Buying a housing for my D7000

I would like to buy a housing for my D7000.

The problem is that i cant make a choice of buying an ikelite or aluminium housing...

I have a budget of 3000 euro that i can spent.

If i buy the ikelite, i can buy probably the whole package : nikon 50 mm + tokina 10-17 + ports + housing + New flash (My Inons s-2000 dusn't work with ikelite).

If i buy the Seacam, hugufot, aquatica or nauticam i probably would use my inon s-2000. But then i have no money to buy the macro and wide angle lenses. Then i

have to use my nikon 18-55mm.

I am confused....

I also have to think about my vision handicap. I have only 8 percent of my sight.

What would be best in that sight ?

Like to hear your advise...

Acrylic housings tend to fog up for many shooters and that has been a constant issue for owners of Ikelite housings. Eric Hanauer just bought a Nauticam Housing for his new D7000 and loves it. I bought the Nauticam housing for my Canon 7D and feel very comfortable and confident with it. While more expensive, think of it as an investment into your own future work and pick of other lens and such as you can afford them.

Steve

I don't think you need to go aluminum at all if your budget doesn't allow it. The Ikelite is polycarbonate, so all you need to do is make sure the onboard flash can pop up and fire. If it can, then you just stick the fiber optic cables on the outside and use your Inons. It should work well enough. Just use TTL on the flash instead of relying on the camera for TTL

Your 3000€ budget will not allow you to by a aluminium housing including ports and zoom gears for the D7000.

Ikelite housings are fine for a beginner and don't need more care than a aluminium housing. The transparent housing and the visible o-rings make a

visual pre-dive check easy and quick.

As Drew wrote, check if the D7000 internal strobe can pop open fully to allow you to use optical triggered strobes. If the strobe dont open fully,

you need to use electrical triggered strobes like for example the excellent but bulky and heavy DS-160 or DS-200 strobes.

I had a Ikelite housing for my old D90 and there where not too much complaints about it, it's a "cheap" but good and functional housing.

Chris

If your vize is so bad I think your viewfinder is more important than the choise acrylic/alu.

If Ikelite can accomodate a big viewfinder than I would go the Ikelite way. If not than the alu way and save for updating your lenses.

just my 2 cents

I know the inon 45 viewfinder can be mounted on the ikelite housing for the d7000.

Anyone that has used this viewfinder ?

The flash can't pop up in the ikelite housing.

Would you buy an inon z-240 (only manual) Or an ikelte strobe ?

II can buy a Ikelite housing with the viewfinder + 8inch dome for 18-55 (later can be used for Tokina 10-17) + One strobe.

Then i have to pay about 3300 euro.

I dont knwo how much it would cost if i buy a nauticam or aquatica and ports for 18-55.

Then i can use my inon as strobe.

I think a viewfinder costs a lot of money for a aluminium housing...

Had several Ikelite housings and never had a problem with fogging. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've dived in the UK in rainy weather, Egypt where there is always air conditioning to contend with and Indonesia with high humidity.

Housings work fine but the controls are not as ergonomic as some of the aluminium housings. The viewfinder is not great as you can't see the corners of the image wihout looking around the viewfinder, don't know if alu housing are any better. There are alternative viewfinders available but they're not cheap http://www.scubacam.nl/catalog/en/viewfinders-c-215_117.html

I had 2 Ikelite housings and i had rarely problems with fogging in the south of Costa Rica where

humidity and air temp is very high and water is considerably more cold.

The fogging can be avoided with a few simple steps.

When you go with the Ikelite housing i would go with the Ikelite Strobes as they will give you full TTL and this comes sometimes handy.

The Z-240 is a very good strobe, but you can sue it "only" in manual mode using a electrical connection.

Chris

P.S. A aluminium housing will cost you 50-100% more, the cheapest one is the housing from SeaLux in Germany, but also no optical triggered strobe,

as the internal strobe won't pop-up at all... :-( This was the reason that i went with the Hugyfot for my D7000 and not with the SeaLux

You are from Belgium so you should go directly to Hugyfot!

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42361

One thing to keep in mind is you will get the same image quality regardless of housing types.. the aluminum ones just tend to be a bit more ergonomic.. but it doesn't affect the image itself (just perhaps getting the shot.. slightly)