Nikonos digital? Just out of curiosity

[Karim Ghantous]

I was just pondering how useful a digital SLR would be in undewater

applications. Think: as many high quality images as can fit on your

memory card (no reloading film and no need for 250exp. backs);

histogram/preview allows confirmation of exposure in these tricky

situations - surely a time saver; images can be previewed without the

need to surface.

 

I'm curious to know if anyone has heard what Nikon's plans are in this

direction.

[chris_fierro]

Pretty doubtful, considering the proliferation of cheap (when compared to a dedicated system) underwater housings. The housings are getting better and better. And with something like a D70 and a housing, you would still have a very sweet setup.

[neal_shields]

I talked to an underwater photographer who goes on trips with a lot less experienced photographers than my wife and I usually do.

 

He said that it isn't uncommon for some digital underwater photographers to take as many as 200 shots in a 30 or 40 minute dive.

 

Before taking any underwater photograph, you first need to find a way to stablize yourself without damaging the environment. For my wife who is very good 30 shots an hour is really cooking.

 

To get a good shot, you must aim your strobes, meter the background, etc.

 

Beyond that everytime you fire your strobes, you disturb the marine life.

 

Taking the time to get a few good shots is a lot better for the reef and the photographer than getting hundreds of bad shots.

[bryan_lardizabal]

I shot with a Nikonos V system for a number of years, UW photography is

difficult but rewarding to say the least. In diving, you will always have the

constraints of bottom time and air, so plan your photos, just like you plan your

dives.

 

Nikon scrapped production of the filmed underwater SLR with its RS model

years ago, I doubt they will try it in a DSLR for diving again -- too costly and

sad sales. I think the cameras available today (D70, Canon Digital Rebel) are

excellent choices and make it affordable for UW shooting with a good

housing, strobe and zoom lens.

 

Check the website for Underwater Photo Tech www.uwphoto.com, these guys

are the Pros and you can find every combination of camera/strobe setup

imaginable through them.

[steve_muntz]

I don't expect it either - but would love to see it for a different reason. I'm a sea kayaker and would love to find a waterproof digital camera that doesn't have a shutter lag - doesn't have to be waterproof past a few feet but the shutter lag will make you miss a shot when the going gets rough. The fairly small size of the Nikonos makes it very handy too.

[scott_warn]

I think that an underwater digital would be an excellent concept. I am not wild about using an SLR design simply because the viewfinder is a real problem for use with a dive mask. It would be a lot easier to use an LCD as the viewfinder and also help to keep the cost down.

 

Here is how I would do it. Keep it simple, which means a basic P & S concept. The LCD panel would be the viewfinder. The memory would be built in to eliminate the sealing problem that a port for the memory would create. The batteries would be charged in camera using an inductive coupling, this eliminates another leak path. Communications for downloading the pictures would be infared, eliminating another path for water intrusion. Sealing the batteries, and the memory within the case would require a factory service to replace. An inconvenience yes, but it would assure that the camera was properly re-sealed and, with good design, should not be very costly. Telling the customers, up front, that memory and battery service would be required every 3 to 5 years should keep the users from getting too worked up over this. All of the controls would be with large knobs or large buttons with strong detents, making it easy for those diving with gloves. Since shooting distances underwater are usually short, the zoom lens would be equivalent to about 18 to 60mm. The lens would also be fixed to eliminate another possible leak path. The largest hurdle is how to eliminate shutter lag with a lens shutter design. With a lens shutter design you must close the shutter before making the exposure and this takes time. The way that I would solve this is to go back a bit in time and make this a Twin Lens camera. By using a 2 ccd, 2 lens design you could have a camera without any significant shutter lag. A small viewing lens paired with a dedicated viewing ccd would allow the camera to always be cocked and ready to fire thru the lens for the ccd for the photos. It does mean that 2 different zoom lenses and 2 different ccd's are required and this would add to the cost. Since the LCD operates at a much lower resolution this means the CCD dedicated to it can be much smaller and so could the lens for this viewing CCD. Autofocusing would be a real challenge, in murky water the contrast is low, the light is low, and AF may not be possible. Maybe an expert in AF detection design could come up with a design that worked well underwater, I would give it a try but plan on making the camera scale focusing as a backup. I think that a resolution in the 4 to 6 mp range would be suitable and would only offer JPG compressed files. I would do this in order to allow an in camera capacity of 300 to 500 pictures by keeping the files as compact as possible. This would allow the download interval to be extended so you would not have to take a laptop on your dive charter. I bet laptops hate salt water. It would not be a small camera, it might end up being as large, or slightly larger than the current Nikonos. Part of the size would be to accomidate a rather large battery pack so the camara could be used for extended periods, I would target 6 to 8 hours before recharging.

 

If it sounds a lot like a warped Nikonos there is a good reason for it. The Nikonos has had such good staying power simply because it is a design that works. Nikon tried adding bells and whistles with the RS and it was a huge flop, too costly and too easy to seal improperly.

[davidweaverphoto]

My Shopping list

D70. (actually 3 of them) One for Flooding. The backup when you flood the first one. The second backup for when you are in the Red Sea and the first two have flooded.)

<BR> Someone's underwater housing. Ikelites are pretty good. Make sure you can see into the housing...to see when it is flooding. Assorted lens ports. One for Macro and one for Wide Angle. Three of every cord, half dozen o-rings for everything.<BR>

Maxi pads for the bottom of the housing. Especially useful if you only bring 2 cameras.(FYI: put them in checked baggage)

<BR> 2 of those SubStrobes. 200's would be fine. Smaller ones for Macro work.<BR>Laptop w/ at least 60 gigs of space and a CDwriter built in. <BR>Ahhh...I love spending other people's money.

[olden_mcroin]

Personally I'd avoid Nikon SLR's for UW photography - Nikon DSLR's lose something like 25% angle of acceptance compared to the same lens on a FSLR - the water will further reduce angle of acceptance - so we are talking very bad news if you want to take wide angle shots.

Go for something like a Cannon eos350d instead.

[briany]

Olden, your answer doesn't make any sense. Both the D70 and the Rebel 350d have a crop factor -- the Rebel is actually more severe at 1.6x. True, a film camera will have a wider angle of view with a lens that has full-frame coverage, but it's not a Nikon/Canon thing. (a full frame digital will have the wider angle of view as well, but are you really going to dunk your $8k camera?) I'm considering the options but think I'll wind up with a point-and-shoot rather than a solution for my DSLR since I do casual shooting.

[dan_lindsay]

Some of this may change with the introduction of the FX D3.