More on housings, cameras, and lenses. As I said in a previous post, I currently shoot, underwater, with a F-100 in an Aquatica housing. I bought the camera to get back into land photography after many years of shooting mostly UW. My last two land cameras were a Canon AE-1 and a Canon A-1 (my son is still using the A-1). I bought the F-100 after much research and I was not disappointed, this is one amazing camera. When I first got this camera, I was not intending to take it underwater. After a short time of taking land photos with the F-100 and then trying to get good macro shots underwater with my Nikonos V, I decided to try and house my F-100. At the time, there were only 4 housings on the market, Subal, Ikelite, Sea&Sea and Aquatica. Aquatica hadn't actually started shipping theirs yet, but the information looked very good. After researching every bit of information that was available, I decided on an Aquatica. It's a great housing for a great camera, at a great price. There are a couple of features on the F-100 that I wish I had access to. They can either be worked around or are not that big of a deal. Housings are a lot like cameras, which are a lot like cars. Different features are more important to some than others. The trick is to decide what features are important to you, and then find a camera/housing combo that fits your needs. In my HO the F-100 is the perfect camera to house. It is small and light. It has lightning fast, quite, accurate, and reliable auto focus. The price for an F-100 has dropped to below a grand, and probably will drop some more. Nikon has recently discontinued the N-90, so most of the housing manufactures will probably be focusing on F-100 housings.
Lenses and Ports. The three best lenses for a housed Nikon (IMHO) are the 60mm Micro Nikkor, the 105 mm Micro Nikkor, and the 20mm wide angle. The first two are best used with a flat port, while the 20mm needs a dome port (the 8 inch dome is better than the 6 inch dome). All the housings I have seen or read about for the F-5, F-100, or N-90, make ports to fit these three lenses. Ports are available for other lenses but you have to check with the specific manufacture to se if your lens camera set up will work. Some Zoom lenses can be used with a dome port. A Diopter is usually necessary for the lens to focus properly. I personally feel (and I'm sure to get flamed for this), that zooms are too much of a compromise, and I plan to stick to prime lenses UW. If I had to recommend only one lens to start with, I'd have to say the 60mm Micro Nikkor. This is a great lens. It is fast, focuses very fast, very sharp, and will do 1:1 macro. The best thing about a housed camera is that you actually see what the lens sees. This makes it great for Macro work. If on the other hand you want to shoot mostly wide angle, you might want to stick with your Nikonos V and 15mm lens. This set up is still considered by most to bet the best WA system. I know there is plenty more to get into, but this will have to do for now. I'm off to bed. I have an Open Water class to teach in the morning. Talk at you all later.
Dive Safe,
Rooster