sjspeck
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Mar 26, 2005, 3:26 PM
Post #3 of 12
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Re: [maxheadspace] Ikelite Housing Control?
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I've been looking at an Ikelite housing for my Sony HC1000. It appears that all controls are mechanical, rather than electronic. Is that so? Is there a benefit to having mechanical controls, other than the obvious avoidance of a short circuit? Any comments, pro or con, about the Ikelite housings? At around $1,300 for the HC1000 housing, there doesn't seem to be a significant cost advantage.
Thanks!
Max.
All Ikelite sells are housings with manual controls. Manual controls are thought to be reliable since they have positive contact. Electronic housing owners say that manual controls create potential leak points through the housing wall. I've never read of an Ikelite housing leaking except when the back was improperly fastened, so I doubt this is an area of concern. One thing I like about Ikelite is that if water gets in the housing it's easy to see. And since the front is clear, I'm guessing the flash on your camcorder might be of some use when shooting stills, unless it's obscured by the lens port on the housing. It looks like there's room for it to pop-up in the picture on Ike's website.
Having said that, I shoot with an electronic housing. I like the convenience of plugging in the camera, sealing the back and diving. I've read that sometimes you have to fuss with manual controls slightly to get everything to line up before sealing the housing. And that they occasionally slip off. I have no personal experience with this though.
A secondary concern is that if a gland leaks, you've got to fix it to continue shooting. If electronics fail, you can turn on the camera, seal it in the housing and just edit out the junk later. There have been problems with electronics in the past also, ranging from buttons freezing at depth due to pressure to failing if wet. If the electronics inside the housing get wet, you've got bigger problems as your camera just became an expensive paperweight - if saltwater touches the battery, it fuses to the camcorder. Most recently manufactured electronic housings don't have these problems anymore as the electronics inside the housing are sealed. And a lot of them use a magnetic/electronic coupling so there's no penetration through the housing, even for wiring. So the fail points are just the back cover and lens port if removable.
A drawback to using an Ikelite housing with your camera is that it won't be possible to manually white balance underwater since the LCD is turned around and used as a video monitor up against the camera when in the housing - that's why they provide the external mirror. Ikelite doesn't provide a control to activate the touchscreen functions, how could they? So if you plan to white balance at depth - you'll need to get an electronic housing with LANC control of this function.
Steve
(This post was edited by sjspeck on Mar 27, 2005, 11:57 AM)
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