making jump to DSLR

[Scotttyd]

I have been using a nikon p5100 point and shoot (with full manual controls) for several years and have decided to make the jump to DSLR. My question is, where do I get started?

What characteristics should I look for in choosing a DSLR? A quick look at best buy and prices range all of the place from 500-1300. What are the differences that really matter? Also, a quick tutorial on what a lense number means? ex. 17-85 mm. 55-200 etc. What type of lense would you use for underwater (obviously a macro and/or wide angle lense I assume??)

I have used wet lens's currently (two stacked macro or a wide angle). Is there a good "general purpose/flexible lens to start out with, or do you generally have 1 for macro, 1 for "regular", and 1 for wide angle?


Also, I have a inonz-240 strobe which I assume I can sync with just about any DSLR camera (depending on housing) to use TTYL. I have always used ikelite housings. Not that I am against any of the others, just what I have used for P&S. On their website the hosuing comes without a port it looks like? How do you go about choosing a port, etc? Is it based on what type of lens you are using?

Thanks in advance for the "newbie" question!

 

[Sully3]

I went from point and shoot to the canon 7d. its an awesome camera and is easy to use. obviously it takes some getting used to but that is part of the fun. I really only shoot macro since i havent spent a great deal of time in wide angle destinations and i use the canon 60mm macro and canon 100mm macro. For a general use lens you could look at someting like the 35 (i think)-85mm zoom which gets you in pretty close but isn't a true macro and can also be used for wider shots. The port you choose is based of what lenses you are going to be using so i would choose lens first then choose port based on taht. hope that helped a little, have fun!

 

[Doubler]

I agree with Sully except I went with the T2i which is basically 7d in a plastic body. Same great features, much cheaper price.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Those Canons are great cameras!!

 

[Scotttyd]

So what is the difference between a 7d and t2i? If it is just the plastic body - I find that hard to believe that makes the difference in price. I assume there are some features that the 7d has, or size of sensor, etc.

 

[beautybelow]

I agree with Sully except I went with the T2i which is basically 7d in a plastic body. Same great features, much cheaper price.

This is true in many aspects and probably in all aspects that you would take into consideration on purchasing a camera only for fun, underwater use replacing a point and shoot with a DSLR.

But...the 7d has 19 focus points compared to the 9 on the T2i, All 19 are cross type focus points as opposed to the 1 cross type on the T2i, twice the max shutter speed (1/8000 vs 1/4000), almost twice the battery life, %100 viewfinder coverage (about %30 more than the T2i), and shoots way faster at 8fps vs 3.7fps.

All of these "little things" add up if you are investing in a camera for long term use and plan on growing in your range of photographic skills and make the cost of the camera difference worth it in my opinion.

The T2i is a great entry level camera. The 7D is a camera you can enter with and it will carry you through a few more phases. You may never want to go through those phases though, but think about it.

How long do you want the camera to give you good service? How "hard" are you going to use it?

The Z240 strobe by the way is great...see if you can pick up another one!

 

[PatW]

For DSLR work, you will want at least 2 lenses. You will want a Macro lens. The 60 mm lens seems to be the most popular. The other thing you will want is a wide angle zoom. If you want to take shots of your diving buddies, turtles, large fish, and so on, you will want to get close because the closer the better the photos. That requires wide angle. There are a number of zooms out there. The Tokina 10-17 seems to be the most popular. At the wide end, it allows a fish eye (which is not critical for me). The other thing that is really nice with this lens is that it allows very close focus of something like an inch.

I would suggest using 2 strobes. One strobe will throw distracting shadows behind your subject. Two strobes fired from different angles will negate most of that effect. I have also noticed that backscatter seems to be much reduced by using two strobes.

I have found 2 online retailers who specialize in underwater photography: Backscatter and Reef Photo (in Fort Lauderdale). You might try looking at their sites, they have background information on cameras, housings, and so on.

 

[Larry C]

The price point of the camera may not be the biggest consideration. The difference between a mid-level like the T2i or D7000 and a pro-sumer model like the 7D or the D300s is several hundred dollars. The difference in housing prices can be a couple of thousand.
If you can go to one of the UW photo stores (maybe Reef in Florida or Backscatter East in New England if you're going to be near there) you can hold the housings, compare pricing, weight, etc.
A big consideration will be how you plan to fire your strobe. Some housings are not equipped for optical strobe firing, which allows direct communication with the strobe for ttl metering. If you choose a housing that only allows a wired strobe connection, you'll probably need a ttl unit that is compatible with both your camera and your strobe.
I'd recommend buying either a body only, or a kit that comes with the one lens you want to use topside, because underwater lenses tend to be specialized. General purpose zoom lenses don't take great uw photos. You need close focus, compact size and compatibility with available ports.
For underwater, if you go with Canon, you'll probably want either a a 60mm or 100mm macro and a fisheye from either Canon or Tokina.

 

[bvanant]

For me the biggest difference between the 7D/60D and the Rebel/Kiss cameras is the one vs. two control wheels. The 7D/60D have two control wheels so in manual mode (which you WILL use) you can control both independently and simply, while the T2/T3 have only a single wheel so you need to do a bunch of button pushes to get to the correct screen. Underwater that means (potentially) missed shots.
Both are great cameras with good IQ and you will not go wrong with either.
Keep teh Z240 and get another one
Bill

 

[Mark Derail]

I'm quite happy with the results of my Nikon D90, the only upgrade to it that I would consider is the D7000.

If I were starting from scratch - I'd research the used market first. Lenses make the photo, not the sensor, anything above the manufactured date of Jan 1st 2008 will have an excellent sensor on any dSLR.

Also the chance of getting a housing is better / easier / cheaper.

Remember the strobes, two are better, with the arms and housing, these items can easily cost 2x the price of the camera itself.

The price/point barrier for best-bang-for-the-buck for UW dSLR is with Canon T2i, since the T3 will fit in the same housing, so you have a bit of future there. (This info purely based on other posts of other members here on ScubaBoard, not personal experience)

IOW, skimp on the camera, not the stobes, arms, housing & lens.