Here I am THE NEWBIE !!!

Hi guys ! I'm Dario, from italy, this summer i will attend (if i manage to have some hollydays) my first scuba hollyday.

Since i'm a moderately out-of-water photographer my first thought was about photographic gear to go underwater, after being puzzled for some days about the different "not that expensive" solutions (good quality bag for one of my DSLR, plastic housing for my compact and used housing for my good old F4) i've decided to buy an used Nikonos V on ebay.

I got it quite cheap i think, about 150$ including shipment to italy, with the 35mm lens and in apparently good shape.

I also bought a set of orings.

And here are my newbie questions:

-I saw that the 28mm UW lenses are going quite cheap on ebay and since the 35mm lens is a amphibious lens i would like to know if it will worth to have the UW despite of the wider angle, it will be sharper than the 35mm ? Will the meter work also with the 28mm ?

-Since i will not go that deep i don't whant to spend money (yet! ) in a strobe and therfore i'm more focussed on filters, i would like to use an old cokin filter holder i have so the question is what filter i should bring with me ? I saw the magic filter but the are utterly expensive on my point of view.

-The Nokonos V meter is spot or a kind of avarage ?

-The standard Nikonos viewfinder what lens covers, ie if i buy a 28mm i should worry about the 28mm viewfinder ?

-If the orings show no cracks they need to be changed or it's enough to grease them ?

-What are the weak points of the V ? What should i really care about ?

-What meter battery life i should expect from the V ?

No more question up to now !!! Thanks !

If some what to have a look to some of my pictures can have a look on threk earth.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/riodda/photos/

And here are my newbie questions:

 

-I saw that the 28mm UW lenses are going quite cheap on ebay and since the 35mm lens is a amphibious lens i would like to know if it will worth to have the UW despite of the wider angle, it will be sharper than the 35mm ? Will the meter work also with the 28mm ?

-Since i will not go that deep i don't whant to spend money (yet! ) in a strobe and therfore i'm more focussed on filters, i would like to use an old cokin filter holder i have so the question is what filter i should bring with me ? I saw the magic filter but the are utterly expensive on my point of view.

-The Nokonos V meter is spot or a kind of avarage ?

-The standard Nikonos viewfinder what lens covers, ie if i buy a 28mm i should worry about the 28mm viewfinder ?

-If the orings show no cracks they need to be changed or it's enough to grease them ?

-What are the weak points of the V ? What should i really care about ?

-What meter battery life i should expect from the V ?

No more question up to now !!! Thanks !

Hi,

Congratulations on your purchase!

Here's a link to a series of articles on taking care of your Nikonos V. They are from Southern Nikonos, where I used to have my Nikonos serviced. Pay particular attention to the articles on o-ring!. They have a lot of good information in them and should answer your questions on o rings.

It's really helpful to have the special finders for the lenses other than the 35 (e.g. for the 20mm lens). If it were me, I would try and get a 20mm lens rather than the 28mm lens. And, if money is not too tight, consider buying the 15mm lens. In its day, it was THE lens to own, and often produced some very fine wide angle images.

Nikonos V articles

Perhaps others can answer your other questions.

Ellen

Hi,

 

Congratulations on your purchase!

 

Here's a link to a series of articles on taking care of your Nikonos V. They are from Southern Nikonos, where I used to have my Nikonos serviced. Pay particular attention to the articles on o-ring!. They have a lot of good information in them and should answer your questions on o rings.

 

 

It's really helpful to have the special finders for the lenses other than the 35 (e.g. for the 20mm lens). If it were me, I would try and get a 20mm lens rather than the 28mm lens. And, if money is not too tight, consider buying the 15mm lens. In its day, it was THE lens to own, and often produced some very fine wide angle images.

 

Nikonos V articles

 

Perhaps others can answer your other questions.

 

Ellen

Thanks Ellen !

Unfortunately the 15mm is very expensive even on ebay, i'm also considering the 20mm i'll have a look on ebay.

Regards.

See if you can track down a Sea & Sea lens: not quite the quality of the Nikon lenses, but not bad, and much cheaper when new. Shooting in ambient light I wouldn't bother with a 35mm (equivalent to a 50mm on the surface), or even a 28mm, which was always best to shoot strobe-lit portraits of fish and divers' faces. The 35mm worked well with extension rings for some kinds of strobe-lit macrophotography.

This was the best ever book on the Nikonos system:

9783925919022

Manual of Underwater Photography

Decouet; Green

ISBN 10: 3925919023 / 3-925919-02-3

ISBN 13: 9783925919022

Publisher: Best Pub Co

Publication Date: 1989

Binding: Hardcover

Beware: if you enjoy it you will end with a housed DSLR, but never, ever put one in a cheap bag unles you plan to throw it away or it's just to use in the splash zone...

... and you will end up wanting a strobe, any deeper than 5-6m.

The weak point of the Nikonos is that it's a lousy way to learn underwater photography compared to any digital camera: 36 frames at a time, no record of exposure settings and delayed image review. Its TTL film plane metering was a high point: I can't remember if it was simply centre-weighted or not.

Light does funny things underwater, and so do not get upset if your first results look disapointing. I'm sure that even Sylvio Berlusconi had trouble with women at first...

Tim

See if you can track down a Sea & Sea lens: not quite the quality of the Nikon lenses, but not bad, and much cheaper when new. Shooting in ambient light I wouldn't bother with a 35mm (equivalent to a 50mm on the surface), or even a 28mm, which was always best to shoot strobe-lit portraits of fish and divers' faces. The 35mm worked well with extension rings for some kinds of strobe-lit macrophotography.

 

This was the best ever book on the Nikonos system:

 

9783925919022

Manual of Underwater Photography

Decouet; Green

ISBN 10: 3925919023 / 3-925919-02-3

ISBN 13: 9783925919022

Publisher: Best Pub Co

Publication Date: 1989

Binding: Hardcover

 

Beware: if you enjoy it you will end with a housed DSLR, but never, ever put one in a cheap bag unles you plan to throw it away or it's just to use in the splash zone...

 

... and you will end up wanting a strobe, any deeper than 5-6m.

 

The weak point of the Nikonos is that it's a lousy way to learn underwater photography compared to any digital camera: 36 frames at a time, no record of exposure settings and delayed image review. Its TTL film plane metering was a high point: I can't remember if it was simply centre-weighted or not.

Light does funny things underwater, and so do not get upset if your first results look disapointing. I'm sure that even Sylvio Berlusconi had trouble with women at first...

 

Tim

 

Lol ! that's for sure ! But even now he has his problem with the prostate surgery he had !

Anyway i'm still puzzled about the filter i should use, whant to start in the proper way, i think that a warming filter should be enough but looking at the magic filters they don't look just warming filter....

I'll have a look for the book.

Thanks in advance

See if you can track down a Sea & Sea lens: not quite the quality of the Nikon lenses, but not bad, and much cheaper when new.

I own a Sea & Sea 15mm lens that I may consider selling. I bought it years ago from someone else intending to use it with my Nik V but never did get around to using it before I bought a DSLR. I believe I also have the finder for this lens.

Let me know if you're interested.

Ellen

My advice: the biggest upgrade will be to get a strobe. Don't underestimate the value of a strobe when underwater. After that, switching from the 35mm to the 28mm will be a big upgrade (make sure to get the 28mm with "UW" in the name, there's also an "LW" version that doesn't focus underwater). Also, the 28mm can get even better with the nikonos achromat closeup kit.

As has been mentioned, the 15mm is an optical gem, but you might be able to get a used strobe, 28mm-UW lens, and a closeup kit for the cost of a single 15mm lenses.

My advice: the biggest upgrade will be to get a strobe. Don't underestimate the value of a strobe when underwater. After that, switching from the 35mm to the 28mm will be a big upgrade (make sure to get the 28mm with "UW" in the name, there's also an "LW" version that doesn't focus underwater). Also, the 28mm can get even better with the nikonos achromat closeup kit.

 

As has been mentioned, the 15mm is an optical gem, but you might be able to get a used strobe, 28mm-UW lens, and a closeup kit for the cost of a single 15mm lenses.

Thanks for your advice, i thinking about a real UW lens, the 20 or the 28 and for sure the strobe.

I just splased the V yesterday and i works great, i did half roll and i'm really looking forward to see how it was, i'm shooting a roll that i was having at home, a potra 800 film.