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Guys,

Does anybody know where I can purchase something that will provide protection for say 20-40 metres underwater?

What would I be looking at in terms of cost?

Thanks

anubis wrote:Guys,

Does anybody know where I can purchase something that will provide protection for say 20-40 metres underwater?

What would I be looking at in terms of cost?

Thanks

Dilan,
One of our members on this board has the gears which you want (pluckaduck).
They're not cheap, do a search with his user's name, he posted some photos with his gears here before.

Not sure but I seem to recollect reading where a good underwater housing will cost as much if not more than the camera body itself. Search thru the forum and see what you can find.

Thanks guys...

Hi Dilan,

Where are you going diving mate?

Hi ABG,

just getting into it actually..... am just checking options.

Thought about Watsons Bay initially, maybe Hurghada at the end of the year.

I am really interested in a housing for the D70 or D2x, but not for scuba. I have lots of good mates who are surfers, and when I surf with them, I can't help but see the possibilities of shooting out there. Would a scuba housing be overkill or just what the doctor ordered, considering the pressure of pounding waves?

EDIT: seems like a cheaper and better idea than ann exotic tele lens, sitting on the beach.

anubis wrote:Hi ABG,

just getting into it actually..... am just checking options.

Thought about Watsons Bay initially.
.

Dilan,
Good spot at Lady Jane beach you don't need the underwater housing there.

anubis wrote:Hi ABG,

just getting into it actually..... am just checking options.

Thought about Watsons Bay initially, maybe Hurghada at the end of the year.

I dived Hurghada and found the diving much better at Dahab and a nicer little town too. Sharm al Sheik is s'pose to be the best diving but too commercialised for me. If you do end up at Dahab dive the Blue Hole. Great fun.

Heath Bennett wrote:I am really interested in a housing for the D70 or D2x, but not for scuba. I have lots of good mates who are surfers, and when I surf with them, I can't help but see the possibilities of shooting out there. Would a scuba housing be overkill or just what the doctor ordered, considering the pressure of pounding waves?

EDIT: seems like a cheaper and better idea than ann exotic tele lens, sitting on the beach.

Heath,

http://www.ewa-marine.com/ - not expensive but good and reliable underwater housings for D70 and similar SLR cameras. Not good for diving but for snorkeling and surfing would be OK

I hope you have deep pockets!! .. ive seen housings for the d70 upto $1800US... they really arent cheap.. i think the brand is called Ikelite.. try bh photo?? (too many leters or not enuf.. yanky store)

Tim

Have you thought about going back to film for the underwater experience?

I'd suggest considering an F90 or F90X set up. The underwater housings do come up on Ebay quite cheap and fairly often. The camera bodies are also very inexpensive as well. Granted you'll be restricted to 36 or so shots at a time, but I'd rather damage or loose a cheap and easily replaced secondhand F90 camera and housing as opposed to a D70 or D2X.

It might be an inexpensive alternative to getting an underwaterhousing for your digital. If it's something that you find yourself doing continually you could always trade up to a housing for your digital and sell the F90 setup on Ebay.

Cheers

Tony

Heath Bennett wrote:I am really interested in a housing for the D70 or D2x, but not for scuba. I have lots of good mates who are surfers, and when I surf with them, I can't help but see the possibilities of shooting out there. Would a scuba housing be overkill or just what the doctor ordered, considering the pressure of pounding waves?

EDIT: seems like a cheaper and better idea than ann exotic tele lens, sitting on the beach.

first post, so i thought i would be helpful.

go for a good housing if you are going surfing, friend just came back from margaret river with a tale and stitches.
got hit by surfer when he surfaced in the wrong spot, camera took the brunt of the hit as he trying to get a shot of surfers passing over him.
He got quite a thump, camera got ripped from his hands and was found by some kids a few days later getting constatly battered amoungst some rocks. The actual housing is pretty scratched up, but still useable and the camera is no worse for wear.
His next purchase he reckons is a surf helmet. once he gets the stitches out.

Simon

Thanks for the good advice

As you're a BJ local, drop in to the Underwater Australia Gallery and have a chat to Richard Vevers. He's quite experienced with UW housings for the d70, and when I was last there had some special deal on a good housing thru a promotional linkup. http://www.underwateraustralia.com.au

I'm just about to make the jump to a digi housing as well, although think I'll wait for a D200 first due to photolibrary resolution requirements. I've been shooting underwater for 15 years on my trusty F801s with an Aquatica 80 housing, an Ikelite SubStrobe 150 (recently flooded ) and several dome and macro ports. I still love shooting u/w on film and as I have 2 bodies I always have a backup to rely on.

A decent housing will always cost more than the camera. Remember also that once you've got it secured into the housing it's more convenient to keep it sealed in there if you're on a lengthy boat trip rather than pull it out each time you feel like shooting above the waterline. For this reason it's good to take along a second body.

Hope this helps... Tim

Youre best bet for a housing are ikelite ( http://www.ikelite.com). There are two Australian importers that I know of. If you want I can track down their details. I priced one for my D50 and housing and port came to around $1800. These housings are good to 60m. The other housing to look at is the fantasea housing ( http://www.fantasea.com I think). Slightly cheaper than the ike housing but no ttl.

After that you can go more up market to the aluminium housings, aquatica et al ( http://www.seaoptics.com.au), but these are getting much more expensive.

I currently use an Oly C-5050 with housing for my underwater shots but the shutter/focus lag is starting to drive me insane.

A comment I would make, as a scuba instructor, is get comfortable with your diving before you add the complication and stress of managing a camera underwater. I have a few horror stories of divers out of their depth, air or lost because they were too focussed on the camera.

Hope this helps,
Ant.

Thanks Guys for the advise.

Ant, excellent advice, I will focus on the diving in the first instance

If you decide to go down the Ikelite road try http://www.helixcamera.com . I have bought all of my Ike gear through them and it works out 30+% cheaper than using the Ozzie distributors and you get after sales service and delivery generally within a week.

For surf work though the EWA MArine bags are just the shot. Light and easy to handle - the Ike housing is bulky and heavy.

If you ant a film rig I have an F80 and IKE housing that you can have real cheap

What I have found when pricing this type of equipment is you can spend a fortune on a housing and it is useless with out decent lighting which will cost you other arm and leg.

And I agree Ant as another Instructor be really comfortable with your diving before taking on UW photography, put a lot of work in on your Buoyancy.

Cheers
Rod

Heath Bennett wrote:I am really interested in a housing for the D70 or D2x, but not for scuba. I have lots of good mates who are surfers, and when I surf with them, I can't help but see the possibilities of shooting out there. Would a scuba housing be overkill or just what the doctor ordered, considering the pressure of pounding waves?

EDIT: seems like a cheaper and better idea than ann exotic tele lens, sitting on the beach.

scuba housings like ikelite are no good for the surf. their not designed to take a beating like proper surf housings are and also weigh way too much to be hand held by one hand out of the water.

do not get an ewa marine bag for out in the surf. these are just glorified zip-lock bags and are only good for splash proof stuff. my friend had one for wakeboarding, just sitting in the water, and the seem split and flooded his camera.

there are plenty of really good surf housings available. the ferrari of surf housings are made by aquatech and are really really expensive. there are more affordable options. off the top of my head there are del mar, spl, mike waggoner, photo support systems, ... if your really keen i can dig up some links for you

i myself have just aquired a del mar surf housing for my 1d and am loving it. it has a pistol grip and i have a dome port for a 15mm fish and another port that supports primes upto 100mm. also erik, who makes them, is a great guy and is always more than willing to help you out.

my housing

I will have an Ikelite housing for my D70 by the end of next week. I'm getting it from B&H in NYC by mail.

I will be getting dome ports for the kit lens, 60mm Macro and 20.5mm D lens. I already have the DS50 strobe, but am also getting the DS125 and will run 2 strobes.

There is a good write up on the housing (and D70) here: http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_g ... nt_d70.htm

Anubis,

Expect to pay in the order of $1.5k - $2k for a housing. Disgusting price for a piece of plastic and few o-rings really

On top of that, you will be wanting to add on at least one strobe, more likely two. Nother couple of $K for that. Having said that, Ive never done any UW with digital, so its quite possible that the ability to bump ISO will give results that werent possible without strobes on film. Due to the light filtering, usually the only way to acheive any true colour and pop is lighting with stobes. You can also do some PP filters in PS as well which tone down the blue/green and pull back in the reds and oranges (which get filtered first as you get deeper).

You will find you will need your full mind on the job for the first 20 or so dives, so I would suggest leaving the camera at home at least for the first few dives after your OW.

When you are taking photos, dont forget to keep up your buddy awareness. Also, work hard on your bouancy skills. You'll need them and also, there is nothing worse than watching some photog climbing around a reef on his hand's and knee's destroying things.

Another option might be to see if you can find a 2nd hand NikonusV, which is a dedicated underwater film camera. We can often get them here in NZ for ~$500 with strobe.

ATJ wrote:I will have an Ikelite housing for my D70 by the end of next week. I'm getting it from B&H in NYC by mail.

OK.... I didn't allow for customs processing.

I'll be lucky to see it before the 19th.

I got my housing last Wednesday and used in on Saturday. The conditions were not very conducive to photography with very poor visibility, but the setup performed well. I am very pleased.

It is significantly better than my Coolpix 4500 in Ikelite housing in 3 main areas:
1) No shutter lag
2) Much better focus
3) Easier to frame using a real TTL viewfinder than an LCD panel.

Here are a few pictures taken with the kit lens.







More pictures here: Dive at Camp Cove, Watsons Bay, NSW on 20/05/2006

I am so envious. I keep stumbling in my saving plan for my underwater housing.

Did you shoot in raw? One strobe or two?

Wow - these look great. Just wish it was a warmer night to view images of this nature

Willy wombat wrote:Did you shoot in raw? One strobe or two?

Raw. Two strobes. I already had a DS50 and I added a DS125.

Did you get the housing with TTL support? A friend of mine has just housed his Oly C750 (I think) and the TTL is amazing, no more guessing flash exposure for macro...

Ant.

It has iTTL support. You still have to be careful and adjustments may be required. For example, a light colour fish swimming in open water will get overexposed due to the averaging of the whole scene.