Ikelite dome for freediving ?

Hi,

I'm about to pull the trigger on an ikelite housing for my gh5, with a Leica 12-60 and Leica 8-18 (or the zuiko 7-14mm, I haven't made up my mind yet) with either the 8" DL DOME or the Compact 8" dome (6"x 2").

I will use this rig for scuba diving (from time to time) and mostly freediving but I fear the 8 inches dome will induce too much drag and add too much buoyancy...

So I'm considering the compact dome which according to ikelite produces the same image quality as their bigger dome, which I find a bit odd.

Has anyone tried this compact dome compared to the 8" ?

I would'nt want to sacrifice too much sharpness for more handling comfort (and space).

Thanks for your help !

Hi,

I'm about to pull the trigger on an ikelite housing for my gh5, with a Leica 12-60 and Leica 8-18 (or the zuiko 7-14mm, I haven't made up my mind yet) with either the 8" DL DOME or the Compact 8" dome (6"x 2").

I will use this rig for scuba diving (from time to time) and mostly freediving but I fear the 8 inches dome will induce too much drag and add too much buoyancy...

So I'm considering the compact dome which according to ikelite produces the same image quality as their bigger dome, which I find a bit odd.

Has anyone tried this compact dome compared to the 8" ?

I would'nt want to sacrifice too much sharpness for more handling comfort (and space).

 

Thanks for your help !

 

 

I have the Oly 7-14 in Nauticam 8" glass dome and am extremely dissapointed with the corner sharpness below f7 or f8 on my GH5. I have a dive buddy with the same lens / dome combo on EM1 mk2 and he is happy with it for still photos...

Do your research, from what I hear the Panasonic 8-18mm has better corners, at least with thr Nauticam system...

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The buoyancy of the 8" dome I think would be quite restrictive for free-diving. You might be able to add a counter-weight to the neck of the dome (I've seen people clip an ankle weight). I don't have experience with M4/3 systems so can't chime in there (I do have an 8.5" acrylic dome and 4" glass dome and find the IQ great with both setups).

Thanks a lot, Leica seems to be the winner indeed (and the zoom range is more interesting).

I'm still quite stuck between two options here for my budget :

Option 1 : Ikelite housing with 8" Dome port + Leica 8-18 with extension and zoom ring (which is the same as the 12-60 I already own). So that's a pretty polyvalent and versatile option

Option 2 : Nauticam housing with 7" acrylic dome with zoom ring for the 12-60 + vacuum.

With these options I will have 2 Weefine Solar flare 3600 lumens (I think it's the same brand as Kraken)

These 2 options are about the same price but I got more flexibility with Ikelite from the start but also bulkiness and less upgrade options (like an external monitor...).

The Nauticam one is a more restricted option (for now) since I could only use the 12-60 (which I don't know how it performs underwater) and I won't be able to upgrade with a wide angle anytime soon (moneywise). On the other hand I guess it would be easier to freedive with it, it has better ergonomics (does it?) and might be more future proof.

I must precise I'm studying wildlife filmmaking so this is a long term investment for professional use.

As I'm going to shoot an expedition in the Maldives in 15 days I'd like to have a polyvalent rig so it would be ikelite option or nauticam + gopro hero 6 fixed above for UWA.

I'm quite lost right now and can't settle on an option

Help me please

If you have the Leica 12-60mm, you don’t need to buy another lens as it covers wide to closeup shots on the same dive. You can shoot Manta rays and Nudibranch size creatures on the same dive behind the dome. 7” dome is the minimum, I believe.

Nuticam build quality & ergonomics is way better than ikelite in my opinion (I haven’t used ikelite for a long while though).

BTW, the vacuum system just saved my camera/gear cause I almost dived with a wrongly setup housing

Thanks, everybody seems to own a Nauticam, I can't seem to find anyone owning an Ikelite housing for the gh5 ! So there must be good reasons...

Don't you think 12mm won't be too narrow for whale sharks, mantas coming close or reef walls ?

If you have the Leica 12-60mm, you don’t need to buy another lens as it covers wide to closeup shots on the same dive. You can shoot Manta rays and Nudibranch size creatures on the same dive behind the dome. 7” dome is the minimum, I believe.

Nuticam build quality & ergonomics is way better than ikelite in my opinion (I haven’t used ikelite for a long while though).

BTW, the vacuum system just saved my camera/gear cause I almost dived with a wrongly setup housing

Thanks, everybody seems to own a Nauticam, I can't seem to find anyone owning an Ikelite housing for the gh5 ! So there must be good reasons...

Don't you think 12mm won't be too narrow for whale sharks, mantas coming close or reef walls ?

For Mantas, you’d be fine in most of the cases. Most dive centers don’t allow you to be very close as a practice anyways.

For whale sharks, wrecks etc.. you would definitely need a wider lens. And it’s another ball game. You need to dive in crisp visibility with good ambient light condition. Remember your lights do not cover such wide angels nor travel that far in water.

I thought you were just starting your underwater video journey with a fresh rig. That’s why the 12-60mm will cover most of the bases for you. This will be my primary lens 80% of the time for the reasons I mentioned before. In addition, I would use a macro lens & a super-wide angle for specific use cases.

Some other folks are taking the wet-optics approach where they uses a primary lens coupled with wet-lenses (wide or macro). I don’t mean to confuse you but it is good to know your options. check out other threads. I’m an old school guy who dives with a specific goal in mind. My mindset and my eyes can’t multitask and do Macro, Medium and Super-wide all on the same dive