Suggestions for a new rig to me.

Hi!

I’m a newbi when it comes to photography but since the day I bought my Canon Ixus400 with housing I’m hocked.

But now I feel that it’s time to step up to the big boys and buy myself a DSLR camera and housing. I’ll buy an Ikelite housing but I’m insecure which camera and lens I should buy. I’m thinking about Canon 300D(Rebel), Canon 10D or Nikon D70. But since I’m on a fairly tight budget I’ll only purchase ONE lens to start with. I’ve got friends that I can borrow good lenses for top side use, but I want one “all-round” lens for uw-photo. Suggestions anyone? I don’t need extreme macro and wide angel to start with. The same goes for the strobes. I can borrow strobes from my dive school.

For the same money as the 10D and D70 with one lens cost, I’ll get the 300D with 2-3 lenses. What do you think about that? Which camera and lens would YOU buy? How about ports?

Please post your suggestions for my new uw-rig.

Regards

Pedda

This is what I am lusting for.

Nikon D70 body with Nikkor 12 - 24 lens in Ike housing with iTTL (not yet available) with 5503.50??? dome with special zoom collar???

I'd recommend the Canon 300D (Digital Rebel) with the kit lens (18-55mm, ~28-88 equivalent with the crop). That's what I've fairly recently moved into from my Canon S230 (similar to your S400), in an Ikelite housing with the dome port. It's a good solid system, the D70 has some more high-end features (as does the 10D) but you sound a lot like me in terms of experience in photography - you'll have plenty of controls to keep you busy for a long time to come.

Go the 300D with kit lens. I've just been looking at them online at BHPhotovideo and at the price for what you get it's pretty amazing.

I use a 10D, but there's not a lot of reason to spend the extra money if you're on a tight budget and your plan is underwater use. If you're mainly using it above water or you want two control dials for manual shooting, the 10D is an excellent choice. But no kit lens with the 10D (unless you're handy with a hacksaw, in which case you can modify the 18-55 EF-S), so you're going to be spending a fair bit more for camera and lens combined.

As for the D70, well, it's Nikon, so I personally wouldn't poke it with a stick. But to be fair to Nikon (I'm feeling very good-humoured today), it's a better featured camera than the 300D, and has better underwater lens choices. If you're going the ikelite housing route, however, note that you may be waiting a while for automatic flash exposure (TTL) suppport. Ike has just posted elsewhere that they're getting close to Canon support, and will then start working on Nikon iTTL, so it's obviously an unknown quantity at this stage.

Both are excellent cameras and will be able to give you great results. Don't make this kind of decision based only on dollars. Buy the highest quality lenses....even if you have to save a little longer. Both kit lens are very adequate, but the D70 lens has more range...18-70mm.

The D70 is feature rich from an easy to navigate menu and has a much higher strobe sync speed capability. This is very important underwater IMHO.

However, IMHO, the biggest advantage of the D70 has to do with actually using the camera underwater. Using the camera controls for manually setting apertures, shutter speeds, etc. is quicker and easier on the D70.

Karl

You can't go wrong with any of your possible choices. The camera body will not be the limiting factor in your UW photo experience or in your photographs themselves, in my experience. The difference in price becomes fairly inconsequential in the context what you will invest over time in building a complete system. Try not to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Although I have shot Canons for years on land, I found that by going Nikon for underwater use I had a broader selection of housings, ports and lenses appropriate for my UW activities. Sadly, though, I'm now into two incompatible SLR systems ... one for land, the other for UW. My worst mistake was cutting corners and not buying what I really wanted to begin with. I lost a bunnch of money through a couple of upgrades to get into the system I should have just purchased to begin with.

As everyone said, don't try to save a little money to start with. It's better to invest in a solid rig that has what you want than get stuck with something that you will outgrow or feel that it's not the best for your needs. If you need to wait and save some more $$ to get that rig, then wait.

That being said both systems you are looking at are quite good (both under and topside), and will not dissapoint you. As Karl said the D70 lens has more range...18-70mm, and has a much higher strobe sync speed capability, but the Rebel has ISO100 capabilities... Both equipments have pros. and cons. and many people will advise Nikon or Canon depending on where their heart lies. My suggestion is to try to go to a camera store near you and rent and try both equipments at your home, to see which one you feel "more comfortable" with.

IMHO, this is a very important thing for any camera purchase, that you actually feel comfortable while using it and get to know all of the settings that you would commonly use in the situations you commonly shoot in. This is perhaps the most important factor in getting GOOD pictures above and under!! You not only need a good piece of equipment, but you need to know how to use it well and feel comfortable using it.

In my case, I chose the D70 because (besides all the reasons that Karl already stated) I have been shooting Nikon almost all my life and when I got the camera, it was second nature to me how it worked. I still had to learn several things particular to that model, but the learning curve was much smaller.

Good luck and happy UWshooting Pedda,

David.

I'm assuming you do not now have Nikon or Cannon lenses. If you have one go with that camera. I don't think any of these 6 mp dSLRs give you enough different an image to say one is really better than the other. All said though the reviews imply the D70 may be a notch better.

The thing to consider is what you asked about. With the DX 12-24 Nikon has Cannon beat on wide angle on a 1.5x crop dSLR. I assume they have similar macro lenses. For the Nikon I really like the 60 mm. The lenses you will want to use underwater are not the kit lenses that come with the camera. You will want a really wide angle lens and a macro lens. The lenses you can buy for the difference in cost between the D70 and the 300D will not give you these lenses. One of the kit lenses would be great for walk around on the surface.

Though I lust after that 17-55 DX 2.8 that Nikon makes.

The lenses you will want to use underwater are not the kit lenses that come with the camera

Definitely not correct for the Canon 300D/Rebel. The 18-55 EF-S kit lens is a great focal length range for underwater use. This would work great until the day you decide you need a real macro lens and/or a fisheye.

It's a great time to buying a DSLR at the moment as both Canon and Nikon have excellent low-end models. Just remember, you may be stuck for life with the marque you choose, so choose carefully!

I second Whitey's feedback. The kit lens on the Rebel is actually a great starter UW photography lens. It can go in close enough to do good "almost macro" work - that is, really tight pictures of nudibranches, etc. at 1:3.58 magnification - but it also widens out to 18mm (28.8mm equivalent with the crop factor). Until you're experienced enough to 1) get a better feel for what lens(es) you would want to upgrade to, and 2) plan your dive photos in advance enough to know whether you want to go macro or wide-angle, I think it's a good lens.

The kit lens that comes with the digital rebel is a good "all-round" lens. The kit lens that comes with the D70 is a GREAT all-round lens.

Cheers

James

Thanks all for your replies.

As some of you said both Canon and Nikon take good picture so I feel that I’m getting a good camera regardless which one I choose. At the moment I’m heading towards the 300D mainly because I’ve used it and since I’ll mostly use it in Egypt with its strong sun I think I’ll benefit from its ISO 100 capacity.

Regards

Pedda