time lapse on D200

Hi

Im planning buying a housing for my D200. I'm interested in the idea of using it for time lapse series images. Does anyone out there having experience of this and information on the advantages/disadvantages of the various housings on the market for the D200?

I'm mainly interested in Aquatica, Hugyfot, Ikelite and possibly Nexus.

Any advice you can offer is appreciated.

Colin

Colin,

I think you should be able to do this with any housing, it's simply about wiring through the bulkhead to Nikon's multipin plug. This was done for me by Ryan at Reef Photo for my polecam setup.

I would contact Jean at Aquatica , I have a vague recollection that they made a number of remote triggers a shortwhile ago.

Im sorry if im wrong, but if the D200 works like the D2x, then you dont need any extra work, cables, or anything. It should then work in any housing, straight out of the box. In the D2x you can just tell the camera, through the menus, to fire X pictures in Y seconds of interval. You can just tell it to shoot say 720 shots in a 5 second interval for a total of 1 hour of shooting. It would be as if you pulled the trigger yourself.

If this is your main goal, I would just get an Ikelite housing, since they're cheap.

Cor

but if the D200 works like the D2x, then you dont need any extra work, cables, or anything.

You are correct, I missed that, the D200 Interval Timer can be programmed like the D2X.

I was thinking in terms of using a remote trigger.

Thanks for all the speedy replys guys. All helpful. I think my decision is now going to come down to cost, local dealerships, backup etc.

Colin

One thing to consider is the availability of a tripod hole, or the simplicity or other wise of putting some sort of external support mechanism on the housing. One down side of my Sea and Sea for this kind of thing is that the bottom of the housing is fairly smooth and it looks like adding a tripod would be complicated.

Obviously you are not going to float in the water for hours, absolutely still.

I have done some time lapse work w my D200 and aquatica housing. I use a small plastic velbon DF-10ML tripod. The aquatica housing has 2 tripod size holes on the bottom, oddly both spaced just off-center near the front of the housing.

I can screw the small baseplate in just barely missing the little rubber feet. This does not work when just the 8" dome is attached as the port gets in the way of the baseplate attaching. You need a setup with a port extension. It would not be difficult to fabricate a little bar that screwed into the two holes and protruded beneath the housing to resolve this.

Aquatica has announced a tripod mount setup in the works, though Jean said its taking a back seat to all the new housings they're working on (40D, D300, D3, 1DsMKIII). This upcomming setup, plus the soon to ship remote release & potential D200->D300 retrofit makes me glad i have an aquatica. Cheers,

Chris

p.s. turn image review off for time lapse as it will drain your batteries. i picked my camera up after a 2 hr time lapse on the second dive only to be surrounded by a school of groupers and a dead battery. almost spat out my reg i was swearing so much.

Thanks.

Sounds like it's gonna be an aquatica. My F3s and F4s were in aquatica housings, and I was very happy with them. The possible upgrade to D300 is a big plus also.

Cheers guys

Colin

Just as a follow-on.

I got a very quick and helpful response from Jean at aquatica - top marks for customer service - so that's pretty much sealed my decision (plus the main UK dealers for Aquatica are just a few miles from me).

Colin

Hi

 

Im planning buying a housing for my D200. I'm interested in the idea of using it for time lapse series images. Does anyone out there having experience of this and information on the advantages/disadvantages of the various housings on the market for the D200?

 

I'm mainly interested in Aquatica, Hugyfot, Ikelite and possibly Nexus.

 

Any advice you can offer is appreciated.

 

Colin

Hi Colin

I have done a fair bit of TL myself topside but not underwater yet, however I am planning to do some this summer. Personally I feel it doesn't matter what Housing you use. As long as you can mount it and access the controls.

Dan

Thanks Dan

That's really what I was asking. As I haven't done any TL yet, topsides or underwater, I really wanted some feedback on how easy people had found it using different housings - or any specific problems they'd encountered, before I parted with any cash.

Colin

Thanks Dan

 

That's really what I was asking. As I haven't done any TL yet, topsides or underwater, I really wanted some feedback on how easy people had found it using different housings - or any specific problems they'd encountered, before I parted with any cash.

Colin

I've done some TL with my D200 in a Subal. Like everyone said, as long as you have a way to attach a tripod (I used velcro) housing should not matter. What matters is that you have EVERYTHING dialed in (i.e. interval, number of shots total etc. and yes, turn off the image review) and set to go before you get in the water. I try to get everything ready to go so that all I have to do is turn off the image review once I get at least one or two shots that I can look at once everything is setup and ready to go. Great on night shore dives. You can set it up and sit on shore and watch it work.

Andy