NIKONOS in action

Ok, My NIKONOS works... After oiling the O rings and a check submersion in a bucket at home I went one stage up and got it UW in my kid's schools pool. So far so good, camera was very dry inside when I removed the film.

Next stage is to get the flash gun ready for action and shoot some with strobe...

This are cPrints that I shot with my D300. (And the one of me is solarized as you can probably guess... just for fun)

That's great news!
I remember we had quite a thread going when you first purchased it.
I'm glad you have had a chance to play now!

John
I'm glad you remember, this is now the fun part, I have to do a pre-swim check for the weekend since we are going to Coroico, here in Bolivia to swim. In the summer time I will go to Nicaragua for real ocean UW photography, but it is good to practice in calm waters before that.

The camera is surprisingly easy to use and the most practical way is to shoot regular cPrint film and take it to the local Agfa for machine prints...

...and I'm also jealous that you have had the chance to actually swim! It's still dead of winter here, very depressing.

Beside Nikonas, what are todays options apart from getting a waterproof case for a DSLR? Do the underwater housings for the digicams have corrections for the water or what? Is the Nikonas optimized in any way for underwater focus?

Asher

Good lord Asher, don't even go there! If one believes LF is expensive, underwater gear makes that look like a disposable camera.
Most DSLR housings will run anywhere from $1500 to $3500. That's for the housing alone. You need a lens port for the lens you choose to use. That'll set you back $500 to $1000 or more.

The good news is Canon makes a nifty housing for your new G10. It goes for $171.99 @ B&H.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/587432-REG/Canon_3156B001_WP_DC28_Case_for_Canon.html

Plan on getting wet with Leonardo? I want to see images from that excursion!

Exactly,

the first thing I searched was housings ... but don't really want to take may D300 in to salt water ..... and the idea is to one day be able to send images in to my stock collection -for that the file has to be 48Megas TIFF 8bits--..

After that I looked for digital UW cameras. I think we will see them in the future years. There is one announced that can go 10m but is basically a point and shoot with a shell. (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/09021805canond10.asp)

So I looked for NIKONOS on eBay, and: bingo ! tons of equipment being sold for what casings are.

The advantage of the NIKONOS system is that you can use external strobes that shoot Through The Lens, or TTL.
The V has Aperture priority shutter that works pretty well even with e6 film (remember that? LOL)

Then there is the issue of focusing. Asher, no AF what so ever. Not even a range finder like Leica. You simply have to set it by instinct. I tell you this. It is a good game and not so difficult to get in to. Of course, old photographers like me don't see the numbers w/out glasses, so that makes it even more of a fun game..

My plan is to buy a 28mm lens. I have a 35mm. They make a fish eye, a 20mm, 35mm 28mm and 80mm. There is also an interesting lens developed for the Vietnam War where this camera was apparently very useful in the rain forest. This is a 28mm 2.8 that is splash proof and fits this camera.

The interesting thing of the NIKONOS is that is a range finder with small non-retro-focus lenses.

I don't understand why Nikon has not come up with an equivalent digital model. Some time in the last century they discontinued the NIKONOS rangefinder and came up with a REFLEX NIKONOS that was (and is, even on eBay) exorbitantly expensive.

true, the Nikonos RS wasn't a Nikonos in the sense that it was a completely separate and new system, based on the F801 I think. but you could use the exisitng Nikonos strobes if you didn't want to fork out $$$ for a dedicated SB-104.
As far as I know, the splashproof 28mm LW-Nikkor only came onto the market with the release of the IV-A and was designed to cater for the growing extreme sports/recreation market (white water rafting, canoeing, rainforest hikes and so on).
If you can't find a 15mm cheap enough, I can warmly recommend the Sea&Sea SWL 16 wideangle converter which screws straight into your 35mm (above-, or under-water!). About 20 years ago I took some side-by side test shots with the 15mm Nikkor in a pool and the 16mm converter was excellent.

PS: There is a new housing out for one of those otherwise a bit pointless EVIL cameras (their most justified use may well be underwater), called the NA-NEX5 housing: http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1285012325.html
You can get a Nikonos lens adapter for it! (bad news is that despite the small sensor size, there is no w/a optics conversion built in, so forget true wide angle even with the 15mm UW-Nikkor).

Asher,
none of the compact digital housings have corrected optics per-se. They all have flat ports which sucks, for wide angle work in particular. You have to buy expensive and most of the time compromise (read: non-dedicated) UW w/a converters. Despite this, many housings perform quite well. All Nikonos w/a lenses (other than the 35mm W and the 28mm LW) are dedicated, corrected UW optics OTOH. The 35/2.5 is actually based on the Nikon-S rangefinder lens and waterproofed, but because it isn't very w/a, it works very well, - above and below.

John Angulat said:

Good lord Asher, don't even go there! If one believes LF is expensive, underwater gear makes that look like a disposable camera.
Most DSLR housings will run anywhere from $1500 to $3500. That's for the housing alone. You need a lens port for the lens you choose to use. That'll set you back $500 to $1000 or more.

The good news is Canon makes a nifty housing for your new G10. It goes for $171.99 @ B&H.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/587432-REG/Canon_3156B001_WP_DC28_Case_for_Canon.html

Plan on getting wet with Leonardo? I want to see images from that excursion!

Click to expand...

I've been off the forum for quite a while- no particular reason or excuse. Anyway-

John's point is valid, but understated. An Aquatica housing for a high-end SLR (D3/D3x) is about $4,000 and that's without TTL. Subal housings are half again that cost. Expect to spend $1,500 for the better wide-angle dome port, another $500 for a macro port, and a few hundred or so for port extension rings. $2K more for lighting, add a focus light for another $600 and the cost is easily $10,000. Backscatter.com loves me. Add the camera and lenses (and an insurance policy for floods because sooner or later you will flood it) and the cost doubles. We'll avoid discussion of the overweight baggage fees when traveling.

Wendy

Asher Kelman said:

Beside Nikonas, what are todays options apart from getting a waterproof case for a DSLR? Do the underwater housings for the digicams have corrections for the water or what? Is the Nikonas optimized in any way for underwater focus?

Asher

Click to expand...

Top-of-the-line housings are available from Subal (Austria), Sea & Sea (Japan), and Aquatica (Canada). These will require, as I mention above, a considerable investment in ports. Carsten's remark that the ports are flat and not corrected does not apply to high-end housings; dome ports are an optical science in and of themselves and are optimized for underwater use: http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/dome-theory/ Some lenses will not render acceptable results behind a dome- the Nikkor 14-24/2.8 does not do well underwater. The Nikkor 16mm/2.8 FE works great, no straight lines underwater so the distortion is minimized. An Aquatica owner, I use this port: http://www.backscatter.com/HostedSt...sop=AND&sf=Price&so=Descending&ftn=youbetcha& in addition to a flat port in front of the Nikkor 105/2.8 VR.

Ikelite manufactures a Lexan housing that works fine though they will not stand up to mishandling (always a consideration when getting in and out of a boat bouncing around on the ocean) or a lot of sun. I've used them, they work, but I wouldn't go back to them. They do make a lot of nice housings for point and shoots, however (and their strobes are great). EWA Marine makes a plastic bag with a glass port which will work ok if snorkeling. There are of course more options- http://www.backscatter.com (which I have no interest in other than a satisfied customer).

Pressure becomes an issue as depth increases- even on the expensive housings, the springs on the buttons controlling the camera features will succumb; once a button is pressed it will not return. Aquatica offers deep kits for their housings but an off-the-shelf version can do 300 feet without ill-effects, which is why I use Aquatica instead of Subal- my main interest is on deep Florida caves. Diving deep? Break out checkbook (the helium gas mix will cost a bundle as well).

Back in the day, I shot a lot with a Nikonos III, which was probably the best Nikonos camera made, and a 28mm lens. For macro, throw in an extension tube with a framer and the focus is set (though skittish marine life won't tolerate the framer). The Nikonos 15mm lens was an awesome big-animal weapon, but pricey. As mentioned, the 28 and 15 could be used underwater only.

Wendy

Wendy, really pleased to see some pictures and look forward to more.

For those interested my local Asda (Walmart) sells fuji underwater disposable cameras for £7 - 27 pictures.

My youngest is currently very enthused by this discovery...

MIke