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.
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.