scubaj82 - 23 September 2008 06:32 AM
Hi all!!
I just bought myself a Nikon D60 D-SLR and now i am hunting around for a reliable housing. So far I have found that my choices are basically between the Ikelite 6804.1 housing or the Fantasea FD-40X. The price difference between the Ikelite and Fantasea is about $350US.
At the moment i am leaning towards the Ikelite as i know i can get the dome port for the macro lens, although it is a LOT more expensive than the other. I havent been able to find out whether the Fantasea one will allow me to use a macro lens :( if anyone knows the answer i would be grateful!
Does anyone know if there are any other options floating around out there? Also if anyone uses these housings what do you think of them? I haven’t done any underwater photography yet so any and all comments/opinions/hints and tips will be well appreciated!
Thanks in advance
Urgh, lost what I was posting 
Anyway welcome to the boards
The one manufacturer I would throw into the mix to consider is Aquatica, I believe they are the only manufacturer that makes metal housings somewhere in the ballpark of the price of the Ikelite.
I just went to the B&H;site and checked prices, it looked like the Aquatica was $1,599.95, the Ikelite for the housing (neither with ports) was $1300 or so (now cannot find it for some reason) and the Ikelite Macro Ports ran about $189, while the one Macro port B&H;listed for Aquatica was $389 (I know Aquatica has another one that is about $100 less than that). The Fantasea housing, complete with a port and 1 year of flood insurance was around $1,049, but out of stock. Fantasea also has a range of ports for use with various lenses
http://www.fantasea.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.8/.f
The Ikelite housing will do TTL with Ikelite strobes with no need for another part, while for the Aquatica Ikelite makes a cord that will do TTL with other housings, though you will probably find yourself also shooting non-TTL as you shoot more, but it is not a bad thing in the arsenal (I have a non-TTL rig right now, decided the housing and camera took priority for me, I am now shooting a Canon 30D in an Aquatica and love the set-up - it was a balance between price and perfomance for me. )
http://ikelite.com/web_two/ittl_adapter.html
With the price of the housing being so close I would take a look at the Aquatica. Not saying you need to buy it, but check it out, especially with the camera you have. For some other models the price difference of the housing is more along the lines of $1,200 between Aquatica and Ikelite but in this case the prices are closer. (Gears and ports will make the difference more, but price them out.)
Definately drop a line to any of the manufacturers to double check to make sure they have parts for the lens set-up you want, usually you will want a WA port and a flat Macro port for the best results.
