Help for the new guy?

[gwitek]

I have been shooting UW since the N90 & Aquatica 90 housing came out (yes, I am that old).

I have been really busy for 4 years birthing a Dive Rescue Team for our county - and if you know anything about the Public Safety Dive biz - you know I have not been out of my drysuit, seen viz greater than 12 inches, or water warmer than 60F for all that time.

I am finally getting back to the clear blue with a trip in May to remote Cooper Island with my wife for some much needed de-compressing. I am NOT taking this ancient camera gear. I am already a computer/techno-geek and use/understand Digital Photo well so no need to be primer there. I have just been out of touch with the marketplace for a few years (an eternity in Internet-Years) and could really use a jump start on Digital UW.

I have always liked the Aquatica line because of the quality and FULL integration with the camera controls. Are they still a leader? A quick visit to their site and I found D70 and 995 housings. Ideally, I would buy a housing that could re-use my considerable investment in arms, strobes, etc. Any comments on the quality of compact vs. larger format?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[StevenB]

If you can swing the cost, the D70 would be the far better way to go. Do you already have both of these cameras?

I did use the Aquatica 995 housing for a while, but was not happy with it with cold water gloves on and changed to Ikelite. The shutter was too hard to push among a few other things. YMMV.

Have not used the D70, so I will not comment except that Aquatica is well respected and a google should show up some reviews.

SteveB

 

[dbh]

With the posumer line of cameras, you will be able to switch lenses underwater. Of course with a DSLR, you can't. I think you will get better quality pics if you do a dive with a certain mindset (ie; macro, WA).

What strobes do you have now? More importantly, do you already own Aquatica ports?

I have seen Aquatica, Subal & ikelite housings for the D70 and I use a Nexus. The Nexus and Subal are by far the most compact and best made (IMHO) but you pay for it. You can switch between AF & MF on the Subal and Nexus...you can't on the other 2. This may not be important to you though.

HTH,
Dave

 

[vladimir]

I use the D70 in a Subal housing. The housing is compact and gives complete access to the camera's controls. I continue to use my old Ultralight arms and sb105 strobes. The picture quality is, in most cases, as good as I got using Velvia in an F90x. And more of my pictures are keepers.

Check out wetpixel.com. It is a great resource for the new-to-digital underwater photographer.

 

[dbh]

Another great resource:

digiatldiver

 

[fdog]

The Aquatica D70 housing is a very nice housing. You can save some money, too, by using your old ports. I very much doubt you will feel much difference in size/weight between the D70 and your old N90 housings...they are very similar. Aquatica is no longer the ground-breaking leader that they once were, but still manufacture quality equipment, which is actually an excellent balance of price vs performance.

So, assuming you allready have the strobes, sync cords, arms, etc, you're looking at about $2800 to replace your body and housing only. Shoot wide angle? Tack on another $900 or so for a rectilinear wide angle like a Sigma.

Be prepared for "viewfinder shock". It will look small enough that you'll think it's half the size (OK, it's actually only 75%) compared with film cameras. Fortunately you're not from the speedfinder era, where the viewfinder shock is beyond profound. This can be fixed with a Subal, SeaLux or SeaCam housing...add about $2000 to the price...

All the best, James

 

[gwitek]

Excellent feedback folks! Thank you.

I had not even gotten to the stage of realizing my Aquatica bayonet ports (as pointed out by dbh and fdog) will fit the D70 housing. This probably puts me in the D70 camp for sheer cost alone (and still a strong quality rig).

I read somewhere else this weekend, that the D70 camera will not TTL sync with ANY strobes but a couple land-based Nikon's. Is this true? I have two YS-120's.

And just confirming, the D70 housing will NOT ler me switch between AF & MF?

 

[kdietz]

Ikelite is about to offer iTTL with it's housing and DS-125's and DS-50's.....your only other choice for iTTL is to house the Nikon SB-800 strobe....adequate for macro, but not for WA

Karl

 

[dbh]

Excellent feedback folks! Thank you.

I had not even gotten to the stage of realizing my Aquatica bayonet ports (as pointed out by dbh and fdog) will fit the D70 housing. This probably puts me in the D70 camp for sheer cost alone (and still a strong quality rig).

I read somewhere else this weekend, that the D70 camera will not TTL sync with ANY strobes but a couple land-based Nikon's. Is this true? I have two YS-120's.

And just confirming, the D70 housing will NOT ler me switch between AF & MF?

I am pretty sure (but not 100%) that you cannot switch between AF & MF with the Aquatica D70 housing.

 

[fdog]

gwitek, you might consider that most of us shoot our strobes at manual. Heck, when I'm shooting with a Nikonos V or a housed F4 (which can sync TTL with my strobes) I shoot manual anyway.

Still, if TTL is imortant to you, Ikelite has been great at slowly "decoding" a variety of TTL protocols, and I would expect them to succeed with the Nikon iTTL in a couple months. However, this only works with the Ike DS-125 (or 50) strobe, so your existing YS strobes would be left out in the cold, although they would work with that housing in manual.

A oft-quoted issue with Ikelite has often been optical (dome ports). Ikelite is correcting this with the release of an adapter that allows an Aquatica 8" dome to be used (not the model you own, unfortunately).

Another option would be SeaLux, which is excellently built, offers a Nikon Speedlight housing, and has excellent optics, including the luscious Grand viewfinder. This will cost quite a bit more than an Aquatica with your ports recycled.

All the best, James