Housing Advice for D70S

[c-dog]

Just got a Nikon D70S. I can't wait to get into the water with it. Would anyone like to share any advice on housings. Money is definately an issue. Does anyone have experince with the "fantasea" housing? What do you really get by buying the more expensive housings. Thanks in advance.

 

[ChrisA]

Just got a Nikon D70S. I can't wait to get into the water with it. Would anyone like to share any advice on housings. Money is definately an issue. Does anyone have experince with the "fantasea" housing? What do you really get by buying the more expensive housings. Thanks in advance.

My advice would be to buy the housing first. Find a housing then buy whatever camera fits inside of it. You can easly spend $3500 of a housing. A $700 DSLR body is a very minor part of an underwater photo system. You might even decide to pick up a used D100 just for UW work and keep the D70s for above water use.

I think the big decision is what strobes to use. Do you like the Ikilike TTL system? If so do you want the Ikilite's mechanical housing. Or do you like the fingertip controls on Light and Motion's D100 housing. It's very nice and lets yu control light ratio without removing hands from handles. The strobes cost more then the camera body

Don't let the fact that you already have a D70 lock you into only loking at D70 housings. The D70 is the least expensive part of the system. That said the D70 would work well.

Do you have a budget? What are you looking to sspend on the total system?

 

[c-dog]

Thanks for the reply, Makes sense. I guess I do not know enough about housings and strobes to know what I really want. I do not have a defined budget. I'm trying to minimize costs but am willing to spend what I need to put together a good system. I guess I want to know what I would be giving up by buying the cheaper fantasea housing vs sea and sea or other more costly housings.

 

[Mariozi]

Once you got the D70s already...
Look for:
Fantasea - only if you are not capable of saving money for a better/later buy.
Ikelike - only if you are on a limit between buying the Ike and not shooting UW...
Sea&Sea/Aquatica - If you can save money, these are the best options, even if it takes a little time... choice is mostly a matter of local service/dealer, but I find S&S slightly better finished.
SeaCam - If you win lottery, or sells some kidneys... maybe this housing is the Jaguar or Ferrari of UWPhoto.

Best
I use Sea&Sea

 

[Mike Veitch]

i use aquatica and am very happy with it.

I would suggest one thing with housings. you are buying into a system, 3 or 4 years down the road you may want to upgrade your camera (everyone says they won't but they do...) When you buy a housing system you can transfer those ports from your old housing to your new one.... etc.

Will Fantasea still be in the DSLR category 5 years down the road? not sure....
But you def get better options with Ike, Aquatica, S&S etc for your D70.. things like gears for all your lenses, extension rings, port systems etc etc...
Does Fantasea offer that sort of support? I don't know... but is something to look into before buying

 

[dbh]

You also want to see what lenses are supported by the housing mfg. I believe Fantasea is limited in which ones they support. I frequent several forums and don't know of anyone using a Fantasea.

I use a Subal. It is unequaled in fit and finish (quality) by any others except maybe Seacam (IMHO).

At a minimum...go with Ikelite. The Sea & Sea for the D200 is all aluminum. I am not sure about the one for the D70.

Mike is correct. You WILL upgrade housing / camera someday. Your ports should last you a LONG time.

HTH,
Dave

 

[c-dog]

Thanks for the info. You brought up some good points that I haven't considered. I'm leaning toward Ikelite. It would be nice if there was somewhere you could go to actually handle all of the differnet systems and compare. Thanks again.