Which SLR?

Hellloooo,

I have been searching lika mad and if there's a thread on this already, the just let me know!
I hope to afford to buy my first digital SLR with housing in the future and I would like some ideas about what to get. I'm not planning on buying a new one again in a couple of years, but I've got no means to buy the newest most expensive stuff either.
It would be cool if the housing could do deeper than 50 m but not necessary, it needs different ports so that i can swap lenses and 7 megapix wuld be good.
Nikon, Canon or Olympus - I don't care.
Any ideas?

At the entry level, I guess you would be looking at a Canon 350D or 400D or Nikon D70/D50/D80. All those seemed to be covered well by housing especially Ikelite if you're on a tighter budget. I'm not familiar with the Oly DSLR's.

Personally, I would recommend either the Nikon D80 or Canon 400D as housing are starting to come out for them already. If it fits your budget, maybe a Nikon D200 or a Canon 30D. Alternatively, if you want to save a few more $$, you could probably get a good deal on a Canon 350D + housing (recently replaced by the 10 megapixel 400D).

That being said, once you start adding in a couple nice lenses (macro + wide angle), couple nice strobes, ports, domes, arms, etc..., the difference in price among the camera bodies above isn't that big in terms of overall package price...

I'd suggest you take a look at the stickied thread above by Alcina about buying a DSLR. Then think about how much are you really willing to spend... Also take a look at the topside reviews of each camera on site like www.dpreview.com

Oh, I think it's safe to say that most major DLSR housings nowadays are rated to at least 60m...

I don't think three is any definitive answer to this question.
I was a Nikon fan as a land camera and used the Nikonos underwater.
Currently I am using an Olympus C-8080 (1 up from a point and shoot) but am planning to go DSLR in the near future.

The Olympus E-330 is the only DSLR that has live view on the LCD screen, this is useful underwater. However wait a few months and this might be available from other suppliers.

I have heard that the autofocus on the cannon's are the best.

Choice of lenses and housing with a matching port has to be part of the equation.

Don't discout Fuji, I have never seen one but some users swear by them

Are you going to use it as a land camera? If yes then try out as many as you can and see which you are comfortable with.

Look at digitaldiver.net and wetpixel as well. Both of these will have enough conflicting opinions to give you a headache.

All of these manufacturers have good products, there are housings for them, and the lenses are good.

I think it's a matter of personal opinion.

However tell us what you buy and what your impressions are.

one more thing ulrika... check with some of the locals in the Philippines subforum... a number of them have been buying/ upgrading to DSLR's lately and might be able to help you out sourcing a good deal locally (in Manila)... Otherwise, a quick hop to HK or Singapore might be worth it to beat import duties...

Or maybe Ebay??

What does "live view on lcd screen" mean?

You might consider getting a camera with a slightly lower megapixel count... The more pixels they squeeze onto the same size sensor, the higher the noise in the image..

dpreview.com tends to photograph color strips and allow you to compare them between different cameras.. though you may have to copy the images to a word processor or spread sheet to compare them right next to eachother.. That will help you see the difference in noise.

Depending on how large you plan on printing.. you can get excellent results from 5 and 6 megapixel cameras..

Alot of the pro sport shooters near me are still using 4 megapixel Nikon D2H's and Canon 1D's (the original 1D's, not the new 1DS's/1DS Mark II's)

Canon uses a slightly physically larger sensor then Nikon in the crop factor cameras,.. Canon also has full frame sensors which are physically larger, allowed either a higher number of pixels, or each pixel to be larger, the later of which helps to prevent noise.

To my recollection, true photo quality is usually assumed at 300 pixels per inch printing ratio, 200 pixels per inch is considered good and difficult to see the difference from 300, and 150 pixels is normally acceptable.

Just to show you the relationships of megapixels to dots per inch for different printing sizes I ran some rough math in excel:



Take care

(edited to turn typed table into image)

Hi Ulrika. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but I'm in Bali on a VERY slow connection. I've had great luck with Canon and with the new 400D at 10MP, that might be the way to go coupled with an Ike housing.
The Nikon ones are great too so it is really a toss up. You've seen my photos taken with the 350D and they are good enough for me right now. Buy good stobes, they will last you a long time through many camera and housing changes.

What does "live view on lcd screen" mean?

Click to expand...

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.

I recently flooded my C5060(PnS) and ordered the Olympus E330 to replace it. 10Bar/Fantasea offer a housing that comes with a port that fits the kit lense as well as a few of the macros. That particular housing also comes with insurance from DEPP. Ikelite and Olympus also offer housings for this particular camera. The LiveView sold me on it, I wasn't in a big hurry to house a dSLR while looking through an optical viewfinder.

Before I ordered the E330, I already had the E500 and E1 dSLRs for dry use. Both great cameras, but I certainly wasn't in a hurry to house either. I sold the E500 to help fund the E330 as they are both basically the same camera(E330 is a built more solidly and has LiveView).

ScottB has a point, when you try to squeeze more resolution out of the same sensor, you'll get more noise and less per pixel sharpness. Unless I'm planning on making large prints, I shoot with my E1(5mp) on dry land.

Peter Guy:

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.

Click to expand...

There's a fairly detailed review of the E330 (along with the 10bar housing) detailing the user's experiences with it here