Introduction

What a great opportunity! I was in Guayaquil , Ecuador with a D70 and instruction book flying out to Galapagos the next day. I had planned to use my newly acquired Nikon D70 for topside shots, when Eric called me from Houston 's Seaspace. SEA & SEA distributor Underwater Camera Pros ( http://www.underwatercamerapros.com/ ) would provide for review a brand new DX-D70 housing to put through the paces. I was already in Ecuador – no aperture gears, focusing rings or sync cords would be available, but the opportunity to be one of the first reviewers underwater of SEA & SEA's housing for this affordable yet feature-loaded camera was too irresistible to pass up. Thank you, Underwater Camera Pros!

Before I get into the details of the D70 camera and the DX-D70 housing, here is an unbiased summary of what I liked, and what I did not like:

Liked:

• Excellent balance and weight. Even with dual strobes.
• Camera “quick shoe” aligned camera in housing perfectly, every time-quickly.
• Housing grippers for camera dials aligned and moved without any slippage.
• Backwards compatible with all previous SEA & SEA NX ports. Avoids (in my case) reinvesting in a new set of ports for digital housing.
• Sigma 14mm worked fine behind the fisheye dome port without a port extension ring or diopter.
• Very positive feel to latches (4) and latch locks.
• [Camera specific] Simultaneous NEF (RAW) + JPG mode of capture aids quick file review on any computer, or even an NTSC monitor.
• [Camera specific] Flash synchronization up to 1/500 sec!

Disliked:

• Single bulkhead instead of dual bulkheads.
• Housing knobs for camera Main- and Sub Command dials are not that easily reached from the housing handles. On the camera they are so perfectly positioned.
• Slight tendency for fisheye [8 in. dia. dome] port buoyancy when used with [port] extension ring.

Ergonometric with Dual Strobes

If you have shot with SEA & SEA NX-90Z housing (as I have) you will feel right at home – more so, because either my wrists are getting stronger or this housing is lighter. I usually load my dual strobes – a YS-120 TTL Duo with a YS-90DX – with disposable Lithium batteries. This lightens the rig considerably. Toward the end of the trip I switched the Lithium's for (12) NiMH's and the rig was not any heavier to handle – none that I noticed. The housing / dual strobes had excellent balance with dome port (using Sigma 14mm) or flat port (Nikkor 60mm).

With the dome port plus port extension ring, there was a “righting” tendency. The housing wanted to twist upwards, dome up. This is undoubtedly due to the extra buoyancy shifted to the front, while weight is in the back of the housing. I found the dome + extension was not needed for my lenses, anyway. The pull was slight, regardless, but noticeable.

The single bulkhead necessitated the use of a Y-cable to synch two strobes, but this worked flawlessly throughout the trip. I have always been partial to separate cables for each strobe – they seem to allow a further reach when the strobes are extended (two

8-inch Ultralight arms/strobe) from the camera. I got enough stretch with the Y-cable.

This camera allows greater range at background exposure control because it can sync strobes at 1/500 sec or slower! Those upward angle shots with sun balls and tennabrisms are easier to keep from blowing out with an extra f-stop or two to dial down the background exposure. The D1X syncs at 1/500 sec; I believe the D100 is only 1/180 sec.

SEAL INTEGRITY

I must admit, it took some time to adjust to 4-latch snap seals instead of two. If you have never used the spring locks on the latches, you might need some adjustment time, too. But after awhile the spring lever comes second nature and lends confidence to the seal. Good thing too, because the handle mount/cradle blocks the bottom of the back seal. A pinched o-ring would not be so visible.

The camera mount/quick shoe guides the camera into place quickly – in perfect position. I did not have a misalignment once, although I have gotten into the habit of running a finger along the two [mated] edges after clamping down the mount lever. Slight, otherwise imperceptible protrusions are easier to detect by feel rather than sight because both surfaces are black.

The ports, bulkhead, and main seal all use the blue o-rings which need the appropriately matched silicone o-ring grease. I believe all SEA & SEA products have been switched to blue o-rings.

When the housing back is opened, the port lock slider can be pushed forward to lock the port in place and prevent accidental rotation or (doubtful) removal. On this unit, the slider seemed more ambiguous than my NX-90Z housing. There was no confirming click, or definite snap when moving to either locked or unlocked position. This is very insignificant and could just be restricted to one unit, nevertheless I noted it.

Use With Lenses

The Sigma 14mm f/2.8 and the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 worked fine with SEA & SEA's Fisheye dome port (8 in. dia.). I tried the Sigma 14mm also with the port extension ring and while many images were in focus, more came back out of focus. It also seemed to sit too far back in the dome, so I think it is unnecessary.

I also used a 60mm lens behind a flat port. It was hard to bring myself to do that in a place like Galapagos where most subjects are big animals. It behaved fine. The D70's CCD “magnification factor” of 1.5 makes the 60mm lens behave more like a 90mm lens.

All lenses were used without aperture rings or focus gears. In manual setting, I could change aperture with the Main command dial, and shutter speed with the Sub-command dial. I used all lenses in auto focus mode. I missed the ability to switch the focus mode (C/S/M switch) but for the most part, predictive auto focus did a good enough job.

SIZE ISSUES

To be fair, a dual bulkhead would have made the housing the size of the D100 housing. I like the more compact shape and size of both the [DX-D70] housing, and the [D70} camera itself, relative to the D100. And while I did not test this housings manual focus or manual aperture knobs, SEA & SEA designs them with positive feel feedback even with gloves. On my NX-90Z with aperture ring gear, I could change f-stops easily by feel. I expect this would be the same.

Camera Issues (not Housing Related)

The auto focus assist illuminator needs to be switched off in the menu before using the housing. Not only does it waste battery power, it can cause a distracting glare.

I shot NEF (RAW) + JPG mode (simultaneous saves each image as a RAW file and a compressed JPG) on almost all dives except one where I wanted to try out white balance bracketing. This bracketing is not available when shooting raw, so I used JPG – Fine mode. Results are below. This mode processes 3 versions or copies of each press of the shutter at 3 different white balance settings.

I have always felt that a fast frames/sec continuous capture is great for sports photographers but superfluous for underwater strobes. I did have the opportunity to tax the buffering capacity of NEF (RAW) + JPG capture of a sequence of turtle shots. (see below).

Also, if any of you film-shooters are still on the fence; nothing beats digital's ability to change ISO sensitivity on the fly to capture an otherwise tripod- or flash-required shot. (see below). Here we had a baby frigate that was under a cliff ledge. Tripod was impossible to place off the cliff. Strobe would have stressed the animal. Increasing the apparent sensitivity to an ISO-equivalent to 1200 allowed me to get the shot. Try that with your Velvia…or even pushing it.

Lastly, the supplied Picture Project (from Nikon) allows you to browse NEF files and very limited retouching. It's anemic in comparison to Adobe's Camera RAW plug-in for PhotoshopCS®. Also it does not play well with Adobe's Camera RAW. It hides itself in the Adobe Only folder. I had to remove it to use Adobe's Camera RAW -- be forewarned!

BOTTOM LINE:

The D70 is priced great and was worth the wait. In many ways it is an improvement over the D100, especially the sync speed. The housing fits and handles the camera marvelously. My gripe about single bulkhead is more than made up by its compact size. I recommend it highly to anyone with a D70, and especially if they have already purchased SEA & SEA ports!

Rich also submitted some more sample images from his trip, so enjoy: