Ikelite vs. Canon housings

[Hugh.]

I'm looking for a housing for my G9. Is it worth dropping the extra cash for the Ikelite housing?

Any help is appreciated.

[Jon]

If you want to go below 130' or attach strobes to it I would say "yes".

If you want to attach a lens to it, it won't work on the G9 no matter which housing you go with- need to look at a different model to that.

If your freediving/spearfishing I would just stick with the Canon case- smaller, lighter, cheaper.

Just my $0.02- adjusted for inflation.

Jon

[Jonny250]

I have a G9 with Canon Housing; remember that the canon housing does not allow you to change the speed, apature or custom setting once the camera is inside the housing. I find this to be a major limitation when taking images at different distances from the camera (amount of background illumination), ok for macro tho.
Also consider getting adequate lead to hold the camera down - way too buoyant otherwise - unless you're attaching it to a gun.
personally, i am looking to use a tripod for longer macro work (50cm) - the camera can take half a second to find the focus which can make a significant difference when floating around..

[Wishbone]

Originally Posted by Jonny250

I have a G9 with Canon Housing; remember that the canon housing does not allow you to change the speed, apature or custom setting once the camera is inside the housing...

I used to have a G7 till few months ago housed in a Canon DC-11. I have to disagree with you on this since I believe both G7 and G9 are quite the same. You can change all the functions that are usually modified by turning the wheel on the back of the camera. You do that by simultaneously pressing the upper left button on the back of the camera and then you use the "arrow" buttons. It's written in the instruction of the housing, I believe. I was shooting predominantly in shutter priority mode...

In fact you can use wet lenses with G9. With Ikelite you can attach the Ikelite wet lenses and filters. The Canon housing was a problem due to the oval shaped port, until independent manufacturers started providing lens mounts for the DC11 and DC21.
Here's one by FIT: F. I. T M67 Mount Base DC11/21 for Canon WP-DC11/WP-DC21 #M67-DC21
What you can use with it are the Inon 67mm macro lenses. You could attach also a wide angle wet lens, but it's rather pointless due to vignetting problems. To avoid vignetting you have to zoom the camera - that kills the effect of the wide lens to a great extent...

Ikelite has one enormous advantage - it has built in circuitry for using Ikelite external strobes in TTL mode. With Canon you can use only slave strobes fired by the built-in flash, which always causes backscatter problems, no matter what they tell you, and you have to adjust strobe exposure manually.

Some photos I made with the G7 - Flickr: Secuencia de fotos de Spearfish

Cheers!

[Jonny250]

Nice one Wishbone, you are quite right - I am pleased to be corrected :-)
btw I love the images in your flickr album, especially the the ones of your dive buddy in Greece, superb.

[Wishbone]

it's good to be of assistance and I am glad you like the photos - we were blessed with great vis on that particular day...

On the camera/housing combo choice, my 2c are that it depends on the intended use.
If you need a camera only to take photos of your catch or shoot videos for the web, then maybe the smaller Ixus or Coolpix is a better choice. G9 is a high-end more expensive digicam and it's pointless to buy it and not use it to the max.

Besides, even the smaller than Ikelite Canon G9 housing is significantly larger than the housing for the Ixus. I've managed to design and build with a help from a friend a G7 camera stay for my Rob Allen to shoot videos. The drag was terrible, and even though I learned to cope with it, it's a major point. For that purpose a smaller camera/housing combo would be a better choice.
The price is also a factor and you don't want to end up worrying every time whether the camera and the housing are doing alright on the float.

If you want more from your camera though then the advanced digicam is a must. The ability of the G9 to shoot RAW format alone is a major factor. Even though it's not a DSLR type of RAW, it still allows you to tweak the white balance later, which is a must for underwater freedive use.

On the subjective note - after only few dives I found out that I am more interested in taking photos and the gun remained on float. I ended up using it only when I need fish for dinner.
I have only few real memories of a spearfishing season - the ones with catch or rendezvous that deserve to be memorized. With the camera, now I can recall almost every dive and every creature I saw. I also found out that even when exploiting my spearfishing techniques to the max, taking a good shot with the camera is much harder than doing it with a gun, so it's also a great challenge.

I sold my G7 in a rush to pile some cash and move to a DSLR. Now I regret it - I had to keep it and have it on the float when spearfishing.

Cheers!

Ivan

[Jon]

There are a couple other options for housings coming out for the G-9. These will allow lens mounts, but cost more than the Ikelite.

FUN-IN Underwater Photographic Equipment

FUN-IN Underwater Photographic Equipment

Jon