Coolpix 8400 images from Coral Sea

[Dave H 0]

Last week I spent 5 days on Taka III in the Coral Sea playing with the new Ikelite housing for the CP8400. It was a definite step up from the CP5000 that I have been using for the past 2 years.

 

Here's some of the shots from the trip:

 

http://www.daveharasti.com/Queensland/coralsea/index.html

 

 

 

 

The Nikon CP8400 is defiently a step up from the CP5000. The autofocus is much quicker, the shutter lag is less and the standard built in 24mm lens is perfect for underwater photography. And being able to shoot at 8mb allows better cropping or images to be blown up larger. The camera was very easy to use underwater with the Ike housing as buttons were easy to utilise and the majority of images were taken using the camera with just one hand. I'm very happy with the Ikelite housing, it allows full control of ALL the camera's features and to my surprise it is smaller than what I thought it was going to be. If you are after a housing for the 8400 you can't go past the Ike housing for features and value for money

 

There are two slight constraints with the camera that I need to get used too. First, you cannot zoom in all the way with macro similar to how the CP5000 function. It will only stay in macro for one third of the zoom but it does have excellent macro (down to 1 inch) so the key is you must get real close if the subject is small. On the upside I found the Inon UCL-165 macro lens works extremely well on the front of the Ike port so I can still photograph all those nudibranchs that are less than 2 cm.

 

Secondly, in low light conditions I found that the auto focus would freeze the LCD screen on a moving subject and hence the camera fire was delayed. The auto freeze was a problem on a night dive but using manual focus solved the problem. During the daytime it wasn't an issue but I see this as being a real pain in the butt on night dives.

 

I've also just got my hands on the Ikelite dome port for the Nikon wide angle lens, will test that over the next couple of weeks on some wrecks.

 

cheers,

Dave