WOW Am I glad I found this site

I'm buying my wife a new camera for Christmas. She's very into photography, both above and below and she's outgrown her Sealife digital rather quickly. I'm her dive buddy who keeps equal distance between her and the divemaster while she "makes the shot". Did I mention I'm into carpentry and I'm clueless about photography.

I've researched and decided on the Nikon D70 w/ Ikelite 6807 housing and Ikelite DS-125 Substrobe. I live in the US so Ikelite seems a good choice as I hear their customer service is good. That part was easy. Now I've run into choices and I need help. Is it a "sub" strobe as in underwater or do I need a main strobe? The strobe packages come in Manual Controller, TTL Slave Sensor & TTL Sync Cord. HUH??? I gather the housing doesn't come w/ a port. I downloaded the listing of ports from Ikelite but picking a lens is difficult because I don't speak the language. I would like to get one lens and matching port, to start her off, that will allow her to take pictures both at reasonable distance and up close. Any help will be greatly appreciated but please remember the language barrier.

Welcome!

You will find that most of the D70 users have 2 or 3 specific lenses for specific purposes. You will also probably find that the D70 is available with a "kit" lens (AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED), and it is not one of the lenses most underwater shooters use.

However, since you want only one lens to start, the 18-70mm lens should be an acceptable starter lens. You will need to check the Ike site to get the port and diopter requirements for this setup.

This should give her a rather good range to start, and as she advances you can add more specialized lenses and ports as time goes by!

As to the Ike specifics, there are much brighter minds here to answer those questions!

Hi bubba...

I have a d70 in Ike housing and would recommend you start with the kit lens 18-70 and the dome port ike recommends for this lens. This port will also support a 60mm and 12-24 lens in the future.. I use all 3. You will need to buy something like HOYA +4 diopter for the 18-70 lens. Ike, I believe sells this as well.

Start with 1 ds125 strobe, single synch cord and the MANUAL controller for the ds125. They also sell articulating arms for the strobe. You will also need the smart charger for the strobe. Pictures with the 18-70 lens can be seen at:

http://homepage.mac.com/mikepalasz/PhotoAlbum10.html

Good luck!

M.

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me out of this quagmire. I'm getting everything you both mentioned, including the extra lenses. Starbuck, if she gets anywhere near the shots posted on your website, she'll be extremely please. As the saying goes " When your wife is happy, you're happy". Thanks again Richie

Good advice so far.

Cheers

James