Affordable DSLR for UW photography ??

Can those of you out there with the experience, help us newbies out who want to start getting into the DSLR scene at an affordable price ? The leap from the point-and-shoot camera to DSLR seems daunting and looks like it could wipe out our kids' college funds. Please give us your cost/quality recommendations on the following:
1. Camera
2. Housing
3. Strobes

Thanks!!

Well, a good starting point would be either Canon 300D or Nikon D70 as these 2 are the most affordable. However one point to consider is that the camera body is probably going to be the cheapest part of the system. Housing will cost a bit more to much more than the camera, lenses and ports certainly will end up costing more than the camera.
As far as Nikon vs Canon, I went with Nikon because of the better selection of lenses for underwater photography when I bought the system but Canon is catching up. Nikon has 10.5mm, 12-24mm and 70-180mm macro which are widely supported. Canon just released the 10-22mm lens but I don't think any housing manufactures support this lens yet.
Canon is a bit cheaper but when you add the price of the housing, strobe, ports, lenses, the difference is not going to be significant. One benefit the D300 has over D70 is ISO 100 where as D70 will only go down to ISO200.
If you can spend a bit more money Canon D20 looks very good but I am not sure if housing is available yet. Sometimes next year, Nikon will release a D90 which should be very interesting.
Many people would also recommend Fuji S2 which is an excellent camera but it is quite a bit more expensive than the D70 and 300D.

Housing wise, Ikelite offers housing for both and is probably the best value for the money. I bought Sea and Sea housing over Ikelite mainly because Ikelite does not support the 70-180mm macro lens otherwise I would have bought Ikelite. At the time, Aquatica and Nexus was not yet available so I did not look at either.

Strobe wise, you can take a pick between Ikelite, Sea and Sea or Inon. They all have some advantages and disadvantages but strobe choices will be pretty much the same as point and shoot camera.

One benefit of going Ikelite route with Ikelite strobe for Canon 300D is the TTL capability. TTL may become available with D70 with Ikelite housing in the future, Aquatica is also working on something similar. Fuji S2 is TTL compatible with any TTL strobe as well.

Regardless of your choice, I think you are going to be looking at spending around $5000 if you start from scratch with a couple of different lenses for WAL and macro
so it is not cheap.

I don't think you would go wrong with starting with Canon, Nikon or Fuji though.

Canon 300D $954.95 with 18-55mm lens and 1GB CF
Ikelite TTL housing $1234.95
Ikelite dome port 5503 $139.95
DS 50 TTL Strobe system w/ arms $499.95
$2829.80 yeah it gets expensive for just a "basic" system

Add a super wide angle lens and a macro lens and a pelican case and another strobe or maybe the DS 125 strobes and you're getting up there in price.

Here's a good article on the 300D http://www.jaytreat.com/Diving/Canon_300D/Review.htm

You may be able to save quite a bit going for a secondhand body and lens(es), especially when the new batch of DSLR's come out......I bet there'll be a few S2's, 300d's etc being sold for good prices.

Hi people I dont know if this is the right place to ask but im going to anyways. Im new to the underwater Photo world. so im looking to get a film camera I want to stay under 500.00 can you guys tell me some good cameras? thanks.

diveriteallthetime:

Hi people I dont know if this is the right place to ask but im going to anyways. Im new to the underwater Photo world. so im looking to get a film camera I want to stay under 500.00 can you guys tell me some good cameras? thanks.

Click to expand...

The only film cam you can get in this price range that is worth what you pay is a used S&S Motomarine II. (I do have one by the way that I'm looking to sell w/a lot of extras'ssss)

diveriteallthetime, take a look on eBay. I believe I saw a complete Nikon 90 and Aquatica housing set, w/ all ports, lenses, & body sell for about $800 recently. A steal, and a great way to plunge in.

If you keep your eyes open, occasionally there's great deals. A very clean A4 housing has been up several times, and just will not sell at $400 with ports.

Or check out a Nikonos search on eBay. There's good variety and value. Consider a 24mm lens a minimum for U/W use (remembering it's essentially an underwater-only lens).

All the best, James

Calypsonick, I would submit the following:

1)You are contemplating a DSLR to improve image quality.
2)If you cut corners in quality, the image suffers.
3)Quality doesn't come cheap.
4)"Affordable" and "housed DSLR" do not belong in the same sentence.

So having mournfully accecpted that you will be spending lots of money, all you need to decide is how much quality you want to buy. Good luck in your choices!

As far as your questions:

Camera/Lenses: Nikon or Canon. Flip a coin. Discussion here is worthy of starting a bar fight. The fact it's so divided tells you something...they're both good.

Housings: Aquatica, great overall, tough to get something done by the factory. Sea & Sea, big, well built, and did I say big? Subal, excellent build & design, expensive. SeaCam, a Subal at twice the price. Nexus, a good "middle of the road" in all respects. SeaLux, excellently built, no frills, great value. Ikelite, fantastic price and service, port optics a limiting factor.

Strobes: Ikelite, a bit larger, very reliable, awesome service. (note: after 20 years, these have never flooded on me!) Sea & Sea, mid-sized in everything: size, performance, price. Inon, haven't had these in the water, but interesting. No comment.

Hope this helps.

All the best, James

Hey thanks for the Info guys. one other question how good is the sea&sea mx-10?

Yeah, thanks to all for the great information. Looks like a nice chunk-o-change is necessary to do up a DSLR, Housing and strobes right. I'm starting to save up now!