knakatsu

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I have quite a few items for sale. If you see something you're interested in, contact me with a reasonable offer and/or any questions. Aquatica D200 Housing with dual Nikonos bulkheads (never flooded). All controls are clean, water-proof and work smoothly. The bulkheads include a water-proof cap. The shutter release, controls and buttons all work easily. Macro MF/AF lens port with soft cover Port extension 8" Dome Port with soft cover and shade Zoom gear for Nikon 12-24mm 
Focus gear for Nikkor 105mm macro 
Focus gear for Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye 
Nikon D200 Camera body with sensor cap and Nikon strap Ikelite DS125 strobes with Nikonos sync cords, battery chargers, ball mounts, and diffuser caps Neutral buoyancy arms with ball mounts (all clamps not pictured but included) Hartenberger Mini Focus Light with 2 batteries, ball mount, neoprene cover, battery charger, soft and hard lenses, and o-ring spares 2x Nikonos sync cables Another Aquatica D200 Housing with dual Nikonos bulkheads (never flooded). All controls are clean, water-proof and work smoothly. The bulkheads include a water-proof cap. The shutter release, controls and buttons all work easily. Another 8" Dome Port with soft cover and shade Aquatica Aqua View for D200 Housing with cap and case Another Nikon D200 Camera body with sensor cap and Nikon strap Nikon Quick Charger with (4) EN-EL3e batteries Aquatica O-Ring Rebuild Kit for D200 Housing Pelican 1620 case

Leo, Can you check you requested part numbers. I have: 18696 - Aquatica Zoom gear for 12-24 DX 18456 - Aquatica Dome Extention 12-24DX AF 2.8 Is that what you're looking for? Kory

Thanks for getting the ball rolling Alex. Kim and I got caught up in the Heathrow evacuation so we were 3 days late in getting home (our bags just showed up today!) In any case, I haven't had time to process my photos to the extent that I would like but here they are... http://www.nakatsus.com/kory/RedSea/index.html I thought I would also include my favorite behavior shot Thanks again for a great week! Kory and Kim

Bruce, Thanks for the update. It apprears from your pictures, that you have a total of 27oz. of float buoyancy. How did that work out under water with your WA setup? Was it neutral, negative, etc.? After seeing your paint, I may forego the shrink tubing on mine and just paint them all black or blue and let them fade at will. Thanks again.

Larry, I found myself with the same decision to make a month ago. Cost aside, the slower speed and lack of sharpness reported in side-by-side comparisons led me to get another D200. I shoot exclusively in RAW and with proper attention to histogram information in the D200, didn't see any noticeable advantage to the marginal increase in the dynamic range of the S5. Given his love for JPEG, I expected Ken Rockwell to rave about the S5 but he actually gave some fairly balanced comments here: "If speed is more important, get the 5FPS D200 for sports. If you want to shoot resolution targets, get the D200. If you already own a D200, get another, since the S5 works quite differently and I would go crazy with both around my neck at the same time. The colors will not match between them - pick one and stick with it. - Ken Rockwell" Bottom line, I don't think you can go wrong with another D200.

That is a great idea! A standing memorial to those that have passed away.

The fact that I haven't had these in the water at all is exactly my point. They cracked in relatively static circumstances. I assembled my housing, arms, and strobes, then it all sat untouched for 3 weeks. Upon receiving my new order from John, I dissassembled it all and noticed the cracks. It is very possible that I did overtighten them as the direction of the cracks is very consistent (downward from the screw) however, I went to great lengths not to knowing that I would use the locktite as the failsafe. You're exactly right. I believe that I have the older, faulty ball ends as you can see differences in color of the material, the seam around the perimeter, and the width of the cut on top. The older ball end is on the right in these pictures. I can't tell by looking at your image whether yours have that seam or not. Your English is very good actually. By "set screw", I am referring to the screw itself, not the threaded (female) end of the arm. I put the drop of locktite on the end of the screw itself, then inserted it through the ball end and tightened. Thanks for your help on this.

All, I apologize for the confusion this has caused. I used a drop of locktite on the tip of each set screw becuase I knew that I couldn't tighten them with much force, as that would put stress on the ball end. I was able to remove all of the screws yesterday after warming them with a soldering iron, they came right out. As Larry pointed out, my concern was having one of them loosen and fall out during a dive. It's worth noting that at no time did the locktite come in contact with the ball end itself. John suspects that possibly the fumes alone could have caused the reaction. Also worth noting that only 3 of the 8 cracked yet I used locktite on all of them (not suggesting that this is an acceptable failure rate...) The fact is that I am not convinced that the cracks were caused by the locktite on the set screws. The ball ends I just received from John are obviously different than the originals so I am wondering why. At the moment, I suspect that the cracks were caused by the force of the set screw on the ball end in conjunction with the force applied by the clamp, arm, strobe, etc. It is NOT my intention in any way to suggest that John is offering product that is defective in any way and I have been very please with his responsiveness to this. Having said that, I think it's premature to blame the locktite.

Cor, The ones that cracked were ordered the day you started this post so I would assume they are older. The ones I just received are noticeably different and have a very slight seam in the center of the ball. Here is the initial response from John - he is going to do some testing with the Loctite 277 I used.

I just received my second order of StiX arms/floats. I had installed my original arms/floats on the housing with strobes just to test the arm articulation with the floats. It has been sitting for 3 weeks until tonight when I broke it all down to measure different configurations. I found that the ball ends on 3 of the 4 original arms had stress cracks. From the appearance and consistency of these cracks, it leads me to believe they were caused by the tension of the set screw and not the clamps. When I originally installed the balls ends, I intentionally did not overtighten and used lock-tite instead to prevent them from coming loose. In comparing the cracked ball ends from my initial order to the ones I just received, there is a clear difference between the two so I'm wondering if this has been an issue with others. Given the cost of these things, this is somewhat concerning but glad that it was discovered before anything hit the water. I am sending a note to John at 4th Generation with these pictures in hopes that he is already aware of the issue. Has anyone else seen this?

Jack, Thanks for the great report. Just a few questions - What arm length(s) and floats did you use for both WA and macro? I am thinking of adding a StiX arm and float to my focus light to compensate for the macro port but don't know if it will be enough. Thank you. Kory

Thrify question but the STiX arms have removeable ball ends to allow the slotted floats to slip on to the arms with a snug fit, and are much smaller in diameter than TLC/ULCS arms. By the time you bored out the floats enough to get them on to the TLC arms, over the the ball ends, you would have lost a majority of the float volume (buoyancy) and, they would be extemely loose on the arms. Kory

Joel, I have been using the 12-24 behind an 8" Aquatica dome port for over a year with no diopter. Am I missing something? I didn't think the 12-24 required one but will go back and check previous posts on this subject. Kory

Still waiting for my second order from 4th Generation... Thanks for the pics Cor - is there any reason why you wouldn't want to cover both floats with a single piece of shrink tubing? That is what I planned to do once mine came but maybe I'm missing something. In terms of getting them dry, my thought was to make sure I soaked them throughly following a dive, then use compressed air to get them as dry as I can. Of course, this is all optimistic theory at this point so comments are appreciated. Kory

I am planning a trip to the Red Sea in June and I'm in the process of weeding out all the little things that need to be thought of in preparation - one of them is power. We will be staying in London for several days, then heading to Egypt for a week on the MV Whirlwind. Thanks to Alex, I understand that we will need to adapt for UK power and European power - both 240v, on this trip. I need to charge 4x DS-125's (not an issue becuase they came with UK/Eu adapters), camera batteries, MacBook Pro, and Dive light. Here is my question to the world traveling experts: What would you recommend as the most effecient way to do this? Thanks in advance

Ed, Very nice shot. I like the colors and the light is balanced well. Thanks for sharing... Kory

Lightroom 1.0 has support for stacking and a lot more. It appears that Adobe took what people liked about Aperture, and implemented it in Lightroom. So far, so good.

I placed my second order with John at 4th Generation Designs yesterday and after a lengthy (and much appreciated) conversation with him, learned a couple things I thought worthy of sharing. 1. On the topic of painting the floats, the issue at hand is not whether paint will affect the material or it's effectiveness - it's simply a matter of finding a paint that will not peel off over time. He suggested a glue based prime coat, then paint. Upon receiving my first order, I painted mine with a direct coat of Ford blue tractor spray and have soaked them extensively over the last week with no apparent sign of flaking. Final results TBD. 2. An even better idea he shared was to use 1 1/4" black shrink tubing around each float set. On his recommendation, I ordered a 4' package from Mouser Electronics, part number 562-Q2Z114-48N5 - $32.46. Shorter lengths are also available but I am doing my wife's arms as well. Before doing this, I will establish my deired buoyancy with both macro and WA configurations, then seal it up. It should look pretty cool if I don't screw something up. Once complete, I will post pics of the results for those that may be interested. Thanks again to Cor for the lead on this one... Kory

Anthony, The colors are brilliant! I especially like the perspective of the turtle in "Sipidan-19". It almost seems three dimensional. What lens if I may ask? Thanks for sharing. Kory

Cor, Great review and something that has been hot on my mind lately in preparation for a trip to the Red Sea this June. Based on your opinions, I am going to order a set. Thanks again. Kory

Becuase I'm an idiot, I responded to this request completely missing the fact that it was a gmail.com email address (I should have read the whole thread). In any case, I provided a link to my photos of the Tibbetts in the Cayman Islands. If this is not legit, I'm not sure what someone would gain from a solicitation like this? Any thoughts?

I would recommend the Nikkor 12-24mm. Very versatile W/A lens to compliment your macro.

This is my eight year old mermaid. Of all the UW shots I had the opportunity to take in 2006, this one is still my favorite!

No. What he said was that he is a CS user, not CS2 and therefore, does not have a valid CS2 license.