Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing for Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D)

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

Used for taking photographs and videos on both recreational (reef) and technical (cave/wreck) dives. Sturdy housing, can easily view all of the controls inside the housing. Works well thus far!

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

This is one product that does not live up to the hype. I bought this in complete confidence of the brand because of all the great reviews I came across when researching dependable housings. Was I in for a shock.

Upon arrival I noticed a bad connection between the housing's body & lens ports. Although that didn't sit well with me I still took it out for a test run. Boy was that a mistake! After a few minutes in the pool it literally came apart! Did I mention that it isn't even repairable? I sent it back for replacement & was told that the item was "not defective", and so there was nothing they could do about it. What a rip off!

Never again will a buy another Ikelite housing! Save yourselves the time, energy & money and try something else. It's really not worth the headache.

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

I didn't have too many options when I decided to buy the housing. They start to discontinue housings quickly. I have an Ikelite housing for my point and shoot camera and it has been great. I don't expect anything less from this one. It is pretty bulky but I really don't have anything to compare it to except my P&S housing. The controls are easy to use and although the housing is heavy on topside it is manageable under water.

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

After diving with this on several occasions I don't see any problems. Although the lens port doesn't seem too tight, it hasn't leaked yet and I trust the Ikelite name.
The only possible con I can think of is the weight of the housing, but that can be dealt with.

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

I bought this because I was going on a cruise with several potential snorkeling stops and wanted to take better quality pictures than I got previously with a point and shoot camera with housing. The Ikelite housing is big and bulky but protected my camera well. It was a little daunting at first - take time to use it on land before going underwater. A knob for the shutter release control fell off on one dive which was very frustrating. I did as suggested in the manual with the Canon 10-22 mm super side angle lens. The flash unit worked well and the entire setup had a slight negative buoyancy with the flash unit attached - slightly positive without it. My pictures were not great and I could have done better with my P&S setup, but this was probably my own lack of familiarity with the unit. Next time I would use a slightly wider aperture than the f8 recommended and a faster shutter speed - 1/60 was too slow. I also would use a less wide angle lens like my 17-55 mm instead of the 10-22, unless you will be extremely close to something large like a stingray. If you will be doing a decent amount of diving and want to use your digital SLR this is an excellent setup - just be sure to get it ahead of time and play around with it before taking it in the water. Otherwise you will be fine with a P&S camera - housings for those are available from the same company. I also strongly recommend buying the Pelican case with custom cutouts - it is excellent for storage and essential for taking it along on a trip. I don't think the housing should be sold without the storage case - not sure how I would have transported it otherwise. This is an expensive toy but will give additional reach for your photography. It is well made and fairly easy to use once you are familiar with the buttons. The main drawback was that I could not access the button to change aperture or shutter speed in manual mode with my 450D. Maybe this is not a problem for the 500D but it really limits what you can change underwater in manual mode.

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

I used mine for a few days recently in Baja with an 8" dome. Although it's very bulky above water, it handles great while diving. It's neutrally buoyant, the shutter control is big and easy to grab, and all the rest of the controls work very well.

Honestly, I don't know why Ikelite has to make these cases so massive: there is a ton of extra air space between the camera and the case, all over. Perhaps they use one standard case dimension, and fit them with custom controls for each different camera? Or perhaps bigger = better for underwater? The size certainly does make handling it very easy, even if it's harder to handle on land with all that extra weight. Ikelite's handles are very comfortable.

For those who have not used them before, a few things to keep in mind:

o All the controls are accessible, *except* small switches on the lens (AF/MF, IS, etc.)

o In general you can control the zoom ring *or* the focus ring thru a set of geared wheels that links to the outside. You can't control both.

o The housing includes internal electronics for Ikelite's proprietary flash system. You're not going to be able to use Canon's ETTL flash system here, because you'd need to put a flash and/or transmitter on the hot shoe, and bounce signals around, and it's not set up for that. You could imagine that Ikelite might let sell a case and cord so you could hot shoe-in your 580 EX flash, but they don't that. The Rebel's internal flash will pop up and fire if you tell it to, but it's not going to be useful, since there's only room for it to pop up halfway, not to mention that it's blocked by the lens anyhow.

o Once you put on a dome port and the handles and before flashes, you're up to about 15 lbs.

Comments about Ikelite 6871.50 eTTL Housing f/ Canon Digital Rebel T1i (500D) & XSi (450D):

Just spent 10 days diving on a Red Dea Liveaboard. Housing proved reliable, controls work well and are easy yo use. I do feel however that the Ikelite port clips seem a little flimsy. Especially with macro ports. I would like to see more clips and/or sturdier construction.However so far very pleased with results, especially when combined with Ikelite's 8 inch dome port