Nwcid

Sounds like I will keep an eye out for a used housing. For some reason, inexpensive used housings for the D7100 seem few and far between. I have only briefly looked a couple of times though. A new housing Aquatica housing for either the D7100 or D850 is ~$3000. So unless I can find a used housing for less then 1/2 the price it does not make sense. If I was not planning on a D850 for my other uses, I would consider a different body.

Thank you for the answers so far. As for bodies to house, it will either be my D7100 which I currently have, or the D850 I am going to be getting for the other type of photography I am expanding into. Of course money is always a factor, but so is longevity. The D7100 is already a 5 year old camera, that is not to say it does not do an amazing job. Unless I can get a used D7100 housing for probably at least less then 1/2 the price of a new one I am not sure it make sense. Of course changing housing, and lenses gets more expensive, but it should have more longevity right? I have been kicking around the idea of a 105mm, but I do like the flexibility the 60mm gives me. I know that will change with the FX though, so I will be looking for something equivalent.

I have not been on here much. We are planning a major dive trip the Red Sea this August which has given me upgrade lust. Since this might be our only time there, I want to get the best shots I can. I upgraded from a well used D70 package to my D90 when I found a nice price on a used housing about 5 years ago. My current set up is an Aquatica D90 housing with 8" dome port. I have dual YS-250 strobes for lights. I shoot with a Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye about 20% of the time and a Nikon 60mm Macro the other 80%. To use the Fisheye I have to be somewhere with fairly clear water and big things I want to shoot. What I really like about the 60mm behind the dome port is that I have a very good range of what I can shoot from very small, less then 1" critters up to large fish or turtle size critters. I shoot in full manual and RAW. I am currently using a D7100 for my land shooting. Due to other factors I am strongly considering buying a D850 in the next couple of months, that is unrelated to this trip. So the question becomes, do I continue to use my D90, look for a used D7100 housing, or buy a D850 housing. D90: Pro, I already own it. I am familiar with its function. If I flood/damage it, it is the least expensive. Con, It is a 10 year old camera and while it works well I would like to do better. There was an obvious difference going from my D70 to D90. D7100: Pro, Uses lenses I already own. Has a function I am familiar with on land. Still a crop sensor so familiar framing. Con, Looks like uses housings are few and far between. If I can not find a use housing, a new one is the same price as the D850. D850: Pro, Great all around camera. Can do high end video if I want. More dynamic range. Better low light (we dive in cold dark water too). Con, Need new lenses also. New learning curve on function. New learning curve on FF framing. What other things should I consider? If it would help to see my shooting style, I have several pics from our recent Honduras trip, https://www.facebook.com/john.nokes.965/photos_all Thank you.

Not split. As I stated, 2 different sync cords. Yes I have 2 separate bulk heads also. Originally I thought it might have been a problem at the bulkhead or in the housing. Problem was even with the sync cords disconnected from the bulkhead the strobe would not "test" if either cable was connected.

Bump. Make me an offer.

I recently got a whole new camera set up and ran into a problem. Used Aquatica D90 housing, used sync cables (one each side), new UCLS arms, used YS-250 strobes, D90 I bought new years ago. I got it all set up and bathtub "tested" it twice with no problems. I then added the camera and strobe batteries and did probably a total of 100+ test shots on land. Everything worked as it should. Did a dive Saturday night and unit worked as it should. I took the camera out so I could download the pics and I changed batteries. Sunday morning went out and did another dive everything worked as it should. Between dives I pulled the camera, downloaded the pics and changed batteries again, then did a test shot to make sure everything works. With all that done we headed in for another dive. Here is where things go wrong. My strobes will not fire. My focus lights will not come on. The red "charge lights come on and stay on. The one strobe test fired one time and would not again. Finished out the dive with higher ISO and using our dive lights. Back at the hotel I tried to do some testing. With everything hooked up nothing worked. Strobes would not fire, would not test strobe, no focus lights. If I unhooked the sync cable from the strobe it would test strobe and focus light would work. So I tried disconnecting the syne cable from the bulkhead and that made no difference. I tried switching sides with the sync cable, again made no difference. I did not have a lot of time to mess with it so I had to quit there. So just made sure all the connections were tight and we went diving. So last night I get home where I have time to deal with the unit and throughly test it. Well I set it out on the table, turn everything on, and everything works just fine. Did a couple dozen test shots. Wiggled cables, plugged and unplugged all the connectors. I am happy it works but at the same time worried because I am sure it will do it again. I have a big trip coming up and would like to sort it out before we go. Any ideas what it might be? Possibly moisture somewhere? Any help would be great.

Thanks for the input. I had seen a few with the rope but none with the PVC. I might have to try that.

Yeah I get that. still does not help much with land management or getting it from the truck to the water. With my old set up, D70, Aquatica housing, Ikelite arms, and DS-50 strobes, I would just fold the arms over the top of the camera which made for a nice carry handle. Then when I headed to/from the water I would just bolt snap the unit off to my right chest D-ring. Maybe there is a better way to manage this slightly larger set up. I did a seal test in the bathtub last night. With no batteries or camera the unit easily floated up and I had to put a weight on it to keep it down.

I just bought a pair of YS-250 strobes so ordered a new set of arms too. After looking around I went with the UCLS arms with a 5" and 8" section. So when everything got here and set it up. One thing I noticed was the joints seem "loose". I have tightened the joints to the point right before having to put a lot of force on them. it helps but it will still not support the strobe. I can start craning down on the joint but didn't want to damage the screw or O-ring. How tight should you have to make these? I know the YS-250 is a heavy strobe, is this the wrong arms for these?

All prices are OBO. I did the best pricing I could base on what I could find online. I am open to reasonable offers, this stuff needs gone.

I just did a camera upgrade so now selling off my old stuff. I am at least the second owner, but I believe I am the 3rd owner of this set up. It is fully functional but in used shape. I have been using this set up just over a year. I tried to get good pics of any damaged areas. I used this set up last on 10-19-2013 and I will post links at the bottom so you can see the pics it took. Aquatica D70 housing. I can not find a page with the actual specs on it but here is a PDF of the user manual, http://www.aquatica.ca/en/manuals/d70.instructions.pdf Asking $300 Dual strobe arms. The lower arms are 5" and I believe are TLC, the upper arms are 6" and are Ikelite. Asking $225 for the pair. Dual sync cable. Asking $125 Ikelite DS-50 strobes. One has serial #63219, the other is #70459. Both have had the battery compartment flooded but work fine. The flooding is has happened from cracked battery door or bad seals. I tried to picture this the best I could. One currently has a clear door and one has the grey door. I have a spare used clear door but it would need to be checked prior to use. When I got this it had rechargeable batteries with it that I never used. I will included the chargers (not pictured). These do come with the ball sockets. Asking $425 for the pair. Nikon D70s. There are no lenses with this. This is actually not the camera I got with this set up. My first one had a "card reader failure" so I had to replace it this spring. Camera comes with 3 batteries that are showing their age, but you can easily get a full dive of pics out of each. It has one spare memory card. Come with charger, wires, CD, ext in the box. Also a soft case that fits the camera and card. Asking $225 Last but not least is a focus gear for Nikon 10.5mm. Aquatica part #18699. Asking $75. If you are interested in the whole set up please let me know. You can find picks I have taken with this set up on my Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/john.nokes.965 or on my website, http://scubadivesites.webs.com I used an 8" dome port and either a Nikon 10.5mm or 60mm.

I know there was a lot in that post. Right now I am using the Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye, and Nikon 60mm Macro. I know at some point I should get a macro port but at this point all the pics I have taken with the macro under the 8" dome have come out well.