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Subal ND3s  
For Daring Low Light Photography

The Nikon D3s is designed for professional photographers who need to be able to shoot fast and in low light - sport, event and wildlife photographers are likely to  select the D3s. The full frame sensor is a 12MP design - half that of the D3x. But by using larger pixels, low light capability is improved resulting in much lower noise at high ISO's. So working at depth, in low viz, during the magic hours, in caves and wrecks and under ice are just some situations in which the D3s can be expected to excel underwater. The D3s can shoot at nine frames per second in FX format. You'll need to use sunlight or a video light to do it, but this makes catching behaviour like predation easier than ever before for a stills photographer.

Subal's new housing for the D3s is built for the professional user. Build quality, reliability, handling, speed of set up and optical excellence ensures the Subal ND3s will meet your needs in the field.

As always, the housing body is carved from a billet of solid aluminium. The aluminium is treated with Subal's special painting and anodizing process. Subal housings are legendary for their resistance to corrosion and for requiring minimum maintenance, reducing service costs and keeping down time to an absolute minimum. The Subal ND3s underwater housing fits the Nikon D3s like a glove. This helps to keep travel weight down to as little as  2.7KG. The small size also reduces drag, especially in high current. The housing operates to 70 metres as standard but can be rated deeper to order. The hull is closed using Subal's trademark Quick Lock  latches, established over more than ten years. Only two are needed, so opening and closing your housing is fast, while built in safety mechanisms prevent any risk of accidental opening. A4mm diameter O ring forms the main seal. This is soft, allowing it to mould around small amounts of dirt or other matter, reducing the risk of a leak if you do make a mistake during pre dive preparation. Subal's new audio/visual leak detector is fitted as standard.

Loading your camera into your Subal ND3s is quick and easy. Your Nikon D3s mounts onto a support tray. This lines up your camera body and holds it firmly in position within the housing for perfect control engagement.  Designer Arnold Stepanek is highly regarded for his flare for making Subal's so easy and instinctive to shoot with. Key shooting controls are all placed within easy reach of your hands and are easily operated with gloves on. The shutter release is Subal's oversized paddle type. This reduces camera shake for sharper pictures at low shutter speeds or when shooting high magnification macro images. Rotary dials operated by your right hand fingers and thumb let you change F stop and shutter speed. By setting custom functions on your camera body you can choose which dial does which to suit your own preference. The zoom control is located on the left of the housing for fast operation with that hand. A lever operated by your right thumb provides access to AE lock or focus on (useful with wide angles).  The full complement of controls provides access to Power On - Off / Display Illumination, Shutter Release, Zoom (manual focus), Front and Rear Main Dial, Lens Release, Mode Dial, Focus Mode Selector (M-S-C ), AF - Area Mode Selector, Metering Selector, AF - Lock, AF - ON.

Push Buttons for:
Mode, Exposure Compensation, Bracketing, Flash Sync Mode, Lock, Playback, Delete, Menu, Thumbnail, Protect, OK, ISO, Quality, White Balance, Multi Selector, Info, Live View.

Two hand grips are included and these are designed to help make operating key shooting controls fast and decisive.  Subal recognise that a badly designed hand grip can make shooting very uncomfortable. So the right hand grip is their long established strap model. Instead of making a fist to hold your housing as most competitive underwater housings make you do, which can cause cramping over long periods and can be especially uncomfortable when wearing thick gloves, Subal's strap grip works differently. Simply slip your right hand between the grip and the strap and the strap tightens gently across the back of your hand. It's much like using a camcorder and allows you to relax your fingers without losing your grip. It may seem like a small feature, but being uncomfortable can really distract you from making your best underwater images.

Key to taking good underwater photographs with an SLR camera is being able to see through the viewfinder! This might seem obvious, but there's a lot of confusion about viewfinder types and the pros and cons they incorporate. Subal offer three different viewfinder options for the ND3s underwater housing. It's important to understand the differences and how these will affect your use of your Nikon D3s under the water. The standard viewfinder  is an image reducer. Reducers are fitted to many SLR housings, though it may not be made clear that they are reducers, not magnifiers.  Reducers cost less than magnifiers and are more compact. However they make your viewfinder image significantly smaller compared to looking through your camera on land. This can make it harder to see detail behind your main subject, difficult to read information displays and tough to focus your lenses manually. To use a reducer you need to use a low profile face mask. Full face masks and bulky mouthpieces can make it hard to get your eye close enough to the eyepiece to see into the edges of your picture.

As alternatives, Subal offer two viewfinders that are genuine magnifiers, enlarging the image by around 50% compared to viewing through your Nikon D3s' viewfinder on land. Magnifiers make it much easier to see distractions behind your main subject, help with reading critical displays like exposure or white balance settings and make focusing by eye much more accurate. Subal magnifying viewfinders allow you to view your Nikon D3s viewfinders entire image from several centimetres away. This lets you use larger masks, including full face, and bulkier mouthpieces,  including those fitted to rebreathers. The GS180 finder is an eye level viewfinder. The WS45 is angled at 45 degrees, making it a good choice for underwater macro photography.  

Subal have an exceptionally well thought through flash system.  Any experienced underwater photography professional will confirm that it's strobe failures that cause the greatest headaches. Subal provide two strobe sockets as standard. Options include S6 and Ikelite. The Nikonos type is Ocean Optics usual recommendation. This is the most widely used underwater strobe connector and allows use of the widest choice of housed (Nikon Speedlight in a Subal underwater housing, for example) or underwater strobes (such as the INON Z- 240). For TTL use, 5 pins are required. If you require TTL, Ocean Optics ONLY recommends using a dedicated Nikon land strobe in an underwater housing. Mark or Steve will be happy to explain their reasons in detail - just drop by or call. For underwater strobes, like the INON Z-240, the 2 TTL pins must be inactive. The Subal ND3s housing has all 5 pins already connected. But by simply changing the position of an internal connector, which takes seconds and does not require tools, you can dedicate your Subal ND3s housing for use with non TTL underwater flashguns. Unlike some housings, the Subal ND3s retains the 3rd contact which provides ready light information and, crucially, ensures your Nikon ND3s cannot go over its maximum strobe sync speed when shot in aperture priority. It's a seemingly small feature, but anyone shooting the action with strobes can appreciate how easily a once in a lifetime photograph can be ruined by a synchronisation problem.

The strobe sockets are mounted in the top of the housing to minimise any potential damage from flooding. Having two sockets allows use not just of dual strobes, but also provides a back up socket for emergencies. Two T shoes allow most popular strobe arms to be fitted to your Subal ND3s underwater camera housing.  Ocean Optics recommends INON underwater strobe arms. These lightweight ball joint arms have an easy glide clamp design that makes changing the direction and angle of your lighting fast and easy, yet will firmly hold your strobe in position even in running current. A choice of arm lengths meets even the most specialised underwater photographers needs. Ocean Optics recommends using INON float arms to help make handling of your Subal underwater housing system as easy as possible. Steve and Mark can work with you on this at the time of purchase when you are making your test dive in the Underwater Studios movie tank. It is difficult to overstate how important having a well balanced and neutrally buoyant underwater camera system is to productive underwater photography. And yet it is often underestimated.  Not all underwater photography equipment suppliers like to discuss it as they don't always have a ready solution!

A mounting plate is fitted to your Subal ND3s underwater housing for fitting a focusing light.

The Subal ND3s can be ordered with either the MK3 or MK4 fast change bayonet mount. This provides access to one of the worlds most comprehensive system of flat and dome ports, extension rings and lens gears to provide you with maximum flexibility in your choice of lenses.

The purchase of a Subal ND3s is a significant step. Steve or Mark will be happy to discuss your proposed new system in detail with you. As experienced SLR users (Steve wrote about housings at Martin edge's request for his book "The Underwater Photographer"), their pre sales advice and after sales support is an intrinsic part of owning a Subal for many Ocean Optics clients.