Oly Evolt housing announcement...

[deputydan1]

yeah, haven't read great reviews about the evolt.....
i am considering the nike d70 vs. a oly c8080...

any thoughts?

-dan

 

[RonFrank]

yeah, haven't read great reviews about the evolt.....
i am considering the nike d70 vs. a oly c8080...

any thoughts?

-dan

IMO there is only ONE reason (well maybe two) to go with the 8080.... price and size.

The 8080 is a very fine camera for what it is. However the D70 is an awesome camera for the price. So major differences?

Speed, and speed. The D70 can shoot 3fps for about as long as you have media available. That is in RAW no less at least for the first 4 images, than 1fps. Faster than ANY UW flash recycle. This is one speedy camera. And talk about speed, the shutter lag is in the hundreth of a second area. Focus is fast, but will depend on the lens and subject. However with a good lens, between focus, and fire is going to be in the almost instant, and the camera can focus TRACK as well. Compare that with the VERY speedy (for it's class), but hopelessly slow PnS 8080 at .3 seconds at BEST, it just does not come close.

Focus and focus some more... The D70 offers excellent and fast low light focusing. It also offers many options with 5 focus sensors, and it can track a moving subject and maintain focus as fast as the camera can shoot. The bottom line is that the 8080 is a joke compared to the speed of a DSLR. This does NOT make the 8080 a poor camera, but recognize that it can NOT capture action like a DSLR.

Want more. How about ISO use. The D70 can produce awesome enlargements using ISO's up to 1600. It has VERY impressive low noise at high ISO's. WHY? Well the sensor on the D70 is not just a little bigger than the 8080, it's about 5 times the size. What does that mean? Well larger pixels, lower noise, silky color tones, and overall just MUCH better image quality. The cost...size.

Of course the biggest advantage, and downfall of the DSLR is lens availabliity. You can mount the fast f1.4 50m lens for low light, or the ultra wide 12-24mm f4 (which is not as wide as it would be with the 1.5x factor, but a great lens). You can go with the 105mm f2.8 macro, or even a 600mm f4 for a whopping 900mm reach out and touch me lens. When I say downfall, what I mean is that all that glass is expensive, and you have to carry it around. Another disdvantage of the DSLR is that you are not going to be able to use internal flash. Actually I don't think of this as a disadvantage, but it's a cost consideration as you will NEED an external flash, or use those High ISO settings, but that only takes you so far.

I could fill a book with the advantages of DSLR vs. PnS. However I think you get the idea, the D70 (or most DSLR's out there) is so far beyond the PnS camera's, that it is rather pointless to compare them. So why do I own a PnS.... Size, and the fact that DSLR housing are a fortune, and I don't make money with UW work. So is the 8080 worth considering...AbSOLUTELY!! However it just does not hold a candle to the DLSR's....

 

[deputydan1]

ron!
you da man..great words of wisdom.


i will definately look into the nikon.

thanks!

-dan

 

[deputydan1]

ps> is it true that the DSLRs can NOT shoot video?????

that's really important for me...

can you recommend a good cam that shoots great video too? at 30fps rather than 15fps????

thanks!

-dan

 

[Eya]

ron!
you da man..great words of wisdom.
i will definately look into the nikon.
thanks!
-dan

Folks
dunno what kind of photographers you are (pros, beginners...) but IMHO D70 comes with a couple of huge disadvantages if compared to Hybrid cameras such as 8080 or even 5060 (I own):

Lenses: you gotta choose what kind of pictures you'll take BEFORE you dive. Macro? Wide? tele? First you need to buy them, then you got limited choice while underwater. Pns cameras or Hybrid ones are much more flexible ranging from wide to macro.

TTL: I guess how Nikon did it... the D70's TTL standard won't work with most diffused UW strobes on the market..that's a real shame for such an expensive camera set! Olys' TTL won't work as well but it's common for such low price cameras, also you can buy (as I did) mike's adapter for 200 $ and got a real TTL connection wit the original housing.
In short my feeling is Don't consider ONLY the camera standalone... but a complete set you need to take good pic down the water..that's my suggestion

Have fun

 

[deputydan1]

makes good sense, too eya~

thanks!

and also, i'd also feel weary bringing a DSLR under the sea....too fragile??

as for the video modes, i don't think the DSLR have that, do they??

thanks,

-dan

 

[Eya]

Fragile?
it's not he camera...better the housing you've to worry about.
That makes the difference in terms of reliability and cost...

ALso DSR cameras that mount a sliding shutter (sorry don't know the english word for it) instead of central shutter (..) have limitations in terms of sync speed vs strobes. That means I can choose on my oly 5060 speeds ranging from B to 1/1000 sec and the strobe will illuminate the entire scene darkening the background as much as I like.. while with DSLR cameras you have a minimum speed (around 1/90 usually) to consider otherwise the scene will be partially illuminated by the strobe...
If I am not wrong..

 

[RonFrank]

Folks
dunno what kind of photographers you are (pros, beginners...) but IMHO D70 comes with a couple of huge disadvantages if compared to Hybrid cameras such as 8080 or even 5060 (I own):

Lenses: you gotta choose what kind of pictures you'll take BEFORE you dive. Macro? Wide? tele? First you need to buy them, then you got limited choice while underwater. Pns cameras or Hybrid ones are much more flexible ranging from wide to macro.

Hmmm, You can put a 17-70mm f2.8 lens on the D70 (that's EQ to 26mm-105mm approx) which is wider then the OLy fixed lens, focuses faster, zooms faster. The OLY WILL focus closer, but one can slap a macro lens on most of the ports, and eliminate that.

TTL: I guess how Nikon did it... the D70's TTL standard won't work with most diffused UW strobes on the market..that's a real shame for such an expensive camera set! Olys' TTL won't work as well but it's common for such low price cameras, also you can buy (as I did) mike's adapter for 200 $ and got a real TTL connection wit the original housing.
In short my feeling is Don't consider ONLY the camera standalone... but a complete set you need to take good pic down the water..that's my suggestion

Have fun

First off, you're talking FLASH TTL, as TTL applies to how every SLR meters ambiant light.

Nikon uses iTTL now which was first released on the D2H camera replacing the DTTL on prior digital models. This type of technology has some complex engineering issues behind it, as well as potential licensing issues.

Ikelite NOW supports iTTL, and they have supported eTTL since last year (Canon) so your information is out of date. Look for more manufactures to support iTTL now that it's more widely understood.

If you have never shot a DSLR, or SLR and compared it to shooing the PnS, it would be difficult to argue that there is anything that is better about it other than size and cost. I feel almost crippled shooting with the S70, but it IS easy to carry around.

 

[RonFrank]

Fragile?
it's not he camera...better the housing you've to worry about.
That makes the difference in terms of reliability and cost...

ALso DSR cameras that mount a sliding shutter (sorry don't know the english word for it) instead of central shutter (..) have limitations in terms of sync speed vs strobes. That means I can choose on my oly 5060 speeds ranging from B to 1/1000 sec and the strobe will illuminate the entire scene darkening the background as much as I like.. while with DSLR cameras you have a minimum speed (around 1/90 usually) to consider otherwise the scene will be partially illuminated by the strobe...
If I am not wrong..

The 1/90 spec is from the 70's, most sync at 1/250, and the D70 at 1/500.

You are discussing a veritical focal plane shutter vs. a leaf shutter.

While many DSLR's sync to 1/250 most can sync to 1/1000 or above BUT you are NOT going to find that capability on an aftermarket UW flash.

Don't get me wrong, I think the PnS prosumer camera's like the 5060/7070/8080 are great little image makers.

However if you want to compare them to DSLR's it's like comparing a bicycle with a motorcycle... They are not in the same class when it comes to speed and performance.

There is a good reason pro's lug around huge bags of gear... speed and performance.

 

[Warren_L]

Ron, you seem to be the man regarding the D70. I've been considering DSLR and I would be going from the Oly C5050Z. I've been looking at the Ike housing, but was wondering if there was a way to use my INON D180 and D2000 strobes, as these are optically triggered. I don't care much either way for TTL as I prefer manual (my original land based stuff was done primarily on my Nikon FE2, and before the the FM). What do you think?