I will add updates and images about the review as II go along here.
All the pieces are in place with the arrival of the housing today:



I can't wait!
Adam
Posted 10 May 2012 - 12:41 PM
Adam Hanlon-underwater photographer and videographer
Editor-wetpixel
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Posted 10 May 2012 - 02:45 PM
Posted 10 May 2012 - 02:47 PM
Edited by Don in Colorado, 11 May 2012 - 06:22 AM.
Posted 11 May 2012 - 12:36 AM
Edited by divegypsy, 11 May 2012 - 12:37 AM.
Posted 11 May 2012 - 02:08 AM
As far as I know, there is no housing made that gives you access to the two programmable "preview" and "function" buttons on many Nikon cameras. Again, a very significant omission in my opinion.
Alexander Mustard - www.amustard.com - www.magic-filters.com
Nikon D5 (Subal housing). Nikon D7200 (Subal housing). Olympus EPL-5 (Nauticam housing).
Posted 11 May 2012 - 02:14 AM
Adam Hanlon-underwater photographer and videographer
Editor-wetpixel
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Posted 11 May 2012 - 04:31 AM
Lastly, the use of caps in a post equates to shouting-this is rude, hectoring and belligerent. Please don't do so if you wish to engender debate.
Posted 11 May 2012 - 01:15 PM
Drew
Moderator
"Journalism is what someone else does not want printed, everything else is public relations."
"I was born not knowing, and have only had a little time to change that here and there.
Posted 11 May 2012 - 01:16 PM
Adam Hanlon-underwater photographer and videographer
Editor-wetpixel
web | Flickr | twitter | Linkedin | Facebook
Posted 11 May 2012 - 01:32 PM
Posted 11 May 2012 - 03:27 PM
Posted 11 May 2012 - 05:21 PM
Edited by Don in Colorado, 11 May 2012 - 05:29 PM.
Posted 11 May 2012 - 09:45 PM
Alexander Mustard - www.amustard.com - www.magic-filters.com
Nikon D5 (Subal housing). Nikon D7200 (Subal housing). Olympus EPL-5 (Nauticam housing).
Posted 12 May 2012 - 04:52 AM
Edited by loftus, 12 May 2012 - 04:56 AM.
Posted 12 May 2012 - 05:04 AM
Adam Hanlon-underwater photographer and videographer
Editor-wetpixel
web | Flickr | twitter | Linkedin | Facebook
Posted 12 May 2012 - 09:04 AM
Adam Hanlon-underwater photographer and videographer
Editor-wetpixel
web | Flickr | twitter | Linkedin | Facebook
Posted 12 May 2012 - 12:04 PM
Posted 13 May 2012 - 12:11 AM
With all due respect, exclamation points can be perceived the same way. If Fred had posted the entire message in allcaps I can see how that would come across as offending, but it appeared he only tried to emphasize certain parts of the post, as you did with the !!Hi Fred,
I disagree!. The purpose of this review is not to review housings, it is to review the camera's performance underwater, as was Alex's excellent D4 review. Ergonomics, or which controls a manufacturer includes or does not include, are a matter for a housing review. We may carry out a housing review at a future date. This will concentrate on the controls that are available on different housings.
In this instance, Nauticam were the first to provide a housing. This gives us the earliest possible opportunity to test the camera underwater.
I agree that a housing review should state which controls are available-a camera review should not! I don't think the omission of an individual's preferred controls should be raised in a camera review. How you shoot will be different from others-the lack of a control will influence how you shoot. I do not use "function" or "preview" buttons for this reason!
Lastly, the use of caps in a post equates to shouting-this is rude, hectoring and belligerent. Please don't do so if you wish to engender debate.
All the best
Adam
Posted 13 May 2012 - 01:03 AM
A review of the Nikon D800, if it is done ONLY in a Nauticam housing, is NOT a review of the D800. It is a review of the Nauticam housing for the D800, which includes all the limitations the housing controls (or lack of controls) imposes on the camera. Each housing, as delivered by the manufacturer, reflects that manufacturer's decisions about what is important enough to include a control for. And how well he does that. MY Seacam housings for the Nikon D700 have NO CONTROL for the ambient light metering pattern, which means you cannot switch between matrix, center-weighter, and spot metering underwater during a dive. This is just one case of where a housing limits the camera. As far as I know, there is no housing made that gives you access to the two programmable "preview" and "function" buttons on many Nikon cameras. Again, a very significant omission in my opinion. When I read Alex Mustard's review of the D4, in a Nauticam housing, there was no mention of these buttons and whether there was a control for them. To really review a camera and its use under-water, multiple housings should be in the review WITH A CLEAR STATING OF WHICH CAMERA CONTROLS ARE THERE AND WHICH AREN'T. And how easy are those controls are to use. Can you easily use them with the housing in shooting position at your eye, or do you have to take the camera down from your eye and go through two-handed gymnastics.
Other SIGNIFICANT advantages or disadvantages of a particular housing - such as what you have to do to change the camera battery - should also be covered. And whether the housing supports optical sync cables slaving off of a built-in pop-up flash. There are many such important details that seem to be omitted from most WetPixel product reviews.
The Nikon D800 is shaping up as a particularly significant step in DSLR evolution and it would be nice to have good information available about the various housings for it.
Fred
Posted 13 May 2012 - 02:55 AM
For my part i would like to see some of the cropped macro shots to increase magnification that Alex talked about. I'm thinking that 36mb cropped to 12mb is a big magnification. I'd also like to see a subsee +5 and +10 on an AF-105-VR cropped from 36mp to 12mp.
Regards,
Edited by Udo van Dongen, 13 May 2012 - 03:01 AM.
www.udovandongen.com
Nikon D800, D800E, Hugyfot housing, 15 mm fisheye, 16-35 mm WA, 105mm VR Macro, 60 mm Macro, Subsee +5 an +10 wet diopters, Inon Z-240 strobes (3x), Inon float arms, Nauticam armclamps, Bigblue and Inon focus lights.