Focal length choices

I am shooting a D60 landbased, but the Hawaiian waters are calling me to purchase a housing. I will probably pick up an Ikelite, but I will wait to see the Sea and Sea housing when it is available.

I have a tokina 17mm ATX, ends up being a 28mm on my D60. Just curious what focal lengths most wide shots are shot with. I have the macro side taken care of, just not sure if I want the get a 16-35L or join Eric cheng with his 14mm Sigma.

Thanks!

I use the 14mm Sigma (for Nikon) and I really like it.

It has wonderful DOF and good contrast, IF you don't let direct sunlight hit the front element - then you get horrible flare.

HTH

James Wiseman

The most common wide angle prime lens choice is the 20mm. I shoot both the 20mm and 24mm. I find it much easier to frame the scene I want with the 24mm.

The 20mm will cover a lot of scene. You need big and close for a good clean exposure, plus you often get distortion on the edges.

Try your Tokina 17mm and see how you like it. But at 26mm, it probably won't satisfy you.

I think the D60 has a 1.6 multiplication factor, so a 14 mm lens will really shoot the same scene as a 22.4mm lens.

Keep in mind that the digicam is basically "shooting through the center" of the lens - so where a 14mm lens will have lots of barrel distortion when shot on a film camera - it looks quite nice on a DSLR.

HTH

James Wiseman

Rectilinear, aspherical, a billion elements nicely lined up, plutionium coated, hand warmer. All for just over $2,000.

No barrel distortion. That's what $2000 gets you. Canon has some nice glass.

The Nikkor 16mm fisheye also takes great UW shots on an DSLR. Again, since the camera shoots through the center of the lens, you don't get a HUGE amount of fisheye distortion like you would on a film body.

Plus, the 16mm fisheye is a lot less than a 14mm lens. Plus plus - the field of view w/ the 16mm fisheye is actually MORE than it is with the 14mm rectilinear lens. If you've used the Nikonos 15mm then you will get comparable results w/ a housed 16mm on a DSLR.

And it's a Nikkor...

Cheers

James

But if you had a Nik V and Nikonos 15 mm lens, would you use a DSLR?

I just sold my 15mm lens a few weeks ago - guess you missed the email on uw-photo...:-) I liked that setup but gave up on it because of its low sync speed of 1/60th in TTL and 1/90th in manual.

Still have the NikV body and extension tubes fs if anybody is interested.

Cheers

James