I e-mailed Ikelite to see if there was a possibility of an upgrade of my D70 housing to take a D80. My thinking was it would probably need a new back much like the D70 to D70 I-TTL upgrade. Ikelite's response is below.

"Thank you for the inquiry. I appreciate your interest in Ikelite products. Each Ikelite housing model is designed to accommodate a specific camera or camera series. It is not possible for Ikelite to modify your D70 housing to accommodate the D80 camera model. Therefore, you would need to purchase the appropriate new housing model 6808.1 to accommodate the new D80 camera selected. The most recent product and dealer information is presented on the Ikelite internet web site (http://www.ikelite.com)."

I thought if I could get a housing upgrade I'd go for the D80 if not I'll probably upgrade at the next generation so looks like I'll be buying a D90 or whatever Nikon produce next.

Ken

I have been shooting with the Ikelite D80 combo this week and it is great.

I feel that the D80 is a big step from the D70, but whether that step is enough to justify the cost a housing and a camera I am not sure.

Alex

Hi Ken,

If you are interested in moving to the D80, it may be worth having a quiet word with Cameras Underwater about trading in. They do list a couple of pre-owned, recent DSLR housings in their clearance section. They must have got those somehow...

Martyn

If I was shooting mainly on land I'd have a D80 by now. I just don't feel I can justify the expense of the camera + housing. The problem with digital cameras is the temptation to buy every camera as it's released.

I'd be interested to know in which areas the D80 is a big step up from the D70. At the moment I don't think the 6Mp sensor is a handicap and I'm happy with the handling of the D70 but I would be interested in more dynamic range, for example.

Ken

Ken

If you are happy with what you've got but would like more dynamic range why not take a look at photomatrix.com - their tone mapping software may not increase dynamic range but it does help extraxt every last nuanc eout of what you've got and its cheaper than an upgrade - takes some figuring out though.

You know Paul, everything I've seen come out of Photomatix (no 'r') looks pretty ho hum to me. For getting the most out of a single RAW file I'd go for Shadows and Highlights in PS, or just the fab new tools in Lightroom. As for multiple capture HDR, every comparison of PS HDR vs Photomatix leaves me prefering the built in tools.

Great point about looking at software to get an "image quality" upgrade, if you're happy with your rig.

Martyn

Hi Martyn

Photomatrix seems to work well on some shots but not so well on others! I use shadows/highlights a lot but Photomatrix certainly treats detail differently. I'm still experimenting though. HDR looks tricky to use underwater but I've had some success on the odd specific subject above water.

Hello,

I am a D70 shooter, but really can't do the hsg + cameras upgrade now, either. This is made tougher for me, because I want to transition to a housing that can handle a wider range of lenses, too. That is, I'll need new ports as well as hsg.

So I am sticking with the D70, and seriously considering upgrading with a used housing -- with the idea that I can reuse viewfinder, ports, etc. on the next upgrade of the camera, and used housings for the D70 get cheaper and easier to find every month. The camera upgrade question is complicated for me, because having ONCE flooded a coolpix, I am a big believer in having two cameras on a long trip, adding to expense.

The D70 is still as good as it ever was -- and that is very good -- and housing the new lenses is my top priority. Unsurprisiingly, I just was not thinking of the 17-55 or 10-20 (sigma) when I bought my first DSLR hsg.

It's not without heartburn, though. The D80 appears to have a slightly better sensor, for one thing. The focus is definitely better. The color histograms would be useful. And its flavor of auto-ISO is supposed to be good.

That said, I think I'll wait for the D300 or D90, or whatever comes next.

Chris