Need recommendations for housing, strobes and lens setup for Nikon D7000

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Ben Prusinski

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I am looking to bring back my unused Olympus setup and buy a new Nikon D7000 package and looking for recommendations on:

housing
strobes
lens
ports and gears

I want to do both macro and wide angle photography to capture big animals and small shy critters. Would like mid-range package to get started as I don't want to spend 20k on gear on the moment which is easy to do with DSLR lens and housings.
 
THEY ARE NOT big ANIMALS(LIKE YOU!)- THEY ARE Aquatic mammals, other marine creatures and marine flora.......... please show them the love they deserve! most of them are more loving/respectful of you, then you are of them!
AD7000 Aquatica(super 5axis machine made by uwphotogs/engineers in the best of French Canadien style-turbo!!!But ffs cut the hydrophone cable immediate or ask for it removed on purchase) 2x ys-d1 bigtime winnar! lens you need 3!!!! 60mm macro, 105mm macro nikkor and a 11-16mm tokina(and maybe a 17mm-35mm tokina) you need 2 ports(macro and dome 8") and 1 extension ring, if we add all this up-
housiing- $2670
ports $780 odd
lens $2500+
camera body $900
strobes$ $1420
arms and focus light $600
not finished yet!
but you hit $8000usd quickly so Caveat emptor!
 
Hi Ozzydamo! Thanks man you are funny! Yes, I love the sea creatures and never meant an insult to them by calling them big animals. Thats why I chose photography over spear fishing since I'd rather capture their beauty then to kill them. Underwater Photography is the most EXPENSIVE part of scuba next to tech diving unfortunately for me along with the costs of travel and what not. Well its like pay now or pay later. I don't want to pay 4k for a complete lesser setup then to outgrow it in few years. Might as well invest in DSLR and can use the lens when I upgrade the camera body (hopefully!). I think that I can keep my strobes and arms and just need the lens along with DSLR and housing (most expensive part!). I am looking at Nauticam, Aquatica and Subal housings for the D7000.
 
I am not an expert about the differences between housings. Now, I believe that as for a low cost housing, Ikelite is generally agreed on to be the best. However, the cost of the system: ports, housing, strobes, gears etc together might suggest that it is better to go with an aluminum housing.

I have a Nauticam housing and am very happy with it.

For lenses, I would recommend 5. Now which lenses you get depends on your needs and style of shooting. Some people might be really nuts about big fish and that would greatly influence their choice in lenses. Other people shoot blennies and that means going for a 105 macro lens with diopters for super macro photography. So what you would end up shooting has to do with the style you end up with. I have just gotten my camera and already I can see how a 105 macro could be really nice for getting shots of those really cool small critters.

For a wide angle lens, many really like the Tokina 10-17. I have it. Because this lens has a REALLY close focus, you can use it with a really small dome. Having a small dome is really nice because it makes for a more compact system. This lens is a fisheye lens. The effects of the fisheye are pretty obvious in archetectural situations with all their straight lines getting curved. But underwater, there are not many straight lines to mess up so I doubt that many people would notice the distortion (which can be corrected for in post processing). Nikon makes some fisheye lenses that one can use as alternatives.

The next lens might be the Nikon 60 mm micro. It is a very high quality lens and allows 1:1 shots (true macro). It has some drawbacks. You have to get pretty close for true macro and some of the more wary or responsive things will react before you can get that close. But it is a short enough lens to take shots of smaller non macro subjects like small fish.

If you want a versatile lens, I don't know of anything that beats the Sigma 17-70 macro lens. I am not talking about the F 2.8 lens. This lens allows you to take shots of a wide range of subjects and allows close ups but not true macro. It is best used with an 8" dome. But you can use it with a smaller one if you accept some distortion on the edges.

Another lens is the Nikon 105 micro. Like the 60, this lens is high quality and allows true 1:1 macro. Being longer, this lens is good with shy subjects. It might be nice for taking shots of small, fast moving fish like small damsel fish. If you use diopters on this lens, you can get super macro results. You really can't do this with the 60 because diopters will get you too close to the subject to be very practical.

The last usuable kind of lens is something like a rectilinear 12-24. I understand that rectilinear lenses are best for taking photos of large fish (sharks and the like) and divers. The problem with shark photos is that in my experience, you do not get close to sharks for long in most cases and you might not get a chance for a shot with such a short lens. I suppose if you go on a "shark" dive, you would probably get a decent chance though and in that case, I understand, this is the lens of choice.

Many people got with the Tokina 10-17 and a 60 mm macro. I have those. Shooting with the 60 mm macro is pretty straightforward. The Tokina 10-17 is a pretty strange lens which I would very rarely use in terrestrial photography. I have taken photos with it and it takes really dramatic "landscape" photos underwater and is good for diver photos also. I use the Sigma 17-70 as a sort of all rounder. It is nice because there are certain subjects that are too large for the 60 mm macro that are hard to get close enough to with the Tokina 10-17. But using the large dome with it makes it a bit unwieldly.

I would highly recommend getting 2 strobes. Two strobes will give you more balanced lighting. You do not need powerful strobes for macro photography. I mean you are really close so the strobe does not have very far to reach and will not have much fall off. I have found that wide angle photography seems to require more strobe power.
 
Thanks for the tips! I bought a Nikon D7000 today for 1k brand new and will get the housing, strobes and lens this weekend before my trip! For housing, I really like Subal and Seacam even though they are more expensive but far more user friendly and the pros favor these housing types.
 
Thanks for the tips! I bought a Nikon D7000 today for 1k brand new and will get the housing, strobes and lens this weekend before my trip! For housing, I really like Subal and Seacam even though they are more expensive but far more user friendly and the pros favor these housing types.

Hi Ben, I am about to buy the D7000 and am debating about the housing. Which one did you take in the end? Are you happy with it? Thanks :)
 
Thanks for the tips! I bought a Nikon D7000 today for 1k brand new and will get the housing, strobes and lens this weekend before my trip! For housing, I really like Subal and Seacam even though they are more expensive but far more user friendly and the pros favor these housing types.

Well shoot, if your budget is high enough to look at Subal and Seacam then go for it. Although, I also know of some pros that favor Nauticam and for good reason, innovative ergonomics. My set up:

Nauticam D7000

MACRO:
ext ring 30 w/ Macro Port 60 (67 mm thread version)
Allows for my three macro lenses to be used; 105VR, 60mm and 40mm
For supermacro I have the +5 Subsee wet diopter for the 60mm and the +10 subsee for the 105VR

WIDE:
Ext ring 20, Nauticam 8.5 dome, Zen 100mm Mini Dome
Lenses: Nikkor 10-24 and Tokina 10-17.

Ext ring 20 +30 allow the proper extension for the Nikkor 10-24 behind the 8 inch dome
The Tokina 10-17 can go behind the 8 inch dome+ 20mm ext ring for easy over/under shots or behind the Zen 100m dome for close focus wide angle shots (the 40mm also works behind the zen100mm for convenience.)

Two Inon z240's via Fiber Optics so far is my method of lighting.

Overall I'm really happy with this set up though haven't had the chance to test the 10-24 on sharks, as was mentioned, but I bought it for that specific reason since I am headed to Papua New Guinea in October. In my opinion, sharks are only worth shooting if you can get close enough to light them properly. If you shoot them with a longer lens, you might fill the frame, but you are shooting through too much water which will lack sharpness contrast and impact.

I don't really understand the popularity of the Sigma 17-70mm. For reef fish it may work fine, but if you really want GREAT macro or wide shots it won't do either. IMO For really great shots, it's best to stick with one range, macro or wide... and choose wisely before the dive.:wink:
 
The others have really covered it but here is another 2 cents...

Housing in Order of Price:

Ike: Excellent for cost, port system a little more complicated, controls not as easy to manipulate as some others, if you like to shoot TTL a good pairing with their strobes.
Sea&Sea: Little more expensive, like Ike port system not as streamlined as others, build quality equal to or little better than Ike.
Aquatica: Jump in price from previous two, excellent build quality, truly one finger manipulation of controls, excellent port options along with viewfinders. Feel Aquatica is built with cold water divers in mind.
Nauticam: Very close to Aquatica in price, all the same pluses as Aquatica, Nauticam supporters will say an even more refined feel and design.
Seacam: Big jump in price but is the choice of many professionals due to great build quality and reputation for being super dependable in the field.

Lenses: So many options but "must haves" 60mm (a little more versatile than the 105mm), 105mm great for tropical waters, shy creatures or shooting super macro, Tokina 10-17mm, add a 1.4 Kenko teleconverter for even more options shooting, Sigma 17-70mm for "don't know what I will find" dives. But once you get into the mid zoom options and as mentioned any lens that is ok "all-around" is not great at anything.

Strobes: The new Sea&Sea YS-D1 is turning out to be an excellent all around strobe, for Ike systems the Ike 160 is a industry workhorse, and the Inon Z240.

Ports: 4" vs 8" this is a toss up but many lean to the 4". Really the only downside is there are certain prime fisheye lenses you can't use the 4" with and very hard to shoot over/unders with the the 4". But the 4" is easy to travel with.

Misc Items: A good Focus/Video/Night dive light, recommend something 500 lumens or greater and something like Stix buoyancy arms/floats, for super macro there are several brands of excellent diopters, Fix/Aquatica/Subsee.

FYI, I shoot D7000, Aquatica, S&S YS-D1s, and assortment of lenses and ports.

Regardless the D7000 is great, I recently left it home to try one of the new 4/3 systems which was fun but not on par (yet) with the D7000.
 
Thanks for the tips! I bought a Nikon D7000 today for 1k brand new and will get the housing, strobes and lens this weekend before my trip! For housing, I really like Subal and Seacam even though they are more expensive but far more user friendly and the pros favor these housing types.


Seacam Prelude D7000 ?
You better do your homework on the buttons they reduced in the name of cost cutting or they call it "Less is More".:shakehead:
Hint, check out if they have the zoom in zoom out preview buttons and dedicated ISO button.
 
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https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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