pmooney

feet first again, I'm with scorpio fish on this one. I have 2 Subal ND2 housings - one with the Grand viewfinder and one standard unit ( GF wasn't available at time of purchase ). My opinion is that while the view is nice once you get the distortion from non square alignment undercontrol - but I decided it wasn't a must have on the second housing. Aquatica have shipped my nice shiny black D2X housing to me and it's due to get out here to the colonies late next week. Then I will be able to have real comparison as to which viewfinder suits me the best. At this time I enjoy the GF viewfinder for macro and the std for wide angle - still I am not completely sold .... we will have to see. ( excuse the pun )

Sounds like either there are real good deals on Subal in Thailand or your about to have a budget blow out. Current pricing on Subal in the US indicates D2 - $4900 USD, 20D - $3100 USD , D100 - $3100 , D70 - $2700. I wouldn't expect any great savings on housings for the D200 even if it was a direct fit ( which it seems not to be by the rear button layout ) .

Now the race is on... Who will be the first wetpixellian to have one of these beauties under water in ANY housing ? Which manufacturer will win the race ??

Pure speculatiion - it will be interesting to see how quick housings get to market given the very similar dimensions ?? D200 147 x 113 x 74 D100 144 x 116 x 80.5 D70 140 x 111 x 78

William, Great topic - fancy getting Mike to admit to being a fondler ..... The photo in your post is controversial to me - not because of the speared fish ( i view spearing as selective fishing ) but because it shows spearing on SCUBA - where's the sport in that ??? On a serious note I have always tried to take a "low impact " approach to my photography - this has worked for me. In days gone by I was one of those who discouraged the use of gloves - now I can't dive without them. How things change.

The internal thread size is 58mm if my memory serves me corrrectly. I have shipped a few UR/ Pro filters to people with the 8080 although I am unsure as to which housings they had. Still nobody has said they had a problem with clearance and none have been returned.

Thanks Mike. Top Dawg housings are without doubt the most versatile and affordable of all the housings. That being said with that versatility there is a little compromise. ( no flip filter / no microphone / flat port ) The basic functions are accessible power on / off rec / stdby , zoom , manual focus / auto focus select and if your camera supports it - photo mode ( switchable ). It is possible to get them to manually white balance by preselecting manual white balance mode before putting the camera in the housing. If you power the camera down and restart it the whitebalance will reset - certainly not a one button push but achievable. I have found the Top Housings to be very popular with people starting out in the video world. People find a lot of comfort in knowing that they will always be able to get a camera that will fit / function in their housing - not to mention the ease of upgrading their camera as time goes on.

Anthony, While your getting the spec's can you dig up the D200's dimensions ? I'm sure there are lot of people eyeing their old housings off ! Peter

Good luck with your mount. The small water will not make any difference to the image as long as you keep itair bubble free.

DRu , As far as I know - NO the sikaflex does not etch the port. It sure stick and there is a bit of work in removing a ring. it is an option to do it your way - for sure it works no problems. Most of my clients want a simple reliable method - if its pretty then fantastic - its all good !!! We have been able to remove and relocate the discs without experienceing alot of damage to the ports. That said a new port runs $90.00 and takes less than 10 minutes to be new again.. They pay for the option of switching cameras and lens options - can't do that with any other housing on todays market. TOPDAWGVIDEO housings are the singularly most versatile adaptable piece of kit available today IN THE MARKET PLACE. If you know how to use your particular camera - manual white balance in acheivable. Further the low entry cost guarantees that more & more people will give them serious consideration. THey are without doubt the most adaptable reliable video housing on the market today. Aluminium construction 200ft , No through the hull penetrations - what else can handle the type of abuse these units get ??????? n and take more than 1000 different types / models of cameras. wouldnt it be good if we could get one or two slr's into the same housing. My 2 Cents Peter ( Authorised Top Dawg Distributor - Australia & New Zealand ) www.topdawgvideo.com.au

Apparantly all the heavyweights from the dive industry in north queensland will be having a golf day followed by luncheon, and the go kart racing and assorted trophy presentations. Parties have flown in from all over the world for this prestigeous annual event. This is an invites only event at the countrys leading course........ I wonder about there private presentations at the REEf casino after said event '''java script:emoticonhttp://wetpixel.com/forums/style_images/litebar-ul/folder_post_icons/icon9.gif('') Guess i have to go and find out.......... java script:emoticon('B)')http://wetpixel.com/forums/style_images/litebar-ul/folder_post_icons/icon10.gif

Perhaps Sea & Sea know something that we don't ! The Japanese camera market remains largely insulated from the rest of the world - and sometimes causes us to wonder at the offerings. Sea & Sea's deciscion to make a housing for these entry level camera's is probably a direct response to the acceptance of these new models in their home / core market. Passing through Nihon Bashi ( Osaka's camera / electronic's district ) I noticed the increased push and presence on D50 / 350D . It was much greater than I saw when the D70 was introduced. Probally has something to do with price point / volume - let's hope it siphons down into more affordable housings being offered. Just my observations......

I recently had a similar issue with a 7070. Our solution was to cut up ( sacrifice ) a 67mm magic filter. We managed to get 3 units from 1 filter. The 8080 has a 58mm thread in the lens, so it should be possible to cut a 67mm down. Try to get a thin filter . Our attachment solution was very agricultural - we used tape to attach the filter to the lens port. Sometimes it's neccessary to adapt to suit you situation .... ( on a boat in the middle of the ocean makes it hard to swim down to the local camera store ) Good Luck !

Dude , It is really simple modification. The wide angle conversion lens needs to fitted to the camera BEFORE you put it in the housing. Then turn the housing up and align your lexan disc - if you intend to use a wetmount lense centre alignment will be critical , otherwise near enough is good enough , (67mm filter ring already installed ) use the sikaflex or similar to fix the ring to the front port. ( directly ) This will give you a mount for the filter- allowing removal and replacement underwater. ( remember to " burp " the filter ) Not a flip filter but at least a solution. Give the guys at Backscatter a call as they usually have a good stock of UR/Pro filters. Peter ( Authorised Top Dawg Distributor - Australia & New Zealand ) www.topdawgvideo.com.au

Try fitting a large ( 67mm or larger ) filter ring into a disc of lexan. Fix the disc on to the front port of the housing using sikaflex ( marine grade silicon ) or similar. This gives you the abililty to remove the filter as required. I have seen this method used to make a mount point for Inon or similar 67mm wetmount wide angle lenses also ! Peter

Go steady - it's a process the first time you get the monster wet. Tip - " no diopter - wide port " will get the best result out of the bag assuming you will chase the bats first up... Only thing to worry about is pushing out a notch past wide so you will not have vignetting issues. Enjoy the beast -it's amazingly bouyant. Mike - did you see that Sam WON the pygmy seahorse contest outright. Not bad for someone that not diving anymore. Best Peter

CONGRATULATIONS Alex. Please pardon the pun " You certainly seem to be cutting the mustard " Hope to bump ( read stagger ) into you in Antibe. I'll be the at the bar with all the chicks - you'll find us no doubt ! Peter

The Topdawg housing is without doubt one of the most versatile products in the underwater imaging market today. The ability to use a large number of canmeras in it have made it a popular item since it's introduction. Just make sure that the used housing you are buying is the Topdawg 11 ( power up button on the front of the housing ) - there was a revision in the location of the control board sets, and I am not certain that old style boards are still avavilable ! A copy of the instruction manual can be found at www.topdawgvideo.com.au It should be easy to read as it has been " translated into australian " .

I used a focus ring from the 105. It had to be reamed ( dremmelled) to make it fit. Worked real well. Peter

At first I used auto white balance and had a reasonable result , and then tried manual white balance. In all cases I adjusted the white balance in CS11 as part of my normal process ( raw workflow ). The images benefited hugely from this so I have a bit of work to do in the manual white balance department.

The measurement should be adjusted to 120mm based on a 7.5mm thickness. I got a 33mm extension ring today and will give it a tryout next week in Flores. The dome is designed like your illustration 180F - it would seem that the only way to use the full surface of the dome would be for the "throat" of the port to be made larger. This probally explains the variation in sharpness of one lens when compared over a few different housing / ports - bring on the Aquatica. Thanks for the kind words on the test images - there is certainly a long way to go to reach the potential of the magic filter. Peter

Julian, The measurement from the face of the bayonet mount to the out side of the dome ( assuming the dome is 2.5mm thick ) is 115mm. when the lens is set at 10mm it extends 36.5mm into the dome and at 20mm it is 41.5mm. Peter The 12-24 extends 50mm @ 12mm

Julian, I was hoping you would chip in. I'm sure it is the filter - the blank ring came from a HOYA filter and they are quite tall. I didn't have time to try it out without the diopter in the water. My intiatial tests in the office showed a diopter was neccessary otherwise the lense 'saw' the port shade. Yes the FE2 dome is the 180mm diameter. My gut tells me that the 33mm ext ring is probally the best option given that the Sigma lens is about 12mm shorter overall than the Nikon 12-24. Peter

Jean, I had been toying with the idea of black anodised housings for rental units for quite a while - they would seem to be more beautifull after a bit of use. I had been thinking to have a black ( anodised - not painted ) D2X housing for myself. ( matching SLR's would be flash ) I have 2 on order in the standard silver colour and had thought that I would discuss the colour variation at DEMA should I make it in time from my pending Flores expedition. We are scheduled to fly out of Maumere on the 5th and may be just a tad pushed for time. Best Peter

and finally.