Ikelite or Canon Housing for Canon A95?

I'm new to the group, and fairly new to underwater photography. I just bought a Canon A95 camera, and I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth it to spend the extra $140 for the Ikelite housing, or just go with the Canon Wp-50 made for the camera. I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks!

Bill

I didn't know that Ikelite have now a housing for the A95 and didn't found it their site.

The Ike housing are superior in mean of quality and can be used deeper then the Canon's housings, but as you wrote they are more expensive and usually the size of them is bigger.

It depends on if you plan to add a strobe to the setup.

If you are going strobeless I would recomend the Canon housing. It is much more compact making it easier to dive with.

If you are going to add a strobe I would go with the ikelite housing. Once you add a strobe the camera becomes big and bulky so the canon looses it's advantage of being smaller. The Ikelite housing has the advantages of being more durable, water proof to deeper water, and has a tray w/ handle to attach the strobe to.

It depends on if you plan to add a strobe to the setup.

 

If you are going strobeless I would recomend the Canon housing.  It is much more compact making it easier to dive with.

 

If you are going to add a strobe I would go with the ikelite housing.  Once you add a strobe the camera becomes big and bulky so the canon looses it's advantage of being smaller.  The Ikelite housing has the advantages of being more durable, water proof to deeper water, and has a tray w/ handle to attach the strobe to.

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I partially agree with you: Strobe make the all package more big and bulky but for the A95 you can use one of the smellers strobes like the S&S 25 so its still be a small package.

In James review of the new S&S camera its possible to see a small package like this.

I didn't know that Ikelite have now a housing for the A95 and didn't found it their site.

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Here is the URL for the Ikelite housing that I found:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/canon_a80.html

Here is the URL for the Ikelite housing that I found:

 

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/canon_a80.html

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Tn'x for the link,

Be aware that the Ikelite housing is blocking the internal flash so you can't use it. Its mean that if you'll want more light your only option is to use the Ike's Manual Controller and strobes (DS-50 and DS-125). To use others (non Ikelite) strobes you'll need to improvised some deflector to enable them to activate by the internal flash.

To summarized this thread: if you going for the more durable, and deeper option go with Ikelite, if you going with the less bulky (and probably less expensive) go with the Canon housing with one of the small strobes.

Thanks for the help! I guess this descussion leads me to another question - Is the internal flash of the camera useful for macro - or anything else? If not, I'd probably go ahead and get the Ike housing and not worry about the flash being blocked. However, since I'm buying gear over time and it might be a while before I buy a strobe, I might go with the Canon housing so I can use the flash.

The internal flash is not good for a lot but it is better than nothing.

Internal flashes underwater usually have a usefull range of about 6 inches from subject. After that you are better off to just turn the strobe off because they do little to light the subject and make a ton of backscatter.

I've been using a Canon A95 in the Canon WP-DC50 housing for about 1 year now and am pleased with the results for this type of camera.

I have added Inon AD fit lenses as well as Sea& Sea YS90 and YS55 strobes triggered by fibre optic cables off the cameras internal flash. These extras may not be important to you though.

I have never tried using the internal flash on the camera on its own to take any pictures underwater.

I can see the Ikelite might be a tougher case than the Canon but I found the snug fit of the Canon more appealing. I also found the design of the Ikelite crude and the extra cost of the Ikelite had little benefit to me.

I have previously posted a topic on this camera that you might be able to find

Trevor,

Thanks for the reply. I have seen your posts on the Canon A95 - they helped me in making that choice of camera!

Part of my concern here is money. It looks to me like even if I pay more up front for the Ikelite housing, that in the long run I'll pay less for the strobe and other accessories I plan to buy in the future. The Ikelite housing already accepts Inon lenses, and has the arm for the strobe attachment.

It looks like the Canon housing will require me to add an Inon bayonet mount lenses dock, a separate arm/tray, and then the strobe.

However, I can't argue with the quality of the results you are getting, so maybe the Inon strobe and Canon case is the way to go.

I have the A95 with Canon Housing and Sunpak G-flash and will use it the first time in Bonaire where I am going on Friday August 12.

Does anyone have any tips to add to make my photographs more memorable using the A95 with the Sunpak G-flash? I am a reasonable land photographer and know the techniques for picture taking, but if you do anything significantly different underwater, I would appreciate your input.

I know a little about the "Underwater" setting on the A95, which defaults the flash to "Auto." Because the camera flash triggers the G-flash strobe light does the camera flash has to be turned to "on" rather than "auto" for the strobe to trigger, and is there anything else to think about, e.g.

a. do I need special focusing techniques or does the A95 autofocus work well at depths of 60-80 feet,

b. do you have to tweek the flash output settings on the G-flash,

c. do you use both the Camera Housing diffuser and the G-flash diffuser all the time.

If your response is too detailed for this forum, could you please respond to

bj@seaowlcrew.com

if that is permitted by forum rules.