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Post by SeaRat on Sept 28, 2022 10:12:42 GMT -8
I am putting together my Canon F-1N and my Ikelite Housing for it. I have two lenses for the camera for underwater use, the 50mm Macro Lens, and a 25mm Wide Angle lens for the Canon FD system. I had trouble with the strobe, in that I couldn’t get it to flash. I did not have a Canon connector, but rather an Ikelite connector with only one contact. I figured out with trial and error that I had not pushed it far enough into the Canon strobe contact on top of the camera. So now I’m very close to putting everything together for my underwater photography. I was going to dive this tomorrow, and may still do so, but the forecast is for a pretty heavy rain storm tomorrow (absolutely necessary for our area). If not tomorrow, next Monday is the next day. But now I’m confident that I have a working system. It should be fun.  IMG_0869 by John Ratliff, on Flickr I have purposely shown the Ikelite housing without it being together, to show how all the parts are connected (mechanically and electrically). In the background you can see the dome port. I used to use an elongated straight port with the 50mm Macro Lens, but that port died (came apart). So now I’m using the dome port meant for wide angle photography (it eliminates the magnification of the subject due to the curvature of the lens).  IMG_0868 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here you can see the Ikelite flash connector, mounted on top of the Canon Action Finder. On the lens are two attached rings, which allow focusing and changing the aperture while underwater.  IMG_0867 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here you can see that the strobe connection is charged by a battery. I think it’s a 12.5 volt battery, but cannot remember for sure.  IMG_0866 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here are the mechanics of the two rings on the lens, interfacing with two different controls so that focus and aperture can be changed.  IMG_0865 by John Ratliff, on Flickr This shows the Canon F-1N connections to the case for the strobe. It also shows the arms on the strobe, for positioning. I took off the Canon drive, and before I put film into the camera I need to cover the two connection ports which should have a plug, but I’ve lost the two plugs over the years (they were in a plastic film canister, but where that one went is anyone’s guess over the years). |
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Post by Tusker on Sept 29, 2022 6:25:54 GMT -8
John, how did you go about getting your Ikelite housing into dive condition?
Jacob
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 30, 2022 15:46:46 GMT -8
John, how did you go about getting your Ikelite housing into dive condition? Jacob I’m still in the process of getting it back in shape for diving. Here’s some of what I’ve done: — Removed the Power Winder from my Canon F-1N, and the strap. — Powered up the strobe to see whether it still flashes by shorting the flash/camera attachment. It does. — Put the strobe onto the housing electrically, then checked the circuits by tripping the camera shutter. At first, it didn’t work. Then I got if pushed further into the flash shoe, and it worked. That was a relief. — Lubricated all the control rods that penetrate the housing, and the main O-ring. I have Ikelite lubricant form an E-Bay purchase years ago. Still to do: — put tape over the two holes that need a cap (no cap, so tape in light-proof). — Load film into the camera. — seal up the camera into the housing. I’m probably not going to leak-check the housing unless it’s in the house, by submerging the housing in a utility room sink (that’s actually a good idea). I’m hoping to get some macro photos next Monday of the freshwater mussels in the Tualatin River. If any of you have an older manual Pentax camera, I have a spare Ikelite housing that came with a strobe I picked up on E-Bay. You can have it for the cost of shipping. John |
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 17, 2022 17:07:41 GMT -8
I finally got an opportunity to dive my Canon F-1N in the Ikelite housing. I took it to about 10 feet in the Tualatin River at Cook Park in Tigard, Oregon. Here's a photo taken by my Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital Elph camera, which I also have a housing for and took photos from today. But the case held back the water to a depth of about 10 feet, and I succeeded in taking a roll of 36 on Ectachrome 100. I was using a Substrobe MS with the unit (orange in the photo) and manual exposure. I bracketed the exposures, at F-11, F-16 and F-22. It will be a week or two before I can get the roll processed. But all went well, and the system worked well.  IMG_3466 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here's what the Canon F-1N looks like in its Ikelite housing. As stated above, I took more photos with my Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital Elph camera in a Canon Housing. Here are some photos from today's dive:  IMG_3468 by John Ratliff, on Flickr My main reason for getting the Canon F-1N system going is to document the froshwater mussels in the Tualatin River. This shows a shell from a dead mussel, and also the siphon of a live mussel too.  IMG_3480 by John Ratliff, on Flickr I got some good photos of crawdads too. This one almost didn't make it, as it came out of it den, and all of the sudden there was a fish around.  IMG_3491 by John Ratliff, on Flickr It was a bass, and the crawdad got into a defensive stand as the bass closed in. It did not get much, but made an attempt to eat the crawdad. It was a good dive, with a dock to put my diving equipment on and an easy entry. Depth was not over 10 feet, but there was still a lot to see. This site is just a half hour away, closer by half than my other dive site, High Rock on the Clackamas River. John |
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 22, 2022 16:57:58 GMT -8
Okay, the film is at the processor, Blue Moon Photo and Machine. I should be able to tell whether I got any good photos from my Canon F-1N in the Ikelite Housing in about a week.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Nov 1, 2022 21:22:38 GMT -8
I just received my slides from my trials on October 14th. I am pleased, as the results are quite good. I will post more photos in the coming days.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Nov 3, 2022 8:53:57 GMT -8
Okay, I've got some representative photos from my dive with the Canon F-1N in my Ikelite housing.  Tualatin Dive001 by John Ratliff, on Flickr This is the first photo of the roll, at F-11. You can see it is in focus, and shows the crawdad well.  Tualatin Dive002 by John Ratliff, on Flickr This is the second photo of the roll, which is a bit off on the focus. I had worn my SeawiscopeEY, and could not focus well. The focus is about an inch or two out on the antenna of the crawdad. This photo was at F-16. All these photos were at a shutter speed of 1/60th a second, on Ectachrome 100.  Tualatin Dive003 by John Ratliff, on Flickr The third photo was with the SeawiscopeEY down, trying to see through the lens, and I was having trouble. This one is out-of-focus, and the crawdad had moved too. I put up my SeawiscopeEY and did not use it for the rest of the photos.  Tualatin Dive006 by John Ratliff, on Flickr I found some mussels with their syphons in use, and tried to get photos of them. This one is at F-11, and only the top mussel is in focus.  Tualatin Dive005 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Some group of mussels, this time at F-16. It's better, but not where I want it.  Tualatin Dive004 by John Ratliff, on Flickr This photo, of the same group of mussels, is at F-22. As you can see, I was bracketing the exposures of the same scene so as to get a good idea of the best exposure. Here, I almost got what I wanted, but still a slight focus problem for the foreground.  Tualatin Dive015 by John Ratliff, on Flickr I finally got what I wanted with this photo of the mussel with its syphone in use. This was at F-22, and represented a very good photo of the mussels.  Tualatin Dive008 by John Ratliff, on Flickr At F-22, this cradad photo is pretty good! Now, I'm pretty confident with my newly "qualified" Canon F-1N, 50mm Macro Lens, behind a dome port in the Ikelite housing. John |
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 6, 2023 22:43:50 GMT -8
Okay, these photos above were taken with a very small Ikelite Substrobe MS. But I also have a large Ikelite SubStrobe 75L, which when I first got it, worked. It no longer works, and I’m trying to figure out why. On the inside, it says it can be fired by either 1.5 volt or 22.5 volt rechargeable batteries. It has a place for four C-cell size batteries, and I bought new ones from Batteries + Bulbs several years ago. I could never get them to charge though. So now I’m trying to understand the electronics of this 1970s strobe. I’ll add some photos a bit later. Right now, here’s the instruction manual: www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/ikelite_substrobe_75_150.pdfJohn |
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Post by Tusker on Feb 8, 2023 6:54:19 GMT -8
John, you seem to have had great success using photographic equipment I have otherwise heard described "unusable" — do you have any advice as to what to look for? I've got experience shooting 35mm and medium format film, and it seems like a (potentially) more economic way of getting excellent underwater photos.
Jacob
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Post by nikeajax on Mar 11, 2023 17:12:21 GMT -8
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