Nexus D100 housing questions

To Craig (or anyone else that can answer):

I understand that manual focus can be accomplished on the Nexus D100 housing using either the knob on the housing itself or the knob on the multi-extension macro port. Do you think that manual focusing using the housing knob is better as this allows you to do this without getting your hands off the handle?

How is the viewfinder of the Nexus D100? Does it allow you to see the edges of the frame?

You mentioned that you also use the 17-35mm zoom with your Nexus but Nexus does not seem to have any port specified for this lens. What dome do you use with this lens? Do you have to add an extension ring to your dome when using the 17-35mm zoom? Is there a zoom gear available for the 17-35mm zoom? Actually, I'd prefer to use the Sigma 15-30 zoom with the Nexus D100 as it is a bit wider but I am not sure what port combination to use.

Lastly, I'd also appreciate it if you can tell me the port combinations that allows one to use the small dome port (WP-4 port?) with the 60mm and 105mm macro.

TIA

- Nico

I use the multiport for my macro lenses rather than the individual ports. I find the manual focus knob easy enough to use since I keep my left hand under the lens rather than on the handle. The knob lies comfortably between the thumb and index finger this way. For the heavier lenses, placing the left hand there is better anyway. I'm not sure about the 60mm, but the 105 and 200 ports have focus knobs on the ports. Since I use the 70-180 which uses both knobs, I'd say the focus knob is easier to operate than the housing knob so I'd go for that even if I had the choice. My hands are pretty big.

The VF on the Nexus is satisfactory for me and for others who've tried mine. It's much better than the S&S since it provides a clipon magnifier. I have to move slightly to check the indicators at the bottom, but not much and it's mostly a function of the mask. I can see the frame itself fine.

I went on my trip set up for the 17-35 but did not actually use it. I ended up getting only one wide-angle dive that week and used the Sigma 15mm instead. The 17-35 is normally used with the small dome and an extension ring, but I planned to use the multiport base instead of the extension ring. Nexus makes a zoom ring for the 17-35 and no diopter is required. The Sigma 15-30 is too big around to fit the Nexus.

I believe the small dome I have is the WP-4 but it's not labeled. I only mention it since I seem to recall it being named a WP-7. It certainly looks identical to the WP-4 and I'm confident that's what it is. With the 60, you use the multiport base and the WP-4 without any rings or diopters. The 105 adds a 20mm extension ring and requires a +3 diopter. The diopter I was provided by MCD was a Hoya +3 Achromat which I don't see offered elsewhere. I *loved* the 105 behind the dome. The 70-180 can't use the dome because of the zoom.

The weight and bouyancy are suprisingly good. It's only a little nose heavy with the 70-180, but much, much better than my friends' Nexus N90 setups. I'm having flotation rings made to go on the multiport extension ring for the 70-180 to help with it. The 60 and 105 are fine.

Craig,

Thanks a lot for your response. I broke down and have finally ordered a Nexus housing and will be receiving it this week. Like you, I am getting the ME-5 multi-port and front ports for the 60mm and 105mm macro lenses. I already own one Z-220 strobe that I used with my previous Oly setup and got another one to complete the setup. One problem I have, however, is that the housing and strobe manuals will all be in Japanese since I am purchasing the gear here in Japan. Do you know if there are any English manuals for both the housing and strobe that is available for download? Geez, I hope I don't flood the housing due to improper setup Are there any warnings written in the manuals that I should know of?

I'd really appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks, again.

- Nico

I received only Japanese documentation and I don't know if English versions exist. I was bothered by that at first, but I spent a little time with it and became comfortable with everything.

I don't believe there's much unique about caring for the Nexus housing. It has only two retaining clips, so try to open them both together to avoid stressing the backpiece. They provide their own o-ring grease, so whatever o-ring maintenance program you subscribe to is valid.

Setting everything up requires a little patience. The lens rings and gears will have english docs so follow those. Put the extra rubber pieces in your camera kit in case you need to make adjustments on a trip. Setting up the multiport takes a little time. First you need to adjust the base so that it aligns on the housing properly. There are alignment dots to help with that. The flat ports need no alignment. If you are getting a dome with the multiport, you align that next. Then you align the extension rings. Plan on spending an evening testing each port and lens combination to make sure everything lines up. When aligning the ports, make them pretty tight so they don't risk loosening on their own. Don't go so tight that you can remove them later! My camera just dropped in and worked perfectly. You will need to remove the rubber eyepiece, install the magnifier, and focus the VF diopter. There's also a ring the installs on the function knob. That's pretty much it.

Specific to the D100, you must use a dual sync cord and connect it to a specific bulkhead (secondary, I believe). The reason for this is that Nexus includes a "smart" strobe adapter that has little LED's that indicate recharge. This adapter is not fully functional with the D100 and one of the bulkheads can't be used. Hopefully they will fix it or offer a "dumb" hotshoe adapter as a downgrade. This is not really a problem. Take a spare dual sync cord, and if a bulkhead fails, switch to the other AND internally exchange the wiring. I prefer single sync cords, but this is a minor gotcha.

All my controls worked beautifully at first. After two dives, one control stopped working and I couldn't for the life of me explain it. As far as I can tell, it was impossible that it moved or failed, and I think it was just a freak thing. The only other issue I had was with the shutter lever. It's return is slightly soft underwater and has a tendency to not release completely. If you get no image preview and no "remaining shots" indicator in the window, push the shutter lever to fully release it. It won't move noticably, but your image preview will jump on the screen. Again, it's not a problem unless you don't realize it and get no previews underwater like I did most of the week! I expect this problem to disappear as the control breaks in.

Since you are nearly there, I hope you consider the 70-180 macro. It is big, heavy, expensive, and makes changing the camera battery a chore, but it is glorious underwater! Once I tried it I had no interest in the 60 or the 105. Rumor has it that the lens has been discontinued so they may become hard to find. The WP-4 dome works very well with the 105 and makes the lens easier to frame with.

I know you are going to love your Nexus D100. I now have five divers in my immediate group who plan to purchase one. Two have placed orders already.