Subal D70 Dual Synch sockets

I had the chance to photograph some of the limited edition Subal D70 housings with dual synch sockets today. Ocean Optics (http://www.oceanoptics.co.uk) has them in stock in London!

A handy modification although the housing still only has one strobe mounting point. And something I speculated on in the Subal D70 review that I did back in August:

http://www.wetpixel.com/module-pagesetter-...-3-pid-45.phtml

Today was also the first chance I had to compare (side by side) the Subal D70 housings with and without the viewfinder magnifier. I have always said I don't mind small viewfinders. I have 29 years young eyes! I don't wear glasses and I trust my AF.

That said DO NOT ever look at one of these viewfinder magnifiers unless you have a spare $1000. The price seems extortionate until you look through one. Then suddenly you cannot imagine having a housing without one. You have been warned!

Alex

Alex, ULCS makes handles for the Subal D70 housing with strobe mounts on top of each handle. They mount using the same screws and holes as the stock ones. Stuffs packed for my trip to B.C. Canada tomorrow or I'd take a shot of them and post it.

My Eyepiece just arrived and I'm looking forward to using it up there as well. With that and the 2X TC, I'm expecting miracles. LOL!

Rand

Can the magnifier be retrofitted to the D100 housing? As an eye doctor with aging eyes I deserve one more than anyone else.

And to the Fuji S2 housing? (I'm going to contact Subal today - my housing is still with them.)

Frogfish

From what I have heard the magnifier cannot be retro-fitted to other housings. But looking at it - I cannot see why. It is certainly worth chasing up the dealers (or Subal directly, Robert) about this.

I cannot overstate how good it is. If your main complaint with your housed DSLR is the viewfinder, this one accessory completely changes that. The difference between with and without was 2-3 times more than I was expecting.

The cost for is the big problem. I guess it is a bit like a multi-slide feed on a scanner - the item itself cannot possibly be worth what you have to pay for it, but what it does for you is worth the money.

Alex

Here is a very poor ppicture of the black viewfinder against a black background.

It'll be great if a company would develop a viewfinder that would match to other housing brands. A cheaper price would be even better...

Anyone interested to develop such a toy?

Michel

I saw one of these at DEMA last week.....fantastic!....but not crazy about the shutter lever and access to the aperture knob

Karl

now there are three companies with "dreamviews":

Seacam, Sealux and now Subal has joined.

Sealux is quiet affordable with around 500 US$. The reproduction ratio is 1: 1.1 (Seacam 1:1).

Julian

just wondering, don't these viewfinders look pretty much the same?

Ike.....do you see this?......I'd sure pay for one

Karl

Karl, if I don't mistake, I think it's harder to accomplish with transparent housing. Isn't it?

Karl,

maybe there is more background business between the manufactures than we would think of.

Karl,

 

maybe there is more background business between the manufactures than we would think of.  

That's possible, but I wouldn't put too much on it. It's a lens. All the Canon, Nikon and Sigma fisheye lenses look similar also.

now there are three companies with "dreamviews":

 

Seacam, Sealux and now Subal has joined.

 

Sealux is quiet affordable with around 500 US$. The reproduction ratio is 1: 1.1 (Seacam 1:1).

 

Julian

Soon to be 4. Nexus had a prototype at DEMA that should be available in the US in around 3 months. I already placed an order with Ryan!

Some years ago, I paid to have Subal retrofit my Miniflex housing for F801s with improved viewfinder optics. It was a bit of a Rube Goldberg fix - a small optic (w/ adjustable diopter) that screws onto the viewfinder of the F801s, about the size of a stack of 50 cent pieces, and then an extension built into the housing back to accomodate it.

But it made a huge difference and was well worth it. Viewing with the additional optics on the F801S was at least as good (and maybe better) than on the Subal S2 housing - as I've been reminded these past few weeks using the F801s housing again while the S2 housing is away in the housing hospital in Austria. The small viewfinder image is probably my main gripe about the S2, which also applies to a couple of Nikon digitals I've played around with a couple of times.

One question I have is whether one might lose the camera data after retrofitting new viewfinder optics. The problem with the S2 and other reduced frame digitals (as I understand it) is that they kept the original viewfinder prism used in the F90 (or was it F80?) body, masking off that part of the viewfinder image that was lost. So the camera data is still down there where it originally was, separated from the now smaller viewfinder image. Magnifying the viewfinder image enough to make it actually possible to use manual focus, for instance, might mean losing the in camera data display, which wouldn't work for me.

I guess what I really want is an u/w system with a viewfinder image as big and bright as the display in an F100 used topside. It's always a pleasant, wonderful shock to pick up the F100 and look through it after a few weeks using the S2, on land or underwater.

I guess I'm the only one who does not use the viewfinder! I always look on the LCD. As big as the body is on my Canon 10d- I wish the LCD was bigger! Now if we could only magnify that!

Karl,

 

maybe there is more background business between the manufactures than we would think of.  

 

That's possible, but I wouldn't put too much on it. It's a lens. All the Canon, Nikon and Sigma fisheye lenses look similar also.

Well, to me, the viewfinders do not look similar, they look the same.

Never seen lenses looking so similar

Even the hoods look the same. But that's of course no kind of evidence

hi everybody

I was very enjoyed in august as I saw the first pictures of the magnifier.

My deception grew immediately after the response from Mr Sempert to my Email :

The new system won't work with older Subal housings such as the FS2 or even the D10.

There seems to be not enough place aroud the original viewfinder to fit the new one

next week I'll be in Antibes to check this with my own "old" FS2

let's wait and pray :roll: :roll: please Mr Subal.....

I think that they are the same too! Well spotted Julian. I wish I had known this yesterday - it would have been a fun point to raise at the Visions Conference!

Does anyone know if the Subal viewfinder can be retro-fitted to a D70 housing (without one)?

If so, do people think that a Sealux viewfinder can be retro-fitted to a D70 housing? This is preferable because it is cheaper than the Subal.

(Of course the real question I am asking is that do I have to order an expensive viewfinder with a subal D2X housing, if I can buy a cheaper (but identical) Sealux viewfinder and retro-fit it? But that seemed a bit hypothetical...)

Alex