When the Nikon D300 was released last summer (’07) I along with many
other underwater photographers recognised that its introduction coupled
with the relatively low retail price would substantially influence uwp
world over. In my role as uwp educator I decided to ‘jump on the
bandwagon’ and upgrade from my trusty, reliable and much loved D200.
You need to know that I have favoured Nikon since my days with a
Nikon F2 and Oceanic housings of the 80’s. I have owned and used Subal
housings since the introduction of the Nikon F801 in the early 1990’s.
In my teaching role I regularly instruct in Ikelite, Sea & Sea,
Nexus and Hugyfot DSLR housings. Whilst I’ll endeavour to be impartial
as I can, the influence that Nikon and Subal have had on my own
photographic career cannot be ignored. I am unable to compare the D300
against our Canon cousins but I do have sufficient experience using the
D200 to compare against the Nikon D300.
Camera and housing
I took possession of my Subal ND30 housing during the last week of
March 08 and I may have been the first or second person to acquire one.
My housing was a pre – production version, which showed a significant
defect involving the five-menu multi selector buttons on the rear of
the camera housing. Subal had designed the corresponding five rocker
pins inside the housing too long in length (about 1.5mm – 2mm). This
prevented the cursors on the camera from being able to ‘pivot’
sufficiently to regularly display the menu options on the LCD. I found
it hard to believe this was no other fault than my own but after my
failure to correct this defect I contacted my supplier. Two other
pre-production housings in his possession showed the same
characteristics and it was soon established that Subal had not
sufficiently tested this particular control before shipping to my
supplier and he had missed it before shipping to me.
In their defence, within hours of my own findings, Subal, Austria were
able to offer a solution. The modification was to file 2mm off each
rocker pin located on the inside of the housing back plate. I would
emphasise that this fault was only apparent in those three early
production housings and I am reliably informed that it has not been an
issue in housings shipped since.
The Housing
On first appearance the Subal ND30 is very similar to the ND20
(Nikon D200). It weighs the same, looks the same and when you take
hold, it feels the same. But then you notice the huge 3” LCD screen.
Now, I am a firm believer that the larger the LCD the easier and more
accurate it is to review the result underwater. I cannot emphasise this
enough. It’s no use finding out that you have clipped the composition
or chosen the wrong angle when you’re back on dry land! The time to
review and correct an error or to pursue a new idea on a subject is
underwater at the time of shooting. The 3in LCD of the D300 is bright,
clear and easy to view even in shallow water. There is a one finger -
press - zoom button on the rear of the housing. In practice I was able
to determine sharp focus on my macro/close up subjects and on many
occasions I persisted with the subject to correct my
focusing/compositional mistakes. I doubt if I would have noticed
underwater (at the time) these small imperfections/mistakes by viewing
my Nikon D200 LCD.
The GS Viewfinder
I receive many enquiries concerning whether of not the Subal GS
viewfinder is worth the money. In my opinion the viewfinder of any
camera housing is without doubt the most significant feature of the
entire design. If we cannot see clearly and accurately what we are
trying to shoot then what is the point? Doesn’t it frustrate when a
manufacturer produces a housing where the user is unable to see all
four corners of the viewfinder to compose a subject correctly. Enhanced
viewfinders like Subal and other housings, though expensive, are
definitely worth the money IMHO.
The Controls
The front main dial (aperture), the rear main dial (shutter speed) and
shutter release control are in exactly the same position as before. I
have heard criticisms that for users with small hands the shutter
release is too far away from the right handled grip. My suggestion is
to simply release the velcro strap to allow the right hand closer
access.
The On/Off switch has changed to a circular design. In my
opinion this is an improvement and I feel the sensitivity to turn the
camera on and off both on land (without the back plate) connected and
underwater have a more positive feel to it.
The Mode and +/- exposure compensation push down controls
situated behind the On/off switch are now raised up slightly. Whilst on
first glance this would not appear to make the slightest difference,
underwater I noticed that it was much easier for me to locate both the
‘Mode’ and +/- to push down and make changes without looking at either
dial. I’m unable to comment on whether or not these dials are as easy
to manipulate when wearing gloves.
A similar design improvement is evident on the left hand side of the
housing with the ‘QUAL’ quality, ‘WB’ White Balance and ISO push down
controls. With the ND30, Subal have disposed with the small black
circular base on which these three push buttons were situated on with
the ND20.
Now, I always change the ‘Quality’ and ‘ISO’ setting via the ‘My Menu’
in the rear LCD screen but with ‘WB’ White Balance I do need easy
access to this button. My WB settings fluctuate between ‘Auto’ and
‘Preset’. To set Preset WB via the housing I first use the LCD screen
to locate and change it. This brings the ‘PRE’ setting up in the bottom
right hand corner of the camera viewfinder. Once done, you push down
and hold the ‘WB’ control for about three seconds and press the
shutter. If this attempt to ‘preset’ is successful you will see the
‘Gd’ sign (which signifies the preset reading is ‘good’ and has
worked).
I find it much easier to locate this WB push button control on the top
left of the housing than it was before. With a little practice,
‘preset’ WB readings can be set quite easily without having to fiddle
around to locate the button.
The ND30 now has a lever on top of the housing to in which to
activate the flash exposure compensation button situated just below the
‘pop up’ flash button of the camera. The addition of this control is
for users of Nikon SB flashguns in housings to control exposure
compensation.
More push down buttons
Moving down the rear back-plate towards the LCD screen the BKT
‘bracket’ button of the ND20 has been replaced with the ‘playback’
button and next to it remains the ‘Delete’ button. Below this in order
are the following five push down buttons.
- Menu
- Info and Lock
- Zoom out –
- Zoom in +
- OK
Many readers will be familiar with the above but I’ll just mention the highlights.
- Info and Lock
Press the Info/Lock button and the shooting display information
comes up on the LCD screen. Information including the Aperture, Shutter
speed, Exposure Mode, etc are displayed on the LCD monitor. The
implications of this I found to be a significant advantage to the way
in which I shoot..
1. I did not have to look through the viewfinder to ascertain my exposure settings or exposure mode
2. The viewfinder’s built in exposure meter is also displayed. Indicating if a scene will be under or over exposed.
3. I could easily change and determine my settings i.e chosen aperture
and shutter speed by simply turning the appropriate dials and having a
clear unrestricted view of my progress in the 3in LCD monitor.
4. In practice, I could swim towards a subject (turtle) whilst at
the same time, adjusting aperture and shutter speed and without taking
my eye off the of the turtle
- Zoom in or out
This is a one push zoom feature which can magnify the LCD by up to
27 times. Whilst this is not a new, it has been developed and I found
it so much more ergonomic.
The MSC focus mode selector, lens release, shutter release, AF On
lever have not changed to any degree. The spot, matrix and center
weighted dial are also unchanged.
Multi Selector Button
The multi selector push down controls now have an additional push
button in the center. I found this very useful in order to activate a
full size histogram overlay on top of the image and most importantly –
activate it at your own convenience. This histogram can be set by going
to Custom Setting F1
In the Sea
I used camera and housing during a 10 day photo workshop at Kasai
Village Resort in Cebu Philippines. Now, I’ll point out that I am
unable to thrill you with images of the likes which Berkley produced
with the sailfish but for everyday subjects then read on.
Auto Focus
The ND30 felt no different in water than the ND20 but soon into the
trip I noticed the improvement of both ‘S’ and ‘C’ auto focus (center
point) to lock onto subjects. For the last eight months I have been
using the Nikon VR 105mm macro lens with mixed results, the jury is
still out on this! I love the results on land and the quality of blur
(bokeh) but underwater I’ve found it difficult to lock on to macro
subjects because the focus is so damn quick from minimum to maximum.
Using this lens early one morning, I dropped to 30m to shoot a
longnosed hawk fish which I had found the previous day. Once in the
water I realised I had not attached my focus torch. I shot it all the
same and was surprised and very impressed by how the focus locked-on in
such poor ambient light. After 700 frames with my Nikon 105m macro VR
- I can see substantial improvement in the focusing abilities of the
D300 and this lens now has a permanent place in my camera bag.
Sunbursts and highlights
Just so you know where I stand on this: By choice, I don’t often
include the sun ball itself within the frame. I find myself leaving it
out and using the beams of light in the corners to add sparkle and
‘jazz up’ an otherwise monochromatic blue void in my wide angles. Will
the D300 provide our sunbursts with the appeal they had on film? I
think so but I’m unable to evidence it! Our 10 days in Cebu, suffered
with poor visibility and whilst the sea was not rough it was often
choppy. I shot sunbursts at various depths down to 25m but the beams
were so scattered and diffused, it’s hard to pass an informed opinion.
As I recollect, shooting sunbursts in these conditions on film, the
results were not that impressive either. What I can confirm is that low
light shallow water sunlight shots worked very well and there’s a
significant improvement over the Nikon D200.
On four consecutive mornings I shot sunlight with a 10.5mm fisheye
in 1m to 6m of water. The sea conditions were glass calm and visibility
was at its best for the day – 20m. I used shutter speeds of 1/320th sec
with an whole range of apertures. I shot Raw at the 200 ISO default and
Auto white balance. The sunbeams appeared more accentuated with the
fast shutter speed of 320th as opposed to 125th. But I was forever
minded that this could also be affected by the height of the sun in
relation to the horizon. The ‘highlights’ warning seldom indicated the
sunbeams as ‘clipped’ but when the ball of the sun was present - this
would ‘blink’. In Raw postproduction – CS3, it was easy to recover the
highlights as long as they were not excessively overexposed.
I have no doubt that the ability of the D300 to handle the nature of
highlights so often associated with uwp is a substantial improvement
over Nikon DSLR cameras which have gone before. Together with my photo
buddy Shannon Conway we compared almost identical images taken with my
rig and his own Nikon D2x and we both agreed the D300 was superior for
highlights. We also compared how similarly the D300 rendered saturation
and colour, particularly with the tones of blue mid-water. An aspect of
the Nikon D2x, which I have always been jealous of. For my own
photography these improvements, together with the low light focusing
abilities and almost double the pixel count are good reasons to justify
an up-grade.
Noise
At 400 ISO I saw no evidence of digital noise. At 800 ISO I made the
mistake of underexposing several blue water examples and when these
areas were magnified, noise was slightly visible. Expose correctly at
1600 ISO and the noise effect diminishes. In Berkley White’s review of
the D300 and sailfish he warns of the importance to shoot accurate
exposures to avoid the noise enhancing effects of brightening a dark
image in post processing. This is excellent advice and I would
recommend readers revisit his review.
Live view Mode
During my 10 day workshop I looked for numerous opportunities to use
the Liveview Mode as an advantage to normal viewfinder composition.
Whilst it is quite easy to set ‘liveview’ on a Subal housing, all my
attempts to use it in some meaningful way failed. Perhaps I was not
selecting appropriate subjects or opportunities; perhaps the GS
viewfinder is so outstandingly clear as not to warrant in the
circumstances, which I found before me. Whatever the reason, at this
time, I fail to see a purpose to use ‘live view’ mode underwater when
used in conjunction with the ND30. Perhaps a housing with poor view
finding characteristics would benefit.
Battery Life
Compared to the D200 the battery life is a very comforting and a
much needed improvement. I averaged 700 frames with both 60mm and 105mm
macro lenses.
With the 10.5mm and Tokina 10mm – 17mm the average was 800. I
allowed the battery to ‘run down’ to 3% and it continued to function
adequately until it reached 1% when it died. At 10% power I could find
no difference in performance from 100%.
Weight and Transport
The Subal ND30 housing with the Nikon D300, a Nikon 60mm macro lens and
port. Two Inon Z220’s with leads and a couple of Inon flash arms have a
combined weight of 7 kilos. I carry this equipment in a large but light
weight ruck-sac which can be crumpled up and made to fit the luggage
rack dimensions at airports. I wear a photographer’s vest (at the last
count I found 15 pockets). I carry flash guns, a variety of lenses and
other essential bits and bobs. My vest (on average) weighs between 10k
and 13k. Once through all the check-in hassle I re-pack the contents of
my jacket into the ruck-sac. This method is working well for me at
international airports and I include it in this review for those who
may find it helpful.
To Upgrade or not
For those of you who may be contemplating an upgrade to the Nikon D300.
I would suggest you visit the most comprehensive review, which I have
seen - by Thom Hogan.
It’s a long read but at the bottom of the review, Thom compares the
D300 and offers his opinions on upgrades under the heading of ‘Should I
get a D300’.
