Recomendation from a Film Convert - HELP!

Greetings all...

I have been shooting the Nikon N90 in a Aquatica Housing for years. I have 2 SB-105 Strobes and a YS90 for a slave... Have all the Dome Ports and rings, cords, connectors etc for the Aquatics..

My first thought was to go to a D100 or D70 in the Aquatica Housing since I could use my ports, but now it seems my strobes wont work TTL with the D100 or D70...

Any reccomendations on Camera, Housing's and Strobes compared to what I currently have now? I would like to stay with Nikon because of the Lens's, and pref Aquatica because of the Ports and Arms etc.. But I am open to any suggestions!

Thx!

Scott

If you want to stick with your Nikon lenses and still have real TTL there's only one option: Fuji S2. I am presently using one in an Aquatica housing with 2 SB105s and I'm very happy with my choice.

Larry

If you want to stick with your Nikon lenses and still have real TTL there's only one option: Fuji S2. I am presently using one in an Aquatica housing with 2 SB105s and I'm very happy with my choice.

 

Larry

Larry,

I have never shot Fuji... Will all my AF Lenses work?? You say TTL works fine, no problems at at? Some people are saying TTL is a waste with Digitial, true?

Compare Nikon to Fuji??

Thx!!!

Scott

Scott,

The Fuji S2 is a frankencamera, made by adding a Fuji CCD to an N80 body. James uses one, go look at the pics on Reefpix to see what he does with his.

The body uses Nikon's CAM900 AF module (exactly the same as the N80). TTL works as well as the Nikon TTL system.

Waste is a strong word. Not so necessary is maybe a better phrase. TTL is unreliable for wideangle shooting, so the lack of TTL becomes more of an issue for macro work. Given that you can see the results of the shot pretty much straight away, and (theoretically at least) adjust your strobe and/or aperture settings while the subect is still there, the lack of TTL is seen as less of an issue by those who have cameras that don't support it.

James uses TTL for macro work with his S2, and gets good (prize winning, in fact :wink:) results. Once he is finished with his busy day at SeaSpace, he'll probably throw in his couple of cents.

Craig,

So would you say to stay away from the S2??? I have a N90 and I love it... But from what I gather from "frankencamera" it may be something not worth getting into???

Would you say it is better than the D70 or D100??? The specs look better but it is lots more $$$

I do LOVE Macro work (my 60mm lens rocks) so mabey... I know it is a stupid question, but how hard is it to shoot non-TTL???

I saw the Light & Motion housing and it will accept Aquatics Ports, and I loved that fact.....

Scott

I am just so tired of developing 25+ rolls from a 2 week dive trip, as it costs a fortune!!! But I am hoping that with the 6+ MegaPixesl I can still get 16x20 prints

Scott,

 

The Fuji S2 is a frankencamera, made by adding a Fuji CCD to an N80 body. James uses one, go look at the pics on Reefpix to see what he does with his.

 

The body uses Nikon's CAM900 AF module (exactly the same as the N80). TTL works as well as the Nikon TTL system.

 

Waste is a strong word. Not so necessary is maybe a better phrase. TTL is unreliable for wideangle shooting, so the lack of TTL becomes more of an issue for macro work. Given that you can see the results of the shot pretty much straight away, and (theoretically at least) adjust your strobe and/or aperture settings while the subect is still there, the lack of TTL is seen as less of an issue by those who have cameras that don't support it.

 

James uses TTL for macro work with his S2, and gets good (prize winning, in fact :wink:) results. Once he is finished with his busy day at SeaSpace, he'll probably throw in his couple of cents.

Hi, I'm back.

What Craig said is 100% right on. When he said "Frankencamera" he just meant that it is a "melding" of two separate companies, Nikon and Fuji. Many think that the Fuji sensor is superior to the one that Nikon uses, and I agree.

The Fuji is the more expensive camera body, but think about it - you won't have to buy special "digital" strobes, so you may actually SAVE money in the long run, and get TTL to boot.

The new D70 is a great camera, and a lot smaller than the Fuji, but you will be "stuck" with the 3 manual power settings on the SB105's.

HTH

James

James,

Thx for the reply!

Do you think the Fuji will be around for a while??? And also what about the S3???

If I can ask, what is the best pricing you have seen for the S2?

I just really hate to get rid of my 2 SB105's and YS90... Esp if I can keep my Nikon Lenses...

What housing do you like the best??? I am semi partial to Aquatica since I have their N90 housing now and can use the ports... But I saw the Light and Motion one and it looks cool...

Would you ever go back to film???

Thx!!

Scott

Hi, I'm back.

 

What Craig said is 100% right on.  When he said "Frankencamera" he just meant that it is a "melding" of two separate companies, Nikon and Fuji.  Many think that the Fuji sensor is superior to the one that Nikon uses, and I agree.  

 

The Fuji is the more expensive camera body, but think about it - you won't have to buy special "digital" strobes, so you may actually SAVE money in the long run, and get TTL to boot.

 

The new D70 is a great camera, and a lot smaller than the Fuji, but you will be "stuck" with the 3 manual power settings on the SB105's.

 

HTH

James

Hi,

The S3 won't be out for a while, and it will NOT be able to do TTL.

If you already have Aquatica ports, it sounds like the choice is easy for you.

I got my S2 from Alkit Camera.

Cheers

James

The Fuji S2 is a frankencamera, made by adding a Fuji CCD to an N80 body.

'Frankencamera' is a bit too strong a word too, perhaps "unnatural melding" or "what happens when good CCD's get mixed up with cheap plastics" would be better

Eric, we need a tongue-in-cheek emoticon or my sarcasm is going to get the better of me.

I strongly considered an S2, I would certainly not say "stay away" from it. The reason I don't have an S2 is the same reason I don't have a d100... viewfinder size, FPS and AF module. If I hadn't made the mistake of buying an F100, I would have been very happy with either the S2 or the d100, as I was also happy with my F/N80.

Perhaps James could dig up the photos of the postmortem on his first S2, which shows just how much n80 there is in an S2 (DX film contacts for instance :shock:

I strongly considered an S2, I would certainly not say "stay away" from it. The reason I don't have an S2 is the same reason I don't have a d100... viewfinder size, FPS and AF module. If I hadn't made the mistake of buying an F100, I would have been very happy with either the S2 or the d100, as I was also happy with my F/N80.

Craig makes some valid points. The S2 doe not measure up to the F100 in a number of areas but neither does any other DSLR south of $3000.

You will be able to use your Nkon lenses, your SB105's with TTL, and your ports (if you go with an Aquatica housing.)

Take a look at my Gallery. All of the images were shot with a Fuji S2.

Larry

Craig,

When you say "viewfinder size, FPS and AF module" can you expound on this a little??

Thx

Scott

 

The Fuji S2 is a frankencamera, made by adding a Fuji CCD to an N80 body.

 

 

'Frankencamera' is a bit too strong a word too, perhaps "unnatural melding" or "what happens when good CCD's get mixed up with cheap plastics" would be better

 

Eric, we need a tongue-in-cheek emoticon or my sarcasm is going to get the better of me.

 

I strongly considered an S2, I would certainly not say "stay away" from it. The reason I don't have an S2 is the same reason I don't have a d100... viewfinder size, FPS and AF module. If I hadn't made the mistake of buying an F100, I would have been very happy with either the S2 or the d100, as I was also happy with my F/N80.

 

Perhaps James could dig up the photos of the postmortem on his first S2, which shows just how much n80 there is in an S2 (DX film contacts for instance :shock:

If price were no object, what would anyone reccomend as the best DSLR for UW work? A D2h???

Thx

Scott

I strongly considered an S2, I would certainly not say "stay away" from it. The reason I don't have an S2 is the same reason I don't have a d100... viewfinder size, FPS and AF module. If I hadn't made the mistake of buying an F100, I would have been very happy with either the S2 or the d100, as I was also happy with my F/N80.

 

Craig makes some valid points. The S2 doe not measure up to the F100 in a number of areas but neither does any other DSLR south of $3000.

 

You will be able to use your Nkon lenses, your SB105's with TTL, and your ports (if you go with an Aquatica housing.)

 

Take a look at my Gallery. All of the images were shot with a Fuji S2.

 

Larry

If price were no object,  what would anyone reccomend as the best DSLR for UW work?  A D2h???

 

 

Larry

Canon 1Ds

Comment -

Craig Ruaux made a comment that is epidemic and for the most part incorrect when he stated that TTL is unreliable for wide angle shooting. This might have been true with a Nikonos V which lacked any compensation control, but is totally incorrect with todays excellent SLR cameras like the Nikon F5 & F100, and the Fuji S2.

I use TTL almost exclusively with my full range of lenses from 16mm fisheye to 200 micro-nikkor and have no doubt what-so-ever that I get professionally excellent results on far more one-shot chances using TTL than I ever got using manual exposure. I am a full-time underwater photographer whose pictures have appeared in many major (non-dive) magazines around the world including National Geographic (repeatedly).

If you are getting inconsistent results with wide-angle lenses and TTL, you just aren't using TTL to its fullest capability.

divegypsy

First, since the D100 is no longer being made by Nikon, it will die a slow death and housings will probably parallel the process. You probably still have some time to get a D100 set-up, but it looks like the D70 will be the Nikon way to go for awhile.

To the point of TTL, I have some prodding to belie on James and others using digi TTL. Since I have only shot manual since converting to a D100, I haven't had any of this experience underwater, but when you are shooting the Fuji S2, what does your histogram look like after a ttl exposure? Is it still shy of the highlights, forcing you to use post processing tools like PS CS? Or is the exposure perfect and no post processing is required other than sizing, sharpening etc?

If you still have to post process colors, TTL IMHO is as good as manual and vice versa. In manual mode, you should expose your imaged to where the histogram is not hitting the right side of the X axis. This means that you are underexposed, and the post processing of the your image can be brought into a good dynamic range with Photoshop. It's the same with TTL. If you are having to post process color adjustments, especially to bring the image to the right exposure when using TTL, what's the difference? And with a 1.5 to 2 f-stop flexibility in digital images (shooting Adobe II) you can "bring in" underexposed images to make them nicely exposed.

The advantage I see using TTL is that one shot wonders are more likely to come out with TTL than with manual, since guessing is so, well, a guestimate. TTL will probably get you close and with a 1.5-2 f-stop forgiveness in digital, you will likely get a good exposure.

Joe

Joe, that rationale sounds like something I've been telling you for the past year and a half :-)

Shoot in raw format and if you are within a couple of stops of correct exposure this will rescue the picture. Raw format with the S2 is extremely hard to work with using Fuji's prehistoric software. Although with Photoshop CS it has gotten easier. On the other hand using the nikon software (capture 4.1) it is a dream. To the point that I never shoot in jpeg format anymore it is just so much easiser to work with. I agree when in doubt use your histogram then with raw you can tweak it right where you want it.

Tony