Over the last couple of months I have learned a lot from this forum. Thanks to everyone for their help! In return I’d like to offer up a few of the things I learned while practicing my insanity (diving with the Canon 5D in an Ikelite housing).

I learned that people look at you strangely when you tell them your camera weighs over 18 pounds (without any weights in the tray it seems to be about 1lb negative in the water).

I learned when housing the 50mm Sigma macro, you need to black out the walls of the port tube with gaffers tape. The port is relatively long and the 50mm barrel retracts well into the tube when focusing at non macro distances. If you don't black out the tube you will get rainbow flares as the light comes in through the clear walls of the port. On a FF camera, the 50mm macro is a great all purpose lens. In the same dive, you can go from taking a picture of a large turtle to a close up of a coral polyp. On the downside, the lens focusing motor is painfully slow and you cannot turn the focus ring when AF is enabled.

I learned that the AF mode switches on the side of the Canon 100 macro need to be taped down. The lens barely fits through the port opening of the housing and it's too easy to bump AF off and/or trip the focus range limit switch. Also, I needed to remove some of the pads that grip the focus ring. It fit fine in the dry winter air at home, but in the tropics the pads gripped the lens like iron... for awhile I was afraid I was going to break something trying to get it apart. I removed the pads, cut them down to about half their original size, and all was good. Of the three lenses I took down, the 100 wins hands down on the fun factor. With that lens, the 5D AI Servo AF (with the expanded AF sensors on + all focus sensors turned on) easily tracked fish movements. When taking macro shots, I would switch to one shot AF and move the camera to fine tune focus. The large viewfinder made it relatively easy to see what was in focus (I did need to move my head around to see the edges of the frame though)

I learned that the when you put the Canon 16-35 in a 5503.55 dome port (with a FF sensor) you get refraction problems on the outer edges of the image. Hopefully the 8" dome will be a better optical match. I also found out that if you forget to install the ring gear, you can't zoom

I learned that if the viewfinder is very dark when you look through it and the camera won't take pictures, the DOF preview button is being pushed (heh, that one stumped me for half a dive).

I learned that the TTL strobe interface in the housing would lose its mind occasionally and start over-exposing everything. When that occurred, the exposure compensation buttons on the interface would stop working as well. Turning both strobes off and back on fixed the problem every time (is that normal?).

I learned that Porter cases really are the best thing since sliced cheese.

Finally, I learned that 5 days of diving is just not enough. This was the first time I have taken an SLR underwater and one week was not enough time to get the bugs worked out of the system (and me). I was ready for another week or two of diving at the end…. [sigh]

Overall, the system worked great, I’d recommend an Ike enclosure and the Canon 5D to a friend in a heartbeat.

I have attached a few images from the trip.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment


P.S. Ike, thanks for the blue o-ring!

Sounds like you had fun, and are getting to know your system.

RE: TTL circuitry crashing. You actually don't need to turn both strobes off to reset it - just the side without the red band on the sync cord.

It has happened to me frequently enough (on two different housings) that I would say it is normal. But it seems to caused by water getting in the circuitry or sync cord.

If the circuitry (or sync cord) gets too wet, it will crash every shot on TTL mode. But if you switch the circuitry into manual mode (before you crash it by taking a picture) it will work fine.

I have yet to complete more than 3 days of heavy shooting (4+ dives a day), where the TTL circuitry was still working in TTL. Usually it will still work in manual.

Only once it started crashing in manual. But even then, if you put the circuitry in manual and then set the strobes on manual you can still function.

The good news is that after it drys out, TTL starts working reliably again.

Once I installed the sync cord I never took it off. In the future I'll try removing it at night to allow any built up moisture to dry.

Although I only have a lowly 20D , I experienced some of the same problems as you while I was in Bonare a few weeks ago.
Some shots were overexposed when they shouldn't be, lights not working on the TTL board, lights not responding to button press, etc. I had to switch the strobes off and back on to get things working again.
When I got home, I took a close look at everything. Turns out it was the sync cord. The part of the cord that goes into the metal connector that screws onto the housing bulkhead takes a lot of abuse. I could wiggle that part of the cord and the TTL lights would flash. I even got the strobes to fire simply by moving the cord a little !! There appeared to be no sign of corrosion on the contacts. I suspected an internal wire had shorted out.
I sent the cord to Ikelite and they responded that the cord had flooded and also suggested I send the housing back plate to them as they suspected the bulkhead had flooded as well. I received a new sync cord and everything works fine. It has been pool tested so I feel the problem has been resolved without sending in the housing backplate. Hopefully I won't regret that decision.
I now also have a backup sync cord and plan on taking zip ties along to keep the cord in place on the arms and handles.

You will also learn (if you travel to stricter airports with Size Wise testers) that Porter Cases are outside the size wise dimensions and can be refused as cabin luggage. Happened to me in Hong Kong, Sydney and Brisbane. Fortunately I was flying biz so a few frowns from me at the airline staff and they let me on. Still it's a pain.

> I learned that Porter cases really are the best thing since sliced cheese. <



I happen to agree that the Porter Case is about the greatest piece of luggage ever invented! I've traveled with one on every trip I've taken the last 10 years or so.

As for the danger of a Porter Case being refused for carry-on, that certainly is a risk (particularly in Australia, where they can be rather anal about it). However, it's a risk that is easily dealt with by simply carrying (inside the Porter Case) one of those little nylon bags that fold up into their own pocket to about the size of a fist. If you're ever told you have to gate-check the Porter Case, just open it, put all your valuable stuff in the nylon bag, and gate-check the (nearly empty) Porter Case. I've done this numerous times, and it's a small inconvenience compared to the advantages of the Porter Case.

I was asked to gate check the case on the commuter sized planes that my connecting flights were on. I figured it was not a big deal. The case does have a 3 tumbler lock on it to prevent the casual pilfering...

Has anyone ever had anything damaged or stolen when gate checking something?

The strobe interface problem would occur every other dive or so, which meant an average of 100 or so pictures between glitches.... I had a spare sync cord with me, but it never occurred to me to try the other cord. I'll have to talk to Ikelitie about it. This would be a good time to send it in... I won't be getting wet again for awhile

It's not normal for the interface to "lose its mind and start overexposing everything." Since it is intermittent it could be a hot shoe pin not making good contact or a cord problem. We had a cord with a receptacle that was pushed in (only slightly though) and the cord would not function TTL. The receptacle wasn't pushed in very much at all. We got some needlenose pliers and pulled the receptacle out so it was flush with the grommet and it then worked perfectly.

You should only have to turn the primary strobe off then on again to reset system.