and some times, not even fix to the problem. I recall this decisive moment when I experienced a partial flood that thaks to ikelite being clear plastic, I was able to see the water pooling inside the housing and some steam building up inside.

Sent housimg in for repairs and service. It took 3 successive back-forth shipping plus dives to test, and it wasn't till I specifically found out while diving with it that if I adjusted the zoom dial- knob it would let drops into the housing and that's how WE found the misterious leak. Ikelite was only able to really fix it after 3 tries. By then, I had enough. Fortunately, I did not loose any photo equipment.

Nauticam was just starting to appear, they showed up during a DEMA show, and I decided to invest in a new housing, and to this day, don't regret that one bit.

If you are new to this hobby, or just want to dive occasionally with a camera and don't really care about reliability of the equipment, then,Ikelite may be an option.

If you are committed to this underwater photography deal as a hobby or semi-pro, and want to have a solid, reliable equpiment that will last many years to come. I would suggest getting something other than ikelite.

I know there may be different opinions and I truly respect that. This is just my opinion based on my personal experience and after spending well over $4K in ikelite equipment. Or maybe I should say after throwing four grand away.

Hope this helps.

Ricardo