Housings for the D2x

[Viz'art 24]

Hey Tom, Can't help but notice your from Alaska, long winter hey! cant wait for liquid water to be back.

[scotdiver 0]

Are there any dates for the Aquatica version? Nothing on the site the last time I looked, but this would be my upgrade path from Fuji S2

[Viz'art 24]

Hi Robert, definite date I don't have, but soon or better is the buzz word at Aquatica, I have my two D100 and accessories up on the auction block soon, gotta make room forn the D2x, I am keeping my Fuji S2pro setup as my back up for the time being, man I noticed you have the A3 with a pair of Ike's biggest blinker,you have some serious body builder material right there.

 

Regard's

 

Jean

[Tom_Kline 124]

Hi Jean,

We have plenty of liquid water now, but it is falling from the sky propelled by a pineapple express - massive low pressure systems moving north up the Pacific. A colleague noted a gust to 90 mph today as the weather station readout is in his office. We are having a 'warm' winter. The short days are presently at at an end.

Cheers!

Tom

[Viz'art 24]

Hey Tom, up here is still very much winter, we just gor out of a very cold spell -35c. with wind chill, even the dog complained, right now is warming up but snowing, but still it is nice to see daylight at 4pm, God how depressing I must sound to the southern folks , but alas nothing beat a summer up north and I don't care how short it is.

 

Cheers

 

Jean

[Tom_Kline 124]

Hi Jean,

Much colder where you are than here! Even in Fairbanks it was forecasted to be above freezing today. I think we are getting much of the precip that should have gone to Washington State, which is in a drought situation.

Cheers!

Tom

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Hopefully the attachment came through, which came from the German boat show. It shows the Subal D2 housing with the extended VF but from too a high an angle or too short a focal length - however, it looks like it will be OK. A straight-on or lower shot would have been more conclusive. Too bad they did not show one of the premium finders on the Seacam D2 housing at the same show as these are the only pix (see Alex's post at the start of this thread) that have been posted of the housing thus far.

Tom

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The Subal GS viewfinder does not block the LCD screen at all. I think that the Seacam S45 does - which is why it was not on the housing for BOOT. I heard a couple of years ago that Seacam were going to make a different S45 for the Nikon D100 (and now othere nikons, which have the LCD directly below the viewfinder - dunno what happened about that).

 

I have been shooting the Subal D2 in the Red Sea this last week (review soon coming on Wetpixel) and although I was planning on getting a GS finder I'm not sure I will now. My room mate, Peter Rowlands had a GS viewfinder D70 and I have to say I prefered the standard D2X viewfinder (which of course is miles better than the standard D70).

 

Alex

[Alex_Mustard 0]

For completeness I thought I'd add these here:

 

Just received word today that Aquatica has a Nikon D2X in their hands and

they are currently working on a housing for same.

 

Price to be in the $3,000 U.S. range.  No time frame for completion yet.

 

Tom Stack

 

http://www.tomstackphoto.com

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And:

 

Spoke with Norma & Blake from Aquatica this past weekend, they hope for a July/August delivery for the new Nikon D2X Housing. As mentioned in another thread this will be a Machined Aluminum Housing.

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[Alex_Mustard 0]

Anyone know any more on the Sealux D2X?

[Rocha 0]

Good to know that the Aquatica will cost 2,000 less than the Subal and Seacam. Any information on pricing of the Nexus?

[Alex_Mustard 0]

And $2000 less than the camera! That is a rare event.

 

Alex

 

My guess is that the Nexus will be between the Aquatica and the Subal+Seacam on price.

[ssra30 0]

From what I heard, Nexus housing will be around $us 3300+/-100 (if I did my conversion right) in Japan. I was qouted about $us3750 here in Thailand.

 

Nexus should be available by the middle of next month. My dive buddy ordered one and I am waiting for my Subal housing which should get here around the end of April or early May so hopefully we will get some hand on comparison between the two.

 

Now I am too poor to go diving

[Rocha 0]

I heard in another thread that Aquatica will use investment aluminum casting for the D2x housing, the same that they use for the A5 (Aquatica for F5). If it is anywhere near their F5 housing:

 

 

It will be great!

[UWPhotoTech 0]

The Aquatica D2X Housing will be a CNC Machined Aluminum Housing, it will not be cast.

[Rocha 0]

Here is where my information came from:

 

Hi Kasey, the D100 / S2pro / 14n housing's serie is what is called a Sand Casting process, same as the Nexus, the D2x is an investment casting which is more specific to a camera design, the same used for the F5 , N90, D70, 20D & Digital Rebel series, the sand casting is a more versatile type alowing for change in final product, among the different technique we use, you will find the sand casting and the investment casting, we do not use machining from stock billet because it is costly (in the end , to you) for no practical gain, Only gears, knob hardware etc are machined. Injection plastic is cost effective, once you get over the initial mold cost, but the limit in pressure resistance preclude it from finding it's way in our line up, with today's breed of technical divers even our depth rating of 300 feet is put to good use often.

 

Hope this help.

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[UWPhotoTech 0]

That post was made before Aquatica made is decision on the D2X fabrication. Both Blake and Norma from Aquatica have confirmed that the D2X will be a machined Aluminum housing. A first for Aquatica, but it will allow them to get their D2X housing to market sooner.

[Rocha 0]

Thanks! Do you think it will be a box-like housing or something like the A5? I ordered my D2x (I will get it in a month or two if I'm lucky), so I am just trying to decide if I wait for Aquatica or go for Subal.

[UWPhotoTech 0]

I have not discussed the shape of the D2X housing with Aquatica. The Subal housing is of course avaialble now but the Aquatica housing should be priced about $1,900 less.

[james 0]

Aquatica's housing for the Coolpix5000 was machined from solid, so this will be their second CNC machined housing :-)

 

Cheers

James

[UWPhotoTech 0]

Thanks James! As I was typing in "a first for Aquatica" I had the eerie feeling that I was forgetting one previous machined housing.

[Ryan 48]

Dave Marsh is right, this housing will be machined. Since Aquatica just started this project, it is the only way for them to get a housing on the market within a reasonable timeframe. Other manufacturers have a big head start on them by working with the D2h or via their close relationships with Nikon.

 

Aquatica can make a machined housing as simple or as complex as they want, but as you increase complexity, you increase the time the housing has to spend on the CNC mill, and the amount of passes the mill has to make, increasing cost. At $3k or less this won't have many of the aesthetic touches added to cast housings. The A5 required Nikon's DA-30 Actionfinder, which isn't available for this camera, and will eliminate much of the bulge at the top of the housing pictured. Aquatica's housing should resemble Subal's in form...

[Alex_Mustard 0]

This is all very exciting. Its great to be hear so quickly about the world of UW photography!

 

Alex

 

I had better enjoy posing with the D2X in Cayman - as it seems they are gonna be everywher soon!

[UWPhotoTech 0]

Alex, you were still the first and no one can take that away!

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Maybe. But I still haven't taken any great shots with the camera yet! Maybe at the weekend. Alex

[ssra30 0]

Alex, you mentioned that you were going to get the GS Viewfinder but decided that you like the viewfinder that came on the housing better. Could you elaborate a bit more on the reason. I played with the D2X briefly but won't get my camera for another 2 weeks. I realize that the viewfinder is quite a bit bigger than the D70 so do you think that the GS Viewfinder is not neccessary/helpful or do you have any specific problem with the GS viewfinder? I decided on Subal mainly because of the availability of GS viewfinder and ideally I would like to be able to see the entire viewfinder sometimes even when the housing is not press up against my mask. I did play a little bit with Subal D70 housing with GS Viewfinder and find it very useful. The local dealer here won't be able to retrofit GS Viewfinder at a later date and I would have to send the housing back to Europe if I want to add GS Viewfinder so it would be easier to just get it now with the housing rather than doing it later. My dealer talked to Subal earlier this week and I was told that the next batch of Subal housing should be available toward the end of April but did not mention anything about GS Viewfinder shortage or whether it is still unavailable.

 

Thanks for your help.