Nikon D7000 Underwater

[adamhanlon 0]

Hi Mark,

 

I have to question why is your testing format going to based solely on cold water diving? From the amount of images posted here I beleive that a high percentage of photos are taken in warm water. Is this because the testers are based in the UK?

 

Yes it is, although if anyone happens to have a private jet handy I'll take them up on using it!

 

Bear in mind that this (like all reviews) will inevitably have flaws for some users. I'm sure that reviews in the future may include different diving environments.

 

The cold vs warm water thing is one thing that I don't agree with Alex on. Apologies here for going off topic: Whilst divers in warm water do spend longer in the water, and bare hands are more prone to damage from oversize controls, ergonomics is still ergonomics. Easy access to crucial controls and the ability to alter key settings without lifting your eye from the viewfinder applies in all water! In general, larger controls do make this easier, particuarly if you don't have the hours that it takes to develop muscle memory due to issues like earning a living! The major difference between warm and cold for me is the tactile "feeling" of a housing system, which is a very personal thing anyway! (This is why we are using multiple testers.)

 

I do agree that cold water diving proficiency does not neccesarilly make for warm water. When I used to guide, we didn't call the British guests "Reef Crawlers" for nothing! All changed now of course!

 

We are already looking at another review (venue TBA) of mini domes-I'll keep everyone posted!

 

Adam

 

If this develops into a discussion, I'll hive this post off into a new topic!

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I wouldn't be too greedy! AFAIK nobody other than wetpixel has ever attempted a multimhousing reviews. Drew has done them 4 canon too.

 

I'm sure Adam can easily add a pool session too. If he feels he can't get all the answers in cold water.

 

Posted simultaneously with Adam above.

 

Alex

[Aussiebyron 57]

Hi Mark,

 

You will have the chance to compare the Aquatica & Nauticam Housings in your home waters at the Byron Bay Shootout.

 

Hi Peter.

 

I am more interested in getting my hands on my new Aquatica housing when you get it. It might be worn out before the Byron Shootout.

 

Cheers Mark

[Alex_Tattersall 90]

Hi Alex,

 

Not sure if I missed this in the review but I've been asked by a few people, can you manually dial down the camera's flash on the D7000 and, if so, at minimum, how fast is the recharge time?

 

Alex

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Can be done through the menu - down to 1/125th power, I think. Bit fiddly, but not difficult. Alex

[markdrayton 12]

Hi Alex T,

 

Expanding on Alex M's reply, in manual flash mode accessed through the custom menu, you can dial down power to 1/128 and pre-flashes are not emitted. In this manual flash mode, it doesn't seem possible to put the camera into continuous drive mode (requires a separate button press for each exposure whatever drive mode is set on the dial). However the recharge time is all but instantaneous and is likely to be well under most strobe recharge times. I managed to get between 2 and 3 exposures per second but that is a reflection of how fast I can press the button rather than recharge time and might be a bit slower in a housing. I assume that in this mode external strobes trigger but output has to be adjusted manually.

 

There is also a commander flash mode which is intended for controlling external strobes and it is this mode which I would assume might be best for use in a housing with external strobes? In commander mode, the internal flash has to be raised, but can be set to TTL, manual (down to 1/128 power), or to fire pre-flashes only and then nothing itself for the actual shot although remote slaves do fire. The same limitation on drive mode appears to apply for commander flash mode as for manual flash mode. I am not at the moment clear how the wireless control of external strobes in this mode works and so whether optical triggering and TTL control will work for third party underwater strobes. Others may be able to enlighten me while I try to find the answer elsewhere.

 

However the bottom line in relation to Alex's original question is that it is certainly possible to dial down flash power on the D7000 to produce negligible recharge times.

 

Of course all this is a bit theoretical as I don't (yet!) have a housing Alex.

 

Mark

 

 

Hi Alex,

 

Not sure if I missed this in the review but I've been asked by a few people, can you manually dial down the camera's flash on the D7000 and, if so, at minimum, how fast is the recharge time?

 

Alex

[Alex_Tattersall 90]

Thanks Mark, great information for me, much appreciated,

 

Alex

[markdrayton 12]

Hi Alex T,

 

Expanding on Alex M's reply, in manual flash mode accessed through the custom menu, you can dial down power to 1/128 and pre-flashes are not emitted. In this manual flash mode, it doesn't seem possible to put the camera into continuous drive mode (requires a separate button press for each exposure whatever drive mode is set on the dial). However the recharge time is all but instantaneous and is likely to be well under most strobe recharge times. I managed to get between 2 and 3 exposures per second but that is a reflection of how fast I can press the button rather than recharge time and might be a bit slower in a housing. I assume that in this mode external strobes trigger but output has to be adjusted manually.

 

There is also a commander flash mode which is intended for controlling external strobes and it is this mode which I would assume might be best for use in a housing with external strobes? In commander mode, the internal flash has to be raised, but can be set to TTL, manual (down to 1/128 power), or to fire pre-flashes only and then nothing itself for the actual shot although remote slaves do fire. The same limitation on drive mode appears to apply for commander flash mode as for manual flash mode. I am not at the moment clear how the wireless control of external strobes in this mode works and so whether optical triggering and TTL control will work for third party underwater strobes. Others may be able to enlighten me while I try to find the answer elsewhere.

 

However the bottom line in relation to Alex's original question is that it is certainly possible to dial down flash power on the D7000 to produce negligible recharge times.

 

Of course all this is a bit theoretical as I don't (yet!) have a housing Alex.

 

Mark

 

To reply to my own question, the information I have gleaned from Thomas Hogan's writings is that the commander mode for controlling external strobes works wirelessly through the pre-flash sequence and is complex. Only a limited range of Nikon strobes can interpret these commands (and to an imperfect extent selected Metz and Sigma models). It seems highly unlikely therefore that any dedicated underwater strobes will have been reverse engineered to be fully wirelessly controlled in Nikon commander mode. Optical control therefore would seem to be limited to precisely mimicking the camera internal flash so that the camera isn't "aware" that it is controlling external strobes. I very much doubt that in commander mode set to fire pre-flashes only, that external underwater strobes would fire for the exposure flash.

 

Mark

[loftus 42]

Optical control therefore would seem to be limited to precisely mimicking the camera internal flash so that the camera isn't "aware" that it is controlling external strobes. I very much doubt that in commander mode set to fire pre-flashes only, that external underwater strobes would fire for the exposure flash.

They probably would fire, but at the wrong time.

One never wants to synch external strobes with preflash. When I first bought a digital camera I could not work out why when I used my studio strobes synched to the camera with a photocell my images were underexposed even though all the strobes fired. Then someone told me about the preflash with digital cameras. Some newer studio strobes like Bowens that I have, can be set to ignore a preflash, but I am not aware that any underwater strobes can.

Edited December 28, 2010 by loftus

[paquito 1]

I very much doubt that in commander mode set to fire pre-flashes only, that external underwater strobes would fire for the exposure flash.

 

Mark

 

Mark,

Do you happen to have access to a couple of INON strobes in an attempt to see if their sensor circuitry can interpret the commander sequence, with/without the acc switch activated, etc? The other external strobe I've seen is the Sealife Digital that has multiple preflash settings, which could be worth a try, even if just out of curiosity to experiment with, if you had access to one. paquito

Edited December 28, 2010 by paquito

[markdrayton 12]

Mark,

Do you happen to have access to a couple of INON strobes in an attempt to see if their sensor circuitry can interpret the commander sequence, with/without the acc switch activated, etc? The other external strobe I've seen is the Sealife Digital that has multiple preflash settings, which could be worth a try, even if just out of curiosity to experiment with, if you had access to one. paquito

 

Hi paquito,

 

No, at present the only strobes I have access to are Ikelite Ds125's - electronically synch'd only until the Ikelite optical controller comes out in February. However I do see a pair of Z240's in my future, and thus the interest in the D7000's optical strobe controlling abilities. I'll have a look at the Sealife Digital strobes - I'm not familiar with them,

 

Mark

[paquito 1]

Hi paquito,

 

No, at present the only strobes I have access to are Ikelite Ds125's - electronically synch'd only until the Ikelite optical controller comes out in February. However I do see a pair of Z240's in my future, and thus the interest in the D7000's optical strobe controlling abilities. I'll have a look at the Sealife Digital strobes - I'm not familiar with them,

 

Mark

 

Hi Mark, Thanks. The sealife strobes are by no means near the performance of ikelite's or inon, they are a different pricepoint, etc, but they just have that interesting switch for preflash adjustments internally and could be worth a visit to a sealife dealer just to test out the theory - since sealife is basically everywhere.

Only a thought, nothing more than curiousity on those.

[derway 2]

If you don't want to wait for the ike solution, the heinrich's digital optical slave adapter works great, with ike strobes.

 

It provides a nikonos connector, so you need an adapter cable from ike.

 

It has been working great for me, with ds-51s, and a variety of digicams.

Edited December 29, 2010 by derway

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I haven't read all the posts above. But the Inon Z240s work perfectly either in TTL or manual on the D7000 underwater. I used both extensively in the review - as well as wired electronic synch (manual).

 

Wireless control will not work for two reasons. First the infra-red light used to control it will not go through water (think how fast red is absorbed, infra-red is even faster). Second, apart from housed land guns, no underwater strobes can detect this infra-red communication, AFAIK.

 

Alex

[markdrayton 12]

I haven't read all the posts above. But the Inon Z240s work perfectly either in TTL or manual on the D7000 underwater. I used both extensively in the review - as well as wired electronic synch (manual).

 

Wireless control will not work for two reasons. First the infra-red light used to control it will not go through water (think how fast red is absorbed, infra-red is even faster). Second, apart from housed land guns, no underwater strobes can detect this infra-red communication, AFAIK.

 

Alex

That makes sense Alex. I didn't know that the wireless control worked in the infrared spectrum - Hogan just says control through the pre-flash sequence. If the control is via the strobe tube as suggested by Hogan and not a separate emitter (and I don't see an IR emitter on my D7000), then I suppose the fiber-optics might negate infrared absorption in water. But that's all irrelevant if the strobes don't understand the control language.

 

Mark

[bearaway 1]

No, at present the only strobes I have access to are Ikelite Ds125's - electronically synch'd only until the Ikelite optical controller comes out in February. However I do see a pair of Z240's in my future, and thus the interest in the D7000's optical strobe controlling abilities. I'll have a look at the Sealife Digital strobes - I'm not familiar with them,

 

I might have been living in a cave, but what is this about ? I do not seem to find any information related to this optical controller.

[Alex_Mustard 0]

It was covered in Wetpixel's DEMA report. Although finding old news items is always pain on Wetpixel - go to the front page and search for "DEMA 2010 Ikelite" - it comes up 5th or 6th down!

 

Alex

[bearaway 1]

It was covered in Wetpixel's DEMA report. Although finding old news items is always pain on Wetpixel - go to the front page and search for "DEMA 2010 Ikelite" - it comes up 5th or 6th down!

 

Thanks for the reply

 

I could not find it at all on wetpixel dema reports, but googling more intensively pointed me to the dpg dema reports which mentions it.

http://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-p...coverage-day-3/

[wendigo 0]

I'm waiting since November for the Nauticam NA-D7000. Now I've been told that Nauticam HK has a backlog of over 100 housings and has postponed all the shipments. Is there really somebody who already has this housing or knows something about the availability? This is my first contact with Nauticam and after the experience of the last weeks, I think it will be better to stay with the European manufacturers...

[Drew 0]

Are any of the aluminum housings shipping? I think it's fair to say that most manufacturers are in the process of building the housings. There usually is a delay of 3-6 months after the camera is launched before the housings ship and be readily available.

Alex just managed to test the prototype Nauticam, and a few other brands will be tested in in a couple of months in the UK.

[Ryan 57]

We shipped a limited number of housings in the US in December, have more due in Friday, and more slated for the following week. It takes time to ramp up production, and there are invariably delays.

[Alex_Tattersall 90]

We have also shipped our first housings and expect another consignment mid next week.

[Ryan 57]

Check out these images from a Fort Lauderdale photographer using his D7000 in Nauticam housing on our local reef systems:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/submarine/tags/d7000/

[Drew 0]

I'm waiting since November for the Nauticam NA-D7000. Now I've been told that Nauticam HK has a backlog of over 100 housings and has postponed all the shipments. Is there really somebody who already has this housing or knows something about the availability? This is my first contact with Nauticam and after the experience of the last weeks, I think it will be better to stay with the European manufacturers...

 

Well, Wendigo (the mythical Native American creature?), seems the housings are shipping and you are in the line. I don't think any other manufacturer is going to be any different.

[Alex_Tattersall 90]

And all I can say is that it will be worth the wait.