Ikelite D100 Housing and Ports: A Review in Photos

by James Wiseman Tuesday, February 8th, 2005

When the small Ikelite SLR housings for the Digital Rebel and the Nikon D100 came out, I was pleased to see that Ikelite had moved away from their 20 year old design SLR-MD housing with something new. Ike sent me a housing to try out, but due to travel plans, I never got a chance to post a full review. Since last year, I have been receiving requests from Wetpixel users for some sample photos taken using this setup with the Nikon 12-24DX lens. I've put all that I have together for a short article - really a photo presentation - showing how the new system fits together.

The front of the housing with the port for the 12-24DX

The rear of the housing showing the magnified viewfinder, button layout, and AF-Lock Lever

The camera mounts to the rear of the housing. Since the bulkhead is in the housing back, it's convenient to remove everything at once, however, this isn't possible with a zoom lens and zoom gear mounted.

The AE/AF lock is very easy to hit and hold using the ergonomically placed control.

The housing with manual power controllers mounted on Ikelite ball adapters. Note the dual sync cord connected to the back of the housing and running to each manual controller.

A front view of the system, set up for wideangle shooting.

Ikelite's New Manual Focus Port for the 105mm Macro

The Large Knob is Easy to Use for Manual Focusing

A gear fits on the lens AF-MF Shift Collar. It meshes with this knob, allowing the photographer to change between MF and AF on the same dive.

Pool testing the setup. Photo James Balkite

An image taken at 12mm. F19 @ 1/180th

An image taken at 24mm. F19 @ 1/180th

An image taken at close focus at 24mm. The lens is really sharp and can focus close enough for great anemone shots, fish portraits, etc.

A sample photo taken with the 105 in the manual focus port.

I hope you enjoyed this short article. While not a full review, I hope it gives a flavor for the new small SLR housing and ports being built by Ikelite.

I just used my Ikelite D70 housing for the first time and found the back mounting set-up and controls to work quite well. The bulkhead on the back is a bit annoying but my biggest issue was the very small viewfinder is difficult to see well at times. I think I should have purchased the Subal with the extended magnifier but it was hard to justify the cost difference.
Posted by on 2005-02-20 14:39:04 The mounting on the back really isn't an issue for me at least. I use 1gig cards so there is no reason to open the housing on the boat to change cards. I don't like opening the housing on the boat anyway. I want to assemble the rig in a controlled environment in the hotel room where I am relaxed.

I don't leave the camera in the housing after a dive anyway. I usually want to shoot topside in the afternoon. So I need to take it all apart anyway.

The buklhead on the back is a little weird. I wish it could be on the top. But really its not in my way at all. All things considered its a good design.

If I could have anything on a new housing it would be a dual o-ring design for added reliability.
Posted by on 2005-02-10 05:12:49 I was planning to buy a Ike D70-housing, but I was very surprised to see that the camera mounts to the back (I haven't seen a live housing yet). Now you have to desemble the whole rig when changing a cf-card. Anyone made some homemade changes to the housing yet? (cameramount to front, bulkhead on top)

I really want to know what the motivation is for this design.
Posted by Kees on 2005-02-09 19:36:56 That's good to hear! Cheers James
Posted by James Wiseman on 2005-02-09 15:04:00 Just to let people know... it is possible to change the battery without removing the camera (at least with the D70 housing).
Posted by on 2005-02-09 12:07:09 The viewfinder on the Ikelite is as good or better than the Sea and Sea.

In my opinion, usability of the Ike is not as good as the Sea and Sea. This is because the camera mounts to the back of the Ikelite housing - and with the D100, the flash card comes out of the back of the camera. That means you have to unmount the camera from the tray to change cards (and battery, which is not as big an issue). I have put in a request to Ikelite to mount the SLR cameras to the front part of the housing body, but so far, that hasn't happened. If the camera was mounted to the front, it would be easier to change card and batteries, and you wouldn't have to un-mount the lens/zoom gear to take the camera out of the housing. Another bonus is that Ikelite could go back to the older and much better placement of the sync bulkhead on the top of the housing, like with other brands.

Cheers
James

Posted by James Wiseman on 2005-02-09 08:23:53 Hey James, nice rim lighting of the obligatory hairy arm shot... How would you rate usability and viewability of the new slim'n'terrific Ike housings vs the Sea&Sea polycarbonate housing you used to have?
Posted by Craig Ruaux on 2005-02-09 03:42:44 You're welcome.

Honestly, these aren't good test photos to judge corner sharpness. Based on what I know now, I would have shot some pool tiles instead of the frog statue. I don't have the housing anymore (sent it back to Ike after the test) so sorry I can't help further.

Cheers

James

Posted by James Wiseman on 2005-02-09 03:17:59 Hi James - Thanks for the review. I hadn't realised the 105 port allowed for manual and autofocus on a single dive. Any chance we could get some 100% crops of the corners from the 12-24?
Posted by Anthony Plummer on 2005-02-08 18:44:50
Posted by Anthony Plummer on 2005-02-08 18:43:18