The new crop of DSLRs...AAAARRGH!!

[Mo2vation]

Ken, if you had to pick one topside lens for the D2/300 which one?

No question 12-24.

Most of the Top Side shooting I do are shots of people I love doing things outside. Location portraiture. The rest of Top Side is indoors - family, pets, friends, etc.

The 12-24 is brilliant. I love it so much. Its the lens I use the most Top Side. Sure, a groovy 18 - 200 would be nice, but then it has no use for me UW. The 12-24 is the lens I use most topside, plus I use it about 25% of the time UW. It is my most versatile lens.

---
Ken

 

[Mo2vation]

If yo are even thinking about taking a DSLR under water shop for the housing FIRST. Find one you want then buy whatever camera fits inside.. The housing is by far the most expensive part. It is silly to worry in one camera costs $500 more then the other when you are concidring something so expensive as an UW SLR housing.

When you look at housing look at the flash setup. Of couse you want two strobe units but what matters is how you control not just the overall power but inportently the RATIO of the power beween the two strobes. .

One option is to buy a cheap DSLR and a non-letronic housing. A Used Canon 350d insie an Ikilite. hen if it floods you have only lost a $300 used camera. The 350 can do great work. But on the other hand for only 10X the price you can put a Nikon D200 inside a light and motion and those thumb controls and LED bargraphs look really nice.

I don't like to take any expensive camera on a boat. Water and salt get into everything A used Nikon D70 would make a decent "boat camera" These were sold with the 18-70 lens as a "kit". That lens is perfect on a boat.

I punish my D200 / Ike rig. I take it through pounding SoCal surf. I scooter with it. I boat dive with it - live aboards to small open Skiffs in Baja. Hundreds of dives a year, tens-of-thousands of shots. Never an issue.

Some basic precautions are all you need to make a quality UR rig last and last.

---
Ken

 

[dhaas]

Larry,

All good advice here, and you seem like you want more capability without taking out a second mortgage. Many Pros selling their work use what some consider "lower end" bodies and as Mo2vation and others mention spend the majority of your bucks on glass. That way, even if you "upgrade" to a different camera body in 1-2-3 years you can keep using the glass.

Here's my short list of recommended dSLR bodies within reason, plus limited lenses if you want to travel light and shoot UW and above:

Nikon
D80, 200 or 300 (D300 is pricey, though!)
Nikon 18-200 VR for surface
Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye for UW (replaces Nikon 10.5mm and 16mm)
Tokina 35mm Macro (newest one) or Nikon 60mm macro

Canon
Canon Rebel XT, XTi or 40D. Maybe even a used 30D for cheap, cheap, cheap!
Canon 28-135mm IS or 28-105mm USM II lens for surface.
Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye, or Sigma or Canon 15mm Fisheye
Canon 60mm USM macro or the new Tokina 35mm macro

Staying in these brands guarantees more lens choices, etc. Putting the small Fisheye lenses even in a 6" dome port will give you sharper corners because a Fisheye starts out as a 180 degree or so lens. Plus underwater the Fisheye view isn't that noticeable.

A flat port for your macro lens choice will mean you only need two ports to shoot a lot of subject matter.

Buying an Ikelite housing and DS (digital substrobe) strobe(s) will give you iTTL (Nikon) or eTTL2 (Canon) flash control plus manual exposure all in one. Keep ports, cords, arms, strobes if you ever upgrade and sell the body and housing body to someone as a "starter" kit.

All food for thought.......

Hope this helps!

dhaas

David Haas Underwater Photography

 

[kerryw]

Holiday time is coming, and my loving spouse has asked me for a list. While I'm not even close to ready to dump my little SP-350 and go over to the dark side underwater, I'm increasingly disappointed in the range of topside pics available to me.

Larry

I was in a similar situation to you, sort of. For years I was a Nikonos shooter underwater so of course I needed somthing else for above water. I picked the canon line, the reason don't really matter now as i made that choice back in the early days of the EOS line. I now have a digital Rebel and am very happy with it. i've since reited my Nikonos set up in favour of a Canon A640 and the two set ups are great as far as i am concerned, people are right lenses are more important than cameras, it is not quite as true in the digital era as things like grain and continuous shooting and buffer size come into play.

If you want to do wild life work Canon's L series lenses are great but of course the second mortgage come into the picture pretty fast.

I have not researched the 4/3 systems from Olympus much but if i were starting out again i might give them serious consideration as i always had a soft spot for Oly as they were my first real camera.

Good luck, it confusing but luckly most of the choices will probably serve you well.

KLW

 

[JessiLynne]

Ugh - I hear you on the confusion! I thought I was all set to go but now I'm back to square one it seems.

Im hoping to get my hands on each of Nikon D200, Olympus 410/510 (with the 900 oly housing for the 410 - price seems hard to match as long as the camera's decent - although I get the feeling that the oly ports are probably really expensive) and maybe even the Fuji S5 just to see. I may consider taking a peek at the XTi and XT. I haven't decided. Its hard to decide because I want to move up as much as I can from my current Digital Rebel but then there is the matter of costs. Oi.

It's so frustrating trying to decide on SLRs and even compacts these days. All of the technology is so far beyond 'just specs' that it's really a matter of what works for each person. Luckily I have no real bias in any direction (beyond the fact that I have some nice nikon and canon lenses) which probably only serves to confuse me even more!!

Thanks for all the answers in this topic everyone - lots to learn here. ^_^

 

[AndyT]

I'm in the same boat, and am seriously looking at the Oly E-3 depending on whether the housings will offer TTL with my existing strobes. Failing that I will probably go with the 410 and Oly housing + HW bulkhead. The loss of live view is no big deal to me, from what I've read the viewfinder is pretty simple to master.

 

[Jim Ernst]

Holiday time is coming, and my loving spouse has asked me for a list. While I'm not even close to ready to dump my little SP-350 and go over to the dark side underwater, I'm increasingly disappointed in the range of topside pics available to me. Looking to the UW future and a present that includes whale and dolphin pics, landscapes, nature shots of various types I'm thinking of a DSLR. All the major brands have new models, as well as the existing stuff. Thought about and have all but rejected the E-410. I like the small size, and you can get the 2 lens kit for $599 these days, but from what I've heard and read, it's just not much of a step up.
The Rebel XTi seems to be a decent camera, and can be had almost as cheap. Prices on D200's seem to be coming down, with the D300 out. The 40D has all the new features and the larger format sensor that will use combo lenses. On the top end, the new E-3 looks nice, but I've heard reports that it has similar issues to the E-410 in terms of the live view. That leaves the D-300. Pricey, with pricier lenses, but worth the difference?
I've read all the DPReview and Photo Forum comparisons and am still as confused as ever.
Price aside, does one stand out from the others based on perhaps lenses that can perform double duty, topside and UW, port availability, customer service...Any ideas?
How about an E-Bay D2X for the price of a new D-300?
What lenses?

I feel your pain Larry , I just bought my DSLR!! Yikes!

 

[Larry C]

Thanks for all the wisdom, folks. As I mentioned previously, as nice as I'm sure it would be, not ready to break the bank on UW housing yet. Camera wise, right now I'm dreaming dreams of a D300 with a 28-135 lens. (Considered the 28-200, but that adds $500 to the pot and I'm not sure how often I'd use the extra zoom-especially since most of my pics are shot hand held from the boat). I tried the Tokina 10-17 on an XT-i at Backscatter, and it's an awesome lens. I don't think it would be much use topside, but I sure would like one when I ever get the camera UW. If I had to settle, I'd probably go for the XT-i with the two lens kit, which can be had for about $899 these days and seems to be a pretty nice camera, though a lot of people knock the kit lenses. Regardless of their quality, I'm sure they'll do better than the feeble efforts of my little P & S. We'll see what Santa brings.

 

[BurBunny]

Definitely go someplace like BestBuy (though do NOT buy from them! Much better values out there) and hold your options. Since you're planning on using topside, the ergonomics of the body will make a difference in the short run - mainly in how quickly you upgrade Some people are moving to the 40D from the XTi because they say the XTi feels too small in their hands. For me, the opposite was true and the 40D wasn't an option because of the larger grip. But the 40D does have a sturdier build.

If you do go with the XTi, I'd actually recommend against the two kit lenses - with what you'd save you'd be able to get a Sigma 17-70 or even the Sigma 18-200, which I feel are superior to either of those two lenses. Just buy the body only for around $550 and put the rest into quality glass. Everyone else is right, glass is the key, baby.

All three majors you've mentioned (Oly, Nikon and Canon) have excellent glass. Decide which general direction you want to go based on current choices (and taking into consideration housings is a legitimate area to include in that), how they feel in your hands, and budget. None of them are bad options.

 

[Gilldiver]

I think I will put all my $$'s into glass and strobes. I figure that the body will be dead within 5 years either from the normal salt water environment or from a flood. The insurance will replace the lens but the body will most likely be out of production. So, when that does happen, I may be stuck with a dead body and a housing with no camera. Plus, as with all electronics, 5 years is an eternity and the low end cameras 5 years from now most likely will rival the high end ones today.

But the lens and strobes should be available and working for 10+ years.

So Ike housing, the largest strobes I can pay for (DS-125??) and good glass.

Now Nikon or Cannon - the enteral debate. Once I have bought the glass, I am married to the line for just about life. After all changing glass and getting a divorce is just about the same expense.