New here and wanting a new camera setup

[Greg48]

Hi everyone,

I'm new on this site, (this is actually my 1st post). I would like to ask others who know camera equipment, which and what to look into. I will tell you what I had, and what I want.

Since I used to work at Panasonic, I was able to get the digital automatic DMC-TZ1 and it's housing DMW-MCTZ1 at an amazing employee price, so that was my 1st camera. I then went and got a Sea & Sea YS-110 strobe, and an arm and housing bracket/shelf (not sure what to call that part, haha). If I remember correctly, I think the bran of the arm setup was Ultralight???? or maybe that's wrong, can't remember the name really.
Recently, I completely flooded the housing, and my camera , in a nutshell, is toast.
Maybe the timing was right, because over the past winter, I have been contemplating going to a new SLR setup. Up until now, I was always leaning to a Canon Rebel (not sure which model exactly though), and an appropriate housing. But my main concern is if I am able to get another brand or model camera that while might not be "exactly" up to par with a Rebel or maybe IS it's equal, can still do a nice job, and that I will be happy with for a few years..., at least!
My question is this, am I completely out of my mind to think I can find a "good" SLR camera, AND a "good" housing for it that would cost around $800 to $900 for each of these ( and yes, I know a Rebel setup is more than this range)? What brand would be good for each piece? It's important that the new housing and camera can handle a mechanical strobe connection ( I think this is called a "Hotshoe" feature, am I right?) I don't want to use an optical trigger anymore. Even though I tinkered with the housing to cover up the camera flash area on the housing, there was still always scatter through the clear case. Do I have to be more realistic, and look around a $1000 to $1500 range for each piece of equipment? I'm in Montreal, so if that helps with any deal places any of you might know about, I would appreciate it immensely!

 

[jscholz]

Do you have the housing for the TZ1 for sale?

 

[PatW]

Well, as far as SLR housings go, they are expensive and for a reason. Not too many people buy housings for SLRs so these are very limited production items.

SLR housings come in basically 2 kinds: aluminum housings which are designed for the camera and the polycarbonate housings. The polycarbonate housings are less expensive but they tend to be larger and more clunky. Also, you are not done when you buy the housing. You will need ports for each and every lens. If the lens is a zoom, you will need a zoom gear also. It adds up quickly.

Now the cost of the housing is pretty much the same from one DSLR camera body to the next.

Most of the aluminum housings cost about $3,000. You can add another $1500+ for the ports. You can add at least $1500 for the strobes. I am being conservative here. The Ikelite polycarbonate housings cost about $1500 and the port costs are about $1000, strobes will be about $1500. These figures are very approximate. But you can see that the aluminum set up is about $6,000 without camera body and lenses an the Ike cost is about $4,000.

I really not familiar with Canon. But in Nikon, you want an DSLR with a focus drive motor which puts you at about $800-$1200 for the camera body. You will probably want at least 2 lenses: a wide angle zoom and a probably a 60 mm macro. The lenses will set you back about $1000. Again the amounts are very approximate.

You can check out the Backscatter or Reef Photo web sites for costs of popular DSLR packages.

Now the 4/3 mirrorless camera systems show quite a bit of promise. They have digital sensor sizes about the size of a DSLR which should give really nice photos. They will have more shutter lag than a DSLR. The systems should be quite capable and reasonably compact for a fair bit less than a DSLR system.

 

[mjh]

Yes check the Underwater camera shops all have packages that will give you an idea of what costs are for the different levels of cameras. If I was to start again.....I would look hard at the 4/3 cameras. While not quite a replacement for a DSLR they are getting close.