upgrading to DSLR.... need advices

[thanantosis]

hi all...

im currently using olympus sp560 for underwater shoot.... with sea and sea 110a strobe....

and i think is time for me to upgrade to DSLR ( heavier luggage!!!)

im more of a nikon user for SLR... and currently own a d40....

will like to upgrade to D80, D90 or D5000 for underwater.....

need advice on which model might be better and more worth it....

and the lens too..... will like to take no more then 2 lens on a dive trip....

so what lens should i get?..... for wide and macro

and might get another 110a strobe too....
( time to throw away my jetfins to cut some weight, hahaha )

possible to get everything under 4.5k?

thanks in advance!

 

[MartinS]

Hi thanantosis,

I am afraid it is quite impossible to get everything under 4.5K. You will find that the housing alone may cost that much. You will still need to get the accompanying lens port for whichever lens you decide on.

I suggest you aim small first. Get the housing (for current D40 if you wish). 60mm macro lens and lens port for the 60mm and then use your current sea and sea strobe. In my opinion macro is alot more fun to start out on. The learning curve is smaller and you don't have to worry about bad viz.

As for which model to upgrade to, there are many open ended answers to your question but basically it all boils down to something like

1. How much you're willing to fork out
2. U/W housing availability for your model - forget the D80, they don't make it or the housing for it anymore (except for Ikelite and Nexus)

There can be a whole lot more answers to your queries but I hope what I've provided is a sufficient start to help you discover what you want and need.

Martin

hi all...

im currently using olympus sp560 for underwater shoot.... with sea and sea 110a strobe....

and i think is time for me to upgrade to DSLR ( heavier luggage!!!)

im more of a nikon user for SLR... and currently own a d40....

will like to upgrade to D80, D90 or D5000 for underwater.....

need advice on which model might be better and more worth it....

and the lens too..... will like to take no more then 2 lens on a dive trip....

so what lens should i get?..... for wide and macro

and might get another 110a strobe too....
( time to throw away my jetfins to cut some weight, hahaha )

possible to get everything under 4.5k?

thanks in advance!

 

[thanantosis]

Hi thanantosis,

I am afraid it is quite impossible to get everything under 4.5K. You will find that the housing alone may cost that much. You will still need to get the accompanying lens port for whichever lens you decide on.

I suggest you aim small first. Get the housing (for current D40 if you wish). 60mm macro lens and lens port for the 60mm and then use your current sea and sea strobe. In my opinion macro is alot more fun to start out on. The learning curve is smaller and you don't have to worry about bad viz.

As for which model to upgrade to, there are many open ended answers to your question but basically it all boils down to something like

1. How much you're willing to fork out
2. U/W housing availability for your model - forget the D80, they don't make it or the housing for it anymore (except for Ikelite and Nexus)

There can be a whole lot more answers to your queries but I hope what I've provided is a sufficient start to help you discover what you want and need.

Martin

hi martin... thanks for the reply... yep seem like its impossible to get everything at 4.5.... unless second hand.... guess i got to save up a while longer.... yep most likely i will start the way u suggested.... small..... get the camera, the housing, a macro lens..... and a port for that......and will use my current sea and sea 110a strobe.....

as for d80.... "they" dont producing the housing more.... hmmm who is "they"?

ikelite housing for d80 is around 1.4kusd.... so its abt 2ksg.... and a second hand d80 around 900.

so its abt 2.9k....

and will left 1.6 for macro lens and port..... and other stuff....

hai... this hobby is really burning not jus our pocket.... its burning our pants off! ha

 

[diediealsomustdive]

The cost of housing is not different between the low-end DSLR and the higher end-DSLR, e.g. the Ikelite housing for D40 vs D90 vs D300 cost are not different.

But performance vice for the DSLR they are miles apart, if you compare D40 vs D90.

Unless you can find a secondhand D40 housing relatively cheaply, I would say bite the bullet and buy a D90 (leave D80 for the same reason).

D90 for $1.4k, housing for $2.1k, strobe, cord plus arms $1.5k - that's 5k.

AFS 60mm 0.8k, port 0.3k - that's 6.1k, roughly.

If you save the 1.4k and stick with D40 I assure you soon you'll be yearning for higher pixel count and regret. It is better to save up this sum and go for the higher range.

Buy second hand on some items will help too.

 

[sgfriend]

I have a D200 ikelite housing with ports to let go... You might want to consider. ;p

 

[thanantosis]

The cost of housing is not different between the low-end DSLR and the higher end-DSLR, e.g. the Ikelite housing for D40 vs D90 vs D300 cost are not different.

But performance vice for the DSLR they are miles apart, if you compare D40 vs D90.

Unless you can find a secondhand D40 housing relatively cheaply, I would say bite the bullet and buy a D90 (leave D80 for the same reason).

D90 for $1.4k, housing for $2.1k, strobe, cord plus arms $1.5k - that's 5k.

AFS 60mm 0.8k, port 0.3k - that's 6.1k, roughly.

If you save the 1.4k and stick with D40 I assure you soon you'll be yearning for higher pixel count and regret. It is better to save up this sum and go for the higher range.

Buy second hand on some items will help too.

hi diediealsomustdive,

your nick really make me feel like diving again.... ha which is next week!

yep agree that for housing..... the price is pretty much the same... thus im not going to use my d40 at all....

yep i got to bite the bullet, but hope that the bullet is not too big to bite ha....

thanks for adding up the sum for me, yep will try to get some second hand stuff to trim the bullet slightly..... example for lens and ports..... will give the strobe a pass now... as i will be shooting macro to get use to the DSLR.... thus will be using my 110A strobe.... it will be good enough....

so maybe is possible to trim it to around 5k....

 

[thanantosis]

I have a D200 ikelite housing with ports to let go... You might want to consider. ;p

hi, will contact you if im interested .... if your ports can fit whichever housing im getting.... i might be interested in them

 

[howeikwok]

Haha i'll be selling 2nd hand soon too... :bsmilie:

 

[thanantosis]

Haha i'll be selling 2nd hand soon too... :bsmilie:

hi bro....

ha upgrading too?, your pic is already so good.... still upgrading your camera? hahahahha hardcore man you

 

[howeikwok]

hi bro....

ha upgrading too?, your pic is already so good.... still upgrading your camera? hahahahha hardcore man you

Yes yes waiting for new housing and stuff. so planning to sell off old stuff soon. :bsmilie:

 

[zambullidor]

Hi, check Nikon D50 with 60mm lens and Nexus housings. Top class stuff on price half of equal EU manufacturers. My advise buy used Nikon and lens and get new housing with macro port only. It could be around 5k. See details www.nexushousing.asia

greg

can cam, 60mm len, nexus housing (new) get for less than S$4k. U clearing your remaining D50 housings is it? ;p

 

[howeikwok]

Hi, check Nikon D50 with 60mm lens and Nexus housings. Top class stuff on price half of equal EU manufacturers. My advise buy used Nikon and lens and get new housing with macro port only. It could be around 5k. See details www.nexushousing.asia

Not much details on the website. :dunno:

 

[antacid]

so are scubacam and oceanicfocus authorised dealers for nexus? or only www.nexushousing.asia is the authorised dealer for nexus in singapore?

confused by that "grey market" warning

 

[natykcir]

Just my 2 cnt.

Get Nikon D90, with tokina lens 11-16 f2,8 (WA) and Nikon 60mm macro. Total will cost u around 3k for new set. And if u dont mind can get around 2.2k for 2nd hand.
Forget about D40,D80,D5000 or even D3000.

 

[2evans]

Just my 2 cnt.

Get Nikon D90, with tokina lens 11-16 f2,8 (WA) and Nikon 60mm macro. Total will cost u around 3k for new set. And if u dont mind can get around 2.2k for 2nd hand.
Forget about D40,D80,D5000 or even D3000.

With that, it would blow the budget of, "possible to get everything under 4.5k?" that the TS was asking about. Would be a very nice setup though.

 

[Gymrat76]

My current setup:

Nikon D90
Ikelite housing, macro port & 8" dome port
Nikkor 60mm macro & Tokina 10-17 fisheye

This IMHO is a pretty good and versatile setup, but don't think its possible to get all for 4.5k lah.

Like mentioned previously, housing for the D90, D300, D40 is about the same price, and you should go for the better camera. If you have the money, D300S would be good as it has autofocus for movies. Try taking video with the D90 underwater and you can vomit blood. I compared the results with my previous G9 and was greatly disappointed because of the lack of autofocus (I'm talking about VIDEO only hor!)

 

[2evans]

My current setup:

Nikon D90
Ikelite housing, macro port & 8" dome port
Nikkor 60mm macro & Tokina 10-17 fisheye

This IMHO is a pretty good and versatile setup, but don't think its possible to get all for 4.5k lah.

Like mentioned previously, housing for the D90, D300, D40 is about the same price, and you should go for the better camera. If you have the money, D300S would be good as it has autofocus for movies. Try taking video with the D90 underwater and you can vomit blood. I compared the results with my previous G9 and was greatly disappointed because of the lack of autofocus (I'm talking about VIDEO only hor!)

Can you manual focus?

 

[Gymrat76]

Can you manual focus?

Its possible. However, with the Ikelite housing and my Tokina 10-17 (the lens I would use when doing WA), only the focus ring or the zoom ring can be manipulated, not both. Plus, it looked OK on my small LCD at the time I was recording video, but was actually horribly OOF when viewed on my laptop.

 

[2evans]

Its possible. However, with the Ikelite housing and my Tokina 10-17 (the lens I would use when doing WA), only the focus ring or the zoom ring can be manipulated, not both. Plus, it looked OK on my small LCD at the time I was recording video, but was actually horribly OOF when viewed on my laptop.

Ah, so on the surface, you could set your ikelite housing to use the focus ring, while fixing the focus length. Thanks for the info.

 

[Gymrat76]

Ah, so on the surface, you could set your ikelite housing to use the focus ring, while fixing the focus length. Thanks for the info.

Yup, you could, assuming you won't need to change the focus length while underwater, which I do quite frequently while composing my WA shots underwater (its a lot more troublesome moving to get the subjects into the frame/composition I want) :bsmilie: