35mm SLR body

[Fetch]

After my lack of success finding a housing for my K1000, I thought I'd ask if anyone had recommendations on fairly inexpensive 35mm SLR bodies that have housings that work particularly well.

The ability to use a variety of lenses would be a plus (obviously, not changing them underwater )

jeff

 

[sillago]

How bout a F90X or a F80...actually I think the F80 is more affordable than the F90 and the good thing about it is that the aperture can be changed by the command dial rather than having to rotate aperture gears. Quite a few brands for housing these 2 cameras too, ikelite, aquatica, subal....not sure if sea & sea still do.

Guess the question is , how much do you really want to spend?

Just my $0.02
Another Jeff

 

[Rooster]

Check out this site for a report by Backscatter on the Sea&Sea NX 80 housing for the N-80.
http://www.backscatter.com/photo/housings/nx80.html

The N-90s (FX-90) IMHO is very long in tooth, and I don't think support will be around much longer. The F-100 (what I use) is a nicer (though more expensive) camera. The N-80 seems to have everything you would need for UW photography (most of what the F-100 has) and the Sea&sea housing looks quite trick. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but, have you thought about going (ack!) Digital? There is a lot of nice stuff coming out. Though I'm not quite ready to give up film, digital does have its pluses.

 

[Fetch]

The N80 with the NX-80 housing does look VERY nice

I'd have to save my nickles to get the body, even at ebay prices, but I'll give it serious consideration.

IRT film vs digital - I picked up the film hobby recently to get better at my basic skills, so I think I'll stick with it

thanks,

jeff

Rooster once bubbled...
Check out this site for a report by Backscatter on the Sea&Sea NX 80 housing for the N-80.
http://www.backscatter.com/photo/housings/nx80.html

The N-90s (FX-90) IMHO is very long in tooth, and I don't think support will be around much longer. The F-100 (what I use) is a nicer (though more expensive) camera. The N-80 seems to have everything you would need for UW photography (most of what the F-100 has) and the Sea&sea housing looks quite trick. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but, have you thought about going (ack!) Digital? There is a lot of nice stuff coming out. Though I'm not quite ready to give up film, digital does have its pluses.

 

[scorpiofish]

I'm selling my complete system next month. Nikon N90s and Aquatica housing. The N90s is being serviced right now. I'm selling it as soon as I get it back. The tech is in Japan until the end of the month. It will go fairly cheap. I also have a 60mm macro lens and 20mm lens for wide angle. Housing includes dome port for the 20mm and flat port for the 60mm.

E-mail me if interested.

 

[Rooster]

scorpiofish once bubbled...
I'm selling my complete system next month. Nikon N90s and Aquatica housing. The N90s is being serviced right now. I'm selling it as soon as I get it back. The tech is in Japan until the end of the month. It will go fairly cheap. I also have a 60mm macro lens and 20mm lens for wide angle. Housing includes dome port for the 20mm and flat port for the 60mm.

E-mail me if interested.

Going Digital are we? D-100?

 

[Fetch]

*grin* having said I'm going film... if anyone wants to get me a D1X, I'll be more than happy to suffer

jeff

 

[bdombrowski]

I you want to stick to emulsions instead of pixels, I would go F100 right now. I've had a N90s for 3 years with great luck. It's just that the newer F100 is faster.

Just remember, digital isn't where it needs to be for quality underwater wide-angle shots right now. Stephen Frink had a recent article about this... and he uses a D1X.

I'm going to hold tight for a while. The technology changes so fast, I'm sure in a few years Nikon will have a next generation pro digital body that uses all of my existing AF-D type lenses at an even better price. That will give me time to wear out my N90s and allow digital technology to evolve and catch up with the quality of transparencies.

Brian

 

[caymaniac]

The N-80 will probably be around for a long time, all the new 2nd generation digital cameras are being built on the N-80 body. Nikons new D-100 is on a N-80 body and so is the new ( not yet in the store) Fuji S2.
If I were going to stick with film, the Nikon N-80 body would be a good choice. You'l have to experiment on your own, but I use only Velvia when shooting underwater. There is no longer any
R & D going into film, all the money is being spent on digital.

Dive Safe
Caymaniac

 

[Liang]

I have the same advise. If you want a housed SLR, go for F80 with Sea & Sea NX-80. It is one of the cheapest options, with the right technique, you should be getting pictures similar to that of David Doubilet or Chris Newbert!!! I heard that David Doubilet is still using F90X, it is slower than the F80 in terms of focusing. If he can do it with F90X, I think you should be able to do quite a bit with F80. Try not to get too hung up on equipment, keep it effectively simple!!!

For the housing, remember to go for the brand which is the most convenient for you in terms of getting it serviced. Imagine you have a big trip next week and you suddenly realise you have a small problem in your housing, I don't think you would want to send it to a far away place to get it repaired.

As for digital, I will do the waiting game. I am totally satisfy with film now and will only go digital when the price is right. D100 is very nice, but it is too expensive to bring it down underwater.

Liang