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Underwater Photography Primer
If we don't like the plastic bag idea, what about sticking a rigid plastic housing
around a standard camera? This works and is in fact what most professional
underwater photographers use. The oldest and most popular brand of
underwater housing is Ikelite. The big New York shops on my list of camera
retailers will carry them (also the ewa bags).
I haven't personally played with housed SLRs so I'll move on to something
that I have tried: real cameras that are inherently waterproof and pressure
resistant.
The most popular example of this idea is the Nikonos V. This is a rugged little
rubber-coated body that takes interchangeable lenses in 15, 20, 28, 35
(standard lens; works above water too), and 80mm lengths. The camera gives
you aperture-priority or manual exposure control with center-weighted TTL metering. Optics and image
quality are excellent. It is a real camera that you can take into the shower.
I hate the Nikonos V.
Why? To focus, you flip the camera over and stare at the front. Then you turn a dial until the correct
distance is indicated. Then you flip the camera back over and take your picture.
Nikon fixed all of this with their Nikonos RS SLR, introduced with great fanfare in 1992. From the
feature list, it looked basically like a water- and pressure-proof Nikon land SLR. Everything was
automatic if you wanted it to be, the viewfinder offered super high eye relief (since the user was
presumed to be wearing a SCUBA mask). There was an amazing 20-35 zoom lens and a tempting macro
lens.
Warts? The Nikonos RS was staggeringly priced (almost $10,000 for a system). The camera would flood
and require expensive repairs, which Nikon invariably blamed on user carelessness (though these same
people had been using the Nikonos V for many years with no problems). I talked to a guy who sold his
and what he hated was the lack of neutral buoyancy: "I would hand the camera to my wife and then have
to adjust my BC; I don't want a camera that becomes part of my weight system."
http://www.photo.net/underwater/primer (5 of 23)7/3/2005 2:18:13 AM