New Setup -- Thoughts? Recommendations?

Before I take the plunge, I thought I'd post on here the setup I'm planning on buying in the next few days. Please feel free to comment on any changes that may seem prudent. FWIW, I'm a land photographer selling my F-100 and going all digital (and underwater as well).

Nikon D50

Ike TTL housing

Ike DS-125 strobe

Sigma 15mm FE (already have this lens)

Nikon 18-55mm (too cheap not to buy)

8" Dome for the 15mm FE

I'm on a bit of a budget, so I almost have to do one of the following for now:

Scale back to a DS-50 (and go dual DS-50s in the future)

Cut the 8" dome and stick with the baby dome for the Sigma FE

Not bother to buy a port for the Nikon 18-55 yet

Thoughts? Am I missing anything important here? Anything I'm not considering? Thanks

Scott

Hi Scott,

If I were you, I'd seriously consider the D70s instead of the D50. I know budget's a concern, but you'll likely miss the second wheel dial that the D50 lacks, especially underwater, and especially since you're migrating from a F100.

The DS125 is also a much better choice than the DS50, as it offers more power, wider coverage, faster recycle time, modelling light, and power selector...

In your setup, you don't mention arms, clamps and sync cords. These can add up to a fair bit...

Finally, I probably wouldn't house the 18-55mm at all, but save up and get a macro lens and port in the future.

Cheers,

Mat

PS: There's been similar discussions going on lately, and the idea is that a whole lot of guys are upgrading from the D70 to the D200, so you should be able to find decent, cheap second-hand camera and housing setups for sale...

G'day Scott,

Looks like a pretty nice setup, but...

There have been a number of threads comparing the D50 with the D70 and the general consensus seems to be that given the relatively small price difference between the two (and the associated setup costs of strobe/housing etc.,) there is little incentive to choose the D50 over the D70 for UW use. The high iso jpeg performance of the D50 is great, but consider how you will probably use the camera (low iso NEF).

The primary advantage of the D70 is the two command dials available for changing shutter and aperture without monkeying with button/dial dances in manual mode.

Unless you already have a D50, I would give this some serious consideration. The other advantage of the D70 is the very nice 18-70 you can get it with in a kit. This lens is considerably better than the 18-55 both optically and build wise.

I think your other lens/dome/strobe choices are excellent, but I would consider re-thinking the camera you are building the system around...

I'll see if I can find those threads...

I was obviously typing for too long and matt has already covered many of my points.

D70s

60mm

A single DS125 will be great with the 60mm...this is a core lens and once you get more experience, the 18-55mm will stay in your bag IMHO

Save for another DS-125 and 8" dome to use with the Sigma 15...an excellent WA lens

Karl

Thanks for the replies thus far.

I too was considering the D70s, and the only reason I thought the d50 may be a better choice is due to size, weight, and overall similarity otherwise to the d70s. The idea of only having one dial, however, is becoming increasingly worrisome, as some of you pointed out.

My motivation for putting this together right now is a livaboard in Truk this summer. Could I get away with just the 15mm FE and 8" dome, or is it stupid to not bring a macro lens and port too? I wish more lenses fit the same 8" dome port so I wouldn't have to pay more and carry more too

Scott

I'm with Karl. Forget about the 18-55, it isn't suitable as an underwater lens - you need to go very wide (i.e. 10.5 or 12-24 in Nikon terms) or macro. The 15 will be fine, but... wide angle is much more difficult to get to grips with and is a recipe for disappointment unless you can get a lot of underwater time in and some good mentoring early on.

I would go for a secondhand D70 and housing (some available now that lots of people are upgrading to D200 systems) and get a Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8 and a flat port. The D70 is important as you need to get used to working with manual exposure underwater - TTL is seen a s a panacea but it never worked that well with film and you don't need it with digital SLRs provided you have plenty of power settings on the strobe.

Just remember, when reviewing exposures on the LCD, that the ambient light is less underwater and a properly exposed image will appear very bright on the LCD - best to use histograms and blinking highlights, since blown highlights are the real enemy with digi SLRs, as you will find out... Shooting raw gives you a bit more recoverability from underexposure.

Stick with the more powerful strobe - it will give you the ability to stop right down with the macro lens to get some depth of field.

Thanks for the replies thus far.

 

I too was considering the D70s, and the only reason I thought the d50 may be a better choice is due to size, weight, and overall similarity otherwise to the d70s. 

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You have received excellent advice already Scott. In addition to the extra command dial...And at the risk of harping on, you will find that the size and weight of the housing are pretty much identical. The only diff in wait would be the camera itself which would be miniscule and only really applicable topside.

I'm with Rob too on the ease of learning macro. There are truckloads of cheap 2nd hand 60 mm lenses kicking around. Try keh.com or look in your local camera store.

I'll also recommend the D70 over the D50, the second weel it’s critical in my opinion.

Another point, before I bought my WA lens I checked a lot what to buy, I asked here and I got a lot of responses regarding the complicated of this issue and especially regarding the 10.5, I been told that it's not a lens for beginner and so on.

At the end I bought the 10.5 and found that it’s not so complicated, until now I didn't success to take a shot with my strobe in the frame or with my fins in it

From the first dive with that lens I had some decent shots from it, and after 2-3 dives more I even have some shots that I really like and I think of them a quit good images.

So my point is, don't be afraid from WA even the extreme WA, it’s sure more complicated then macro but it’s not so difficult.

Some D70/Ikelite info and sample photos here.

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gall...uipment_d70.htm

Scott,

Which ever lenses you decide on I would go with the 8" dome. I currently only have the 6" but am planning on buying the 8" soon. From a logistics standpoint, now that the 8" has changeable bodies, you can use a lot of lenses with one port, which will help with packing.

Also, I happen to have a D70s/Ikelite for sale.

See Classified Ad

If you're interested pm me and we can discuss the prices.