Nikon D70s Lens Advice

Hi all,

Many apologies if this is covered somewhere else - I have tried searching (search is good, right ) but I don't seem to have found any rlevant info. I have a Nikon D70s housed in a Fantasea housing, and have been using the standard 18 - 70 mm Nikon lens in the standard port. I also have the 5" dome port, and would like to go wider than the 18 - 70 mm gives me (it's not zoomable, so I'm left with ~35mm focal length).

I'm more keen to put on a decent Sigma or Vivitar or similar lens rather than an awesomely expensive Nikon lens, and was wondering waht to go for - and what speed would be best? I.e. should I be looking at a 14mm lens at f2.8 or is that overkill?

Many thanks - it's a great forum (been lurking for a while) and hopefully I'll be able to start taking pictures soon that aren't all blue or blasted to total over-exposure with the Nikon flash in the Fantasea housing

Cheers

Gary

why isn't you 18-70 zoomable?

if you are using strobes, then speed for wide-angle lens isn't that important, e.g - it's more important if you're shooting indoors at a wedding..

tokina 10-17mm fisheye or tokina 12-24mm would both be good choices...pick up a used one to save a little $

you might need an extension with that port for those lenses, jack might be able to give you more detail on this..also, see if fantasea has zoom gears for those lenses...

hope this helps,

scott

i have the same question as scott about why you can't zoom.. Also, he gives good advice on the two lenses he mentions, a third would be the Sigma 10-22

If you want a fisheye-lens, take a look at the Nikon 10.5/2.8 which is a very nice lens for not a lot of cash - very wide, 180°. Or as mentioned, the Tokina 10-17 fisheye zoom. Others have had great success with the Sigma 15mm FE, which give very good optical performance for fairly little $, but not 'full' fisheye-cover.

If you want a straight lens, check out the Sigma 10-20 Mike mentioned, it is good for UW work and has the best CFD in the 'class', which is crucial for good results. But I suspect that you might need a larger dome for good results with most wide rectilinear lenses.

I tried the Nikon version of the 14mm/2.8 and it is a very nice lens, but at least to my eye, used on the D200 with my gear (hugyfot 17.5 cm hemispehere), it didn't offer any real world optical advantage to the Sigma 10-20. Remember it was (as was the Sigma) designed for film, and you will be paying for (and schlepping) a lot of 'unneccessary' glass if you intend to shoot it on a DX-sensor.

/c

Thanks for the advice, folks, and sorry to mislead you - the lens itself is fully capable of zooming, however, the port doesn't have a zoom ring, so I can either buy the new port for ~$400 or a super-wideangle / fisheye lens to use in the dome port - and I guess I'd get more 'out-the-water' use for a lens than an extra port!!

I have had great luck with a Sigma 17- 70 mm lens behind a dome port. You can get macro, fish snaps and relatively wide angle shots on a single dive. This is especially useful as a travel lens where you really do not know what expect to find the first dive on a new site.

Vettediver