help with D-70s

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Rafael

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Messages
737
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Location
Boston, MA
# of dives
50 - 99
Hi, i just got the Nikon D70s, and my plan is to use it underwater, but i have no clue what lenses should i get to start, i think i will go for the Ikelite housing, now, my other problem is the most of my diving is in New England, where the viz is just poor.

What kind of lenses and strobes will you recomend for this kind of diving?

I will be taking some classes to get more familiar with the camera and undestand the diferent functions and options better, and for what i have read it is not the best camera for a beginer, i can't find much information or classes for underwather photography.

Thank you on advance for your help.:thinkingo
 
Rafael:
Hi, i just got the Nikon D70s, and my plan is to use it underwater, but i have no clue what lenses should i get to start, i think i will go for the Ikelite housing, now, my other problem is the most of my diving is in New England, where the viz is just poor.

What kind of lenses and strobes will you recomend for this kind of diving?

I will be taking some classes to get more familiar with the camera and undestand the diferent functions and options better, and for what i have read it is not the best camera for a beginer, i can't find much information or classes for underwather photography.

Thank you on advance for your help.:thinkingo


The ikelite housing is very nice. I have two freinds that have them on there d70's.
 
Rafael:
Hi, i just got the Nikon D70s, and my plan is to use it underwater, but i have no clue what lenses should i get to start, i think i will go for the Ikelite housing, now, my other problem is the most of my diving is in New England, where the viz is just poor.

What kind of lenses and strobes will you recomend for this kind of diving?

I will be taking some classes to get more familiar with the camera and undestand the diferent functions and options better, and for what i have read it is not the best camera for a beginer, i can't find much information or classes for underwather photography.

Thank you on advance for your help.:thinkingo

For Macro and full frame fish shots the 60 mm micro, for dedicated macro the 105 rules. The 60 is better in crappy vis since it allow you to get closer to your subject. for wide angle the 12-24 is the best choice, but if on a budget, the 16 mm fisheye works quite well as well as the Sigma 14 mm.

Strobes! the Ikelite DS series or the Inon Z220, are very good.

The D70 is a good camera. if you are new to photography start by shooting Macro first. Wide angle is much more difficult due to the lighting issues. There are a lot of folks on this board that will answer any question you have. I also recommend that you get Jim Church's Guide to Nikonos systems. Do not let the name fool you. The book is one of the best and easy to understand guides to UW photography available.
 
The 12-24 is a great lens on the D70 to use underwater. Great for shooting wrecks and seascapes. The flexibility to zoom into a moderate wide angle at 24mm lets you get decent shots of larger marine life. It will be difficult to get up close to smaller fishes and such. I would second the choice of the Ike DS strobes (I would go with the 125s for the power in low viz water), and also invest in a decent arm system. With low viz, you're going to need a reasonably long arm system to minimize backscatter for wide angle shots.
 
You can learn 90% of what you need to know about underwater photography, and camera operation topside. I'd suggest that you get very comfortable with the controls before getting it wet.

Not sure what type of housing you have or are considering. The Ikelite does iTTL, and while I've not used it, I would imagine that it is a plus to have iTTL underwater.

As for lenses, I'd say that 10.5mm fisheye, 12-24mm f4, 60mm macro, and 105mm macro seem to be the most popular choices.
 
I've been shooting a D70 in and ikelite housing with Ike ds125 strobes for a little over a year now and love it. Chris offers excellent advice regarding lenses. Macro is sooo much easier to control and also better for bad vis. Since you are learniong with this camera, I would suggest keeping it simple at first by using your kit lens (if you have it) and a 60mm only at first. If you find youself using the zoom at full wide and liking it, look for a WA that fits your budget. If you find you like macro but the 60mm isn't enug magnification, look at the 105mm.

IMHO, if you start with a huge stable of lenses and ports you will have a slower learning curve and probably end up with some lenses you'll never use.

You will love this camera!!
 
Thank you very much, all this information is going to be very helpful for me, before i go ahead and start buying more stuff, i think the idea to get use to the camera on land before bringing it to the water is very good, i spent all day today taking some pictures of Boston, and let me tell you something I LOVE IT, i own an old digital (an Olympus D-40) and the diference is huge, the D-70s is just great, and i mean i never use a camera like this at all, but well i thinks is lots of new things for me to learn, in order to use the camera to its full potential, i signed for a couple classes in order to understand a beat more. but the more a read the more i notice i do not know anything about the topic.

Now my next question will be, is any lenseces i most get?, something i won't regreat getting laiter, today i went to the store i got the camera and they start bombarding me with information as well as they try to push me in to buying a couple lenses, but i really want to go slow and get just what i really need, the only lenses i own now is a 18-300, which was incluided in the package, so from there what should be my next step? Looks like the 60mm or the 105mm are the way to go, but should i get both or only one?, or if you were in my position which one would you get first?

Thank you again.
 
I went with the 60MM Nikon lens and really like it top side havent got it wet yet but that is soon to change

I also just got the all new PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Manual and signing up for instructor class while in Fla. WOW a very good job on PADI part very well put together and should be a very good class if its any thing like the manual. The DVD isnt done yet but looking forword to seeing it
"GOOD JOB" PADI
 
Ideally, you should have a good mid range macro like the 60mm and a wide angle lens, if you are looking for underwater usage out of these lenses. I'm not certain if the 18-300 will be all that useful to you underwater as there may not be a port with proper extensions to house that lens. As well, I doubt very much that you'll ever use anything beyond 100mm on that lens underwater, if that.

The 60mm micro will give you good macro capability and allow you to do fish portraiture. It's one of my faves using down south in tropical waters as I have the ability to do macro or mid range fish portraits. The 105 mm will be a bit too close for portraiture, but would be good for dedicated macro. However, if wrecks and seascapes are what you're after, you may do ok with the 18-300mm, but again, the issue may be housing that sucker. It would be beneficial to get a decent wide angle lens (personally, I like the 12-24, but the 10.5 is nice, and I've also heard good things about the sigma 15mm, all of which you can easy house with the right port).

Ther 12-24 make a great topside lens too, I find. But you really need an external flash if shooting wider than 20mm as the onboard flash is blocked out by the lens barrell when shooting wider.
 
Tortuga Roja:
I've been shooting a D70 in and ikelite housing with Ike ds125 strobes for a little over a year now and love it.

How do you like the Ikelite iTTL? How do you shoot with it, like what settings? Do you use exposure compensation on the flash?

I've been wanting to find someone who is using ikelite iTTL to see what their experiences are with it. Would it be just as easy to shoot manual with the strobes?
 

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