SLR here I come

[pitri]

After almost 3 years of photographing with a compact camera (Nikon 4300) I decided I want more and the up coming bonus will help me step up.
The below is a list of stuff I intend to buy to start my SLR experience. I have never photographed with an SLR before and I hope some people here can give me some tips/guides of how to begin to accomplish great pictures.
Since I'm new to this, I still haven't thought of which underwater equipment to get...

This is what I'm getting:
Nikon D80, 10.2 Megapixel, SLR Digital Camera (Camera Body)
Sandisk 2GB Extreme III Secure Digital Memory Card
Nikon Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor autofocus Lens for Digital Cameras
Nikon Normal Macro 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro Nikkor Autofocus Lens

 

[caymaniac]

And what housing and strobe or strobes are you planning on getting? I am thinking an even more wide angle lens starting at 12. The Sea and Sea housing looks nice but $2500 is too high. How about Patima, I heard they were putting out a housing. There's always Ikelite which is the least expensive.

 

[alcina]

Looks good - skip the 2GB and get a 4GB (at least!), they are so cheap and the extra 2GB can be a real necessity on a long dive day. You can never have enough memory.

I haven't seen the 18-70 lens - how close does it focus? Can you do macro with it?

 

[Mo2vation]

Maybe I'm just too conservative - but with a D70, I've never filled a card on even a 4 dive day. I download it every night on multi-day trips, and maybe if I left all of the images on it for double back up, I can see filling it.

But in RAW + Low Rez JPG, I get like 330-ish shots on the card. Even on a recent 4 dive trip with the sealions, where I was shooting like a maniac, I only snapped off 270 for the day.

If the leap isn't too dear ($$$), I can see making the leap (I haven't looked at cards for a long time.) But what on earth are you going to do with a card in a D70 or 80 that holds 600+ images?

---
Ken

 

[alcina]

I've not filled my 4GB card, but my 2GB was filled a few times. And 4GB are cheap as chips now, so why not go bigger

I just always like to have more than I think I will need - just in case...and for when I am feeling too slack to download and dive with more than a day's worth of diving on the card. It hasn't happened too often, but it has happened while I was in Cozumel and I really appreciated the larger card allowing me to skip the whole tear the housing down at night thing hehehehe

Ken's right, of course, 2GB is going to be just fine for most people the majority of the time

 

[jarhed]

Good setup, I have a similar setup with the D200. If i did it over again, I would skip the 18-70. It's a good topside lens, and I have a port and extension ring to take it under in my Sea and Sea housing, but tend to leave it behind in favor of my 16mm for WA and 60mm for Macro. The I will want a nice zoom eventually and will go for the 12-24DX which will fill my kit nicely.

Topside I have a 70-300VR which I love and as soon as I get the 12-24, I don't think that I will have any use for the 18-70.

I have seen nice pictures from the 18-70, I just don't tend to use it.

Take care,
John

 

[AUTiger]

You'll definitely want the 4gb card. Those 10 mpix images take a LOT more space than 6 mpix images. I started with a 2gb and had to do too much deleting on the boat. The difference between RAW+low and RAW+high is not very many shots. I would say that 2gb is not enough to do more than two dives without having to delete.

David

D80 in an Ike housing
DS-125
DS-50
Nikon 60mm
Tokina 12-24mm

 

[JackConnick]

Yeah, I have a D80 system and I would recommend a Ritek 4GB 150x card. The 2GB only give around 160 shots in RAW.
Meritline has them for $45.50 and they are well rated.

Also get the Peter iNova Book on the D80 it's wonderful, a real time saver and fun to read. See my blog article here: iNova Book. You can order it here and get free shipping: Much more info on iNova Books

I will have Fantasea Line's new D80 housing in stock towards the end of next month and am taking pre-orders. MSRP is $1099 with a port for your 18-70, so they will be very popular! I will be dive testing one probably next week and have a lot more info soon! See: D80 on OpticalOcean.com

Congratulations!
Jack

 

[rjsimp]

Maybe I'm just too conservative - but with a D70, I've never filled a card on even a 4 dive day. I download it every night on multi-day trips, and maybe if I left all of the images on it for double back up, I can see filling it.

But in RAW + Low Rez JPG, I get like 330-ish shots on the card. Even on a recent 4 dive trip with the sealions, where I was shooting like a maniac, I only snapped off 270 for the day.

If the leap isn't too dear ($$$), I can see making the leap (I haven't looked at cards for a long time.) But what on earth are you going to do with a card in a D70 or 80 that holds 600+ images?

---
Ken

The D80 like the D200 is 10.2 MP which is a much larger file and you can't hold as many images on a 2GB card. You get about 120 pictures on a 2GB card.. so 4GB is almost a must..

 

[pitri]

Thanks guys.
I'm convinced to take the 4G SD.
I haven't bought the equipment yet so I'll consider the 16mm instead the 18-70 lens.
Regarding the underwater, i haven't gave it much thought since SLR is new to me.
I guess that I'll head towards Ikelite housing since all the rest cost twice as much and I still need strobes.
I'm a bit confused with the housing ports. Is it something I need to order in advance? Which port I need if I'm using the above lenses? Can I change the ports or am I buying the basic port and I need to have add-ons to the port for different lenses?