TimG

Arrrghh!! Don't do it Richard! Those Nikon 5000s are awesome. I used one for a couple of years in a Subal housing and got some cracking results.

Hi! I can well understand how much you'd rather shoot a DSLR when you are used to one topside. I'd feel the same. I did! But, with apologies, let me also add to the old-fart wisdom about the need to be a really good diver before venturing out with a DSLR set-up underwater. DSLRs underwater are complex beasts and diving skills really do have to be second nature and instinctive. Even P&S diving is not straight-forward and it will take a lot of practice and perfection of dive skills to feel comfortable (and safe) in the water - and get good images. I'd suggest going with Tim, ScubaSpen and Tom's advice and getting a P&S and strobe and getting lots of dives with that under your belt. If you can get one that shoots RAW, so much the better. If it can take WA attachments even better. But hold off that for the time being. And as a PADI Instructor (yeah, so I have to do the plug), how about doing a uw photog specialty? You'd learn loads.......

Hmmm, yes, well enjoy the quarry. It's been some years since I dived in a UK quarry (Capenwray was the last) and although its was fun at the time, I don't miss it! As Paul says, don't be put off if Presetting the WB doesn't work too well in that environment. Short dive times, lousy viz, shivering in a drysuit.... So handling Presets too will be a bit of a task loading-episode - and the results aren't going to be great. But you will really see the difference in the Red Sea! On Vincent's question (Hi Vincent!), yeah, I must admit when using strobes I always shoot on Auto WB and will tweak if necessary on my laptop. But this usually only happens when I have been too lazy to get the strobes at precisely the right angles so the light coverage has dropped off too quickly. As Paul says, if you have to shoot JPG with a P&S your options are a bit more limited. I think a few Wetpixelers have found computer-based filters that they have used to inject more reds into the pos-production when using JPGs. It might be worth a search. Better yet, trade in your P&S and sell your soul to DSLR. You know it makes sense...... Stay warm in that quarry, Wingsy. Safe too!

Yeah! Merry Xmas guys! What a great place for advice this is. Thanks to everyone for all the help. Could we start on mortgages next??? And here's to a 2008 where you buy one small, portable housing that user-modifies into whatever camera body we buy. Hee hee, yeah, right.

Hi Darren I was using a D100 in a Subal housing for a couple of years and got some terrific results. Most of the time I used it on Auto WB, shot RAW and on the rare occasion that the colours were off, tweaked it in PSE or Rawshooter. No dramas. But it was rare that I needed to do this. To manual WB the D100 you have to go through the technique outlined in the handbook (I think its called Preset WB) using a slate, sandy bottom or some such as the colour reference - but obviously whilst you are underwater. As Paul explains, you need to do this every few metres because of the changing colour as you go deeper (decreasing red end of the spectrum) ; or ascend. So its not simple - although if you do it often enough its not too bad. But, I'm with Paul: shoot RAW, and if Auto hasn't worked, tweak it. Best wishes

Good old Santa, eh? I've not heard of that problem before but would be interested to hear how you get on. Its not been a problem with my 10.5mm in a Subal FE port. I've just got the Tokina 10-17 but havn't had it in the water yet.

Hey Greg Yep, Subals just ooze quality. Everything works very smoothly - and they are just so well designed and built. If budget is an issue (and when isn't it!) have you thought about going the D200 route rather than D300? There will be lots of D200 housings on the second hand market (mine included!) - and this would then give you more cash to spend on lenses and gear you are not going to need to upgrade as bodies are improved. On lenses, I reckon you can't go far wrong with a 12-24mm Nikkor (or the 10-17 mm Tokina which I have bought but not got in the water yet) and the 60 mm macro for fish portraits. The 18-200mm is terrific above water. After them I'd suggest looking at the 10.5mm Nikkor (if you don't buy the 10-17mm) and the 105mm macro. Good luck with it all!

Hey guys I switched recently to an inexpensive,compact charger that will do 8x AAs at a time. I carry two sets of AAs for each strobe so with the 8x charger I can charge the whole lot in one go. Saves lugging two chargers around but, yep, no redundancy. But how often do chargers pack up? Errr, right? Check out for details: http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/famea...08_charger.html

Following on from my original post, I have a Nikon D200 body for sale too with the battery grip. Its in perfect condition and has taken about 6000 images. Complete with boxes, manuals, cables, software etc. I'm happy to look at a combined price with the housing or at selling the camera body and battery pack separately. Have a great Xmas, Wetpixelers! And thanks for all the help and fascinating posts during the year.

Hi! I use both the Nikkor 12-24 and 10.5 in a Subal housing with a D200 and have been delighted with both lenses - and the D200. The 12-24 would be a very good first-wide-angle underwater choice. The 10.5 takes a lot more practice. Folks on Wetpixel have been so enthusiasic about the Tokina 10-17 that I bought one recently but have not had chance to get it in the water yet. Topside results have been pretty good though. On housings, I just think you can't go wrong with Subal. I'm on my third (CP5000, D100 and D200) and they have all been knock-out. Real Rolls Royce quality. But, yeah, they are pricey. Having said that, you might see on the Classifieds that I'm selling mine (!). The lure of the D300......

Many thanks, lads. The Epson R3800 does indeed sound good. I'll pursue...... (another addition to my Xmas list)

Hey guys Just to add to the mix: I've used Rawshooter Premium for some time for initial tweaking - and it has been excellent. "Sadly" the company was bought out by Adobe and the program was overtaken by LR - which I just havn't got to grips with. I then used PSE for the fine-tuning. I'm now experimenting with Nikon's View NX for initial sorting - and then Capture NX for fine tuning; and PSE for cataloging. NX has the neatest system (U-touch) for manipulating "selections" of a pic. But I suspect I may go back to Rawshooter backed up by NX. Rawshooter is such a simple but effective program especially good for quick, initial tweaks, re-numbering, sorting and prioritising and exporting to JPG, TIFF etc. If you are looking for something simple to do the initial work, see if you can find a copy of Rawshooter. Its well worthwhile.

Hi I've got about 12000 pics indexed through Photoshop Album - which is now part of Photoshop Elements. I'm using v6.0 which is easy, you can create as many categories as you like - and it will search quickly. It'll read RAW - at least it reads by D200 Nikon NEF files no problem.

Hey Guys I'm in the market for a high quality photo printer. The Epson 2400 sounds good - but it has been on the market some years now and I wondered if it had been superceded. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to be able to print up to A3 - and it seems as though its a case of the more colour cartridges the better. Thanks

Sounds a good selection to me. As you rightly say, the Nikkor 18-200 VR is only for topside but I reckon it is excellent. I've just got the Tokina 10-17mm which sounds excellent too - but have not had it in the water yet. I suspect it may replace the 12-24 and 10.5 that I have used so far. I use the Subal port for the Nikkor 60mm macro - and the same port with an extension ring to house the old Nikkor 105mm. No problems at all.

Subal have just told me they anticipate February 2008 for their ND30 housing. Yeah!

Make that three votes for two strobe connections. Its well worth the money. Not only does it give you more lighting options, but as the lads say, an alternative too if you flood one one the connectors.

For sale: my Subal ND20 housing for the Nikon D200. Perfect condition - not a ding, scratch, scrape or blemish. Never flooded, never leaked. Pristine. Complete with original box and manual. Price: £1850 or Australian $4250 Shipping from Canberra, Australia

Hey Guys Well I handed over my money - and am delighted to say that NX works like a charm on my VAIO laptop with 1GB RAM. I seems pretty quick to me - and, as Loftus says, the U-point technology is terrific

Hi Pacislander I've managed to get a Pelican 1620 roller case into lots of airline cabins. It'll hold all that you ask - and a bit more and is sized to fit the old airline cabin bag standard. But that was prior to the recent cabin baggage clampdown following the attempted airline terrorist plots in the UK. These led to serious reductions, certainly in Europe but it seems to be spreading on the volume of cabin baggage which can be carried: one small piece. But that might not be an issue for you. Yet!

Hey guys I've just had an e-flyer from Nikon about the upgrade to Nikon Capture NX. The Nikon blurb says v1.2 runs faster. I'd always read that 1.0 was very slow. Does anyone have any experience of the upgrade? Is it faster? I'm currently using RawShooter Pro - which was bought out by Adobe and changed to Lightroom (which I can't say I like too much). I was mulling over switching to Capture. Any thoughts guys?

Welcome aboard Tazzie. This is a great place to get excellent advice - especially on how to empty your bank account Post away your questions and everyone does their best to give you good answers. Enjoy!

Yep, I'm one of those that likes to have a good look at my pics while I'm on my dive vacation. I shoot RAW and if I don't have my trusty VAIO with me, I use an Epson P2000. I must admit that I have no clue how it displays RAW files - but it does. (I can't figure out how colour TV works either but I'm happy to watch it). The Epsons have a cracking screen, can move through picture files pretty quickly and are easy to transport.

Its worth checking out the Nikkor 80-400 VR for sure. I've been using mine a couple of weeks and first results are very promising. It seems an ideal safari lens.

And count one more vote for the Nikkor 18-200 VR. I've been using mine for about a year and have had terrific results - and some sales from the images. Yes, it does seem a little wobbly at times. But the images don't seem to suffer. I've also recently bought the 80-400 VR which seems very good although its early days yet. I do think the Nikkor 12-24 is very useful underwater; and I've had results I'm happy with using the 18-70. I'm sure the f2.8 lenses are better. But whether the increase in quality is worth the price for we non full-time pros, I do wonder. I've had great results with the Nikkor 60mm and I reckon its a terrific starter underwater lens. The 105 is slightly tricky to use but also gets good results. (I'm still on the non-VR model). I reckon the lenses that produce some of the most spectacular underwater results are the lenses that are not so useful topside: the 10.5mm and 105mm. I've had some excellent results with the 10.5 underwater. But topside? Pretty rare. The Tokina 10-17mm sounds tempting and is likely to be more useful topside as well. Worth checking out maybe.