Manta - D800E

After having very little luck on the Sardine Run last month, hardly getting my camera wet; finally managed to capture some nice images last week. The D800E body arrived just before my trip. Very pleased despite less than perfect viz etc. Here's a manta image, Sigma 15mm, ISO 200, 1/160, f2.8, touch of strobe. Lots of detail despite the wide open aperture. Love the Nauticam housing, ergonomics are awesome. Much better design than my Subal, and no rust yet Drew.

Nice, what made you go for the E?

I like to travel with 2 bodies, so decided to have an 800E and an 800.

Here is 1 more and a 100% crop to give some idea of the detail the 800E can show at the point of focus, Sigma 15mm f3.5

The lunacy of the D800 crop. We all do it when we get our D800s. It IS amazing! I've only used mine underwater so far in Malpelo where the water was not incredibly sharp but am off to the Red sea in two days. I took pictures of the Olympic cycling time trials and with a whole man and bike in shot, I could crop into the sweat streaming off Tony Martin's face!

Lunacy it may be, and totally unnecessary most of the time. For large prints though, this kind of detail is sweet. I've just made a 17x24" print of this image, and the detail in the manta's skin adds great texture and realism to the image

The detail is just incredible.

The Devilfish is in the detail

Jeff great work getting such good WA shots in turbid water.

Cheers,

Jim.

And sometimes detail is completely immaterial and it's all about mood. Then an old Instamatic in a Ewamarine bag would work as well.

Nice Pictures Loftus,

as i am ready to pul the trigger and get my D800 in this days i still have to deceide between the D800 and the D800E.

Do you noticed any serious issues ore differences between the 2 models during underwater use?

Chris

Nice Pictures Loftus,

as i am ready to pul the trigger and get my D800 in this days i still have to deceide between the D800 and the D800E.

Do you noticed any serious issues ore differences between the 2 models during underwater use?

Chris

I've only had the 800E a week so really have not compared them. Definitely no major differences between the two. If your main reason for getting an 800 in the first place is to be able to create large highly detailed prints, then I'd say spend the $300 or so and squeeze every last bit of quality out of the camera. But for most practical purposes I don't think there's much between them.

Last for this series; Jose Alejandro in the background. (elbuzo)

Looking good partner!

Cheers,

Steve

Love the Nauticam housing, ergonomics are awesome. Much better design than my Subal, and no rust yet Drew.

How so? Thanks.

How so? Thanks.

There are number of things; starting with the design of the port and extension ring locks - they are simple to use, quick, easy and work well. I know Subal now finally, has a port lock (but not an extension lock which makes the port lock ineffective), but I never had one with my D700 housing, and though I never flooded it, came close a few times, and saw it happen to others when the port twisted off. The controls mesh better, I found the Subal more finicky with getting every control perfectly aligned - particularly the focus mode control lever and frame speed mode control. Positioning zoom rings on lenses was more variable and more prone to slipping if not just right. Nauticam seems to simply lock into the housing more rigidly aligning the controls better, and zoom rings can only fit in one precise position.

External button and control positioning; Nauticam have gone to the trouble to place internal levers etc so that external controls can be moved to better positions on the housing - examples are the ISO control lever, and the other paddle controls on the right for mode etc - a much better solution than searching for the buttons on top or back of the housing, the focus point multiselector is moved more to the right side of the housing, not just directly above the camera buttons, so I can reach it with my thumb without moving my hand off the handle. Also the ring multiselector rather than four buttons is a nice touch. I have smaller hands, so these little things keep all the commonly used controls more directly under my finger tips. The use of paddles rather than buttons where possible is huge, a paddle is much easier to use than a button particularly when one has to hold it down while rotating a command dial. I found that I often had to take my hand off the left or right handle to hold down a button while I rotated a command or subcommand dial with my Subal - this would sometimes mean I had to sort of jam the housing up against my body to hold it while I accomplished a two handed control operation like ISO change. This does not happen when I have a paddle where I need it without having to move my hand. I would like to see even more paddles where possible rather than buttons. Lens release button works better, does not need to be swung into position etc to use. So overall, even though I was not unhappy with my Subal, I did not know any better and none of the other housings, at any price, including Seacam, appeared to be any better ergonomically. In fact, at the time Subal was the best housing ergonomically in my hands.

I think Nauticam have really shaken up the staid European camera housing makers and demonstrated that it is possible to continue to improve housing design. In all my previous discussions with European housing manufacturers at DEMA etc, there seemed to be a take it or leave it attitude to their approaches to housing design, particularly as I was not a professional photographer. Port locks on Subal are a perfect example, other things I never even thought of, like paddles and multiselector etc, just made for a better mousetrap when I never thought one was possible and I just needed to accept what I was given.

Thank you for the run down. Do they make Subal to Nauti type 4 port adapters?

I believe so; check with Reef Photo. Another point about the paddles I did not add, is the image review paddle. Another frequently used control that does not require moving your hand off the control to press a button that is a nice touch. Another control that will be nice with a paddle will be the info button, the Nauticam does not have a window on top for the info screen so the back info display is occasionally needed. I don't miss the top screen as I thought I might, as I often found it difficult to see underwater anyway. Underwater using the back INFO screen routinely actually makes more sense than topside. But even here paddles are helpful for ISO etc as one does not have to take your eye away from the viewfinder and use either of the info displays, whereas for buttons I often had to look where I was putting my finger (especially with gloves)

Wow!! Very sharp and beautiful......! I would like to buy Sigma 15mm now!

Great pictures Loftus, looks like an oceanic manta (Manta birostris). If you have any ID photos that show the markings on the belly and just above the tail, do consider adding them to the database http://mantawatch.com/report. We're very interested in sightings of this species!

i still have to deceide between the D800 and the D800E.

I can't say that any of the terrestrial comparisons available on-line have convinced me that the difference between the 800 and the 800E will be detectable underwater. I interpret the data as showing that you need a high shutter speed, optimum aperture and rock-steady camera position to get down to the realm of resolution improved by losing the moire filter. Our need to balance ambient and artificial light, to shoot in low light, and to hand-hold a large camera system suggests to me that we're never going to get to the point where the D800E is better underwater.