My D70 with 60mm Macro lens arrived today. Woohoo! So did my Ikelite housing! Perfect timing!
I ordered the Ikelite flat port - 5505 (autofocus only). Now I've played with the camera a bit tonight I wonder if I should have got the 5506 (MF only) port. This lens does hunt an awful lot in low (ie. indoors) light.
So, my question to all you Nikkor 60mm macro lens owners is this: do you find that you shoot more in AF mode or MF? Or is it just a case of using a modeling light? With my previous camera I found that lots of shy critters were not very happy with having 50 watts blasted in their general direction...
Hmm. Speaking of timing, looks like I've duplicated a question that was asked only this morning. :oops:
In any case, in order to distinguish myself from the other topic, perhaps I could get some feedback specifically from D70/Ikelite housing owners.
Brook
I don't own a D70 or Ikelite housing but I have used the 60mm macro lens on several different camera bodies and I never have a need to manually focus the 60. I may hunt a bit with a very low contrast subject but if that happens you can focus on another part of the subject and then recompose.
Brook, I think you made the right choice.......nearly everyone uses AF for the 60mm....the 105 is another story
Ryan from UWCP recommended the 5505 to me but I went for the 5506 port, "just in case". ;-) Hopefully I'll have my D70 with 18-70mm this week and my housing in the beginning of Aug. The 60mm and flashes are waiting for me already in Hurghada. Can’t wait to get back to work and take some pictures ;-)
By the way, thanks to everyone for the answers you gave on my newbie questions. It made my choice of camera easier.
// Pedda
I'd also like an answer to this. I had some difficulty getting my D70 60mm/Ikelite housing/5505 to focus on what I wanted it to back in May.
I was using the camera on AF-S. I think next time I'll try AF-C.
The lens would hunt back and forth. Sometimes it got better if I had the subject right in the crosshairs of my two DS125s modelling lights.
I also noticed that contrast had a lot to do with it. If I put the focus area directly in the middle of a fish I couldn't get focus. But if I put it on the edge of the fish it would focus. I tried pre-focusing on the edge and then getting the composition--not so easy with moving objects. This made it hard to get exactly the composition I wanted.
Any tips?
I have been using my D100 (same AF as D70) underwater since I got my Subal housing in 2002. During the first 6 months of 2004 I have taken about 10,000 images UW with the camera and every single one was with AF (in AF-C mode). Personally I see no need for Manual focus - with a modern SLR used for "normal" diving.
So did my Ikelite housing! Perfect timing!
