Underwater Housing for Nikon D300

Hello, I was interested in purchasing an underwater housing for a Nikon D300. Anybody know of some good quality

products at a decent price under $2000 hopefully including the ports for my lenses?

 

Thanks, Phillip

I have done a great deal of underwater photography Phillip, and for a few years I was a commercial diver for Sea Life

Park in Hawaii. I have never used an underwater housing , no matter how expensive, that did not leak at some point.

I'm only telling you this in case you are not of the opinion that your D300 is expendable. If you only dive occasionally,

and are not in the business of selling your underwater images, I suggest buying a less expensive camera to use for

diving. If money is no object and the D300 is not your only body, than Sea & Sea makes a pretty good housing. I see

they have one for the D300 for little over $3000.

Robert, as I've been planning to do a dive with my Nikonos IV in a couple of months, may I ask what you recommend for underwater photography?

As said by Robert, they all leak eventually. The safest thing to do is to check the seals by closing it down and submerging it for a while and inspecting it. The best thing to do is to get a small camera (point and shoot) that has underwater housing available and do that. The whole thing will b e cheaper then to get a $2500 unit for the D300.

The Nikonos is a great camera Michael. I never owned the IV-A but I did own the Nikonos I through III. Make sure you

check, clean, and lubricate (silicone) your serviceable O rings and replace any that look worn or deformed before your

trip. Clean the channels the o rings go into as well.

 

Shoot a roll through the camera just to see that everything is functioning . Of course make sure you install a fresh

battery and carry a few extras. The 35mm or 80mm lenses are ok performers out of water. What lens or lenses do you

have?

 

Remember, you can have your film processed, scanned, and copied to a CD for processing with the digital editing

program of your choice.

 

Below about 20 feet depth, your images will become noticeably more and more cyan/monochromatic because the water

filters out warm colors of the spectrum. Most reef fish and coral formations are within 33ft anyway. Pelagic fish are the

exception.

 

I'm not going to get into underwater strobes because I could write a book on that subject. Without experience using

underwater flash you will have a lot of trouble avoiding illumination of particulate matter in the water, unless you are

using flash in absolutely clear water like fresh water Tarpon Springs, or Silver Springs Florida. This a big problem when

using flash in in any condition other than perfect visibility. Extending your flash head forward out from the camera on an

articulated arm to illuminate your subject from the side helps, but is not a complete solution in every circumstance.

Forget using flash unless you have some comfort level with it already.

 

Ocean water clarity has been denigrating at an alarming rate here in Hawaii and around the world, just in my lifetime. But

I digress. Hope I have contributed something you don't already know, Michael. Good luck

I just thought of something else important, Michael. Buoyancy control. In my early days of diving, we just grabbed a piece

of coral and hunkered down against the reef to steady ourselves for a shot. We had no idea we were destroying the reef by

doing this at the time. Of course in those days we didn't use Buoyancy Control Devices, ( BCDs), because they weren't

invented yet. Later, I learned to control my buoyancy using a BCD enough to steady myself for shooting. Frankly, the

technique does not replace grabbing ahold of a coral head, but you are causing no damage to the the reef if you master

buoyancy control. Currents and surge complicate matters, you'll have to act according to your conscience in these

situations.

Phillip, maybe these people can tell you the kind of housing they use. At least you will know what Nikon recommends.......

 

http://www.nikonschool.com/underwater.html

Phillip, to meet your criteria of good quality and under 2k the answer is Ikelite. BTW I have had 5 UW housings 2 of which were Ikelite and not a one of them has ever leaked. Proper and careful predive maintenance is a must. You will need to buy a housing and at least one port depending on which lens you want to use. The immensity of choices is daunting.I currently dive with a D200. Oh, and you better be ready to fork out about another 1K for at least one UW strobe. Good lighting is even more important down there. Regards, Bernie ps A friend is standing on the same cliff's edge as you:)

Thanks everyone for all the good feedback, I ended up getting the D300. I forgot to mention that I would mainly be shooting surfing and if I do ever want to go into taking photos of widelife I'll consider that later. I'm also going to take pictures from the water to the land, if that makes sense. The hotel I work for would look really cool from the water. There were companies like Dicapac and Aquapac for $119.95 on ebay.... Ewa-Marine UB Underwater Housing from B&H $334.95, Ikelite $1,424.95, and the Aqua Tech D2 Sports Housing $1,649.95. That's what I've found within my price range, not including having to add a port to both the more expensive housings. Water damage to my camera isn't a huge issue, since I bought the no fault warranty. Just as long as my lenses don't get ruined, those aren't under that warranty. What do you think of the cheaper ones? I don't really know what to get, I suppose I got cheaper for right now, and if I want to do deep sea diving I'll buy the more expensive ones? Also for surfing, do I need to get a standard lense or can I just use my 18-55mm lense, I was also thinking about getting a fisheye or another wide angle lense, I'm just not sure what fits in where.

 

 

Thanks!!!!<div></div>

<p>Personally, I use a Nimar housing and it's never failed me. What I mean by that is, it's never flooded or cracked. Although I've dropped the housing quite a few times. I enjoy having a clear housing rather than an aluminum case(it's better don't get me wrong) but I clear because I can see, just in case, if my housing floods. I DO NOT want my baby to get wet. But um, here is a link to a Nikon D300 housing from Nimar<br /><br />http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/801518-REG/Nimar_NID300SN1_Underwater_Housing_f_Nikon_D300.html<br /><br />I've heard good things about ikelite, I'm not trying talk bobo.<br /><br />and here's a picture of Pipin, idk if you know him but he's a pretty awesome diver and uses nimar.</p>