Nikon D90 recommendations for housing and lenses

hey there!

at the moment i am still doing my photography with a canon g10 (ikelite housing and ds-160 substrobe) since i have not found anything close to thesese functionalities from Nikon... unfortunately! but so far i am happy with the photos i have taken underwater.

i am seriously thinking about getting a housing for my D90 since I would like to focus more on the photography-part while diving. what would you recommend as a housing?

the next question would be which lenses would you use for macro and/or big fish photography? what would you recommend? (also the ports of course). at the moment i do have a nikkor 16-85mm 1:3.5-5.6 and a nikkor 70-300 (which i obviously will not use underwater ;-))

by the way all the other photos taken on my website on land are all made with my D90.

thanks already for your help!

Thomas

If you would like fiber optical command chose Nauticam another good choise with cable only the Aquatica or Hugy and the smallest price Ikelite

for macro the nikkor 60mm AFS or AFD and for WA the tokina 10/17

I have an ikelite and am happy with it. Aluminium is nicer, but a lot more money.

Second the lenses - Tokina 10-17mm, behind a dome, and the 60mm macro in a flat port. You can probably shoot 95% of everything with those 2 lenses, and maybe 99% if you add a teleconvertor to the party.

What choices lay ahead for you as well as a hole in your pocketbook - that is never ending. Have you tried searching for previous posts on the D90? There has been alot of discussion about this camera, housings, lens, ports, etc. on the boards.

I second the lens choices - Tokina 10-17 and Nikon 60 macro. Start there and add on as you want. Do you have strobes to go with this? Another consideration in your new rig.

Let us know what you decide and show off your work - Happy diving - DiverPam

hey there!

 

at the moment i am still doing my photography with a canon g10 (ikelite housing and ds-160 substrobe) since i have not found anything close to thesese functionalities from Nikon... unfortunately! but so far i am happy with the photos i have taken underwater.

 

i am seriously thinking about getting a housing for my D90 since I would like to focus more on the photography-part while diving. what would you recommend as a housing?

 

the next question would be which lenses would you use for macro and/or big fish photography? what would you recommend? (also the ports of course). at the moment i do have a nikkor 16-85mm 1:3.5-5.6 and a nikkor 70-300 (which i obviously will not use underwater ;-))

 

by the way all the other photos taken on my website on land are all made with my D90.

 

thanks already for your help!

 

Thomas

Thomas,

since you live in Switzerland I would recommend an Hugyfot housing plus Hugyfot flat port for the 60mm macro and dome port+focus gear for the Tokina 10-17; I would also recommend you sell your DS-160 strobe a buy a couple of Inon Z-240 strobes to be operated by fiber-optics; another good addition to your kit would be the Hugyfot 45° viewfinder if you like to shoot macro and a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter to add CFWA capabilities to the Tokina 10-17.

Happy shopping !!!

Francesco

but the only housing for D90 with fiber optic systeme is the Nauticam .

yes the Inon is a better choice than D160 who is more heavy and nedded specifical battery

but the only housing for D90 with fiber optic systeme is the Nauticam .

yes the Inon is a better choice than D160 who is more heavy and nedded specifical battery

Not so! Optical connections are available on at least the Nexus, Zillion and Patima housings.

I agree with choosing Inon Z240 strobes to reduce mass and volume of rig. Tokina 10-17 and Nikon 60mm AF-S are

essential lens IMHO. I have the Nexus housing and am very satisfied with it, but if I was buying now for a D90 I would

most definitely go for the Nauticam. If you do decide on either Nauticam or Nexus you will be able to use the excellent

value Baré compact dome port.

Keep your eyes on the Classifieds for 2nd hand housings.

Cheers,

Jim.

Not so! Optical connections are available on at least the Nexus, Zillion and Patima housings

Sorry i don't know this housing we can't find it in France

hey there!

 

at the moment i am still doing my photography with a canon g10 (ikelite housing and ds-160 substrobe) since i have not found anything close to thesese functionalities from Nikon... unfortunately! but so far i am happy with the photos i have taken underwater.

 

i am seriously thinking about getting a housing for my D90 since I would like to focus more on the photography-part while diving. what would you recommend as a housing?

 

the next question would be which lenses would you use for macro and/or big fish photography? what would you recommend? (also the ports of course). at the moment i do have a nikkor 16-85mm 1:3.5-5.6 and a nikkor 70-300 (which i obviously will not use underwater ;-))

 

by the way all the other photos taken on my website on land are all made with my D90.

 

thanks already for your help!

 

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

As I stated here (http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=40508&view=findpost&p=291594) I´ve been shooting my D90 in a Hugy housing for two years. I´ve been very happy with it. I got my rig at Dive Society in Root (LU), which is a qualified supply and service point for Hugyfot with nice folks running the store (to which I am not affiliated, by the way). I love the Tokina 10-17, just as everybody else, and also like my 105mm macro lens. The Tokina 12-24 is excellent, but the fisheye zoom is so much nicer underwater that I leave the other wide angle lens at home now... If you need more help, please feel free to contact me.

Hi I have an aquatica housing for the nikon d90. Excellent controls. I use the nikon 16-85mm lens. Very sharp lens. Using the 8 inch domeport aquatica recommends a +3 diopter. With the 6 inch domeport a +4 diopter is used. For macro i just add a second +4 diopter and you get 1:2 macro. The diopter is about $60. So no added lens need to be purchased which saves money. The ds160 strobe is also used. With all the weight penalties on airlines it is an easier way to do macro instead of a 60mm lens with a flat port. A single port to buy for macro and wide angle is easier on the pocketbook and easier to travel with.

Until early this year I used a Nikon D90 with Aquatica hosing with dual Ikelite ds161 strobes then upgraded to the Nikon D7000 and Aquatica housing. As others suggested I too recommend the Tokina 10-17mm and the Nikkor 60mm as they do most of my shooting in my local area. Actually I do most of my shooting with the Tokina 10-17mm as I love shooting wide.

Regarding strobes I like my Ikelites as they are a powerful and have a fast recycle time which is what I want with my style of shooting. When I say my style I mean that i get in really close to large animals like sharks, rays, large turtle and take quick series of shots and normally have the tokian 10-17mm Fe set on 10mm. Of course the Ikelites are heavier and need dedicated battery packs but for me its only an issue with weight resrictions when flying as when I am diving I use bouyancy arms to take the issue of weight out of the setup.

Another option to consider is that the camera is often the most cheapest part of a underwater setup. It might make sense before you spend a few thousand dollars on a housing, ports, extensions rings, gears etc etc that it might make more economical sense to sell your Nikon D90 and put the money towards the current D7000? I beleive that the D90 is still getting decent money when sold second hand and still in demand.

If you go for the upgrade to the D7000 like I have done you can have the option like what I have choosen with my Aquatica AD7000 housing and that is to have both Ikelite bulkhead and optical bulkhead. So you can still use your Ds160 in the mean time and if you want to go with optical fibre and Inon z240's down the track you can.

Gives you some ideas to think about.

Regards Mark

Here are some Nikon D90 and tokina 10-17mm examples:

Regards Mark

With all respect to the other posters, I would definitely not buy an expensive aluminium housing for the D90. THe camera is rapidly becoming obsolescent and the housing will have lost 25-30% of its value after the first dive. I have an Ikelite housing for my D80 and am quite happy with it. An advantage is that it provides TTL with Ikelite strobes. You should be able to pick up a couple of used DS 125's for a reasonable price (make sure the serial numbers are higher than 5000). If you mainly shoot macro, used DS 51's cost half as much, are a lot smaller and lighter, are almost as powerful (guide number 9 instead of 10) and will do the job fine.

By the way, the older D version of the MicroNikkor 60mm lens will work fine with the D90. It is about 150 dollars cheaper than the newer version and is just as good.

With all respect to the other posters, I would definitely not buy an expensive aluminium housing for the D90. THe camera is rapidly becoming obsolescent and the housing will have lost 25-30% of its value after the first dive.

 

By the way, the older D version of the MicroNikkor 60mm lens will work fine with the D90. It is about 150 dollars cheaper than the newer version and is just as good.

With respect to you John, you can make this argument about any DSLR. The shelf life of any camera is not likely more than two years. It is for this reason that I bought a second D90 body, which remains virtually unused, as a spare in case anything happens to the original one.

With regards to the new or old version of the 60 macro, every review I read raved about the improved optics of the new version. Whether or not the difference in visible in the photos, who knows. I just added the 60 to my kit, and on a recent liveaboard trip, 4 days after Hurricane Irene passed through, I would say 90% of my keepers were shot with this lens.

EDIT: Duplicate post.

With respect to you John, you can make this argument about any DSLR. The shelf life of any camera is not likely more than two years. It is for this reason that I bought a second D90 body, which remains virtually unused, as a spare in case anything happens to the original one.

 

With regards to the new or old version of the 60 macro, every review I read raved about the improved optics of the new version. Whether or not the difference in visible in the photos, who knows. I just added the 60 to my kit, and on a recent liveaboard trip, 4 days after Hurricane Irene passed through, I would say 90% of my keepers were shot with this lens.

Yes, the argument does apply to any DSLR but if you buy a housing for one of the latest models, e.g the D7000, you can expect to use it happily for several years, whereas with a camera that is rapidly becoming obsolescent, like the D 90, you will in all probability suffer the same depreciation in value of the housing within a much shorter time.

Regarding the 60mm lens, a couple of friends of mine who have recently bought the new version becuase their older 60mm broke say the difference in focus speed is negligible and they cannot see any difference in the optics. The new version is supposed to have a better bouquet (boket?) but I've never heard any complaints about the D version from u/w photographers in that respect. Personally, I wouldn't pay $150 more for the new version but the decision is naturally up to the prospective buyer.

I'd agree, either get a 2nd hand housing for a D90 or choose a more recent camera (D7000 for example)