 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|
|
|
 |
||
|
|
|
See:
DSLR
Subal ND80 housing for Nikon D80
The Nikon D80 offers the serious underwater photographer many of the attractions of the professionally aimed (and priced) D200. With much of the technology packed into the smaller and less expensive D80 originating with the Nikon D200, it's no surprise to find demand for the Subal ND80 housing so strong. One of the first to recognise the possibilities this combination provides was Peter Rowlands, the founder of Ocean Optics and now publisher of Underwater Photography Magazine. Those who have been in underwater image making for the long haul (thirty odd years) will know that Peter has always been on the cutting edge of technology, often designing equipment to meet his demanding requirements. Also adding the Subal/D80 combination to his own armoury of underwater camera equipment is Alex Mustard, possibly the most innovative image maker in British 
underwater photography today. With two such exacting photographers choosing the Nikon D80 and selecting Subal to house it, you can be sure the system deserves your own attention.
The Subal ND80 is engineered for dependability over many years of service under the toughest shooting conditions. The hull is carved from a solid block of aluminium, anodised and painted repeatedly. This attention to the outer finish is what has earned Subal their reputation as one of the hardest wearing housings in the world. The alloy provides strength, allowing the housing to be used officially to 70 metres, and lightness - the body weight is only 2kg or so. This makes the ND80 a practical system to carry as hand luggage on flights.
Arnold Stepenak, the legendary owner of the Subal company and also the housing designer. Arnold has equipped his housing with no fewer than 25 controls. The ND80 is never going to compromise your creative potential. Arnold has gone to great efforts to place key shooting controls where they fall easily under your fingers and thumbs for fast instinctive shooting. The shutter release is the large paddle design which helps reduce camera shake for sharper pictures. Your middle and ring finger naturally fall into place on the main command dial. The sub command dial is operated by your right thumb. These dials are used to set shutter speed and aperture while shooting and are reversible on the camera to optimise handling. On top you'll find the on/off/light lever and push buttons to access metering pattern, exposure compensation and AF mode. Subal's push buttons have been time proven over the last decade. A thumb pushed lever lets you lock focus or/and exposure depending on how you customise your own Nikon D80.
The Subal ND80 is equipped with four buttons to operate focus area select while photographing or for playback and menu functions. Seven further push buttons, spaced for easy access with gloves, let you set quality, ISO and magnify your image during playback, access white balance (essential to fully exploit the Nikon D80 under the water, especially with Magic or UR Pro filters), menus, review, picture protect and delete. You can also operate the multi selector and flash compensation controls. Switching between manual and autofocus can be done underwater with most lenses and the zoom control may be used for manual focus with prime lenses. It features a lever selected declutching mechanism to prevent any damage to your lenses when switching focus modes. Lenses may be removed through the housing front using a quick release lever. This makes it fast and convenient to switch lenses without opening the main hull. . So if you are making several dives on one battery and card, you can easily change from wide angle to macro subjects
Two handgrips are placed to provide both a secure grip and comfortable and positive control of key shooting functions. The right grip features an overhand strap. This holds the handle against your palm and allows you to relax and exercise your fingers without losing your grip. This is a nice comfort feature when waiting out a subject for long periods of time, which can create cramping if you must tightly grip a housing handle constantly. Subal housings tend to be near neutral and well balanced under the water, so usually create very little wrist strain. However strobes that are heavy and mounted on long arms, creating a fulcrum effect can badly impair handling of even the best camera housing. We have solutions, which can help reduce or eliminate this problem.
The housing front and rear separate using the tried and tested Subal Quick Lock System. Only two are catches are needed. They are very easy to open and close but add additional safety for your camera by making it virtually impossible to seat the back with the main O ring out of place. Added protection comes courtesy of the built in optical leak alarm. The LED indicator is set high in the housing top plate where it is clearly visible during pre dive checks. Your Nikon D80 mounts onto a camera saddle and slots into place with the minimum of fuss. Most housing controls engage with the cameras own controls automatically.
Two Nikonos type strobe sockets are fitted. These can be set for TTL flash (we recommend a dedicated Nikon land flash in a Subal housing fo reliability) or manual (for which we recommend Inon guns) by the owner in seconds without using tools. Twin flash shoes are provided for mounting most popular strobe arms including Inon. A mount is set over the camera housing pentaprism for a focusing light. This position, high over your port, gives plenty of leeway for aiming your focusing light squarely at your subject whether working with macro or fisheye lenses. We have a choice of Inon mounting hardware to support suitable torches. Our wholly owned dive shop, Mavericks, carries a large selection of focusing lights.
The Subal ND80 utilises the bayonet mount used by Subal for more than fifteen years. If you are already a Subal owner you'll almost certainly be able to use all your macro ports and possibly your wide angle ones too. Subal like to keep continuity with their port mount to ensure as much forward compatibility as possible for their clients. Ports attach with a simple quarter turn. Subal offer an extensive range of ports and extension rings allowing you full reign to shoot from 10.5mm fisheye to tel e- macros including using the Micro - Nikkor 70 - 180mm zoom lens.Subal only produce ports with optical glass lenses.
A large port lets you look down on your top panel displays and a deeply hooded window lets you see your menus and playback your images. Subal offer two viewfinder choices for ND80 owners. The standard finder is an image reducer. Reducers are found on most D - SLR housings and enable you to see the whole of your camera viewfinder while wearing a facemask. As the name suggests, reducers make the viewfinder image and surrounding information displays smaller. At Ocean Optics we try to make it clear which of our housings use reduction optics and which have genuine magnifiers. Some housing manufacturers imply that their viewfinders magnify when they don't. The Subal image reducer provides crisp corner-to-corner viewing and is protected by a short hood. A low volume mask with black skirt works best with image reduction finders. Our dive shop, Mavericks, stocks a choice of suitable masks. We can arrange for prescription lenses to be fitted and also carry stick in reading lenses should they be needed.
Subals alternative GS viewfinder is a true magnifier. This makes your viewfinder and information displays around 50% larger than they would appear looking through your Nikon D80 on land. It also makes it much easier to focus manually, an important consideration if you shoot extreme macro using tele converters, which usually knock out your AF system. The GS finder does not require your eye to be pushed up against the housing. You view from around 25mm behind. The GS finder is hooded for clear, high contrast viewing. This means that you can scan around your housing to look for subjects approaching before they enter the frame, a useful benefit with fast moving fish like sharks for example.
Choosing the Nikon D80 and encasing it in the Subal ND80 housing provides access to one of the most effective and versatile underwater photographic systems available. If you'd like to look over the Subal ND80, please get in touch. Steve or Mark will be happy to discuss the system in detail - put aside around an hour for a first visit. Should you decide to buy your Subal ND80 from Ocean Optics the team will ask you to return for half a day or so with your camera and lenses. You'll be shown how to set up your system, test strobe sync and talked through the procedures that will help keep the housing watertight.
