Well,

i didn't think it would really happen.. as the difference in price between
the Nikon D70 & D50 is not really worth the worry.

although there is a larger $£ between 350D & 20D. its not a major issue if your considering entering into this "pocket emptying" hobby.

A thought i'd always had was, if that extra little £$ is an issue to you and you had to opt for a lowest end of the market, then paying out for a £1200/$2000 housing was not on your list of TO GET's for sure, not when you start to add those extra few thousand bucks for all the other clap trap we need.

well i'm wrong, it seems that Sea & Sea also have jumped up at the chance to cater for the consumer lower end cameras..

Will it all end in tears....WHO KNOW'S

The rate the big boys are banging out camera's at the moment, there will be a whole new range of toys around next year..... YET AGAIN.

I AWAIT THE NEW " D200 " "D90" what ever it will be when its born.

happy days

craig


NIK V's were so simple..........

Ah yeh, please Mr Nikon if you ever read this forum,

Can you try and make cameras so that they fit into our exsisting housings please..

Here's an idea,

they should start to make camera's like our PC's, a stanard case (body) and then we can choose the Motherboard & internal hardware (camera gubbins) ,CPU which would be our (CCD) at what Pixel depth we choose.

then when we get sick of it, take out the CPU (CCD) when it becomes old and replace with nice new one...

they could make great badges and slogan's as well like

NIKON / CANON INSIDE with fancy little stickers.....like CENTRINO ..& ATHLON BARTON...

On second thoughts ....... its better left alone....

Hi Craig

I don't think all 350D users are using it because they couldn't afford a 20D. I chose the 350D over the 20D, not particularly because of the difference in price but because, as someone who does most of my underwater photography on my travels, the smaller size and weight of the 350D were a big advantage to me.

Also, I personally couldn't detect any significant difference in the quality of the images produced by the two cameras and the extra functionality of the 20D (with the exception of the two additional focus points) was neither here nor there to me.

I've been waiting for ages (at least it seems that way) for a compact and light housing to be announced for the 350D and will be looking seriously at this one together with the Hugyfot.

Sean

Hi Sean

You will like the Sea & Sea Housing,I spoke to them yesterday and it very very similar to my NX-80 which is a complete dream to use and carry about, very very light weight and compact.

Enjoy whatever you get,

My comments were born out of seeing Sea & Sea make a complete fudge when they produced a housing for the F50... a lot of R&D for so little return.

Dont think this will happen though with digital. i just never expected a D50 housing , 350D yes...

craig

Perhaps Sea & Sea know something that we don't !

The Japanese camera market remains largely insulated from the rest of the world - and sometimes causes us to wonder at the offerings.

Sea & Sea's deciscion to make a housing for these entry level camera's is probably a direct response to the acceptance of these new models in their home / core market.

Passing through Nihon Bashi ( Osaka's camera / electronic's district ) I noticed the increased push and presence on D50 / 350D . It was much greater than I saw when the D70 was introduced.

Probally has something to do with price point / volume - let's hope it siphons down into more affordable housings being offered.

Just my observations......

I'm studying the DSLR situation myself. I really want better optics and better topside telephoto use as well.

The S&S housing for the 350D is very appealing, so that the kit is much easier to handle than the other huge housings. I dive a lot in cold water and currents here. I also would travel with it. It has some nice features, like the shutter controlled focus light also.

I've sort of come to the same conclusion on the differences between the 350D and 20D, not many significant differences, lighter weight and half the price. $6-700 difference is nothing to scoff at, that's a couple of lenses maybe.

Anybody know the apprx price of the S&S 350D housing? What port does it include?

Jack

Here's a view of the back of the housing, from the .jp website:



The back is polycarbonate, and has a normal viewfinder optic. The 350D has a very small viewfinder.

RE the shutter activated focus light - will it work? The D60, D100, S2 housings also had the focus light option, but I NEVER actually saw one of these housings with the internal wiring installed to make it work.

Hopefully these will be different.

Cheers
James

How does this work? Is there a focus light wired to the housing so that it will come on when you tap the shutter?

Herb,

That's the idea. This was a very popular feature on the Sea and Sea film camera housings. I think it must be tied in to the AF-Asist lamp contact on the hot-shoe or something.

Cheers
James

Searching I noticed that the new sea & sea housings are under $1,700. It is nice to see a more realistic price point for their housings. I hope this is a sign of good things to come and eventually a return to their old style of housings and/or housings for the higher end models.

Mike

Just a note on the D50 compared to the D70. Right now a D50 body can be ordered for about $550. The D70S is about $900. That's a big price difference!

I cant believe the D70 sells at $900. When the D70 was introduced it fit in-between the 10D and 300D and IMO was closer to the 300D. A like new 10D now sell for about $600 and a 300D $450. Even though it has not been replaced, it seems like the D70 should have depreciated equally.

The D70 is a great camera but had it cost 50% more than a 10D when it was announced I cant imagine many takers....

I may be mistaken, but I think that the D70 is much closer to the 20D than to the 10D. The D70 is still Nikon's best selling camera, and Nikon's profit just rose 20% this quarter mainly due to dSLR sales, which rose more than 50%. So I think there still are many takers. See here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051114/tc_af...chnologycompany

From the article above:

Interesting article, I had no idea that they made/sold so many DSLR's

I would say you are mistaken Luiz.

Compair specs...

Resolution 20D 8.2, 10D/300D 6.3, D70 6.1
Burst speed 20D 5, 10D 3, D70 2.9, 300D 2.5
RAW buffer 10D 9, 20D 6, 300D/D70 4
AF points 20D 9, 10D/300D 7, D70 5

The only thing that is more similar between the 20D and D70 than the 300D/10D and D70 is that the D70 and the 20D turn on instantly unlike the 10D/300D which are slow to boot up.

Alright, you convinced me, the 10D is better than the D70. But, a new D70 costs $750 at B&H (only $150 more than the used 10D that you mentioned). The D70s is the one that costs $900, which has the bigger LCD and other improvements. A used D70 in good condition sells for $650 on eBay, so really it doesn't cost 50% more than the 10D. Also, Nikons hold their value better because of the longer shelf life of the products. The D70 is still in the product line, the 10D is long gone.

I guess not 50% more. More like cost the same.

They are clearly having no difficulty selling D70's. When I was at the camera shop buying my 5D, 3 customers walked out with D70's. But I do find it strange that they can can sell a camera for so long without decreasing the price.

You think the reason that it holds value better is because of the longer shelf life. I guess that makes sense but I still feal like the D70 should be selling new for more like $600. But that's the great thing about capitalism. If people will buy them at that price you have to be insane to sell them cheaper.

Cost the same?

Pricegrabber:

D70 body $749 at B&H

D70s body $819 at DataVis (anybody heard of them?)
D70s body only is about $900 just about anywhere else

Unless you make the purchase at DataVis, a D70s body is indeed 50%+ more expensive than a D50. Pretty soon you'll see the D50 selling under $500.

William was referring to the D70 costing the same as a used 10D, not a new D50.

Thank you for clarifying.

The Sea&Sea housing fot the 350d is very appealing.

From the pictures it seems very small, the ike housing seems to be the same mould as the 20d and other dslr's, menaning that you would not benefit from the smaller size of the 350d when underwater.

The price compared to the ikelite housing is not that signifficant eighter (not in Sweden anyway).

However, the ettl capabilities of the ike housing is a big plus, but i have read somewhere that sea & sea are working on this and that it may be possible to retrofit.

I also distinctively remember reading somewhere that Ikelite is working on a TTL cable that enables ttl capabilities with ds-125 and housings from other manufacturers.

personally i cant see that working with the Sea & Sea range

why

well they only wire 2 pins on the camera hotshoe. Xcontact & ground



the SP pinout is disconnected thus allowing us to fire our MANUAL guns.. for ITTL to function all 5 pins need to be connected as far as i know. and thats using a matthais ITTL conversion circuit.

if they made a replacement hotshoe connection then sure, not a problem but it would involved some intervention buy the user to re-wire their housing.

regards

craig

Although I might ADD

i'm not a canon user, BUT i think you need 6 pins on their hotshoes for ETTL

???

craig

Okay, so i've been shooting film for years now on an ancient Sea and Sea MMII. I'm finally getting ready to make the leap to digital with either the D50 or D70(s). It's unclear to me whether or not this new d50 housing supports TTL. I know that Ikelite's d50/d70 housings do. Anyone clear on this?

Hi, and welcome to the forum! The only housing that currently supports iTTL is the Ikelite. In order to make it work in Sea&Sea or any other housing you will need a Matthias TTL converter.

For more on TTL take a look here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6199

Thanks, Rocha. Informative thread. I have to admit, part of me would just like to not have to think about the flash while getting comfortable with using dslr controls underwater. I've been pretty spoiled up to this point. Although, ironically, I always shoot full manual with my film slr's on land.

I felt the same way before upgrading to digital, but it is so easy that you will not notice it. Just use the dslr as you would use a film camera (in manual) and take the big advantage of immediate feedback on the LCD. I really don't mess with anything other than shutter speed and aperture underwater.

Luiz

Hello All

just thought i'd pass my comments on regarding ITTL.

I remember when i made the switch into DSLR with my D70, I was looking at all ways to get my Sb800's into the water because i too was a TTL Junky.

But I'm now pleased to say that i love using manual flash and dont find it at all an hinderance whilst shooting.

The bouns is you instantly see your results, so you become much more confident to use Manual flash than we used to when using film.


I did however change my flash guns from YS series to SB-105's just for the simple reason that they were extremely cheap and they had 3 power settings.

Couple this with aperture changes you can control the light until its just SPOT ON.

I sometimes do wish that i had ITTL when shooting macro, but too be honest i like the complete control that comes with manual, its just a learning process like most things.

I had contacted Sea & Sea quite somtime ago regarding ITTL, and they informed me that they were working on some new ITTL flash guns... when these arrive or even if they are still on the board i dont know.

regards

craig

Has anyone had any experience with the D50 in a housing, yet? I know that Ike's has been available for a couple of months. Any reason not to choose it over the D70s for underwater usage?

I emailed a japanese shopowner with my questions about eTTL for the dx-350d hosing and his answers where similar to Craigs;

"Sea&Sea has not announced it in official, but I have heard they will make
TTL device, ( TTL cable or optional installed TTL circuit in the housing)

They showed a trial model at DEMA,
I can not warranty 100% that they will release it but I think they will."

I quess most underwater photographers shoot with the guns in manual. But I think I´ll wait a few months and se if anythings happends.

Really no reason for me to invest in new equipment untill spring anyway, with below zero temperatures topside and not much warmer underwater :-)

/Jonas (from above the arctic circle)