good dSLR for UW photography

[Homunculus]

i'm thinking of getting a dSLR for primarily UW photography. I use fully manual Nikon FM2 for land photography and i love it. I haven't done enough research for digital cameras but in my mind the big players are Nikon, Olympus and Canon. I'm slightly biased for Nikon just because I have one and a few lenses for it but i'm sure with an appropriate adaptor I can interchange lenses from dSLR to my Nikon.
in any case, which brand is better suited for UW photography (among dSLR) and why?

 

[HowardE]

I love my Nikon D200 (check out my photo gallery for examples)

I don't think you could go wrong by sticking with Nikon, especially if you have a collection of lenses.

 

[alcina]

Yup, you can't go wrong with any of the big guys. Canon and Nikon have several options that are great. There's also the FujiS5. Olympus has a couple, too.

If you are a dedicated Nikon user, stick with Nikon. You might already have lenses you can use and that's a financial bonus. If you're flexible, the world is your oyster. I went with Canon and it works just fine

Here's a current thread about this exact question...and the Sticky at the top of the forum has more information and ideas, too (you can also get there via the Pink Link in my signature).

 

[Peter_C]

Since you own Nikon len's it would make sense to stay with Nikon and the D-200 is one of best out there...not saying that just because I own one

 

[Warren_L]

i'm thinking of getting a dSLR for primarily UW photography. I use fully manual Nikon FM2 for land photography and i love it. I haven't done enough research for digital cameras but in my mind the big players are Nikon, Olympus and Canon. I'm slightly biased for Nikon just because I have one and a few lenses for it but i'm sure with an appropriate adaptor I can interchange lenses from dSLR to my Nikon.
in any case, which brand is better suited for UW photography (among dSLR) and why?

Ah that brings me back. I shot with an FE2 for years before I went digital, now with the D200. However, going from an FM2 to a dSLR really is like starting from scratch. Some of the lenses you have may work, but chances are you're not going to have a lot of the functionality the newer comparable lenses designed for dSLRs have. So really, the only reason to perhaps favour Nikon is because you like the glass, but realistically, there's not much in way of existing gear that would preclude you from going another direction as well. I would work backwards from the type of photography you want to do, see which lenses out there you like the best for what you want to do, and work back from there.

 

[fisheyeview]

I would stick with Nikon sinse you already have the lenses. That's what I did. Went from the F100 to the D200. You will love the D200.

 

[stu_in_fl]

be warned that a housed dSLR with strobes will be BIG, so, you also need to take into account of where you will be diving (conditions - shore / boat / likelyhood of current etc., is air travel required etc.) and your own comfort in the water.

- even with a compact camera, if moving on from a simply housed one using internal flash, to adding on a large strobe, WA lens etc. means a significant increase in size/weight which does affect your diving (in less than ideal conditions, e.g. currents, surge)

......but then again, all those things considered, zero shutter lag and the ability to use excellent lenses, I never see people complaining about their switch to dSLR

 

[MarkH]

My problem with most DSLRs is that they don't have focussing screens (like your FM2 has) in the viewfinder so focussing with older, manual-focus lenses is mostly guesswork. Some of them can be fitted with focussing screens and some have a "focus confirmation" feature, but I guess the manufacturers (Nikon, Canon, etc.) figure that since their new lenses all have auto focus, why make it easy to manually focus? "That's like, so primitive." Anyway, enough ranting. That was just my biggest beef with switching to digital.

 

[Homunculus]

thanks to everyone for your opinions.
i understand that taking manual focus lenses that i have with my fm2 and putting these on d-200 is not a good idea. in my original post, i meant using d-200 lenses with my fm2 on land.