Anyone tried the Nauticam 45 deg viewfinder?

Steve,

Thanks so much for the feedback. It's nice to hear some positive aspects of the 45 when I'm in the final couple weeks of having to make a decision. I'm so excited after seeing all the great photography by the many photographers on this website. Everything is on it's way except the viewfinder, a decision I'm still wavering on, but still have some time to feel it out with other opinions from divers like you. Maybe someone has one at the dive shop here in Tucson that I can try out in the pool just to get an idea what I'm dealing with in terms of orientation. I appreciate your feedback as the more I get, the better I'll be able to make the final decision that will hopefully be the best one. Either way, it's not a "do or die" situation; I'll live with it and change if necessary.

The Kenko TC is just so I can play a little more with WAM on the Tokino when I'm also doing seascape video for educational films. So, I may just use it with the 100mm to give me a little more working room for high magnification, but I can leave it off too if it causes problems, like focusing issues, etc.

Again, thanks for the feedback. I love this site and all the support divers give each other! It's really great.

Best,

Marsh

That and the fact that I just bought (of course) the Inon finder for the Nauticam. It is quite nice and I am afraid to actually go see one of the Nauticam versions cause if it is a lot better then I will be really steamed.

Bill

Hey Bill

I just bought (less than a year ago) the inon 45. nice as it is, I have trouble night diving with it.

I'm also afraid that the Nauticam may be much brighter...

Allan

I bought two of the Nauticam 45-degree finders in early September. I bought two because I have two housing for my D700's. The housings are Seacam housings and I had been using Seacam 45-degree finders for more than a year since purchasing the housings.

When Nauticam introduced their 180-degree finders, about a year prior to the 45-degree finder, I bought one and worked with a machine shop friend to make an adapter out of delrin. I bought the Nauticam viewfinder primarily because it had the diopter adjustment knob that allowed adjusting the viewfinder to your eye underwater, which I feel is the best place to do this. This also allows you to readjust at any time you like if your eyes get a bit tired. The Nauticam viewfinder also allows several people to "share" a housing, or in my case share two housings, each with a different lens, even if their eyes are very different. The viewfinder worked so well that we made a second adapter. And not long afterward, I bought a second 180-degree finder.

When the Nauticam 45-degree viewfinder became available, I was in Bali. I contacted Scubacam in Singapore and they told me that they had the viewfinder in stock. Since I had to leave Bali to "renew" my visa for another 60 days, I flew to Singapore for a day, which allowed me to "kill two birds with one stone". I took one housing, one of my Seacam 45-degree finders and my dive mask to the Scubacam shop and mounted first one viewfinder and then the other. I could see no real difference between the two. But the Nauticam viewfinder did have the adjustment knob. Nauticam had also listened to the complaints that the knob on the 180-degree finder could be "bumped" and accidentally changed too easily. The knob on the 45-degree finder requires a firmer "touch" to change the setting.

I've already sold one of my two Seacam 45-degree viewfinders and still have one left to sell if anyone is interested. For $850 with spare o-rings.

Fred