Ohh my God, my Wife wants a Nikon D100!!!

So here's what I have so far...

Nikon D100 Digital SLR Camera Body $1,699.95 B&H

Zoom Wide Angle AF Zoom Nikkor

18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D ED-IF Autofocus Lens $499.95 B&H

Telephoto AF Micro Nikkor 60mm

f/2.8D Macro Autofocus Lens $389.95 B&H

SB-80DX Speedlight TTL Shoe Mount Flash

(Guide No. 125'/38.1 m at 35mm) $319.00 B&H

Lexar 1gb CF 32x Memory $269.99 ebay

Aquatica D100 housing $1,899.00 msrp

Dome port for WA lens $310.00

Flat port for macro lens $255.00

Subal Housing for SB-80dx flash $594.00

$6,236.84

Yikes... I wonder if there is a retailer would work a better package deal.

John,

Don't forget an arm system for the strobe and sync cord (and spare). Also consider spare CF card. I just used new ultralite arms for the first time with my S2/ikelite housing and was very happy. Bought arm components from Helix Photo (helixphoto.com). Also consider some form of digital storage device/laptop etc. I have a 60 GB Digibin, again very happy with it.

I think her interest is great! I feel lucky my wife loves to dive (even in rough conditions) but she has no interest in the photography other than putting the albums together.

John

I'm sure there's more to consider...oh yeah! Case of some kind for camera and housing, etc. Also batteries for all and recharger...and adapters for foreign countries.

John - That is a lot of bucks to get started from scratch. If you can bite the bullet and get your wife a nice D100 U/W set-up, however, she WILL love it.

You might consider saving on the lens(es) by looking at something like the

Sigma Normal 50mm f/2.8 EX Macro Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF-D

B&H has it for $239. I've never used this lens, but I've had several Sigma lenses, and they were reliable.

A 50mm lens in the D100 is effectively a 75mm lens, which is pretty good for fish ID and macro. Later, you could expand to include a wide angle lens and dome port.

The point is, you don't necessarily have to get the whole shebang to start with, and in my opinion, a 50-60mm macro lens is perhaps the best place to start.

And don't forget flood insurance at around $150 or so either through DAN's partner (www.h2oinsurance.com), or as an extension of homeowner's...

I think not needing all the lenses at once is a good point.

Not realizing that a few months ago, I bought a nikon 60mm, nikon 17-35mm, and Sigma 14mm all used from E-bay from 25-50% off retail. I was pretty picky on which items I selected (as new as possible, boxes and paperwork, etc.) All were delivered in near perfect shape with perfect (from I could tell) glass. I haven't been burned before on E-bay, ...Yet.

Back to the point, I just returned last week from the Tahiti Aggressor and only used the 14mm on one dive. Really just to play with it, not that I thought I needed it. Even taking pics of larger stuff like sharks and turtles, I mostly used the 60mm followed by the 17-35mm. I wish I had saved my money on the 14mm and put it towards a laptop.

This was my first time using a housed digital SLR after using a Sony S75. I'm very happy I chose to "jump" to the SLR instead of a high end non-SLR like the olympus 5050 (but I also aspire to take pictures as good as many I have seen from the 5050 and others on this site).

John

Another option, although not as popular, would be to get one of the standard zooms for Nikon instead of the 60mm macro. I'm not sure what the Nikon / Sigma equivalent is, but Canon has lenses like the 28-80, 28-90 (low end) or the 24-70 L IS. The quality of the lower end Canon's is not great, but it's not too bad either. I've had some good luck with my 28-80, in fact, it's about the only thing I've been able to use sucessfully so far. Some sample are at my websiite in both the Cozumel and Truk 2003 galleries.

Maybe start with one or two lenses as suggested instead of buying everything at once as was suggested earlier.

OK, so now we have shifted to "What is the best first SLR lens for an UW beginner shooter." That's fine, it's a good topic.

I would throw my hat in and say the 60mm Micro.

It is a prime, so you don't have to worry about diopters, zoom gears, etc. You can shoot it behind a flat port or a dome. It is tack sharp, and it is "affordable."

Not to mention that it will shoot better than 1:1 closeup at f16-f22 and it's also good for fish portraits further out at f5.6-f8.

Cheers

James

I agree with James about the 60mm micro lens. It's a dandy! As far as 1:1 macro goes, that's just a few inches in front of the lens, and it's pretty challenging to illuminate the subject that close. The 105mm micro is a superb macro lens, even more so in the D100. It's much easier to get 1:1 with the 105mm.

Wha about a general lens that leans more towards wide angle rather than macro?

Nikkor 18-35