Yea, tho I walk into the valley of debt.....

I need opinions, I've decide to pursue underwater digital photography as a serious hobby. I'm putting together, (mentally), my first DSLR UW setup. Here's what I've got so far and need help filling in the blanks:

Camera: Nikon D70S

Housing: Aquatica D70/S, (open for debate)

Housing port(s) : ?

Lens(s): ?

Strobe(s): Ikelite DS125

Slave: ?

Since it's not possible to buy all that I want at one time, I'm looking for suggestions on what equipment to start with that I can begin to hone my skills with, such as lens, port and strobe selection? I can only afford 1 lense, 1 strobe w/possible slave and 1 port?

Hello and welcome to Wetpixel.

That sounds like a good setup to start. You'll want to get a wideangle lens and a macro lens - I'd get teh macro lens first. You'll need a flat port and a dome port to house them.

Cheers

James

It's a good time to look for used equipment if you want to get the most from a limited budget. With all the new cameras coming on the market, I'm sure there'll be lots of people upgrading. Like me .

Aquatica has a standard flat port and standard dome for all models with extension rings to accomodate different lenses. So saying, flat port is all you need to order.

I would recommend the 60mm as a great starting out lens, and no need for an extension ring. I woulnd't worry about the slave at this point, save that money for a WA lens and port as the next step. One DS125 is great with the 60mm

................. I would recommend the 60mm as a great starting out lens, ..............  One DS125 is great with the 60mm.........

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So the flat port and the 60mm lense(which I have already), and the DS125 w/o the slave is a good start? Using the 60mm lens, what kinds of photos is that setup suited for, macro and general exclusive of wide angle? Thanks!

I'll just take the other end in case you like wide angle and say go with a 10.5dx lens it is awsome and about $565.00 not bad for what you can do with WA, super close focus and over/under shots. You will get good results because of the depth a field. On one side it not easy to compose with as a beginner but technically it is fairly easy as you get good results with most settings.

I know it is a lot but if you add all this stuff up and chase it down you may be better off biting the bullet and getting everything used it one shot, arms strobes etc. watch ebay and the classifieds. I got everything I needed from the classfieds here. Great members emailed me and gave me incredible prices on everything I posted (Wanted to buy posts)

If you can snag a D100 set up cheap that would be worth it also. I like the d70 U.W over the D100 (but not on land) only because of the pre flash system it uses and the higher flash sync speed, you can get a converter and get TTL later on, but if the price is good the D100 is fine. Aquatica is a good choice because if you ever upgrade you can use all the ports and just buy the body but many others are great choices too. Since the D200 housing will be out soon the used rigs will be everywhere.

Ok, so reality has set in and my setup has been modified, (read...my wife said I must be crazy!) Soooooo....I now have a Coolpix 5000 with the wide angle adapter and port. My housing is an Ikelight 6190, I thought I wanted the Ikelight DS-125 strobe setup but it's a bit pricey, (read.....my wife said I must be crazy!), would the DS-50 allow me to take decent macro pix or are there other suggestions on another suitable strobes?

SLR cameras need more light that compact cameras.

So yes a DS 50 will be plenty powerfull for your coolpix.

So yes a DS 50 will be plenty powerfull for your coolpix.

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Ok, I've got one DS 50, no manual controller, with an Ikelite 6190 housing for my CP 5000. What should the camera settings be? I understand that there's no power adjustments on the DS 50, so I figure I'll have to adjust the camera settings to get the best exposures? Can I get decent pix w/o the manual controller or do I have to have it? I saw, on this board a section that had CP5000 camera settings, but can't find it now.

Thanks Ike!