D70 Housing question

Hi guys, i was tossing around the idea of getting the D70 for months until i finally broke down and bought it. The real reason i bought was because of the dietz gallery and the amazing pictures they snapped with the camera. After doing the initial learning(PLENTY MORE TO GO) i would like to get it set up for underwater use. I am going to coz in april and i would like to get it together and get a few sessions in with it before i leave. What is the difference between the ikelite and sea&sea or others? I know what the websites say about them but i would like to hear from the users. What sets housings apart from others? 1 strobe or 2 strobes at first? What should my next lens be(i bought the kit)?
That should be a good start thanks guys!

I don't have the D70, but the 300D, but housing questions are the same. Main difference between Ike and S&S is the price and that S&S has glass ports. Ike has acrylic (I believe). Ike is big, but the S&S D100 housing I saw was a monster too.....There are a lot of options, all of them very good. I'd say find your price point and go with that. I bought an Aquatica for my 300D. Aside from some customer service issues, I have been happy.

One strobe. You should learn to shoot with one before you go to two

Lenses - Da bomb lens is the 12-24, then the 10.5 (both beaucoup $$$). For Macro you want the 105, although it will be difficult to shoot with. mid range is the 60. That setup gives you all options

Check out the forums at digitaldiver.net. Lots of D70 info there.

Chris

ChrisM:

Lenses - Da bomb lens is the 12-24, then the 10.5 (both beaucoup $$$). For Macro you want the 105, although it will be difficult to shoot with. mid range is the 60. That setup gives you all options

Check out the forums at digitaldiver.net. Lots of D70 info there.

Chris

Click to expand...

Chris is right on here - even though the heretic followed up his magnificent decision to shoot Olympus for years with an unfortunate decision to go to Canon - the advice above is sound.

You'll likely be using your camera on the surface much more that you use it below. I did when I was shooting Oly, and I will with my D70 (at about 1300 images and counting after about 3 weeks.)

I got the kit and the 12-24 W/A. I'm constantly shooing indoors - family stuff, bunny stuff (don't ask) and all manner of corporate events, etc. So the W/A was a no brainer first lens.

I've rented the 105. I've rented the 60. I liked the 60 better, honestly. The 105 was just too tough to shoot. I'll probably rent it again for a few days to give it another try, but the 60 worked great for me.

Next up for me is either the 80 - 400 VR (rented it over Tgiving week - loved it) or the 80 - 200 2.8.... dunno.

I spent my Bday weekend a couple of weeks ago in Monterey - so I spent an inordinate amount of time at Backscatter photo drooling over their D70 housings and ports. Maybe one day I'll start shooting wet again. For now, I'm dryboy.

The 12-24 would be my recommendation as your next lens. It really does rule. I've seen amazing UW shots with it, there are ports available for most housings for this lens, and you'll use it all the time on land. Its on my cam much more than the kit lens is.

---
Ken

I like the 60mm better for a first lens.

Topside I almost always end up shooting the 18-70 kit lens for a walk around lens. And I have the 70-200 VR for my telephoto stuff.

I have the 12-24, but rarely do I choose it topside over the 18-70, and as far as shooting the 12-24 underwater, I find it to be a much more difficult lens to shoot, with less impressive results than the I get with the 60mm Macro.

Mainly because I suck at Wide Angle photography, and macro is easier.

Here is the order I've purchased my lenses:
18-70
60mm
12-24
70-200 VR
2x Teleconvertor
105 - next on list
10.5 - next on list

As far as housings go, I'm an Ikelite fanboy. His products are great, and his customer service even greater.

HAHA thanks for the advice!!! The reason i am laughing is because i think i picked the two most expensive hobbies and now i am trying to combine them! The good news is i am not alone I think i am gonna hold of on the lens even though thats probably the more practical first move. I am DYING to take pictures underwater and i am gonna need to drop 3gs for the housing and strobe kit. I am leaning towards the ikelite housing along with their strobes. But i do have a few months before i make some moves.

You made a good choice for your camera system. The D70 is very easy to shoot topsides and underwater.

We are extremely happy with our Ikelite housings. They handle great underwater and are barely negative with 2 DS-125's and manual controllers. Granted ,the aluminum housings are works of art, but as a box to keep the water out, it's hard for me to justify the extra cost for something that just doesn't contribute to the quality of my shots.

Ikelite's flat macro ports are glass and their dome ports are acrylic. As long as we are shooting through water, I don't see how there could be any discernable difference in shot quality between the two.

I would recommend the 60mm as your next lens. Very versatile and able to acheive 1:1 macro. Impressive macro results are usually much easier to come by. WA is much harder to shoot successfully, but once figured out, the 12-24 should be considered for your next lens. The 105 is a very fun lens to use and if you prefer macro over WA, you might get it before the 12-24. I love the 10.5, but it's very hard to light correctly and is more of a specialty lens. Dual strobes would be mandatory with these two WA lenses. Single strobes are fine for macro, but I still prefer having two strobes and am willing to put up with the hassles of carrying around this much equipment.

The most important thing is to practice, practice, practice...until you really know the camera.

Karl

btw, thanks for the compliment on our gallerys

Sea and Sea ports are also acrylic and not glass. As far as housing goes, Ikelite and Sea and Sea looks enormous in comparison to Nexus and Aquatica. Ikelite is really good value for the money but I did not go with Ikelite as it does not support the 70-180mm macro lens which is my current favourite lens for macro.
Once you have the list of lenses that you would like to use, then check out the ports, Ikelite is relatively inexpensive, don't know about Aquatica but Nexus and Sea and Sea will cost quite a bit. One nice thing about Sea and Sea is that I can use the same dome (compact or fisheye) with various extension rings for 18-70mm, 12-24mm or 10.5mm. 60mm,105mm,70-180mm lenses also share some similar parts.
Nexus uses various extension rings for macro side but for WAL, they make individual domes for each lenses.
For macro, I use 60mm for night dive and 70-180mm during the day, skipped 105mm altogether eventhough the 105 can do 1:1 full frame while 70-180 can do only 1:1.3 but I find the zoom make it easier to compose when I can't easily move in and out from the subject. Of course with aide of diopters and 1.5 cropping factor, you can get 1:1 mag with 70-180 as well.

As Karl said, WAL is quite difficult and I still have not really got any satisfactory result wtih 12-24mm yet but finally figure out the right combination of diopter with the compact dome port for Sea and Sea so hopefully next trip will be better. I did pick up a 10.5mm lens and only had one dive with it, I think it will be a lot of fun.

Have not try my 18-70mm underwater yet but it should be good for general fish portrait etc.