Diverjim84

He's selling to me at cost. So I could get 2 strobes or strobe and 2k lumen light for 1/2 of a D160.

I agree with both of you. That tiered teaching plan is the goal. My issue is he's forcing me into buying the sea life strobes. I get the mind set of people buying what they see the instructors see. I currently shoot a Canon S100 in an Ike with a Sola 800. So all my day shots are natural light, because I traveled to great spots where the vis is limitless and the sun is so strong. And it taught me more about exposure, because I had to shoot manual and constantly WB. I'm not saying I would recommend the sea life to someone who was in my shoes 5 years ago and only thought about buying his first camera after diving. It seems idiot proof. But I feel like I would be given odd looks and lose credibility if I put sea life strobes on my rig. I'd have to build a custom mount plate for sure. The only thing is that they have a 20m GN and are tiny. They only get 150 shots per charge and the shots I see, the light looks harsh, but that might be their absolutely horrible camera.

I work for a dive shop, who's owner seems very ingrained with Sea Life. My impression of the products are not that great. I don't see a lot of them on boats by people who look like they care that much about the hobby. I'm trying to fill a void in this dive shop by wanting to market and teach photography. But I don't want to sell customers junk. My only 2 experiences with dive housings are an un-named company that was a complete nightmare of a camera and housing and Ikelite. I LOVE and trust Ikelite customer service, and for the price, it seems a great housing (only having the first nightmare to compare). My shop also carries ike, but pushes everyone to Sea Life. The only thing I can think of is either everyone is missing out how good Sea life is or Ikelite doesn't let him mark the products up a great deal. He's basically said that if I want to teach photography there, I have to use Sea life. My current feelings towards that is to not teach photography there. But I would like to get the advice from the community on this product as see if maybe I'm overlooking something. I'm specifically looking at opinions on the strobes and lights. Thanks

Thanks for the great advice. I think with the budget at hand, you are very correct about getting a strobe. The Sola lets me take passable video at night. But long term I would like to teach both P/S and once I learn dSLR, teach that too. How does an novice like me get to the point that we can make $ on our photos? I'm very ignorant about how that works, not that my photos are near as amazing as what you and others have posted. I have only what I have learned from online. Are there any good articles that talk about how to better compose a story within a composition?

I currently shoot with a Canon s100 in an Ike housing. I use a SOLA 800 for night diving, natural light during the day because the 800 can't over power the sun. I currently shoot in Av and some manual. I'm a DM that works with a local shop 6hrs from salt water. I've started charging for photos to help cover my costs. But I would like to start teaching DUP as well. I bought a D7000 2 yrs ago to start teaching myself real photography, but it has been going slow. So my question is what should I buy first. Do I buy a strobe or 2 or some high power video lights to take stills and video? Do I get a WA wet lens for my P&S? Or do I start building a real rig. My funds are very limited. My gut says 1 strobe and 1 2k lumen video light to help my Sola 800. Meaning the Sola and video light act as fill for the flash on stills, if I understand the physics of it all. I've got about $1k US to spend. I look forward to the great advice I'm used to seeing here. Thanks in advance. jim

Have you gotten many offers? I'm also looking for d7000 rig. Anyone used the ikelite housing?