D3 Housings

The more I see photographs with the D3, the more I'm tempted. This really may be worth the upgrade for me. The film look, high ISO performance etc. I will definitely wait for a possible D3x announcement, but if none is forthcoming by my birthday next July, the D3 may be a prezzie to myself.

Has anyone heard of any D3 housings on the horizon - especially Subal?

Hey Jeff,

I'd expect to see a Subal ND3 prototype at the Boot Show just before I see you in January. And I promise not bring anything tempting with me! I was at Nikon UK today - dropping off, not collecting.

I doubt Subal will make many until it is confirmed that the vaporware D3X will fit in the same housing. They'll probably do a similarly small run to the ND2H housing (made for the D2H before the D2X came out).

I would also expect Seacam, Aquatica, Nexus etc to have D3 housings out soon too.

The production D3 certainly seems to be amazing for a Nikon at high ISO. But the low ISO tests I have seen don't seem to show it offers much above the D300 or D2X in image quality.

Alex

My understanding is that Subal is committed to production for the D3 already. At least that's what I understood when I got on the waiting list for one. The D3 is not a dramatic change over the D2 from a mechanical perspective.

Thanks Alex,

I think the smart thing for me is to wait (who says I'm smart). Looking at the D300, as nice as it is, I don't see enough difference from my D200 to justify the upgrade.

I do have to see more prints with the D3 but what I've seen so far is enticing especially for topside ( I do a fair amount of low light dance stuff etc) and some of my studio and pool stuff. I do think that high ISO performance underwater may have some interesting creative possibilities.

I would also expect Seacam, Aquatica, Nexus etc to have D3 housings out soon too.

I gather Sea&Sea is also expected to have one out some time around February. Now the question is whether these new housings will be available before Nikon starts shipping us our backordered D3s :-)

Liz

I gather Sea&Sea is also expected to have one out some time around February. Now the question is whether these new housings will be available before Nikon starts shipping us our backordered D3s :-)

 

Liz

HI Liz-

You are correct, we will have the MDX-D3 available in the near future.

I'm already in the process of hatching my evil plan to upgrade to a D3.

From my understanding, Aquatica should also be coming out with a D3 housing at some point in the next few months - although Jean would probably be best to address that issue.

For shooting macro and pretty fishies, I don't really see a substantial benefit with the D3. What I'm really drooling over is the low noise high ISO capabilities for a lot of the low-light, low viz wreck photography that I do.

Indeed Warren you are right, the D3 will be quite an asset for these low light shooting condition and subjects. As far as housing goes, the design team is on the case and early 2008 should see a D3 housing coming out, and as a side note, I know this is a D3 thread, but just thought I would let you know that because of the many requests we got, Aquatica is seriously considering making a Canon 1DS mark III housing, final decision in the next few days. If the project is green lighted it will give Canon users an affordable option to housing that marvelous piece of equipment. More news to follow…

Food for thought - I was in BH in NYC a couple of weeks ago playing around with the display model D3 and was told by most of the Nikon and BH guys there that if you shoot in regular lighting and iso, don't bother with the D3s if you're using the D2x. Their consensus was that there exists no difference in image quality. I thought this was pretty interesting. They were excited about the camera, but not irrationally gung ho.

Regards,

Michael

mpostock.com

I agree that in fair to good lighting the advantage are less, but my experience with the D3 shooting handheld street scenes at night has more than convince me that this baby is more than a spruced up D2x, anyone considering low light photography (i shoot a lot of jazz musicians myself) will have to deal with this reality. the D3 is a notch above a lot of thing right now.