If you could have the perfect Nikon underwater camera...

[beasleym]

....what would it be?

Years ago Nikon built the Nikonos. Great little camera that was built for the diver, but sadly is now way outdated.

So where is the replacement? Are we left to fend for ourselves with 3rd party housings and cameras designed for air use and people on dry shore?

Diving here in Hawaii this week I find myself cursing the lack of technology solution for all us folks that use a camera. How many scuba divers are there? My experience shows that more than half have cameras. That's got to be a huge market.

Technology has grown by leaps and bounds. But it hasn't been applied to underwater cameras.

To use an anology: if the only boat you could get was in the form of a car or truck with a third party lash-up for a hull and propulsion - would that be an acceptable solution?

As it is, to many features and functions that are not used and only hinder you underwater, and not enough features to make photography easy underwater. Just think how easy point and shoot has become!

So here's my dream camera:
1) Completely sealed box with a jack for external power (keeps the camera dry and you can tune the power solution to your diving)
2) 16 or 32gb of internal memory built in
3) Huge screen that automatically adjusts for light conditions
4) IR port to signal flash(es) for power and triggering as needed
5) Smart color correction algorithm - senses depth and lighting as well as scene to adjust the color, brightness, and contrast
6) Lens port with IR signaling for settings in both directions (yes, lets have some dedicated lenses)
7) Touch screen controls (lets get rid of the damn buttons) plus the ability to write a short note for each picture - how many controls do you need plus wouldn't it be great to zoom and focus using something like the iPhone technology
8) High definition mode video
9) Wi-fi or bluetooth for transmitting pictures, setup, and performing diagnostics
10) Timestamping the time into the dive and depth (to bad gps won't work)
11) Software to work with captured info so we can make adjustments topdside

That's what I'd like to see. Nothing far out - just designed for real world scuba diving without spending a lot of time making a poor solution work.

What's your thoughts? Maybe someone (hear that Nikon??) will listen and corner the market!

 

[Gilldiver]

For wide angle, a Nikonos V with a 10+ meg data back, large sensor, and 2.5-3 inch view screen. You just cannot beat the Nikonos 15 mm glass and the size beats everything else.

 

[Mariozi]

I do like very much my D300.
Having shot with MotorMarines, Nikonos Vs, Film and Digital SLRs, I would only change a few things on my D300:

- High ISO as per the D700;
- Viewfinder of the F100;
- 5 min of 1080i HD Video;
- Normal Old TTL mode in addition to all digital iTTL modes;

- Topside I would love a new version of the SB-50DX and being able to use the small Remote Control.

Then the only thing that would make me think of going FX is the amazing 14-24mm.

 

[Nemrod]

It would be on the Nikonos III format. I hate SLR cameras. I would prefer a Nikon or Nikonos rangefinder camera. My Nikonos III was a friend for years, I terribly miss it's amphibious capability. Hang it around my neck and go for a motorcycle ride in the rain or head to the dive boat for some underwater. Try hanging a housed dSLR around your neck. N

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

A digital Nikonos RS. RS optics, a D700 for the guts.

You don't want a jack for external power, you want inductive coupling.
Heck, my electric toothbrush charges that way.

 

[Michael Folise]

I agree with the above posters, a digital back for the Nikonos V is all we need. It shouldn't be that hard to do. Heard a rumor on this board that Kodak modified some RSs with digital guts for the military. That would be fabulous.

 

[Nemrod]

Canon S90 in an aluminum case with a lens zoom lock and removable ports. Standard port for normal use and various wet lenses BUT also a special "Nikonos" port with a built in corrector lens to mate the Nikonos optics to the Canon S90 28 mm lens when locked.

Micro 4:3 with aluminum housing, remvable optional Nikonos port with corrector lens for Oly EP-2.

N

 

[caymaniac]

I guess a digital Nikonos would do, of course we would again have to buy new lenses. One part that is hard to take is the bulk of a housed system. I don't like the range finder as much as a motorized focus. The technology is there, but I don't think Nikon thinks there's enough of a market with divers, or they must have had a large amount of problems with the Nikonos quality control.

 

[Michael Folise]

Other than macro(which I never did), focusing a Nikonos was never an issue because of the huge depth of field.

 

[davelew]

Like many here, I would love to see a waterproof full-frame rangefinder, something like a waterproof Leica M9. It would be great to have a camera with a short enough FFD that we could have adapters for Nikonos lenses, Leica M-mount lenses, old Nikon S-mount lenses, and other rangefinder glass.

Also, it would be nice to see someone use the full capability of a sensor for white balance, and set the ISO for each color separately. Right now, a camera sets the sensitivity of every pixel as equal, converts the light level to a number (between 0 and 16,383 for 14-bit encoding), then scales that number according to the color of the pixel and the white balance settings. The problem is that, without a strobe, all of the red pixels are going to be reading 0 to maybe 2%, while the blue pixels will be reading 90% to 100% of the full scale. That means that you lose a lot of the fine gradations in both red and blue hues. If you increase the gain so that you get more information on the red shadows, you lose details on the blue highlights. By setting the same sensitivity for every color pixel, a camera is giving up a huge amount of dynamic range when used in a colored environment like underwater. It would be nice if we could set the gain on each color pixel pixel BEFORE the analog-to-digital converter, so that you could properly expose reds without blowing out blues while underwater. Basically, I want the ability to set ISO to 6400 for reds, 100 for blues and 200 for greens. There IS red light underwater, just 50-100 times less red than blue. The newer full-frame cameras are good enough to have useful dynamic ranges of ISO on the order of 64X, so this should be possible.

If this sort of super white balance were implemented well, we might even be able to eliminate strobes for clear-water diving shallower than, say, 60 feet. How cool would it be to take better wide angle photos with something the size of a Nikonos III (and no strobes) than they guy with the housed D3 and dual strobes on six foot arms?

....what would it be?

1) Completely sealed box with a jack for external power (keeps the camera dry and you can tune the power solution to your diving)
2) 16 or 32gb of internal memory built in
3) Huge screen that automatically adjusts for light conditions
4) IR port to signal flash(es) for power and triggering as needed
5) Smart color correction algorithm - senses depth and lighting as well as scene to adjust the color, brightness, and contrast
6) Lens port with IR signaling for settings in both directions (yes, lets have some dedicated lenses)
7) Touch screen controls (lets get rid of the damn buttons) plus the ability to write a short note for each picture - how many controls do you need plus wouldn't it be great to zoom and focus using something like the iPhone technology
8) High definition mode video
9) Wi-fi or bluetooth for transmitting pictures, setup, and performing diagnostics
10) Timestamping the time into the dive and depth (to bad gps won't work)
11) Software to work with captured info so we can make adjustments topdside

That's what I'd like to see. Nothing far out - just designed for real world scuba diving without spending a lot of time making a poor solution work.

What's your thoughts? Maybe someone (hear that Nikon??) will listen and corner the market!