c-7070 housing & strobe question

[kapula]

I've decided to upgrade my system from old canon a70 to c-7070. I've shot some 6Gb u/w pictures with my tiny canon. Now it's time to get a decent camera. The thing is that I don't have my own dive gear and I dive only on holidays. There ain't that much to photograph under water here in Finland anyway
I found a good prize for c-7070 and pt-027 (549$) at least it sounds decent to me. I'm wondering what are the advantages of Ikelite's more expensive housing for this camera? Do you have recommendations for arm & strobe? I'm into small things and like to shoot macro, but on the other hand there's always something interesting to shoot under water.
I found some threads about c-7070 and strobe system but never did get the clear picture. I am still new on this forum so treat me softly

happy dives!

 

[DrSteve]

Last I looked at digitaldelivered.com it was going for about 370 + shipping (we have purchased from there)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...s&Q=&sku=366714&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
B&H for 384.
The housing runs about $200, so for the entire package you have got a good price Care to share where? I'd much rather purchase them as a package if I can.

 

[kapula]

I wasn't sure if it's ok to advertise a company here... well here goes http://www.mdiusa.com/index.htm Haven't bought it yet though. Somehow I'm chickening when it comes to giving my credit card number to a totally unknown company. If you have any details on them I'd be happy to hear that they aren't just ripping off money but shipping the purchased items also.

How was Bonaire? Been thinking about travelling there. So far I've got myself wet in nz, borneo, cyprus and couple of times in thailand.

 

[DrSteve]

Bonaire was awesome. I'd say the diving was equivalent to Cozumel, but it was a different type of diving. The great thing was being able to do 33 dives in 8 days. Being able to take a dive to 60-80 feet and then come up 10 feet at a time and do a long deco stop on the shelf leading to the beach and still see loads of life. Typical dives were an hour, but ranged from 45-100 minutes! It is so isolated as well, that was something it definitely has over Coz, no schills, just relaxed island life. We forgot what day of the week it was after day 2!

 

[DrSteve]

I wasn't sure if it's ok to advertise a company here... well here goes http://www.mdiusa.com/index.htm Haven't bought it yet though. Somehow I'm chickening when it comes to giving my credit card number to a totally unknown company. If you have any details on them I'd be happy to hear that they aren't just ripping off money but shipping the purchased items also.

I've never heard of them, but that doesn't mean they aren't any good. B&H, Smile and DigitalDelivered are companies I have done business with and would recommend. Also Adorama (which is downstairs from LeisurePro) is very good - I've never mail ordered from them, but I have purchased in their shop. Some people like Abes of Maine, but I've had a history of getting non-functional products from them. However, they didn't give me any problems when it came to returning them and getting a refund.

 

[SeeWorld]

What did you ultimatley do? Did you buy the C7070+PT027 set from MDI? Other?
:10: SeeWorld

I wasn't sure if it's ok to advertise a company here... well here goes http://www.mdiusa.com/index.htm Haven't bought it yet though. Somehow I'm chickening when it comes to giving my credit card number to a totally unknown company. If you have any details on them I'd be happy to hear that they aren't just ripping off money but shipping the purchased items also.

How was Bonaire? Been thinking about travelling there. So far I've got myself wet in nz, borneo, cyprus and couple of times in thailand.