Finally I'm in the market to replace my trusty Nikonos V with a digital setup.

Initially I was leaning towards a housed SLR (I have a Nikon F5 and some awesome lenses). However, I find that I don't use it "on land" as often as I'd like due to the size/weight. So now I'm considering a smaller setup (Nikon Coolpix 8800 or Olympus Stylus 800, in a housing).

Does anybody have experience with either of these? Or, if you have a setup that you love, can you tell me about it? If there are any pics to share, I'd love to see some examples.

And if this has been discussed in another thread, just point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

Whirlwind

I was doing homework on digital cameras and underwater housings not long ago.. a most useful site/forum I found where I posted my questions and received what I thought were very good answers that led me to a camera I'm very happy with.. was as http://www.digideep.com
I set a fairly strict budget of $200 for camera, less than $200 for housing, and than listed a ton of features I wanted for the money.. I ended up with a canon A610, canon u.w. housing, and 1gb card. A bit over $$ for the camera and a bit under $$ for the housing put me right on target. I'm impressed...

(Message edited by subaqua on May 19, 2006)

Peggy, I've moved your thread to the Photography section. You will get more responses here.

Cynde

house the F5;)

a good camera is a terrible thing to waste...and besides it may turn out to be your cheaper option for good pics given you have the camera and lenses and the F5 housing is considerably cheaper than say a D70 housing...

of course, in order to make room in your luggage you'll have to leave your dive gear home;) NOT;)

good luck!

I say go with the housing for the F5 as well. Don't waste money on a lower end camera. Or if you prefer we can always trade ;) lol

I bought my wife a Nikon D50 and she bought the Sea&Sea housing - it is very small but very good although it is expensive. http://marine-cameras.com/gallery/D50review/index.html

I do the land photos - - and my husband does the underwater photography. Mike had a Nikonos - but it took up so much space, and he felt like he really had to baby it to keep from flooding. So, he did lots of research & last year finally went digital.

He finally got a Canon PowerShot S70 that has a housing made for it & LOVES it!! I put a few of his pics in an album that you can look at, if you'd like.

Pics are from Cozumel, Belize & Hawaii. We were certainly not disappointed with the camera underwater or on land - - even used it on a helicopter tour!

Visit my yahoo photos

I hope this works!!

Good luck with your search!

(Message edited by txteachers on May 21, 2006)

If you replace your F5 with a digital kamera like coolpix and similar compact models your going to go crazy over all the thing you can do with your F5 but not with the digital compacts. Get a housing to the F5 or get yourself a D70s or D50 and an Ikelite housing.
You can easily find a used housing for your F5, but over all its not the camera that costs, its the housing, strobes, strobe arms and ports.
I recommend a D70s with a Ikelite housing. I just packed away my old Nikon F801 (US Nikon N8008) and my old Ikelite housing and invested in a Nikon D70s with Ikelite housing, and I'm more than satisfied.

Sure, it costs quite a bit. $650 for a D70s, $1200 for the housing, $140 for a dome port (for wide angle), $105 for a macro port, about $200 for arms and you can probably use your old Nikonos flashes.
A total of like $2300.

Just a housing for a Nikon F5 costs like $4000.

So, my advise, go for the D70s and you can still use all your nikon lenses.
Check my latest Bonaire pics at
http://uvfoto.punkis.se/bonaire2005/
(with Nikon F801)

And my latest D70 pics at:
http://uvfoto.punkis.se/grebbestad2006april/

oops...

i was operating under the assumption there was an $800 housing out there for the F5 (is for the F100)...but apparently that is not the case;(

so?

a D50 is pretty disposable (relatively inexpensive) ;)

again, good luck and better yet good pics;)