June 1997
Houston, we
have no problem...
The Nikon F90 underwater camera has more computer power than the Apollo 13 spacecraft. Installed in the latest Aquatica 90 Pro housing , it provided John Bantin with a faultless tool
About three years ago, I made my "definitive" choice of underwater camera equipment. After a succession of disappointments, I took the advice of US underwater photographer Rick Freesee and adopted an Aquatica 80 housing, together with a trio of Nikon 801/S bodies (as a precaution against flooding that never happened).
Since then, Nikon (USA) has adopted Aquatica, and distributes the Aquatica range in its own territory. Nikon (UK) seems less interested in marketing underwater photography products and has left the distribution to an independent outfit.
I liked the full-function controls of the Aquatica 80 and the simple route the main O-ring takes. No possibility of slip-ups here while reloading in a hurry, dripping wet, on the rolling deck of a dive boat and anxious to get back in the water. There is no chance of this O-ring popping un-noticed out of its groove.
The only reservation I have is that the Nikon 801 autofocus is not very quick, and so I still always pack a Nikonos V with 15mm lens alongside it in case I find myself among sharks and need to shoot from the hip.
You probably know what it's like when you have spent all your money on a new car and six months later someone draws up alongside you at the lights in the next model. Well, I encountered the same emotions recently when the UK distributor of Aquatica turned up at my house the night before I was due to set off on a dive trip, and thrust into my hands an Aquatica 90 Pro housing, complete with a Nikon F90 camera installed.
The Nikon F90 does everything the Nikon 801/S does, only better. The Aquatica 90 Pro housing does everything the Aquatica 80 does, only better. What a combination!
The optical viewfinder is probably bigger than any on the market in this price range. The technical information panel is easy to see alongside the viewfinder image, and you can see it at the top of the housing too. A button turns on the independent illumination of this panel at will.
You get complete access to all the camera controls via the housing. Many are linked to the housing controls by a master electronic lead, so there are fewer mechanical connections to mesh.
You can now switch from manual focus to either mode of autofocus at any time during the dive. And even the once-slightly-fragile flash synchro connection to the hot-shoe of the camera has been improved, with a computer-style flat lead and connector jack making installation less fraught.
I am told by Frank Fennell of Nikon (USA) that the F90 has more computing power than Apollo 13! This results in a camera that focuses instantly. It is so fast with the 20mm lens that it deceives the eye.
A complex multi-segment matrix exposure metering system allows the F90 to mate with state-of-the-art flashguns like the Nikon SB104 or SB26 (in a housing) to give faultless balanced daylight and flash exposures every time.
The SB26 evidently releases a series of invisible flashes to assess the exposure problem before firing off the real thing. I detected a slight delay when using the F90 with the SB26, enough to prefer using it with the SB104.
I shot 30 rolls of film with both flashguns and the F90's automatic exposure control, without a single unsatisfactory frame.
If I have a criticism it is that to make the Aquatica 90 Pro housing less bulky than its forerunners a "fit-like-a-glove" approach has been adopted, resulting in a more tortuous route for the main O-ring. But it never let me down and was easy to reposition after greasing.
I also used the Aquatica 90 Pro with the 8in Super Dome port, now fixed by a bayonet rather than being screwed in. The large dome means that you can use wide-angles like the 20mm lens on the F90 without needing a supplementary, strong-dioptre correction lens.
In short, Aquatica has taken the sound principles behind its original design and added all the good features found in rivals from the likes of Subal with the Seacam.
I thought it the best housing I had used. Then I found myself diving alongside Frank Fennell, who was trying the new professional Nikon F5 in a new Aquatica housing... but then, that's another car and another set of traffic lights!
The Aquatica 90 Pro costs £1150 plus £380 for the 8in Super Dome port. A flat-port for macro photography costs £290.
The Image Centre, 0181 743 3788.
Serious stuff, this
Diving equipment made by Poseidon in Sweden has always been known as "serious stuff". The Poseidon Biscaya Techlift wing-style BC certainly qualifies to enter that category.
Strongly made from 1000 denier material (that means a very heavy yarn), and with an independent inner bag accessed via a zipped compartment, this big Swede exudes robustness.
Its double cambands are supplied in a length sufficient to wrap around twin cylinders. With a large (15-litre) single cylinder I found that I had to dispense with one set of camband rubber grips and contrive to restrain the surplus webbing with a number of strong rubber bands .
The front facings of the broad harness straps are adorned with ten stainless steel D-rings in assorted sizes, giving enough attachment points for the most serious technical diver. There is also an upper chest strap to prevent any slipping off the shoulders.
The soft backpack has a large cushion to protect the diver's back, plus a wide cummerbund augmented by a waistband with a metal buckle. All this seemed to have some buoyancy of its own, reflected in an extra half-kilo or so of weight on my weightbelt.
The corrugated direct-feed hose seemed inordinately long, and came complete with a medium-pressure feed hose of equal reach. This had an attractive anatomically designed direct-feed control fitted at the business end. Air is meant to be dumped by pulling on the corrugated hose to activate a shoulder dump valve, but I could not get this to function properly.
I thought this was because the corrugated hose had too much stretch in it (yes, my arms were long enough!) but I was wrong. I resorted to raising the hose to dump air.
I had used the Techlift for about ten dives before I took the shoulder dump valve apart and found it was not connected to its inner pull-wire. It just goes to show that it does not matter how good the components are if the assembly is incorrect.
I tried the Techlift with both wetsuit and drysuit. Being a wing-style BC, it left the chest area uncluttered.
The medium-sized example I tried provided a massive amount of lift, in the order of 29kg. Under water the large bag, partially filled, tended to wrap around the single cylinder I was using. Unfortunately, this caused air to migrate from one side of the bag to the other, causing me to roll a little. This would not happen using twins.
If 29kg of lift is not enough for you, or if you need the redundancy a second bag will provide, you can attach exactly that. It is simply done by passing the tank cam-bands through it.This puts a second corrugated hose (with a different-looking direct-feed control) over your opposing shoulder and adds an alternative 25kg of lift should your primary air cell fail.
Optional extras include a pinbolt system for twin tanks and attachable weight pockets for either two 3kg or four 2kg weights. The Poseidon Biscaya Techlift is ideal for the technical diver who uses twin cylinders and wants a long-lasting bit of kit. Available in sizes S, M, L and XL, it costs £348. The redundant second cell costs £158.
UWI Circle, 01420 544422
Weight watching
Weights are not the most comfortable part of a diver's equipment, especially if you carry a lot. I take up a lot of room in the water, and am one of the first to suffer.
Bowstone produces a range of weight harnesses, starting from a simple belt that carries four pouches 16cm deep by 11cm wide. These are held firmly closed by heavily Velcro'd flaps. I found that I could squeeze in a maximum of 32kg of lead, although this would have been overdoing things.
Wetsuit diving with only 8kg spread between the pouches, I found that the pouches tended to flap when I inverted. It was a bit like swimming with some heavy shopping strung about my waist!
On the other hand, when drysuit diving with a large aluminium cylinder in a wintry Red Sea, and loaded with 14kg, the belt worked well.
Had I needed even more weight, as I might well have done with a thicker undersuit, I would have preferred a belt that took the weight on my shoulders rather than my hips when I was out of the water. In the UK, I use up to 16kg.
Bowstone makes a similar weight harness with six pouches and cross-over shoulder straps. However, there is no easy way to ditch this equipment should it be necessary.
An improvement on this is the deluxe belt and harness system. This carries the weights in two large 27 by 12cm pouches, which themselves fit into two similar pouches mounted horizontally at each hip.
The weights are retained by a heavy Velcro flap and each pouch kept within its outers by two similar flaps.
Yellow ripcords with toggles provide an emergency jettisoning system, each side independent of the other. I found these almost impossible to pull open. There was certainly little likelihood of dropping the weights on unsuspecting divers below.
Each belt has a waist adjustment in the centre of the back, so there is no need for the slimmer-built among us to have a long flap of spare webbing protruding from the quick-release buckle.
The four-pocket weight harness, snappily identified as the 7692, is priced at £35. Six pockets (the 7690) will set you back £85 and the "quick-release" version (7691) £90.
Bowstone Diving Products, 0161 442 0272
Big brush, big mouth?
Continuing my pursuit of excellence on behalf of you readers, I recently took it on myself to try the Radius Scuba toothbrush!
Obviously the Radius Corporation has done its market research and discovered that we divers, always swimming around with large pieces of diving equipment jammed tightly into our mouths, need special attention. It claims that its product will make brushing irresistibly enjoyable!
"The fat rubber handle bends and flexes in the hand to make what brushing should be - fun, satisfying and functional."
The Scuba toothbrush has a good finger and thumb grip and a useful counter-balance but I noticed that the brush head "in a choice of electrifying colours" was enormous. It seemed big enough to clean my shoes!
Has someone been saying unkind things about me? I've taken to sleeping with a coat-hanger in my mouth to help me, at some time in the future, accommodate its oversized dimensions!
The makers claim that this big toothbrush head may be daunting at first but ensures that you clean both teeth and gums - and tonsils too, I'm sure.
Available in Tesco and Boots, the Radius Scuba toothbrush retails at £5.99. Available in both left and right-hand drive.
Appeared in DIVER - June 1997
Back to DIVERNET NAVIGATOR
or
