I just found this on:




http://www.fotop.net/muchswatch/nikon70/ip...12_aWfpBJ8Ne2aZ
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nice....

Is that 198K yen? about $1850

Where's their Canon 300D housing????????

That's about the same price they sell the DX3060, Dx100, and Fuji S2 housings for. Looks pretty sweet...

The Canon 300D will be the same mold as the d70.

And the 10D. Eric and I saw the 10D housing at DEMA and it was sweet. A LOT smaller.

Cheers
James

Love that mechanical aperture control.

I talked to one customer on the phone who was wanting to adapt SeaCam gears to the s2, since they do focus and a/m shift from the housing. I wonder if he had any luck...

I don't see an option for a second sync connector...

Ya, you might be able to use the focus and a/m shift on the 105 using that Aperture gear on the Sea and Sea housing. I have thought about that for the D100 housing.

I'm STILL wondering why Sea and Sea put that knob on there - I guess they had left-over inventory.

Cheers
James

Same knob as on the D100 housing, I never considerred it because the aperture control is much easier through the camera body. It may be there for non CPU compatable lenses. Sea & Sea does list aperture gears for a couple of Sigma macro lenses.

Gerb

Mike, what are your thoughts between owning the Sea & Sea D100 and now the Aquatica Sea & Sea D100?.....besides plastic vs. aluminum

Karl

Karl, as you said there is the obvious plastic vs. aluminum with the corresponding weight and durability factors. The S&S D70 appears to be a bit smaller than the D100 so it won't be as bulky to swim through the water. It also has the tendency to be front bouyant with the dome port attached. Both have equally easy access to the CF cards, the S&S was a little easier to change batteries. The Aquatica has a much better view finder and more ergonomic controls. My only gripe with the Aquatica is glare in the LCD window makes it useless unless its completely dark. I also wish it had a view window over the mode dial.
Both have quality port systems but S&S price their's about twice what Aquatica's are.
Given the MSRP of each, Aquatica wins hands down. The S&S needs to sell for about half retail price before I'd consider it.

How soon is your D70 going to be in.

Mike

Thanks for the rundown Mike...........good points.........I didn't realize Sea & Sea was more expensive than Aquatica

Guess it will be between Ikelite and Aquatica at this point........first one out may be the winner!..........camera is due in tomorrow.........I picked up a 12-24mm this weekend, so I'm set with a 60mm, 105mm, 18-70mm kit lens and the 12-24mm

We won't dive salt water again until June........Flower Gardens..........hope this turns out to be a new gear tune-up trip before Wakatobi in September!

Karl

Karl: Conratulations on your move to DSLR! You are going to love it.

This forum is the place to be for photographers who are taking this leap - and there appear to be a lot in the last 3 months or so.

We will be publishing more articles for "intermediate" photographers moving from consumer cameras to DSLR over the next few months. As you know, there are a whole new set of questions about flash, lenses, ports, etc. Perhaps I should change my Feature area from "Wiseman Beginner Column" to "Something Else."

Cheers
James

Thanks James......I'm looking forward to learning a new system and I know that this site will be continue to be a huge resouce for shorting the learning curve.........

Maybe your Feature area should be something like "Setting up a DSLR System" with articles on camera selection considerations, lens selections, housing considerations, ports, strobes, etc.

Karl

First of all, I just picked up my D70 today a few hours ago at my local camera store---Yeah!

I'm pretty sure I'll get an Ikelite housing for this but the AF/MF and aperture dials in this photo intrigued me. From your experience with other S&S DSLR housings:

1) does the aperture dial control the aperture by the lens collar? This might be a handy thing to have as it would be easier to control with these big visible numbers than the tiny winy numbers on the body display no? The D70 kit lens does not have aperture control.

2) Can you really change between autofocus and manual with this housing? Can you manual focus and zoom with the all ports? I think with the Ikelite you can't change auto-manual and you need a special port to do manual focus and zoom?

Can't wait to see Ike's prototype.

Thanks

Hi, I'll take a stab at your questions:



No and No. The D70 kit lens is a G type lens, so it doesn't have an aperture ring on it. No again - on the D70, D100, etc, if the lens isn't locked at F22 the camera will say ERR and won't work. You have to control the aperture through the Command Dial on the camera. That knob on the Sea and Sea housing is just plain confusing!



Hmm...Look on your camera front for that little switch that says A-M. Is there a corresponding control on the Sea and Sea housing? I don't see one in the photo. I know that Ikelite isn't putting one on their housing either. So you won't be able to switch between AF and MF during the dive. I wonder if Aquatica will be putting one???

So...the knob in the photo of the Sea and Sea that says AF-MF won't be used - it's there to control a focus gear on the lens, but it won't work unless the lens is AF-S - and none of the Nikon macro lenses are AF-S.

With a really tricked out housing like a Seacam, Nexus, Subal, etc you can flip that little switch between AF and MF on the camera. You then use a control on the port to put the lens in MF. Finally, you use that gear on the housing or a gear on the port to rotate the manual focus ring on the lens.

Hope that helps.

James

We got a D-70 camera today. Buttons appear to be moved slightly from D-100, but this will be a simple installation in the same housing we use for the Nikon D-100 and Canon digital Rebel. We can even include the AF/MF button. Will tinker with it and report later this week.............

I wonder if the knob that has the F#'s is throwing us all?

I just went back to look at the NX80 housing and the corresponding knob is the one for MF AF S.C

Could make it very difficult to use if you can't flick it into MF.

That’s impressive! Such a fast response to demands from customers.

Maybe its a chance to suggest another’s changes / updater for the futures housing from the people that already have the D70 or have experience with the Ikelite housing.

Hurry Ike.........I picked up my new D70 today at lunch...........first one delivered in Fort Worth!

Ike, any way you can lighted up the tray brackets?....I'd pay more for aluminum if it would shed a couple of pounds.

Karl

Karl,

I think Ike developed a lighter tray/bracket for the Aluminum backed D100 and S2 housings.

Here's a pic:



Cheers
James

excellent........

Karl

No, no. The sweetheart shown on following URL is what will contain the D-70:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2dslr_d100.html

Whoops, I should have explained better Ike.

Karl is worried that you will use a 3 lb tray/handle on the D70 housing. I told him that perhaps you could use a lighter tray/handle ala the S2 aluminum housing.

So what is the tray/handle on the new housing made of? Is it polycarbonate? Al? Is it removable for travel?

I sure wish I had one of these housings so that I could try it out with the D100 and write a review...;-)

Cheers
James

how can that be, when the 10D is a bigger camera?

I think James was saying that the 10D housing is a lot smaller than the D30/D60 housing .

D70 housing measures 9.5" wide including knobs; 13.25" wide with handle assembly attached. It measures 6.75" high including lid snap; 8" high with handle assembly attached. Front to back without a port is 6.5" including knobs and port locks.

i went to the london dive show on sunday, mainly to see if camerasunderwater had the d70 housing from Ikelite.

but while i was there i looked at the 300D housing which is same size, and it weighed a bloody ton!

Ike are you going to make the tray handle light weight?

The complete assembly weighs only a few ounces in salt water............

Looks like the same Ikelite housing they use for the DRebel, in which case it is almost perfect in water. Just slightly negative, like Ike said a few onces. I believe the D70 weighs just a little more than the Rebel (I checked one out yesterday at Schiller's) , which would make little difference overall.

And if you add a DS125 and arms, remove the lead weight in the base and it stays perfect. It's almost as if someone planned it that way!!

Dave

If I'm not mistaken, they all (D100, D70, DRebel) weigh about the same, and they feel lighter than my S&S dx3060. I got to take a quick look at the DRebel version at Beneath the Sea (at Ryan's booth), and it was a sweet little housing. I can see how you might think it feels heavy out of water, especially if you compare it to some of the P&S OEM housings from Canon or Sony, but these are in a different league IMHO. As has been discussed ad nauseum in other threads, there are definitely trade offs between P&S and SLR housings, weight and size being one of them. To Ike's pointt, weight only matters out of the water or if it's not balanced in the water. I'd rather have a righ that's perfectly weighted in the water and heavy out of it than an overly bouyant rig when it's in the water.

Tom

Advice............ since this is the place to be, I have been watching new developments on film, and I have not made the leap yet. Reason...... I love TTL still for shots which require speed ( i.e. that shark which zooms past your nose outta no where..... one time opportunity, no time for bracketing with strobe re-cycle times.......


Can some one advise me.... if you have slow or static subjects, sure u can take tons of pics with a DSLR and check exposure and bracket. If u are taking shots of fish which are skittish, i.e. Box fish, its 'bang' and u got or u aint as they are gone. Would like to hear your advice. Would like to migrate to DSLR, but I am still hooked on my TTL ( Nikon F80, sea&sea NX 80 housing )

thats one question i need answered, currently there is no TTL circuitry to convert the various digital variations of TTL (E, i and D plus what ever else they dream up), but are we getting bulkhead connectors just in case some one cracks these?

if not what controller do i use with my D70, the ikelite housing and my DS50?

also can we switch from the DS range to the normal range with the controlers?

cheers

Clive, bulkhead with sync cord is the only way to get strobe interaction.....optical sensors can't work because the onboard flash will not work in a housing.

You could use the sync cord connected directly to a DS 125 strobe and just use the 4 levels of power on the strobe or interconnect the manual controller and get 10 levels of power.

Since the DS 50 doesn't have onboard variable power settings, I think you can only use the DS 50 with the manual controller.

If Ike ever figures out iTTL, they will offer an upgrade to the housing and you can use TTL at that time. What would be nice is the ability to switch from 10 manual power settings to TTL while on a dive. I'm sure it's coming sometime in the future.

Karl

Caveman,

At this time, there are a few DSLR's that you can shoot in TTL with today's underwater strobes.

They are:

Fuji S2pro

And if you use Aquatica's ICU Circuit:

Canon Digital Rebel
Canon 10D
Canon 1Ds

No one has cracked D-TTL or iTTL yet.

Cheers
James Wiseman

And I have heard fairly reliable rumors that Ikelite is working on eTTL for the Rebel housing and would be offered as an upgrade.

Dave.

How reliable? Any idea what strobes the Ikelite circuit might work with? I presume theirs, of course.

I'm about to take the leap into a digital SLR and underwater housing, and I'd like to have a controlled strobe in the long run. Is there a bulkhead already in the Ikelite housing, or would that be part of the upgrade/retrofit?

Thanks,
-Chris

Head Lite may be unreliable and nuts, but the rest of the Ikelite people are very fine. They did very fine deciphering Olympus TTL and are working diligently on dTTL, eTTL and iTTL. Housings have bulkhead for sync cords. We have not made early claims, but it seems logical conversion circuitry will be forthcoming............

I hope fairly reliable... :wink:

My housing already has a bulkhead adapter, they come stock that way. I use a DS125 strobe + the manual exposure controller that gives more settings than the strobe alone allows, 10 vs 3.

The person I spoke with said that once available, it would likely be like the circuit in the Oly housing and that it may be possible to 'add' to the backplate somehow by sending the plate in to Ike, for a additional charge and all supposition, of course. I was not waiting on it because I was used to manual exposure UW anyway. I hope that it pans out and I would gladly pay for it, but I'm not letting it hold me back.

Edit:

Hey that sounds promising!!



Dave

Ike (and Dave), that's great to know. I wasn't looking for a ship date or anything, just a "it is both possible (bulkhead connector) and actively being worked on." This is awesome, thanks much!

How does manual strobe sync work, anyway, since there's no internal flash being fired? (I presume, since the internal flash doesn't look like it could flip up inside the housing, and you wouldn't want it causing backscatter anyway.)

Pardon all the basic questions, I'm really quite a newbie to SLR photography as well as underwater photography w/ strobes. (Other than discovering a while ago that getting a strobe that can sync properly with a Canon digital elph (S230) underwater is going to cost you about as much as the camera+housing did.)

-Chris

The camera has a hot-shoe on top with a 5 or 6 pin connection. You can connect a cord from there through your housing (and hopefully through some iTTL conversion circuitry) to your strobe(s).

Cheers
James