D70 Housing

Seeking opinions on the best designed, most reliable aluminum housing for the D70.

I'm a big fan of Nexus but you have some good options for this camera.

Out of curiosity, why are you limiting yourself to aluminum housings?

Don't like plastic. All my previous video /still systems have been aluminum & I've never had a problem. I take extended dive trips to SE Asia & need something that I can trust. Also, a compact housing is important from the travel/baggage standpoint

Hi JC....welcome to wetpixel....in response to your comment toward plastic housings as you call them, IMHO you need to open your eyes and explore all options I've never had a problem either and we just returned from a trip to SE Sulawesi :wink:

you might be surprised :!: remember it's just a box to keep the water out

Karl

While I'd also encourage you to look at all options, I don't mind answering your question too...:-)

Aluminum D70 housings that you can get in the US are made by Aquatica, Subal, Nexus, UK Germany, and Sealux. Some are easier to get than others.

Some factors to consider are:

Technical and Customer support

Quality and Availability of ports for the lenses YOU want to use

Cost

Ergonomics - How easy is the housing to service topside and how does it handle underwater

Upgrade Path - will future models fit in your housing? If not, can you reuse your ports and gears?

In any case, it's up to you to compare and weigh against those factors that are important to you.

Shoot, I should copy this post and save it for future use - it covers just about everything...lol.

Cheers

James

I am VERY happy with my Nexus D70. It is very compact, and well balanced in the water. Here is my initial review of it:

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...y;threadid=7994

Ryan at underwater camera pros sells Nexus, Subal, Aquatica and Ikelite housings for the D70. I suggest calling him or e-mailing him and discuss which is right for you.

FWIW...I would buy another Nexus in a heartbeat.

HTH,

Dave

I played with a Nexus and Sea and Sea Housing at Sea Space. Everything on the Nexus just felt right.

I do agree with Karl's statement that "it's just a box to keep the water out", based on that and my desire for iTTL support, I went with Ikelite and have no regrets.

Hi Jim,

I don't understand your statement "...based on that and my desire for iTTL support, I went with Ikelite ...". In what Ikelite is better for iTTL?

Isn't the Ikelite's housing bigger and heavyier than the others you have seen at the Sea Space?

Michel

:shock: Isn't it mean Ikelite can support iTTL now?? I'm really interested as I'm planning to buy a D70!! I'm also using ikelite's housing, No Regret!!

Ikelite is working on iTTL and will have a retrofit kit when that happens....same thing they have done for Canon TTL....refer to www.ikelite.com for a look....it's pretty sweet

The Ikelite housing is marginally bigger than the aluminum housings and probably smaller than the Sea & Sea...I haven't actually held a Sea & Sea....not sure about topside weight, but I can say that the Ikelite is barely negative underwater with dual strobes and manual controllers.....all controls work great

Karl

Look forward for ikelite's good new for that!!

I think the TTL feature is a bonus but I'll never throw away the manual controller. And I think TTL is not fool proof in anyway, its good for macro but not any good for wide-angle.

Ike was the only person when I was shopping for my D70 housing with confirmed intensions to support Nikon iTTL. And from the results I've seen with the Olympus TTL, I think it will work just as good for Wide Angle as it does for macro.

Also, the Ike housing is not heavy at all. Now the Ike housing with dual DS125's is pretty darn heavy.

The Sea and Sea housing is considerably bigger than the Ike housing. Nexus is smaller, but only slightly lighter.

Also note that you can reduce the size and weight of the Ike setup by going with the ULCS tray and handles, which is what I did.

I'm getting the same situation to move from film to digital, the housing.. My currently housing is an ikelite for EOS Elan 7e, my digital choice was a Canon 20D and I probably go to leave the plastic housing and loose the the ports to move to aluminum one.

The reason is not about resistance or size, I'm playing with ike's housing about 2 years without breaks and I've got some hard times with then :twisted: . I tried a aluminum housing (subal and aquatica) some time ago and I was impressed with the precision and smoothness of the commands and about the quality/sharpness of the 8" glass dome port. These points are driving my choices for the digital housing.

The tech assistance in Brazil for the aquatica's equipment also adds points for this housing.

Cheers

Fabio Amorim

Re "And I think TTL is not fool proof in anyway, its good for macro but not any good for wide-angle."

I only shot wide angle with my 5050 and when Ikelite TTL support came out I switched to TTL and never looked back.

What I liked about TTL was that I got the maximum light I could get for each shot without overexposing the picture. This saved many a shinny fish picture that I would have blown out with manual power settings.

If/when Ikelite has iTTL support for the D70 I plan to be the first in line.

To me, it is incomprehensible that one could eliminate ikelite housings from the get go.

They are clearly a huge value, compared to others, and totally competitive in terms of quality, and ruggedness. They are ahead, technologically, in offering canon ttl, and soon nikon.

And truly - the ability to see very single inch of the seals, AFTER assembly, leads to almost infinite peace of mind, and fewer user error leaks. Putting a housing with ports together, is time consuming at best, and has to be focused on, to avoid errors. With blind assemby of alu housings, you could have an extruded o-ring, and never know. This is not possible with the clear ike housings.

Finally, their service is beyond remarkable. Utterly mind boggling.

I've used an ike housing for n90s, since early 90s, and a bunch of ike strobes, and now have also a digicam housing for the G2. The TTL works perfectly, with canon's G series, using the optical slave.

I'm a very happy customer.

Don