The Sony A350 has replaced the A100. I went for an Ikelite housing again since I am very familiar with it and have matching strobes and dome-ports. This camera has live view which I thought would be a great benefit, but really isn't. The liveview shows what the picture will look like with the current settings, which is quite nice topside, but for macro settings like 1/60s, f11 in dark dutch waters this results in a black screen, the liveview doesn't know it will be backed up by 1 or 2 flashes.
Ikelite A350 housing     Sony A350 camera

For flashes I use the Ikelite DS-125 and its successor the DS-160. I like these power-beasts a lot. They recycle fast and TTL is usually very accurate. The DS-125 got broken in 2009 when we returned from a holiday in Greece. Someone probably tried to kick my suitcase as hard as possible out of the airplane which resulted in a broken flash tube. It could be repaired, but not in time for my liveaboard trip to egypt, so I decided to buy the DS-160 as a replacement while the DS-125 was away.

The minolta macro 50mm f2.8 and the Sigma 10mm f2.8 fisheye lenses are my favourites. These lenses show stellar performance under water. In clear waters I also use the Minolta 100mm f2.8 macro and sometimes I switch back to the trusty Minolta 16mm f2.8 wide angle lens.

In 2012 I decided to get a new camera and housing for really deep work. The housing should at be able to function in the 100 - 150 meter range. Sadly none of the manufacturers of these kind of housings build one for Sony cameras. I sold off the A350 and Ikelite gear and bought a Nikon D800 with a Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro and 15mm f2.8 Sigma lens. The housing is a Hugyfot one. The 36 Megapixel D800 is a true monster! ISO can be easily bumped into the 2000 range and the details from macro shots are amazing.
Nikon D800     Hugyfot Housing Nikon D800


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