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| Bahamas Shark Diving |
Nikon D80 Underwater Housing
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Sea & Sea DX-D80 Review - Page 3/6
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| Nikon D80 Sea & Sea |
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Published : Friday, December 14th 2007
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Written by Karin Brussaard
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Introduction "Lemonsnapping!"
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| In between two dives Jim proposes we go lemon snapping. The ten of us look at him questioningly and Jim explains what he means. The crew lures the sharks with live bait at the back of the boat. The curious lemon sharks are attracted and try to eat the fish. We go to the platform on the back of the boat and hold the camera underwater or half underwater. The lemon sharks open their jaws wide and we try to capture that in a photo. It is difficult because you cannot look through the viewfinder because you are not underwater as well. It also happens so fast that it is a bit of guess work when the shark will open his mouth. Turning the camera on continuous when a shark is around and making as many photos as the buffer can handle is the best bet. Luckily the D80 can make six RAW images and take three photos per second. It is not so easy to take photos at foot level on a moving and swaying boat, the adrenaline is pumping through my body. But as Jim assures us, nothing can happen! At a given moment I hear a loud bang and I realize that the lemon shark has hit the dome port of my underwater housing. Luckily the port is made of acrylic, so it only has a dent as a souvenir. A dome port made of glass would not have survived this hit... |
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Shark attacks camera & underwater housing Bahamas Shark Expedition
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| Sea & Sea DX-D80 Dome port |
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Sea & Sea DX-D80 Zoom ring |
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Sea & Sea DX-D80 Dome port |
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Nikon D80 SLR Zoom ring |
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| The NX Fisheye Dome Port is made of corrosion-resistant aluminium alloy and has an anti-reflexive coating. The dome itself is made of acrylic. The advantage of acrylic is that it can take a hit. The disadvantage is that it easily gets scratched. You can remove them with enough polishing, though. Sea&Sea's website states that this dome port is suitable for the Nikon 12-24mm lens. I find that the photos give better results by adding a 4 cm ring. With only the dome port the corners of the photo are blurry. |
There is a zoom ring around the Nikon AF-S 12-24mm lens. On the outside of the housing there is a dial which is attached to the ring with a cog. The dial is large and works well. Because the housing is easy to handle, you can operate it with one hand. I shot most of the photos at 12 mm, as zooming was unnecessary because the sharks came so close. For the more timid hammer sharks, the zoom was very appropriate. |
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| Sea & Sea DX-D80 for Nikon D80 SLR |
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Sea & Sea DX-D80 underwater gear |
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| Sea & Sea Housing Preparing the camera for a dive |
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Sea & Sea DX-D80 SLR Underwater Photography |
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| Sea & Sea underwater flash unit |
Sea & Sea DX-D80 TTL-converter |
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Sea & Sea DX-D80 YS-series flash |
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Nikon D80 SLR TTL converter |
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| The DX-D80 underwater housing has two standard Nikon connectors. One 2-pin and one 5-pin. The Sea & Sea YS-series flash can be connected to the 2-pin. The 5-pin connector is specially made for the optional TTL II converter. This is a TTL-converter which ensures that all Nikon cameras can flash with the TTL flashes from the YS series. |
The TTL-converter is equipped with a built-in TTL PCB which communicates between the Nikon digital SLRs and the Sea&Sea flashes from the YS-series. The camera's TTL is used to control the flash. One or two flashes can be connected to the TTL-converter. The TTL-converter gives you the option to work in TTL, to correct the lighting a few stops by turning a dial and to work completely manually. |
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