Digital SLR... Which to Get???

Just wondering of which body to get for underwater work. The Nikon D100 or the Fuji S2 Pro. I have 7 Nikkor Lenes that why have to select the D100 or the S2.

I had the D100 for about 3 weeks to test. I like the setup and stuff. I am not able to test it underwater as there is no housing for it yet.

I understand that the D100 have problem with the TTL setting with others strobes except the SB28 and the SB80. What is the problem there?

Any insight on the two cameras would be very welcome. I want to get as much info as posibble before I make a desicion to purchase the camera...

Thanks...

Regards,

KL Kwang

I used the S2 underwater for the first time yesterday and the day before.

I shot with the 60mm Micro and the 14mm Sigma.

I was very impressed with the S2. It was easy to use and I was able to get good pictures with it on my first trip.

TTL was really nice for shooting macro. I could set the camera up at 1/90th or 1/60th at f16 or f22 and the TTL was returning VERY good exposures. It behaved a lot like my NikonosV for shooting Macro. The 60 is also a good lens for shooting fish portraits at f5.6.

I also shot all of my wideangle in TTL to see what it can do.

I have a few pictures posted on my website at www.reefpix.org

It will take a while for me to wade through the shots from this trip. I averaged about 60 shots on each 50 minute dive and I made 7 dives.

Cheers

James

Hi James,

The pictures are greats... Could you tell me what is your equipment setup? What strobe did you use? etc etc

Thanks

KL Kwang

Fuji S2pro

Nikkor 60mm micro

Sigma 14mm f2.8 EX

Ikelite S2pro Housing

Ikelite Flat port for 3.5-4" lens

Ikelite extended dome port

ULCS arms

Nikon SB102 Strobe

Sea and Sea YS90 Strobe

Why are you shooting macro at such low shutter speeds? Since my Oly E20 syncs at much higher shutter speeds, I use the high speeds for shooting macro. Doesn't affect foreground exposure at all, and it is great at freezing action. The traditional 1/60 and 1/90 speeds are derived from film cameras which could not sync the flash at higher speeds.

I'll try faster speeds on my next trip.

I guess I'm just used to my old Nik V.

Cheers

James

A DSLR uses a mecheical shutter, and has a much slower flash sync speed. The spec to look at is called Xsync.

According to the specs, the Xsync speed of the S2 is 1/125 so you can't go that much faster. This is where the D100 and the Canon D60 have an advantage, I think it is around 1/200 for those cameras.

Herb

Yeah, you're right Herb. The Sync speed is 1/125th on the S2 and 1/180th on the D100 so the D100 is about a half stop faster there.

But the S2 can shoot at ISO100 and the D100 can only do ISO200 - so the S2 actually has about a half stop advantage when it comes to fill flash (what we use for wideangle shooting). Thom Hogan has a pretty good explanation of it on his site, at www.bythom.com It's almost over my head.

Cheers

James

Can't you just use a neutral density filter to make the D100 do ISO 100? If you do, I guess it's then just a matter of the noise of the D100 at ISO 200 vs the S2 at ISO 100. According to dpreview the S2 is better, but I don't think the method that Phil used to test for this is very good.

Herb

My e20 uses a mechanical shutter, yet I've shot at up to 1/640 and never seen sync problems.

The fastest pro-DSLR is the D1x which can sync at 1/500th I think. You E20 kicks it's butt!

What is the highest sync speed that is needed underwater and where does it apply?

I know that I was very disappointed with my sea-lion pictures taken w/ the NikV and 15mm lens because I just couldn't stop them shooting at 1/60th and M90. I thought I was having a focus problem until I realized they were just moving too fast.

Does anyone here have a film camera and shoot with flash above 1/125th? That would be nice for stopping sun rays, but how would you get a good background exposure? I can see maybe doing this to shoot up for a picture of a shark w/ the sun in the shot.

I'm going to start a new thread in the Techniques and Tips forum to discuss.

Cheers

James