Small bodies best high iso performance

[Slipwave]

I am looking for a nice small camera e410 or D50 sized with very good high ISO performance up to 800 ISO (its for UK underwater stuff where light is poor)
Can anyone recomend a decent body? I don't care who makes it as its only going to be fitted with one lens so although I already have a Nikon body its not going to be to expensive to sort out what I need
Thanks

[puddleduck]

D40 is the obvious one if you have Nikon lenses.

[konastab01]

I would go for a D50 over a D40 or D60 due to the motor in the body.
i shot a lot at 800iso with my 50 and always got good results

[Slipwave]

I don't really mind what lenses it takes, I will just buy the best I can afford for it. My main concern is the High ISO performance, I am looking for the best in class if possible.

[puddleduck]

You should be able to shoot a D50 or D40 at ISO1600 no problem at all.

The D40 is excellent at ISO800.

[Slipwave]

Cheers Puddleduck, would you say ISO 800 was a viable option for saleable images at A3 size?

[puddleduck]

I've sold images at that size from a D200 (ISO800), and the D40 and D50 are better than the D200 by quite a margin, so I think you'd be OK.

I've never shot underwater (would love to!) but unless there is something weird about the light there it should be OK - the D40 or D50 camera will suffer blue channel chroma noise in artificial light, I wonder if underwater (with presumably a lot of blue intensity) would help here as you'd have more blue light than usual?

[ppp]

Surely D300 is an obvious choice, not much bigger but much better at high iso

[Slipwave]

Yes there is a lot of blue due to other colours being quickly filtered out at the surface.
On reason I did fancy the 40 or 50 was that I could use the sb-400 which would be ideal!
I was going to get a housing for the D2X but I find the shadow noise pretty bad even by ISO 200

[Slipwave]

The 300 + flash + lens is a little out of my financial comfort zone should the worse happen! :)

[ppp]

tbh for the size the D300 will trounce anything for iso performance in the range

edit: was too slow sorry

[puddleduck]

The D2X stinks at anything over ISO320.

Can you get housings for the D50 and D40? I don't know anything about this (I'm out of my depth :thumbs: ) but I'd quite fancy trying this and would much rather do it with a small cheap camera incase it all sprung a leak!

[dellipher]

What Nikon body do you already have?

[Slipwave]

I'm going with the ewa marine bags, pretty cheap compared to the alternatives. I have a D2X at the moment.

[ppp]

After having had a D50 and now owning a D200 and D2x, I would say the D2x is a good bet as although the noise can be worse the detail it pulls out is significant, had a problem at a wedding with no flash and when comparing shots taken with the D2x and D50 the D2x was head and shoulders above and nothing that wasn't recoverable in PP, not had the D200 long so can't comment how that compares but would have thought it would be better than D50 due to better image processing?

[dellipher]

And how much are you looking at spending?

[puddleduck]

After having had a D50 and now owning a D200 and D2x, I would say the D2x is a good bet as although the noise can be worse the detail it pulls out is significant, had a problem at a wedding with no flash and when comparing shots taken with the D2x and D50 the D2x was head and shoulders above and nothing that wasn't recoverable in PP, not had the D200 long so can't comment how that compares but would have thought it would be better than D50 due to better image processing?

I think you missed the "small bodies" part in the title.

Nothing you are recommending is small!

[Slipwave]

Around £250 Max used on the body ideally, the small part is as Puddleduck points out quite important, I need to be able to swim easily with it in one hand.

[ppp]

I think you missed the "small bodies" part in the title.

Nothing you are recommending is small!

But he mentioned earlier that he had considered using his D2x apart from the shadow noise issue?

Other than that D50, D200 and D300 and within a whisker of size of each other, given the price bracket he has set above then D50 i the only sensible option

[Blapto]

It all depends on your definition of small. Do you have the bag that it needs to fit in to already?

[ppp]

FYI

D50 - 133 x 102 x 76 mm
D70 - 140 x 111 x 78 mm
D200 - 147 x 113 x 74 mm
D300 - 147 x 114 x 74 mm

[Slipwave]

Yes the Ewa marine SlR Bag covers quite a few sizes. The D2X would fit in it but as I said I would prefer a much smaller body. Don't really care about the D2X getting wet i've had it for years and its well worn but its High ISO performance and weight really put me off Will be getting a D3 or D700 soon (neither of which I intend to submerge :) ).

[fontmoss]

ppp, what are the figures for the d40? its a chunk smaller than the 70 and 200 and if memory serves a bit smaller than the 50 too.

[puddleduck]

The D40 is smaller than a D50.

I don't really know why PPP is ignoring this option, he seems to be filtering out the "small" part of this question quite well :)

[joxby]

D40 narrows down the lens choice, I guess..

[Blapto]

Well, small is subjective. Compared to my RZ67, my D300 is tiny. That's why I was asking for clarification.

[rrfierce]

Got to be the D90 surely? Arguably better high ISO performance than a D300, same size as a D80

[boyfalldown]

The D40 is well thought off for an underwater body. A couple of things (that I'm sure you know) with underwater photography. Being able to manually set white balance and shoot in RAW is essential. You need to get close to your subjects and iso performance isn't the be and and end all in this, but a decent lighting set-up (two strobes) does make a world of difference.

Lastly, I know you know this - but a DSLR underwater will take over your dive. For this reason I've a Fufi P & S that I take underwater and don't use for anything else. I've a couple of good articles about underwater set ups I'll dig out later if you want

Cheers

Hugh

[Slipwave]

The ewa marine bag only has the provision for a single on camera flash Hugh, I am also considering a Sony a100 and the Olympus E-510. Any opinions on these cameras? They both have IS which could prove usefull I guess

[ppp]

The D40 is smaller than a D50.

I don't really know why PPP is ignoring this option, he seems to be filtering out the "small" part of this question quite well :)

Arrggggh FFS I thought the D40 was ruled out earlier because of it needs AFS lenses :( that's why I left it out

anyway specs are 126 x 94 x 64 mm

I hadn't ignored the small part I have only gone along with what the OP and other replies have raised along the way

[ppp]

Got to be the D90 surely? Arguably better high ISO performance than a D300, same size as a D80

He's only got £250 max to spend on the body

[Slipwave]

I don't really mind afs only as I will only have one small zoom to get so its not a problem.
In short I want a reasonably small body that performs well at the lower light levels underwater.

[boyfalldown]

Hi Chris,

I have to admit I'm not familiar with the bags - I've always used a hard casing. These tend to be expensive for SLRs though. For lighting if you have to use on camera you must difuse it otherwise all the particulates in the water reflect the flash and spoil the picture. Getting even one strobe away from the lens improves things no end.

I think this link is really good for underwater stuff

http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?section=1054&sn=1054:Photography

Cheers

Hugh

[ppp]

For your money and size then its got to be D40/x or D50

[Slipwave]

Thanks for the link Hugh, anyone know if radio triggers work underwater?

[boyfalldown]

Hi Chris,


I've no idea - I don't know of anybody using them though

Sorry

Hugh

[Slipwave]

Suppose I could use the su mode on the sb-80 dx and an onboard flash to trigger!

[boyfalldown]

Hi Chris,

You could try - but I've no idea if it would work ;-) I think most people use cable release

Hugh

[heidfirst]

I am also considering a Sony a100
A200 would give you better higher ISO than the A100 (& an A700 would match D300 ability) although some people will say that the A100 IQ is unmatched at low ISO.

[Slipwave]

Just got an a100 and flash, if its no good I'll try something else.My daughter is starting her photography course soon so if its unsuitable she can use it. Made sense as I have now decided my main body is going to be the cheaper A900 rather than the D3.