I'm sure glad I didn't read this underwater - I could never have stopped my mask flooding...
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When I started out in photography, my two biggest influences were my dive instructer, who went on the be manager of sales at Sea & Sea and Joe Libuirdi who wrote "The Complete Guide to Sea & Sea," so I may be a bit biased.
I have had my MMII EX for several years and it is a work horse. It is very easy to maintain the user servicable O-rings in the field. There is one of the camera back, one for the battery case and one for the synch cord. I will check the back O-ring every time I open the back and LIGHTLY grease it if I remove it, usually once a day. I remove and grease the battery o-ring when I change the batteries (2-AA) and will grease the synch o-ring at the start of the trip and leave it connected for the rest of the time.
You do need to get the camera serviced regularly, and I flooded mine once when I was not careful in how I closed the back (thank heavens for the homeowner's insurance rider). [QUOTE]
I think your self confessed and obvious biasness has blinded you to the real facts here, in fact they are quite humerous, hence my opening statement. It is also obvious you know as little about your beloved MMII as you are ignorant about the Nikonos V. If you researched the book which you mentioned very little if anything was taken using an MMII.
It is not my intention to slag off the MMII because I had one myself during the early 90's and I managed some pretty good photographs, but if you are going to present a case for the MMII do not try and belittle the enquirers other choice the Nikonos V with incorrect information. I also find it difficult to believe you have ever laid eyes on a Nikonos of any type, for reasons that will become obvious during this post.
The Nikons was and still is able to be called an Industry standard as well as a tried and tested, loved and adored professional quality camera. All the O rings in a Nikonos are serviceable in the field too, and I will go further to say that I can perform a FULL non user O ring service & recalibrate if necessary inside an hour.
If I were to flood a Nikonos V and suffer worse case electronic failure, I can have it running in Mechanical manual mode (1/90) by the next day.
You couldn't do that with a MMII or a housed camera, and two days into a trip I would not be the one pissed off cos my camera was dead and unuseable!
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In use, the two cameras are very similar in that they are both rangefinders, but with the MMII, you have the distinct advantage of being able to alter the type of shots you take underwater. The big drawback of the Nikonos, and I do agree that the Nikonos has both better and more varied optics, is that you are stuck with your set-up for the entire dive. If you go under to shoot macros and a whale shark comes swimming by, you have to be happy with close-ups of the eye. If you are set-up for wide angle and you end spotting a family of pygmy seahorses, put the camera away and enjoy the moment. With the MMII, I have a 16mm, a 35mm and a 2:1 macro set up with me for every dive, and I usually use all three lenses at some point. On my last trip, it was not unusual to start out with the wide angle, switch back and forth with the built-in 35mm and then snap on the macro set up for some colorful nudis.
Yes, the two cameras are similar in the fact that they are rangefinder types and what may seem like a drawback on Nikonos to you of not being able to change lenses underwater is not that much of a drawback at all. This seems important to some people I admit, but not to Nikonos users over the last 20 years.
For example if I am diving a site I don't know I fit a pin sharp primary multicoated 20mm lens - This can focus from 8" to infinity. This will cater for almost anything that will happen along, Whaleshark to Nudibranch; and has (BTW, you mean 1:2 not 2:1 when you talk about the attachment). I can post examples of both if you like.
NIKONOS HAS VASTLY SUPERIOR OPTICS TO THAT OF A MMII - This is why they cost more and produce infinitely sharper pictures with better definition, saturation and contrast on even the cheapest film stock.
The only time I would be taking a 1:1/1:2/1:3 on a dive is if I were after something specific and that may be as a 2nd camera.
The Sea & Sea 16mm is not a proper lens - It is a converter lens that alters the primary lens via a puddle of water. In all honestly you cannot even compare a $200.00 flat fronted glass slab to a $1500 superior primary optic that professionals the world over swear-by?
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With this being said, a big part of the question is how focused is your diving. I take pictures when I dive, rather than dive to take photos. Thus may not seem to be a big difference, but it is. If you know your dive sites and decide ahead of time what types of photos you want to take, you will likely get better results with the Nikonos due to the better optics. On the other hand, if you want to take photos of the various things you encounter on a dive without pre-set goals, the flexibility of the MMII will serve you better.
This actually is proper advice!
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A few other points. I will say that the Nikonos optics are better, but they are not so superior that the MMII pictures are terrible. There are just more choices for the Nikonos (like a fish eye). I have taken wonderful, clear, crisp shots with my MMII under many conditions with all of my lenses.
From my two main influences, I will relay that the MMII has better electronics, with more shutter sppeds and wider TTL synch speeds, as well as a motor drive. The 4-pin connecter on the MMII is non-standard, but most camera systems come with a YS60 and most if not all the other Sea & Sea strobes can take the 4-pin TTL synch cord. I use the YS60 with a cordless YS20 Duo slave, both in TTL mode. For a number of years I had my MMII shots published on a regular basis, so I know they are ok.
Your two main influences are confused: The Nikonos V has much better electronics, because it can be used as a Aperture Priority automatic with electronic shutter control as well as full manual shutter control. It has an ISO range of 25-1600, Automatic and manual speed settings of 1/30 - 1/1000, B & M90. & full TTL
TTL selectable sync speeds of 90, 60, 30 with in-finder display of all speeds and over/under exposure warnings, not just flashing LEDS as in the MMII.
The MMI has a rather slow auto-wind on, not a motordrive and I can wind on as fast or faster manually with the Nikonos. The Nikonos also has infinitely greater access to strobes including Sea & Sea.
Being made of high grade alloy the Nik V is not prone to temperature or pressure distortion as is the plastic of the MMII.
That's about it really - Have a nice day
