HELP with Autofocus issue

[Aquamike30252]

Sorry for the breach of ettiquette, but did a quick search and found nothing, and don't have time to search for days on this, as I finished a dive minutes ago, and have another in an hour.
I have a Nikon D70s/Ikelite housing set up. Used to work great, but my D70s crapped out, and I got a used one. Now the camera works great on land, And works great in the housing OUT of the water. But the moment I put it in the water, even JUST the dome face down, the Autofocus will not work. ALL settings on camera are same as my other camera, yet won't work. And I can't go to manual focus preset distance because it's a digital lens and has no markings/settings on it. I'd appreciate any help if you've had this experience or have an opinion. Thanks!

 

[AussieByron]

Hi Aquamike.

I had something similar to this with my D80 on a couple of times.

Trouble shoot:

see if there is any control levers pressing down on something. Which may only happen when the housing is underwater and the pressure is enough to turn that button on

Remove lens and reconnect to see if there might be a connection problem with the lens and body.

see if there are any marks inside the dome like a single hair or fuff as the camera might be simply locking its focus on that.

Try another lens to see if the that works in the dome or flat port. If its doing the same it has something to do with the body, maybe settings or worse case a issue with AF.

BTW what lens are your using and are you using the 8 inch Ikelite dome or the 6 inch??? As the 6inch domes often need a Dioptre like a +2 close up on the lens. This was a problem I had once from shooting behide the 8 inch all the time I used a 6inch with the 18-55 kit lens and didnt use the +2 close up dioptre......everything works on land and in the housing but underwater it couldnt focus.

Hope this helps

Regards Mark

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Aquamike,
what lens are you using?
Do you may have some kind of focus limit inserted? Remeber that using a dome port, the camera have to focus un the "virtual" immage on the inside of the dome, so if you have the focus limiter inserted on the far position he can't focus so near to get a sharp immagine on the dome.

Chris

 

[AussieByron]

Here's the Ikelite port chart for Nikon. It shows which lens need a +2 or +4 dioptre, espeically behind 6 inch dome

Nikon SLR Port Chart

Regards Mark

 

[Aquamike30252]

the camera IN the housing works great out of the water, but even if I have the housing out of the water and the dome in, it won't autofocus. weirdest thing I've ever seen. and I've used these same lenses several times before w/o any problems. I did change from a D70 to a D70s, but I'm using all the same settings on the camera. Going to try another D70 in it, and another port and find out if it's the housing or camera that's the issue. Thanks for the help everyone