Which SLR?

[JackConnick]

I've checked pricing in Singapore and UK on several cameras and it's not much, if any, cheaper than buying mailorder.

Fantasea has the Oly 330 housing in stock and it's very sweet, See Jeff Mullins Oly 330 review on Wetpixel and some posts he made here.

Fantasea will have housings out for the Nikon D80 and Canon 400 in early Dec. There is a nice, revised case out now for the Nikon D70 and there are some advantages (1/500th flash sync), as well as great pricing available on this camera. All of these have new features and are improved over the last generation of housings.

Jack

 

[bandit_TX]

I once owned a very nice Olympus OM-2. It was a very compact SLR. Unfortunately, Olympus abandoned the lens mount and any future cameras, effectively making it an orphan. After that experience, Canon and Nikon are my only choices for an SLR system. These two major manufacturers have never abondoned their legacy users and old glass can still be used on new bodies including digitals. So, my recommendation is to decide which glass you want to own forever, then buy the body to go with it. Both Canon and Nikon have excellent current cameras and both have aggressive R&D programs bringing out new bodies annually. I would look at the Canon 20D or Nikon D70S as used bodies and housings are readily available. Remember that you will one day flood a housing. Do you want to learn on the latest and greatest camera out there, or something you can replace from eBay? I love my 20D.

Remember, a housing supplier is similar to a lens mount, once you get your feet wet you can continue to reuse pieces such as ports, trays, arms, and flashes. Ikelite is the housing supplier that consistently supports the broadest range of bodies, and is always first to house a new body. To go with that, they are consistently the cheapest full feature housing. They also have the industry's very best support. I also like Ike's flash support. Like the two major camera manufacturers, Ikelite will be there in the future with support, new housings, and new flash systems.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I was under the impression that some of the lenses designed for the cropped digital sensored Canon's aren't all that compatible with the full frame dSLR Canon's?

 

[bandit_TX]

The EF-S lenses are not compatible with full frame. However, Canon continues to bring out cropped sensor camera bodies, and the regular EF lenses are usable on the cropped sensor cameras as well. Further, Canon made this clear when the lenses were introduced.

 

[Fastmarc]

This means that on the lcd on the back of the camera, you will be seeing what you would see through the lens. There is a recent thread on the E330 which talks about the pros/cons of the system. Somewhere, recently, I read a review of the E330 by someone who was taking pictures UW for the first time (or at least the first time with an SLR). His take was that he wouldn't have a camera that didn't have that!

On most (all?) other dSLR's, the LCD can not be used for taking the shot -- just for information and review.

You learn something new every day.
So how do you properly frame and focus a shot underwater with a dslr?

 

[bandit_TX]

I came from a C-5050 to a 20D. It isn't a big deal for me. The small screens aren't good enough for either focus or exposure in my book. Use a histogram for exposure as the small screen won't be calibrated like your monitor. The only thing it would be nice for in my book is framing when it isn't convenient to get your eye behind the view finder.

 

[RonFrank]

There are a lot of choices out there.

There has been a lot of discussion about the Evolt 330 lately. One thing to consider with that camera is a sensor that is 1/4 the size of an other DSLR on the market. This results in smaller pixels, more noise, and using higher ISO's is not much of an option. On the plus side the camera has some interesting features like live view, and built in image stabilization. Another down side is that if you want a truely wide lens, Oly makes a 7-14mm lens, but it's price tag at $1650 is rather high. The more reasonable W/A Oly alternative is the 11~22mm lens at around $700, but with the 2X crop factor a 22m lens is not super wide. Personally I don't really care much for focusing on the LCD, but that is personal choice.

Canon and Nikon have both been making DLSR's a lot longer than most anyone else (Kodak is the exception) and they have a proven track record and lens support that is larger than other manufactures with third party lenses available from several manufactures. Note: the OLY 4/3 system is beginning to see some third party support.

Both Canon and Nikon camera generally use a sensor that is 15.8mm x 26.6 (Nikon) compared to the 4/3 system 7.3mm x 13.0mm sensor which is much smaller. Canon uses a bunch of sensor sizes with crop factors from 1.3 to 1. 6 if memory serves. In addition Canon offers some Full Frame sensor cameras, but they tend to be pricy starting at around $3000.

You have not really said what your budget is? Think carefully on what you start with because unless money is no object, once you start collecting lenses, the system you choose is likey the system you will be with for a long while. Some consider lenses before the camera. I have owned many bodies over the years, but I have a few lenses that I've owned since my first SLR purchase.

 

[RonFrank]

You learn something new every day.
So how do you properly frame and focus a shot underwater with a dslr?

Just like you do on land! You stick your eye up to the viewfinder, and pull the trigger.

Some housing manufactures make very elaborate (and expensive) viewfinder systems. Seacam makes a system which they describe as follows:

Unique interchangable swivel 45-degree and new S-180 viewfinders, each magnified for optimal viewing with facemask and offering +/- 3 diopter optical correction.

I need to go to Wolf and try out the OLY LCD, but based on experience with PnS camea's I have no need for LCD live view.

 

[Fastmarc]

I need to go to Wolf and try out the OLY LCD, but based on experience with PnS camea's I have no need for LCD live view.

I really only use the LCD for aiming/framing my shots and also with my PnS, it lets me see when I am getting too ambitiously close with the camera.
Also, I find it easier to approach some subjects with just the camera. How do you get around this with the DSLR.
Is it easy to look through the viewfinder with the DSLR's underwater?

 

[ulrikakroon]

Wow, there is a lot to learn!

I had no idea about the screen issue, I've been using an olympus 5060 for so long, I can't really imagine not having a screen to aim with.
So, there's only the Oly 330 that has a live screen?
What lens do these cameras usually come with? I realize that i wil have to get a 50-60 mm macro and a decent wideangle, but can the lens that actually comes with the camera be at all useful (i.e. can I wat to get the other ones and still take photos)?

I feel like I'm asking really stupid questions now, but ...:shakehead