At the suggestion of TimG, I thought I would share this. Many, many years ago I got into photography and for a while, was a photographer for a major newspaper chain, doing mostly sports photography. Later I pursued other career options and recreational activities and did little photography. Eventually, I began taking pictures on beach vacations with my wife and kids and while snorkeling, using a compact camera in a cheap waterproof housing with no external flash or auxiliary lenses. I was not impressed with the results and when I later learned to scuba dive I went down the rabbit hole of dive photography, moving from compact to M43, to DX formats and now full frame.

My very recent change has been to a Nikon Z8. That change was not prompted by format size...I find APS-C just fine for my purposes. But my vision has changed and underwater find it hard to use the back LCD screen as well as before. I have only taken one dive trip with the Z8, so am still learning the camera and adjusting a couple of lens changes that go along with that. Here is what I have found so far:

The electronic viewfinder is great. Bright and contrasty and highly adjustable. The ability to use just the viewfinder when I want to has been great and has allowed me to make adjustments and reshoot a subject more quickly and efficiently than with the DSLR. For Caribbean diving, I have been enjoying the fairly compact WWL-C. On a given dive I may shoot blennies, jawfish and nudibranchs and then a loggerhead turtle or shark or reef scene and the flexibility is nice and the optic pretty compact. My general belief is that it is better to have one type of photography in mind on a given dive, but I seem to end up on a lot of smallish dive boats where I don't know what dive site I am going to until I am on the boat that morning, and often can't really plan on being able to change lenses and ports on the boat and will need to keep up with the guide and group in the water, and not spend 10 minutes minutes getting a shot or looking for a specific subject.

On other dive trips or when I am shore diving, I will take the 105 or the 60 macro lens or the 8-15, FTZ and a 140 dome and the WWL-C will likely stay home. I believe I can alos use the 60 and 8-15 in DX mode if I want, giving some additional flexibility and permitting me to use a kenko 1.4. Not sure if that will be worthwhile, but I like experimenting.

Overall, I think I am enjoying the Z8 a little more than the D500, and the size and weight difference is minor. Of course, great photos can be taken with much smaller cameras and simpler setups. It is the person not the equipment that matters, but I am something of the photo equivalent of a motorhead (lenshead?) and can get carried away with the toys pretty easily.

I may have more insights after my trip next week.

Hey @JohnD , a fellow ink-stained Tri-X developing wretch here. I miss it, most days. Shooting underwater is so very different, but I love it. A great challenge. I'm trying to learn more video, though I never thought I would, and many of the folks here clearly know their stuff. I sit at their feet, trying to learn stuff.

3 hours ago, humu9679 said:

sit at their feet, trying to learn stuff.

I hope you choose ones that have been washed well…… 🤣

tnx for the report John, could you please tell your experience with the autofocus system of the Z8, compared to the D500? And what housing did you choose for the Z8?

I was talking to someone recently who had gone through the move to the Z8 from a high end Nikon DSLR. (Can’t remember which now) but he didn’t see a significant difference.

Very interested to hear John’s take.

On 6/3/2025 at 12:58 AM, RobinD said:

tnx for the report John, could you please tell your experience with the autofocus system of the Z8, compared to the D500? And what housing did you choose for the Z8?

I never had any complaints about the D500 focusing. I have not noticed any significant difference so far. The Z8 may be faster, but I am not sure of that yet. I am still learning the finer points of the various modes on the D500 beyond 3D tracking.

I pretty much always use AFC, so cannot really compare AFS focusing speed between the two. I tried the animal setting for eye tracking and that did not seem to be useful compared to simple 3d tracking. Next week I will be exclusively using the WWL-C and will experiment with some of the many focus options.

I bought a Nauticam housing. I have used their housings for years with good results and have acquired numerous ports, extension rings and accessories so it is easy to stay with them for me.

tnx John!