ATJ

I'm not sure which of these three shots I prefer. Please help me - and be brutal if you have to be.

G'day. Thought I'd tell you a bit about myself. My name is Andrew, but most people call me ATJ. I learned SCUBA in late 1978 (while studying Marine Biology) Got my first UW camera (and first camera, BTW) in early 1980 - Nikonos III Had various SLRs over the years but none of them housed Went digital in 2003 with a Nikon Coolpix 4500 in Ikelite housing with Ikelite DS50 Bought a Nikon D70 in early 2005 Bought a Ikelite housing for the D70 in May 2006 along with a Ikelite DS125 (which I used in conjunction with the DS50) Bought a second DS125 in April 2007. I now mostly use either my 60mm f/2.8D or the cheap 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II which gives me good results. A link to my dive log (with photos) is my signature.

I use AF-C, too (D70, 60mm f/2.8 micro in Ikelite with dome port). Most of my photographs are in focus. Here's a sample from a single dive: Dive at The Cod Hole, Ribbon Reef #10, GBR on 30/05/2007

I'm not sure if it is better to post here or in the Showcase... Here is a link to my (draft) write-up of a recent trip to the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea: Undersea Explorer - 26 May to 1 June 2007. I am only around half way through sorting all the photographs. I took over 2000 in 5.5 days (21 dives). This was my fifth trip on Undersea and while it was still a very enjoyable trip, the weather was not all that kind making visibility not as good as it had been on the previous trips. Here are just a couple of the shots:

A great thing about the DS125 is it has a modeling light. If I find the light is too low for the D70 to focus, I turn one or both (I have 2 x DS125) modeling lights on and it solves the problem.

So why do you want to go back there? How often do you use your 60mm in manual focus mode? Another thing to watch for with the 60mm Micro is the stupid Limit/Full switch (that I have never intentionally used). I once got into the water, took a few test macro shots and realised I couldn't focus. Seems I had bumped the switch while setting up the rig. I had to go back to the car to fix it before attempting the dive again.

I have used Ikelite for the last 4 years (3 years P&S and just over a year with a D70). I have shot over 5,000 images with the D70/Ikelite combination and have had no problems. I don't I have ever once thought "I wish it did this differently.". That said, I am interested to hear what specific advantages the other housings over Ikelite. I may be upgrading to a D200 in the next 12 months which will mean a new housing. More than likely I will stay with the Ikelite (as I have dome ports and strobes), but if there was some compelling reason to switch, I might.

Pat, Do you really want to use manual focus underwater? It is going to be very difficult to assess focus due to the inherit difficulties of looking through the viewfinder (although I'm sure your D80 is better than my D70). Even if you are able to get the focus right manually, you are almost certainly moving around due to surge that keeping the camera in exactly the same spot between focus and shutter is going to be very difficult. I use my 60mm f/2.8 Macro with AF all the time.

I have been using a Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II which I bought very cheaply a few months ago and I have been pleased with the performance. It can focus closer than the 18-70mm and so is good for some macro work. It means that on the same dive I can take shots like this: as well as shots like this: I'm using a +5 close-up lens on the front instead of the recommended +4 which gets me in a little closer, but doesn't seem to affect distant shots (and how distant can you really get?)

After using a P&S in a housing for 3 years, I can definitely recommend going with a dSLR. While the P&S plus housing tends to be smaller and cheaper, the quality of my images now I have a dSLR is significantly better. The biggest drawback with the P&S was shutter lag, especially when shooting fish. With my D70, I can compose and shoot and get the photograph before the fish has had time to swim off, find a mate and spawn. I'm now thinking about replacing the D70 with a D200 so I can get a viewfinder that lets me see the whole scene in on go.