Housing for Nikon d200??

[Jexs67]

I apologize for the length of this thread in advance. I will be traveling the next couple of weeks so I will not be able to participate in any responses for a little bit but will appreciate any advice. I will be back on June 6th.

A. I am looking to replace my nikon d200 with a d700 in the near future. I have been upgrading my lens to FX with this in mind. I shoot primarily with a tamron 28-75mm and a sigma 12-24mm (THE BEAST).

B. My d200 is getting a little old and the plan was to "semi-retire" it and get a housing for it. I know I could get a housing for my brand new d700 but I would be too devestated if anything was ever to happen. I was considering an ikelite housing or a sea and sea housing. I had heard that given the discontinued nature of the d200 that some of these housings can be had on the cheap in the near future. Currently I shoot with the following underwater:

C. Canon powershot sd990 (I know this is in the nikon niche section but canon makes the best point and shoot cameras) (have shot nikon slr and dslr my entire life and swear by them but thats a different subject)

ikelite housing and ikelite dual arm base and ikelite w-20 wide angle lens (love the wide angle lens)

sea and sea ys110a strobe lite with fiber optic connection and custom connection to ikelite arm

D. Before I get to my questions I want to state the following. I am somewhat new and inexperienced when it comes to using strobe lights. I shoot primarily landscape photography (very rarely indoors or in low light situations). I recently purchased a nikon sb-600 at the beginning of the year. I have been very pleased with my s&s ys110a but am still developing my expertise with it. I bought it because all the threads at scubaboard.com seem to say that investing more money in a strobe is the best way to go because you can always upgrade your camera. I bought it because I wanted to get into some wide angle UW photography.

E. I want to state the following disclaimer. I have always been hesitant to invest in a housing for a dslr. I do not have the oppurtunity to dive as much as I would like and I honestly do not know how I would feel about adjusting manual controls underwater. I am capable and willing but my feeling is that with my current set up I can get somewhat distracted underwater taking pics and do not get to truly take in the whole dive experience. I just was wondering anyones feelings on the subject. I know that you will never be able to reach the quality of a manual camera (if set properly) with a point and shoot but I just wanted to see how people felt. I very much enjoy UW photography but given my limited oppurtunities to dive I do not want to feel the when I do go diving I spend more of my time with my head in my camera than experiencing the dive and taking it all in. I know this is a personal preference sort of thing but I would appreciate any thoughts.

My questions are as follows:
1. Which housing is better sea and sea or ikelite for the d200? (ikelite seems more reasonably priced)
2. Any recomendations for where to pick one of these up?
2a. Would a sea and sea housing fit/attach to my ikelite base?
3. I know there is a conversion cord for an ikelite to sea and sea strobes but that does not support iTTL. My understanding is that this would require manual operation of the ys-110a strobe. I would appreciate if someone could elaborate on this and explain a little further. As stated above, I am somewhat new to using strobe lights in general. Additionally, there is what is called a TTL convertor III for nikon cameras to sea and sea strobes for $650$$$$!!!!! Is this neccessary with a S&S housing? This would add great cost to this investment and I would appreciate any thoughts on this.
4. Ikelite does not support domes for my sigma 12-24mm lens!!! Very disappointed. Does Sea and Sea support domes for this lens?? I can't seem to figure this one out??
5. If neither of the housings support my sigma 12-24mm lens, I would appreciate any recommendations for wide angle lens for underwater photography. I would be looking for something on the more reasonable side price wise considering I already have a fairly expensive wide angle lens.
6. Is it possible to get one dome to fit both my tamron 28-75 and a wide angle lens or do you need 2 seperate set ups?
7. Does any of this seem worthwhile? Please be brutally honest. I have been blown away by the quality of the photos I've been getting with my canon sd990 14.7MP with ys110a strobe. (I previously have shot with a canon powershot 4MP camera with a housing and no strobe for 5 years before upgrading, I jokingly refered to that camera as my snorkeling/safety stop/clown fish camera). Is using a nikon d200 10 MP with manual settings really going to take my UW photography to the next level? Given my feelings stated in section D above, I would appreciate some candid opinions. Photography is my passion and given the length of this thread you all can see I like to spend my money on photo equitment. I am willing to learn, practice, and spend some money but would like to hear from some more advanced/experienced UW photographers on the subject. Is this a worthwhile investment??

Sorry for the length of this thread but thanks for any help.

 

[Mariozi]

1. Which housing is better sea and sea or ikelite for the d200? (ikelite seems more reasonably priced)

Sea&Sea (and most of aluminum housings) is better than Ikes.
Ikes are cheaper and have good service (specially in US).

2. Any recomendations for where to pick one of these up?

I buy my Sea&Sea in Singapore.

2a. Would a sea and sea housing fit/attach to my ikelite base?

Not an Ike expert, but would say no.

3. I know there is a conversion cord for an ikelite to sea and sea strobes but that does not support iTTL. My understanding is that this would require manual operation of the ys-110a strobe. I would appreciate if someone could elaborate on this and explain a little further. As stated above, I am somewhat new to using strobe lights in general. Additionally, there is what is called a TTL convertor III for nikon cameras to sea and sea strobes for $650$$$$!!!!! Is this neccessary with a S&S housing? This would add great cost to this investment and I would appreciate any thoughts on this.

YS100a is only able to TTL via a TTL converter (Sea&Sea or another one).
If you want TTL it is necessary. I don't use it.
It is more useful for macro than for WA.

4. Ikelite does not support domes for my sigma 12-24mm lens!!! Very disappointed. Does Sea and Sea support domes for this lens?? I can't seem to figure this one out??

Never heard of it...

5. If neither of the housings support my sigma 12-24mm lens, I would appreciate any recommendations for wide angle lens for underwater photography. I would be looking for something on the more reasonable side price wise considering I already have a fairly expensive wide angle lens.

Tokina 10-17 would be my first option, other than that you can go for any 10-20-somethings. Before you ask, currently there is no FX lens that would be considered a practical and good option lens for doing real WA with a DX body underwater, not even the 14-24/2.8 $$$$$ lens.

6. Is it possible to get one dome to fit both my tamron 28-75 and a wide angle lens or do you need 2 seperate set ups?

It is possible, but the mid-zoom although versatile acts like a jack-of-all trades, doind a little of everything but not really mastering it. If you are concerned with getting better results with an DSLR than you do with a compact you need to use what your SRL gives you: The possibility of using the best glass for each occasion.
Go fisheye wide and macro, 2 different setups is my vote on it. On the WA setup you might be able to use that (with Extension Rings for the dome)... but will have to custom make a zoom ring.

7. Does any of this seem worthwhile? Please be brutally honest. I have been blown away by the quality of the photos I've been getting with my canon sd990 14.7MP with ys110a strobe. (I previously have shot with a canon powershot 4MP camera with a housing and no strobe for 5 years before upgrading, I jokingly refered to that camera as my snorkeling/safety stop/clown fish camera). Is using a nikon d200 10 MP with manual settings really going to take my UW photography to the next level?

If you are willing to go deep into it, study the SLR setup offers you a LOT more room for improvement. I have been shooting SLRs underwater for almost 10y now and don't regret it.

Good luck!

 

[Eskasi]

I would look into Nexus housings too. They offer fiber optic connections which means you get TTL without all the expensive converters and sync cables.

I honestly would not house a D200. I would even consider getting a second hand d300 body if I were you and housing that. The cost of housing a DSLR is already a fair amount.... I would add a bit more and get a better body too....

I use a Sea & Sea housing and love it. If I had to do it all over again though, I might go with Nexus or Seatool, both of which did not have a D300 model back then when I bought my Sea & Sea. Both also offer optical connections and adaptors to use other brands of ports....

 

[Mariozi]

I would go D300 as well, but I have a great deal on S&S ports, and I learned to trust the system against others.

 

[jcclink]

Think a little long term, especially if you dive travel, & plan to keep the new system a few years. Get 2 D700's so you have a spare. One camera for topside & a different model for u/w does not provide a direct backup. I'd also suggest Nexus. For some housings they have conversion kits for the next new model camera (nothing guaranteed here), so you may not have to buy a whole new housing when upgrading. Spare everything electronic. (This is where the 2nd body comes in.) For strobes something that is light weight, compact, uses AA batteries (to miminize cost), light output sufficient for the majority of your subject matter. Consider fiber optics vs sync cords. Some housings (like Nexus) accommodate this, some don't. Some Inon strobes can provide TTL via fiber optics. Others require a converter. Manual shooting works fine, just takes some practice. My new system is Nexus D300 with S&S YS27 strobes. Very compact & reliable. And check the limit on your Platinum Card.

 

[dbh]

The D200 is a very capable camera underwater and used housings are available (as people have traded them in when upgrading). Reef Photo has 2 used Subal's on their site and Subal's are as good as you can get (IMHO). I did not look very hard to see if they had any other for the D200. I am not a fan of mid-range zooms. They are not very good at either end....only the middle. I would get a Nikkor 60mm and an external diopter. You will be able to take pics of very large fish all the way down to a nudibranch or cleaner shrimp....on the same dive! While the YS-110 is a good strobe, you will need a second for WA. One will be sufficient for fish portraits and macro. The Sea & Sea TTL Converters are compatible with the Subal (I used one on my Subal ND20 with Inon strobes and it worked just fine) if you feel you need it. While convenient, it is not a necessity.

These are MHO and YMMV,

Dave

 

[King Kong Matt]

Just interested as to why some folks would suggest not housing a D200. I have one that I am not using (now have a D700) and was considering housing it, but am interested in the thoughts of the folks here...

 

[dbh]

I wouldn't hesitate to house one.

 

[jcclink]

Since I'm a little paranoid about having spares, I would not house a camera unless I had a 2nd body as backup (same model). It normally is not possible to use a newer model in the older housing. Nexus does however have housing conversions kits so a few newer camera models can be used with older housings. (Not sure if D200 will convert to D700.) If you can get another D200 go for it. But keep in mind what your options would be if you had a problem. If you could convert D200 to D700 with Nexus, I'd suggest getting the conversion kit now so you have it, as it may not be available later as more & more new models are released. (Nexus is rather slow in shipping stuff, at least here in USA.)

 

[King Kong Matt]

Since I'm a little paranoid about having spares, I would not house a camera unless I had a 2nd body as backup (same model). It normally is not possible to use a newer model in the older housing.

That makes sense to me (thanks), but that reasoning is applicable to any camera. The previous posters seemed to have a particular issue with the D200, which is what I was trying to ferret out...

But I totally hear what you are saying about having a spare.