Hi
Work is in process & it can be done.
Subal D200 housing was tighter than Nexus but, still has room to adopt
D300 with minor mod, using even same base plate + same back plate.

So far,
1.Lens hole is centered.
2.Using same base plate (front steel piece for D200 removed & new
D300 plate will be added to secure the camera properly).
3.Need to tune a spring botton & on/off switch. Minor work.
4.Using same back plate. (extra shoes need to be added like I did on Nexus).

I am not drilling new hole or plugging the hole. Goal is to modify
the housing with small screw driver & allen keys in 10-15 min. & put
it back to original in same amount of time as needed, all at minimum cost.

Sam

keep it up Sam, you're a legend.

brilliant !

Sam. you are awesome

Let me know when you are done.

I would like one!

It looks like the viewfinder doesn't line up. Can you still see through there?

Otherwise - good news!

Cheers
James

James,
View Finder is in line & see clearly.

I tried not to make new base plate but, finally found new base plate is needed & my machinest is making it now. For lens to be in center, I am using Subal 105mm VR port as a guide, as this port is so tight in length/width & you cannot put the port if lens is 2mm off center & it is centered and all controls are working.

I am off to Philippines in weekend with my Nexus housing with D300. I will post pic from there.

Sam

Thanks Tons Sam!!!!

Yes, I agree too that if the fat 105vr lines up in the snug Subal 105vr port then the lens must be centered. Let us see pics!!

Have Fun! And see lots of neat stuff! Carol

Carol,
I will post pics when I get new base plate next week.

Sam

Oh my!

Can this be, or is this some cruel joke? Are you guys really saying that there is even the slightest possibility that, dare I say it... I could put a D300 in my ND20??

I am too old for practical jokes. :-)

Tell me more!

Andy

Hi,
To me, D300 is same camera as D200 but, just 3mm thicker. If you move the camera 3mm backward(the reason I am making new base plate), all front controls + top controls should be in-line w/camera. The picture you see on top is D300 in ND20 & it should give you some idea.
Now, D300 has a larger LCD & it makes back controls difficult but, still not too far & can be reached with little modification.

Sam

Sounds like some of the people planning on selling their ND20's maybe holding onto them for a while longer - or at least until next week!

Here is latest pictures;

Showing new bracket in housing


Front dial,on/off sw & shutter perfectly in line, with new brkt


Camera centered


Front end of new brkt





Side Key/ Backplate





New vs. Original brkt

Hi,
80% of work is done & still working on right side control of back plate. It is time consuming work as I cannot see the camera through backplate & I expect it will take 3-4 more days to complete. Working on Nexus was a lot easier.

Sam

3 more pictures.

105mm VR port attached

wow! and wow! and wow again! Cool.

Hope is back again. It would be really ridicules if a new housing should have had to be bought for slightly modified camera body (yeah, re-drawn inside but minimal changes on the outside...). I was longing for a new backplate from Subal, and personally I think that it is a mod which should have been made by them. I don't find it too fair to get a new housing.

But this news had brighten my day, thanks

I've heard from a reliable source that Subal will make a new back for their D200 housing that will accommodate the D300. But first they have to meet the demand for D300 housings, so it will be around midyear.

I am always so impressed with the ingenuity of some of the folks on Wetpixel. Well done! I wonder if Aquatica will come through with an adaption....Jean, oh Jean??? Take pity on the unmechanically inclined amongst us!
Cheers,
Marli

All,
I am pleased to report all right side back controls are fully working & project is
complete. I received few PM asking about availability of this kit & will make
few extra kits & make it available to members.

Screen Window on Subal back cover is not wide enough to show full size
picture but, is enough to see quality of picture and choose the control.

Sam

That is impressive.
Any chance to do the same with Sea&Sea DX-D200?

Hi,
There are some questions on how to install the kit to Subal housing & here is some info.

The kit consist of following;

1.New base plate (w/vertical plate) - 1 each; Replace old one.
2.New Mode Lock - 1 each ; It is a tappered washer looking thing. Replace old one.
3.Extension arm - 5 each; Add to back control
4.Lead wire - U type - 4+2 ; it is used as spacer.

1.New Base plate: Found some d300 has thicker rubber skin & need fine tune
the half moon area of vertical plate & make sure camera is properly
seating on the plate as shown.


2.Mode Lock holder: Original holder touches with camera & it must be replaced with
the one I supply (picture shown). Otherwise, camera will be tilted & it makes
lens off the center + make on/off switch hard to turn.

3.Extension Arm: Add to back left control of housing.

4.Lead wire: This is where people has problem/issues/questions.
U wire is to add to back side of push buttons of selector wheel as shown in picture.
However, there are reports that some camera/housing has more space than others.
My suggestion is double check base plate & make 100% sure camera is seating
properly & add double or more wire as necessary. If problem continues, pls, let me
know so that I can arrange to look at it when I am in US next time.

There is also, a report that review & delete bottun are short & I suggest use same
method to extend it.

So far, modified Subal housing was tested with 105mm VR, 12-24mm, 10.5mm & Tokina 10-17mm
& found all works fine.

Re availability of kit, I know some people sent me PM & e-mails and sorry I am slow to answer as I was
busy/traveling with my job. My machinest makes 10 kit at the time & next batch will be avail in a week.

Sam

I think it is possible to do but, I did not have access to S&S d200 housing.

Sam

Hi Sam,

Great work!

I saw Mark Webster's article on your D300 in a Subal ND20 (D200) kit in UWP Mag issue 44.

He suggested you'd like postings put here.

Are you intending to make any more kits available? If so, do you know when and approximately how much they'll be?

Are you considering shoe-horning a D700 or D90 in?

Mark

Hi, Sam !

Same question for a Sea & Sea DX D200 housing ... Did you already try a kit to fit an D 300 inside ? Thanks for the info, I'm very much interested ...

Me too.

Sam,

If the Subal kit is still available, I'm very interested. Please send (offline) info on pricing, shipping, and installation.

Me too - I'm interested

Is this all a big hoax - I have sent three PM's to Sam but no response.....

Sam, are you there?

Maybe Subal put a contract out on him.....

Hi,
I replied your PM & sorry for late response.

When I posted this modification here, I start receiving PMs & E-mails from
all over the world & soon my PM section was full. I delete PMs after read
and again it was full. I trevel a lot for my business and diving & I do not know
how many PMs I did not received/bounced back. Again sorry for those members
who did not get my response.

Sam

For anyone that is interested in this modification, I added a post on my blog with photos of my installation of the kit. It wasn't hard to do. The only tricky part was the washers under the internal extension. I believe that I can change over everything to the D200 is less than ten minutes and reinstall in about the same time. Sam did a great job with the kit. The link to the blog page is D300 into Subal D200 housing.

Herb Segars

Herb,

Thanks very much for the clear, detailed explanation and images of your Subal conversion. I've ordered mine from Sam, and will use your page as a guide for my installation when the kit arrives.

Dear herb
how is the conversion underwater

I was hoping that I would get the chance to try out the conversion before my dive season ended in New Jersey but I was not able to. I will be heading to Crystal River around Christmas time and I plan to try it out then. I will post how things went but based on what I see of the installation, I expect it to work just fine.

Herb Segars
Visit My Website

Hi Sam,

I am interested in information for the Subal D200 conversion to D300.

I was unable to figure out how to contact you via email so please email me at

jd.hollingshead@yahoo.com

Thanks, -John-

I haven't been able to use my modified housing yet but I received an email question from a fellow who has installed the mod and when he connects his strobes (YS-90 - I think), they do not fire. I decided to do some tests with my Ikelite DS-125's and the Subal housing with the D300 installed in the D200 housing. I have an Ikelite iTTL connector for dual Ikelite TTL strobes. I have the internal Subal strobe connector plugged into the five pin port. When I put both strobes on TTL and set the Ikelite connector to TTL, I get a lightning bolt in the camera viewfinder and the strobes fire as they should. In Aperture priority, everything works as it should. If I change the Ikelite connector to Manual and leave the camera in Aperture priority, the strobes still fire but the camera does not seem to recognize that the strobes are attached and chooses a shutter speed for an available light exposure. This is the same whether the strobes are set at TTL or in any of the manual modes. I then tried a single Ikelite DS-125 attached to the Subal connector plugged into the three pin port. I set the strobe on manual and the camera worked okay. It recognized the strobe and worked correctly in Aperture priority and the strobe fired.

I would be interested in anyone that has performed this mod and their experience with their strobes with the D300 in the D200 housing.

Hi,
I just want to clarify that my mod has nothing to do with electric wiring but, interested to learn what
can be the cause. I think it can be from version of YS-90 (I have seen several different version per
manufacturing date) and/or i-ttl cnvtr.

Sam

The problem with the YS-90 was that the internal hot shoe connector was plugged into the five pin internal socket. Once the connector was plugged into the three pin connector, everything worked as it should.

Well....thanks to Sam and his engineering skills I now have a fully functional D300 in my D200 Subal housing and you could say that I am quite pleased!

The kit arrived yesterday and I spent this morning installing it. Fairly straightforward, although I did have to resort to a few long forgotten skills from when I used to be a "fitter/turner" many years ago in the UK.... The new base plate was a perfect fit, the four buttons for the focus spot position/image review required extending using the soft wire provided in the kit and the five slip on extenders for the menu & image zoom buttons had to be filed down a bit as they interfered with the camera buttons when first installed.

Filing down the slip on extenders was the biggest job, but took less than an hour and the whole thing less that three hours!

I have tried all of my lens & port combinations and everything seems to work just fine and the only minor negative I can see right now is that it's hard to see the blue channel when looking at the 4 channel histogram. When looking at the actual image review, you can see enough to judge whether the composure is OK and the image zoom buttons work great so you can move the image around.

I am off to PNG on Saturday to do an assignement in Milne Bay and am really pleased to have the D300 to use. I have been very happy with my results from the D200 underwater and only bought a D300 for land use, figuring I would wait for the next generation of DX camera or go FX before upgrading again, but having the D300 in my existing housing is just heaven on a stick! It's a great camera on land and I'm looking forward to exploring it's capabilities underwater.

If everything works out, I can keep one of my D200 bodies as my backup/land camera when on dive trips and get my other D200 converted for I/R...

Sam, you are a legend - thanks very much!

Don

Dear Don
Hope you enjoy Milne Bay
Please advise me how the d300 conversion works underwater. I presume you know to and would normally remove the eyepiece cover and the LCD cover, which I gather was the problem in the past
Don