housing and strobes for nikon d70

hey everyone
i have been diving for awhile now and have been really eager to get into underwater photography. i am about to purchase a d70 w/ the 18-70 mm lens. now i need to get some info on housings and strobes. i think im going to head towards ikelite because i like there prices and reviews. i plan on shooting pics just for some fun i am not going to get to serious with extreme macros and what not. just would like a good system that can be capable to handle some wide angle lenses and ofcourse the 18-70. for now that is really what i am concerned with. any comments or anything would be greatly appreciated. i am new to underwater photography and understand that i have alot to learn and i will, but would like a good setup that would produce nice quality images without the insane price tag. under 3 grand would be ideal for me for now and maybe upgrade in the future. any info would be great! thanks.
-matt

For the money, Ikelite is definitely one of the best value IMHO. I was going to get Ikelite initially for my D70 except that they don't support 70-180mm macro lens that I want to use but since you dont' care much about macro, then it is not an issue.
18-70 is ok but not great great for underwater. Not quite wide enough and can't focus close enough for decent macro so it is kind of stuck in no man's land.
For $3000, do you already have a strobe or not?
If not, I would just go with Ikelite DS125 since you are getting a new Ikelite housing so you probably will get the one that has iTTL converter build in so might as well stick with Ikelite strobe for TTL capability.
Eventually if you want to go wide, consider Nikon 12-24mm (pricey) or Sigma 15mm.

I agree w/ ssra30 that if you are going with the Ike housing, get the DS-125 strobe. I think that the best lens to start out with is the 60mm. It can shoot pretty little stuff and still do great fish shots and decent diver shots (from the waist up...you won't get a whole diver in the shot). It is sharp and AF very fast.

HTH,
Dave

I'd wait on the Ikelite TTL. If you purchase in the next month, I SERIOUSLY doubt you will get the TTL stuff as it's just about to be released. ALL current stock is NOT going to be TTL.

An alternative to the 12-24mm Nikon is the new Tokina 12-24mm lens. One thing I'm NOT sure about is if the current Nikon port will support it. However it is HALF the price of the Nikon, and I've seen some seriously good comparisions. I could not tell the difference in image quality between the two lenses.

As to staying under 3K, if you are including the cost of camera AND optics... Good luck with THAT!! LOL...

Hey Guys:
Saw this in the digideep forum
"People seem to like the 125 by Ikelite, but I keep on seeing reports of them flooding so I wouldn't get one."
Anyone knows or experience this? would like a second opinion before getting one...

I flooded Ikelite DS-125 once a couple of years ago. However, this is what I figured out. In my case, it happened after I accidentally dropped the battery compartment on the floor of the liveaboard I was on. I flooded it the dive after that. Basically there was a fine hairline crack on the casing that I did not see after I dropped it. Sent it back to Ikelite and they actually repaired it for free. I only paid one way shipping.
After that I had over a couple of hundred dives with my strobes and never had any problem. The strobe is well designed and it is very easy to get the o-ring off to clean and easy to assemble/dissemble. If you make a mistake putting the battery compartment back on the strobe then you are very capable of getting other strobes flooded as well. I think you just have to be careful when handling the battery compartment since it is quite heavy. By the way, if I am going to flood any strobe, I hope it is Ikelite because at least I know that they will be able to service it quickly. You will have much harder time with Inon or Sea and Sea, I think.

I believe they had some problems early in production but have since rectified the situation. Ike will stand behind what he sells for sure.

Dave

hey
thanks for the great info everyone. i am going to look into the ds125 as everyone agrees it is a good starter strobe, and i am definately going to go with ikelite. cant wait to get this system underway. might wait a slight bit for the new ikelite housing to come out though. does anyone also know a good place to buy housings and other uw photo items from on the web?

To SSRA30: where in thailand are you based out of? I am currently in phuket doing liveaboards to the surin and similians until the second week of may. let me know if youre here maybe we can do a dive together. thanks for the great info.

-matt

ssra30:

For the money, Ikelite is definitely one of the best value IMHO. I was going to get Ikelite initially for my D70 except that they don't support 70-180mm macro lens that I want to use but since you dont' care much about macro, then it is not an issue.
18-70 is ok but not great great for underwater. Not quite wide enough and can't focus close enough for decent macro so it is kind of stuck in no man's land.
For $3000, do you already have a strobe or not?
If not, I would just go with Ikelite DS125 since you are getting a new Ikelite housing so you probably will get the one that has iTTL converter build in so might as well stick with Ikelite strobe for TTL capability.
Eventually if you want to go wide, consider Nikon 12-24mm (pricey) or Sigma 15mm.

Click to expand...

Island Hoppa:

hey
To SSRA30: where in thailand are you based out of? I am currently in phuket doing liveaboards to the surin and similians until the second week of may. let me know if youre here maybe we can do a dive together. thanks for the great info.

-matt

Click to expand...

I am in Bangkok, unfortunately stuck with work for awhile so I won't be able to take time off to go diving for a little while

The Ds-125 is not a starter strobe. It is all you will need....well a second one at some point.

I buy all my gear from Ryan at Reef Photo & Video . Great prices, great service and he won't try to sell you what you don't need.

HTH,
Dave