December 1998
It's got knobs on
John Bantin tests out the new Sea & Sea NX-5 camera housing, with the complex Nikon F5
Most of the world's top professional photographers would agree that there are three important camera brands: Sinar for large format, Hasselblad for medium format and Nikon for 35mm.
Every Nikon camera proudly bears the company name, but only the F2, F3, F4 and now the F5 are manufactured to the original exacting standards that made Nikon famous with professionals.
Today, electronics have taken over many of the original mechanical functions of the camera, and the F5 Nikon's most expensive model has more than its fair share. However, it was precision and robustness that made the Nikon great. But because more amateurs buy cameras than professionals the Nikon F5 is weighed down with knobs and dials. The market demands it.
There are only three functions that are important. Exposure by means of intensity (aperture or f-stop) and duration (shutter speed), and lens focus, which can be automatic. Added to that, the film must be transported to the next frame. The F5 gives you the ultimate number of ways to get to the right conclusion.
I'm always suspicious of any product marked "Pro" it usually means it's unashamedly marketed at amateurs. But Sea & Sea's Pro NX-5 submarine housing allows you to take an F5 under water and use any of these different methods.
My maxim for underwater photography is KISS (Keep It Simple etc), and trying to play with all these knobs and dials was anything but. For example, it took me some time to discover that the lens gear provided for the external aperture control was superfluous to requirements because the f-stops could be set electronically using a second command dial to the main one.
There are five different ways to set the film transport, from single shot to continuous, and including a self-timer setting. I've never needed the latter yet under water, but it could mean the end to searching for a likely candidate for underwater modelling!
Manual, single focus and continuous focusing are available, and it's this auto focusing that is probably its major advantage over less-expensive Nikons. The F5 gives a choice of five different focusing areas, indicated in the viewfinder. These are chosen by pressing on a command dial at the back of the camera and the NX-5 housing allows you to access this function.
At last it means you can position subjects at the side of the frame without the camera automatically focusing off into the blue. Alas, these buttons also proved to be the weak point of the NX-5, because each time I pressed one I gave the camera a squirt of water. This made me quite circumspect about their use!
In fact, every through-body control of any housing has the potential to leak and this housing has plenty. I suggest that in order to protect your precious Nikon F5 you have the O-rings of these controls regularly replaced by the importer.
If you have the optional Nikon Sports finder, you get a very big viewfinder image. Unfortunately, the generosity of Sea & Sea didn't run to that, but I was content to use the ordinary pentaprism supplied with the camera.
However, since the control only meshes with the Sports finder, this meant I was unable to use the alternative exposure-determining methods available spot metering, centre-weighted and full three-dimensional matrix metering.
I stuck with the latter, chosen before the camera was locked away inside the clam-shell of the NX-5, but found, in direct comparison, it was slightly superior to the lesser, but still highly thought of, matrix metering of my own Nikon F90X camera rig.
One feature I was looking forward to trying was the automatic flash and daylight exposures, using two dedicated Sea & Sea flashguns. There are two sync sockets on the housing for this purpose, but unfortunately one of the flashguns provided proved to have a faulty sync lead.
I found that the camera slots into the housing very readily, and when previously fitted with its Sea & Sea mounting tray it clamps there in a moment. Without gears to mesh and with both electronic connecting leads accessible from the back, there was no drama, which was lucky because I found it very difficult to get my finger round to the camera back release in order to change films with the camera in situ.
The interchangeable port is locked in place from inside the housing. Sea & Sea sent both a small dome port for use with wide-angle lenses and a flat port for use when taking macro shots. I'm pleased to report that although the dome port was small it seemed to give excellent sharpness across the full frame of the film, and no additional quality-reducing dioptre lenses need be added to the wide-angle (I used 20mm) lens to facilitate focus.
In fact, I was unable to distinguish results between my own 20mm lens behind its massive yet high-quality Aquatica dome port and this rather dinky little number. I can't say the same of the other small-dome ports I've used.
If I have a criticism, it's the fact that the locating pins for the two halves of the clam-shell are very small. This made it frustratingly difficult to reload quickly. Also, the O-ring is made of a material that seems to grow when you lubricate it with the special grease provided (don't use ordinary silicone grease). This makes it difficult to reposition afterwards.
The Nikon F5 is powered by eight AA batteries that are good for between 25 and 900 rolls of film depending on how much focusing work is done and the ambient temperature.
The Nikon F5 costs from £1900 plus lenses. The Sea & Sea Pro NX-5 housing is priced at £2350. A dome port costs from £287 and a macro port from £138.
Sea & Sea 01803 663012
Rock bottoms
Ihave always felt that the most vulnerable part of a drysuit is its boots. After all, we can't help walking about before and after a dive, and the unkind surfaces and obstructions often encountered at dive sites, whether they be rocks or car-park detritus, threaten to puncture anything that is soft enough to be comfortable.
So when I first saw a diver wearing Rock Boots I just had to get a pair for myself.
The idea is so obvious. Instead of having a pair of wellie-like boots integrated into your suit, you merely have a soft sock-like termination at the end of the drysuit leg and rely on a tough pair of independent boots to take the hard wear. These, in themselves, are nothing unusual. It's their application that is such a good idea. Instead of taking off your boots to go diving you keep them on!
DUI Rock Boots are simple hiking boots in rubber and canvas. I had a little difficulty getting my drysuit-clad feet into them at first until I read the instructions!
Removing the inner sole (supplied for those who really want to use them for hiking) allows water to get in and out easily, and you simply insert your boot-clad feet into your fins. There's no real need to tie a knot in the laces, because locking toggles keep them tight and the loose ends can be retained under the Velcro-covered tag at the heel, which can be used to help you pull them on.
Rock Boots can also be worn with a wetsuit you just need to put on a pair of neoprene socks.
Diving was easy, even with my boots on, and when I was done I had no problem getting my Rocks off!
DUI Rock Boots cost £46.
SDS 01142 488688
'Fast-mover' keeps life simple
There was a time when the brand names we now associate with Aqua-Lung Spiro, US Divers and Technisub dominated the British diving scene. Not only were these products among the best available anywhere, but many of their potential competitors had not yet succeeded in making real inroads into the British market.
However, times change, and for several years now a lot of excellent gear from a wide range of different manufacturers has been on offer in British dive shops not least when it comes to regulators.
And it is into this increasingly competitive environment that Aqua-Lung (UK) has now launched its Titan first stage.
Sales of this new regulator have been so brisk, according to Aqua-Lung, that there were none in stock to send me to test. So I popped down the road and bought one from a local dive retailer.
The very compact Titan first stage is a robust-looking item with four medium-pressure ports and one high-pressure port located around its conical barrel. This has the effect of angling the hoses in a convenient fashion. It uses a balanced-diaphragm design, and there is also an optional dry-chamber version that I would recommend to anyone planning to use this regulator in British waters, as it reduces the risk of freezing and environmental contamination.
The Titan is available with a choice of four different second stages. The XLC second stage, which I purchased with our test unit, is quite bulky in comparison to those of some other manufacturers. It has its purge button hidden under a flexible front shroud, which is easily squeezed off to give access to the diaphragm. This is ideal for those times when a regulator has become contaminated with sand. However, if this shroud were to be accidentally removed for instance in the hurly-burly of a busy dive school there would remain nothing to protect the diaphragm from potential damage.
Like other Aqua-Lung regulators, the Titan comes with a Comfobite mouthpiece, and I have made myself unpopular before by saying that I don't favour this design. I find that it puts the loading on to my front teeth which, at my age, is asking for trouble. I prefer a mouthpiece that relies on my molars to retain it.
Others disagree. But, either way, you should not let the mouthpiece dictate your choice of regulator. If you find you don't like the Comfobite, for the price of a couple of pints you can easily exchange it for a different type.
I breathed from the Titan XLC extensively during a week-long diving trip and found it eminently usable. The exhaust bubbles were routed away from my field of vision, and I enjoyed the fact that there was little to adjust, save for a venturi ± switch that I never bothered with nor needed to use.
I noted that my Buddy Auto Air combined inflator and alternate second stage was impossible to breathe from at first presumably because the inter-stage pressure of the Titan is significantly lower than that of many other regulators on the market. Anyway, some tweaking of the adjustment nut of the Auto Air was all that was needed to get it working again. If you use an alternate air source, check that it interfaces with your regulator before diving!
The Titan with XLC costs £170.
Aqua-Lung (UK) 0116 251 4200
Cut price for stripped-down Air
What makes it possible for the modern sport diver to routinely enjoy as many as six dives in a single day?
I believe that the prime factor is the way in which our ascent rate can now be accurately monitored using electronics, rather than relying on those silly old ways such as trying to follow the smallest bubble not to mention Norman's Balls (older divers will know what I mean by the latter).
Uwatec has been at the forefront of technology for controlling ascent rates, and its dive computers now use a rate that varies with depth to give a constant depressurising effect. (Because, of course, pressure changes become more marked as we approach the surface.)
The second most important factor contributing to the current high levels of safety is, for me, effective air management. Again, electronics in the form of air-integrated computers such as the Uwatec Aladin Air have contributed to this.
No longer should divers need to hasten to the surface, risking a bend, because they've run low on air. I'd even risk saying that, when surface conditions are appropriate, dive computers allow us to break the old 50-bar rule.
For it's much safer to breathe most of our remaining air under water in the last few metres of an ascent and dive computers that calculate and display remaining air-time soon demonstrate to those new to them that 50 bar lasts a long time at 6m, even for the unfittest gas-guzzler.
The Aladin Air is the cheapest full-function decompression air-integrated dive computer made by Uwatec. It is connected to, and readily disconnected from, your air supply via a bayonet mount on the end of a high-pressure hose.
The first Aladin Air came in a console incorporating a compass. However, presumably because many divers already own a compass (and perhaps because a console may not be the best place to carry and use a compass anyway), Uwatec has now wisely decided to offer the Aladin Air without this feature and with a lower price to reflect its absence.
What does it offer the diver? Well, at a price of £449 (instead of £474 for the version with compass), it offers all the functions enjoyed by its much more expensive wrist-mounted stablemate the Air X (which differs only in that it gleans its air-supply information from a radio transmitter mounted on the regulator first stage, rather than via a hose).
These functions include stop-times and depths, total ascent time; dive duration, current depth and maximum depth achieved; remaining air-time and tank pressure. There are appropriate warnings, both visual and audible. The computer also allows for detailed dive planning and logging, and interfaces with a PC with the aid of the optional hardware and software.
The Aladin Air costs £449.
Uwatec 01420 561412
Good enough for the catwalk
When I want to look smart,I wear my Italian suit, designed by Giorgio Armani. When I want to look smart in a wetsuit, it seems I need to get an Italian design too.
The Ocean Reef 5mm Challenger wetsuit is made of the latest high-tech neoprene, with titanium fleck insulation. Naturally, it comes in nothing less than fashionable black. The example sent for me to try was skin tight, so very little water managed to get in when I wore it. However, it was easy to get on because it came fitted with zips at both wrists and ankles a feature rarely encountered nowadays.
It was extremely flexible too. If I felt cold I had the option of a 3mm undervest with a hood (and a splash of yellow).
The upper torso and arms are finished in a patterned smoothskin to great visual effect. It is zipped up at the back with the aid of an elastic lanyard, and a large comfort flap avoids any inadvertent skin pinching. The whole thing exudes good quality.
Zips are YKK (the best), but it was the toggle of the back zip that proved to be the only casualty of ten days' hard use when it parted from the lanyard. Never mind, I'll just ask my buddy to help in future.
The Ocean Edge (part of Ocean Reef) Pugit Sound boots proved very successful too. These have the novel feature of a velcro strap that pulls the upper tight and stops water slopping about inside during finning. A sensible thin neoprene gusset prevents the zips snagging as you do them up, and the soles are colourful as well as functional.
Quality does not come cheap. The Challenger suit costs £259 and the Pugit Sound boots £38.
DCM Sales 0181 399 7049
Appeared in DIVER - December 1998
