Scuba Geek

Nikon D2X and Subal Underwater Housing Scuba Review January 23, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : Photography , trackback

Eamon Hickey, from robgalbraith.com writes about Alex’s initial underwater sessions with the Nikon D2X, the latest digital SLR from Nikon. Having previously used the Nikon D100, Alex says

“The D2X is better pixel-to-pixel than the D100 by a clear margin, and it’s got twice as many of those pixels,”, “Another thing that I think is a massive advantage to the D2X is the large viewing screen,” he continues.

Alex Mustard and his scuba photography gear The Nikon D2x has a 12.21 million pixel output and is a big camera, which can be a disadvantage whilst using it in the ocean, but these fears where unfounded;

“What worried me initially was it’s a big camera, and for underwater photography a good small camera is always better than a good big camera.” It’s a simple fact that a large apparatus is harder to push through the water than a small one. But after you’ve added the housing, underwater flashes, and the brackets for those flashes to the D2X, “you don’t really notice the size of the camera anyway,” the photographer says.

Alex uses the 10.5 mm Fisheye lens and the 105mm AF Micro lens with his DX2, allowing him to take shots from close range with the fish eye for wide angle picturs and use the 105 for macro shots. Alex also sets up his camera to take simultaneous RAW images and JPEGS, the JPEGS being used for quick viewing and initial editing.

The D2X’s overall color and tonality are very nice, Mustard says, but if you give the subject too much light the camera “has a tendency, particularly in Color Mode III JPEGs, to slightly oversaturate some of the colors. You can get to the point where the saturation is starting to cut into the detail. But that’s not so much a problem in RAW.”

Alex is very keen on the Subal range of housings and he is delighted with the housing for the DX2, and as well as the nice ergonomics of the housing, the Subal offers the ability to access nearly all the camera’s functions, including menu settings.

It is a great article and includes many hints and tips for anyone looking at this flagship camera and housing combination.