Quick Review of Ikelite D70 TTL housing

I wanted to post a quick review of my 8 days of diving with the new Ikelite D70 ttl housing.

First, I am a big fan of Ikelite and their stellar service. I am, however, not a paid consultant

Second, I am not a photo pro, nor do I consider myself an underwater photo pro, so my comments may be useless to some.

We dived in Little Cayman with Conch Club Divers, one of my favorite islands and dive ops of the places I've been. They are camera friendly.

I always screw something up when I go on a dive trip to do photography. Last year I flooded a strobe (DS 125, replaced by Ike). This year nothing major except I took the 6" dome port for my 10.5 lens and . . . left the lens. That's what happens when I am packing for me and dive stuff for my 3 women types. Blame it on the women, I say!

I had an 8" dome for the 12-24 lens and a flat port for the 60mm macro lens. I also used the 8" dome for my 18-70 dx lens.

First day of diving somehow I had knocked the M/AF switch to M and everything was blurry. I figured that out and fixed that problem. The rest of the diving was great and the housing performed wonderfully. I like the fit and finish of the housing and it was nearly neutrally boyant in the water. I occasionally let go of it and it hovered with a slow sink near me. The 8" dome port is boyant and this creates a tendency for the front to float up which requires light counter pressure. No big deal.

From and amateur standpoint I thought the ttl worked well. I got a much higher % of keepers with good exposure using this rig, but I've never really shot anything comparable. My daughter shot with my oly 5050, which is my prior comparison. This time I used dual DS125s or a single one with the 60mm macro, which is my favorite lens because I love the little critters.

I really liked the ability to stop up or down the flash from the circuitry on the housing. It was nice to quickly run the strobe up or down when I was shooting.

I had no trouble getting the special ring to fit on the 12-24 lens for zooming, which apparently Peter Schultz (thank you very much for your wonderful webpage) had. Perhaps something has been changed over time.

I will try to post a few pics. I am still catagorizing and working with them on my laptop. I will post some photos "raw" for examples. I think I took nearly 1000 photos in 8 days (gulp). If anyone has seen War of the Worlds I think I probably lit up the ocean like the storms in that movie.

Thanks to Ike for getting the housing to me on time and all his service.

Steve Dingeldein

Interesting review Steve, thanks for taking the time. Loved your movie reference - poor critters

How did you find the corner sharpness with your 12-24/8" combo. Any chance of posting some examples?

Also which "version" of the 8" is it? Can you also use it with the 10.5? I'm assuming no since you brought along your 6" as well...(shame you didn't have the lens too - bloody girls - must be there fault).

Did you use TTL for wide angle as well? How did it go?

Also, when you say it is neutrally bouyant - how many DS125s do you have attached and which dome are you using?

Thanks again for your insights - it will help us all.

Anthony,

I'll take a look at the sharpness of the 12-24 under the 8" dome which is the Ikelite version that doesn't work with the 10.5 mm lens. I'll post some examples when I get caught up a little. I used ttl for wide ange as well and thought the exposure was generally good, though I am not real experienced in judging such things. The rig was neutrally buyant with 2 DS 125s and the 8" dome. It was slightly more negative with the 60 mm macro lens and 1 ds 125.

Steve

Interesting Steve. Thanks for your responses and really looking forward to seeing the pictures!

Hi steve,

Thanks for posting your review. Its always interesting to hear about real world tests. Especially interesting to hear that the rig is so close to neutral.

Alex