Camera+housing, what to buy?

[Christian]

Dear UW-photographers

Havin' been using a MMIIEX+2 YS 60:s for a while, I now feel that it's time to move to a better system. The Sea & Sea is a fantastic, simple camera that take good pictures, but I need to higher my percentage of high quality pictures, usable for magazine articles.

I am mainly interested in WA-photography. Unfortunatelly I can not buy the most sophisticated equipment, It's more likely that I have to look on some of the cheaper alternatives.

What are your reccomendations concerning a SLR camera and housing that works well together on the cheaper side of the scale?

Cheers

Christian

 

[BradfordD]

Hello Christian,

I have recently "moved up" to a housed SLR camera. It's a Sea & Sea NX-80 housing with a Nikon N80 camera body. Although not cheap by any means, it might be one of the least expensive routes to a SLR housing.

Although you have the YS-60TTL-S strobes, I believe those can be re-configured from 4 pin to 5 pin. In this way you would be able to save roughly $1,000 US by re-using your existing strobes.

The NX-80 housing is wonderful... The only downfall that I have found is it's single strobe bulkhead connection. Other than that, it has ALL the features of the much more expensive Sea & Sea NX-100 and/or NX-5 Pro camera housings.

Just my $0.02

Regards,
BradfordD

 

[Liang]

Hi Christian,

I totally agree with BradfordD.

F80 camera with Sea&Sea housing is by far one of the cheapest options. Just to give you a rought indication on how much it cost (roughly)in Singapore.

F80 Camera = US$460
Nikkor 60mm micro lens = US$380
NX80 Housing with standard 60mm port = US$1670

I started off with MMEX-II as well, I had my YS-60 reconfigured to a sync cord with five pin connector. You just need to pay for the connector and sync cord.

I strongly recommend this setup as it is good enuf to be upgraded with the right ports and lens in the future on the road to becoming a "pro"!!!

Regards
Liang

 

[Rooster]

Though I personally use Aquatica housings, I must agree with Liang and BradfordD. This is really is a nice setup at any price. Backscatter has a nice write up on this camera/housing combo. Check it out here: http://www.backscatter.com/photo/housings/nx80.html
Just to give you another option, you can get a Nikon F-100 with the 60mm macro lens, an Aquatica housing, and the macro port, for only $500 more. Either way, you would have a sweet setup.