Advice on buying my first DSLR

Ive had 3 ike housings for 2 decades total. Never flooded any of them.

I had an n90s and all kinds of ports. Never a problem. And that was when they only had 2 port locks.

I had a canon g3 housing. No sweat.

Sony V3, same deal.

The great beauty of the ikelite design is the ability to see the sealing surfaces AFTER assembly. So you know everything is seated properly, and nothing extruding, no gaps, etc.

I'd be a nervous wreck putting together an opaque housing. Every time I assembled it, I'd want to leak test it before putting in the camera. I have NO such fears with the brilliantly clear ikelite approach.

Why are Ikelites cheaper?....fact, beacuse they take less effort to make, beacuse they cut corners and use cheaper materials, I doubt its because theyre loyal to their customers!? They make an affordable hosuings to the ex compact users...the majority move on...especially as we have more affordable housings like Aquatica and Nauticam at a fraction more.

Of course Ikleite housings are cheaper to produce. I never said otherwise and I'm old and wise enough to know that very few commercial concerns are charitable organisations. The point at issue was whether Ikelite's housings are more likely to leak and I see nothing to support that claim and no reason why they should be. And I cannot agree that Aquatica and Nauticam housings only cost a fraction more. I would also point out that by no means all Ikelite owners "move on". I personally know two very good underwater photographers, one semipro and the other an accomplished amateur, who happily use Ikelite housings because they prefer to invest their money in the best lenses and the latest camera model in the certainty that they will be selling the camera and housing they buy today at a substantial loss within two years.

so if i bought an ikelite for my d7000, and hated it compared to my aquatica ad90, would you put your money where your fingers are and buy it off me if i hated it!?

so if i bought an ikelite for my d7000, and hated it compared to my aquatica ad90, would you put your money where your fingers are and buy it off me if i hated it!?

Sorry, no! Because I have a D80, am perfectly happy with it and don't plan to buy another camera and housing as, having reached the ripe old age of 72, my career as a diver presumably won't last for many more years

Sorry, no! Because I have a D80, am perfectly happy with it and don't plan to buy another camera and housing as, having reached the ripe old age of 72, my career as a diver presumably won't last for many more years

There we go

I'm pefectly happy with my D90 too, just have the plan to upgrade as the successors come out yearly...people do it with their cars why cant I do it witrh my cameras and housings?

There we go

 

 

I'm pefectly happy with my D90 too, just have the plan to upgrade as the successors come out yearly...people do it with their cars why cant I do it witrh my cameras and housings?

You can! Of course you can. If I was 10 years younger, I'd probably do the same. But, once again, the point at issue was whether Ikelite housings are more prone to leak than others. And I was disputing that.

Is there any difference in functionality between an Ikelite housing and the aluminium housings? Is for example the choice of lenses more limited? What about things like using teleconverters, etc? I'm sure I won't be using any of those in the near future, but that might change in a couple of years. Will I be able to expand later on equally well with an Ikelite?

Does anyone have an answer to this question?

Extension rings are what you would be after

Have a read of this

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/dabigadoma.html

Yes as for Aquatica though, I have all rings possible for what you are after

No difference in functionality. Choices of lenses the same. Teleconverters too.

Expansion equally well!

I have decided to go for a D7000 instead of the D90. Still not sure about the housing: Ikelite or Aquatica? Ikelite is the cheapest leaving more budget for lenses and ports, while aquatica is more solid/ergonomic, supports optical strobe, but is slightly over my budget, so i would have to buy second hand lenses and ports (which would be fine as long as I can actually find them for a good price).

How do the standard viewfinders of these housings compare?

I read there will be a review of the D7000 housings on wetpixel. Will the Ikelite housing be part of that review and if yes, when will this review be available?

Better hold and play around this 2 housing before u buy it. I have own ikelite d80 and change it to nauticam D90 and never look back. you need to consider TTL or menu issue too. Like many aluminum housing come with F/optic cable flexibility which is more save form float and cheaper. Ikelite housing and strobe are almost havy then others....

What can i say is make up a list... all port, dome, housing, strobe and accessories may need in a list. Compare the pricing how much to top up of u want go for aluminum housing.... U will see the difference

Btw d7000 is fantastic... More housing is coming out soon like subal, nexus and seacam too.

Sorry to harp on, but an Ikelite housing, with all its limitations, which I agree it has, will do the job just fine, as these photos

http://www.f64.se/img/hanifaru/

and this video

Its basically a question of what you can afford.

At the end of the day....thats the kernel of it....with the addendum of what level do you want to take your under water photgraphy to..

with the addendum of what level do you want to take your under water photgraphy to..

Not so sure about that bit. Do you believe most of the people on this forum that buy a D7000 and Nauticam or Aquatica housing are going to take better pictures than many of those John Bantin takes with his D200 and Sea & Sea housing?

Hi John,

To answer your question...no...absolutely not....:-)

But to clarify and contemplate...why does anyone on this forum upgrade from point and shoot to dslr?...why does a nikon d100 shooter upgrade to a d300 system??...why does an ikelite ds-51 strobe user upgrade to using ikelite ds-125 strobes???....what is the force that drives this..apart from the budgetary considerations?

These are the levels I am alluding to.

Best

D

As someone who was recently in a similar situation to you, wanting to move on from compacts but on a limited budget, could I suggest that you consider an Olympus in an Olympus housing. I have had a Powershot and a G10, both in Canon housings, the fact that your Canon housing has flooded somehow fails to surprise me, and initially looked at the Nikon D7000 in an Ikalite housing but was put off by the bulk of the thing, both under water and in terms of travelling around, by having to change my strobe to something with a sync chord, and by the price which would have curtailed my diving which seemed rather counterproductive.

In the end I got an Olympus epl-2, although the E-620 was tough competition, in the Olympus housing. I´ve now taken it on twenty dives and can promise you that after the Canon combo you´ve been using you will be astonished by the picture quality and ease of use of the Olympus. The controls are well spaced and clearly marked and at 40 metres, it´s rated maximum, I found they all worked as sweetly as at the surface - if you can use a Canon with cold water gloves on this will feel like heaven. As a further bonus you get to use the cheaper and more reliable fibre optic strobe activation.

Obviously I´m not suggesting that there won´t be occasions when a skilled photographer with a good SLR couldn´t take a technically superior picture, although perhaps that can be balanced against shots the better manoeuvrability of the Oly allows you to take, but the money you didn´t spend could be put towards a second strobe, more dive trips, or both.

New four-thirds, and micro four-thirds, lenses are coming along all the time, I´ll be going for the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 although I suspect your tastes are different, as are ports from Olympus, Zen and Athena - I’ve no idea why Olympus initially claimed the EP-03 was a fixed port casing since this is just straightforwardly untrue. And, since you´ll be buying new, if you have any problems with the kit you´ll be able to sling it back to them¡

Whatever you decide, have a quick look at Olympus first and, completely of topic, if you like the Philippines you´ll love Indonesia. Hope this helps, Roy.

Hi John,

 

To answer your question...no...absolutely not....:-)

 

But to clarify and contemplate...why does anyone on this forum upgrade from point and shoot to dslr?...why does a nikon d100 shooter upgrade to a d300 system??...why does an ikelite ds-51 strobe user upgrade to using ikelite ds-125 strobes???....what is the force that drives this..apart from the budgetary considerations?

 

These are the levels I am alluding to.

 

Best

D

To answer your questions: Firstly, we all know that the D100 had serious drawbacks but any competent photographer can take beautiful shots with any Nikon DSLR introduced subsequently. Secondly, I'm not entirely sure the DS125 is an upgrade compared to the DS51 (I own both). Dual DS51's are great for macro work and a DS51 paired with a DS125 works fine with the Tokina 10-17mm at 10mm. Thirdly, I wonder what the force that drives many photographers' wish to constantly update is too. Just my humble (cynical) opinion.