Shot a Nikonos V in the 90s, switched to digital around 2000, still have the rig, one day I will start getting it wet again, will probably shoot E6 when I do. Just for the ease of self development, and if I get some really nice images maybe pick up a high quality slide scanner if I get serious.
Diving with a Nikonos underwater film camera in 2022
- Thread starter Submerged_Stories
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If you use slides, you can develop the film yourself and watch them the same day you shoot.
This is what I was doing when working as an instructor at Maldives in the eighties. After dinner we projected the slides of the day to our customers...
PS: my wife still owns her beloved Nikonos III, which she purchased in 1980.
This is what I was doing when working as an instructor at Maldives in the eighties. After dinner we projected the slides of the day to our customers...
PS: my wife still owns her beloved Nikonos III, which she purchased in 1980.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I still have my Nikonos V and Ikelite strobes but haven’t used it in years.
I haven’t done any serious photography in years except for my I-phone now, on land. When film went away I lost interest in photography. I loved everything about film and was kind of bummed when everything went digital.
I still have my Pentax K-1000 land camera and have fantasies of maybe grabbing a few rolls of B/W and getting back into it some day.
Having my own dark room would be super cool!
I haven’t done any serious photography in years except for my I-phone now, on land. When film went away I lost interest in photography. I loved everything about film and was kind of bummed when everything went digital.
I still have my Pentax K-1000 land camera and have fantasies of maybe grabbing a few rolls of B/W and getting back into it some day.
Having my own dark room would be super cool!
OP
Submerged_Stories
Registered
Thank you! That's a great shot of you with the boat in the background
I will have to try a strobe. I have the SB-103 and a mounting arm. Next time around I will need to bring it with me!
OP
Submerged_Stories
Registered
@rhwestfall Great photo and looks awesome framed! And yep I feel ya on the development haha. It took me over a month to figure out what I got.
Traveling with film is quite the experience. The TSA looks at you like you have a second head when you ask them to hand inspect a roll of film! Actually, I even got some pushback from security who wanted to just send the film through the machine.
And unsurprisingly, there are no 24-hour photos anymore. I am lucky enough to live in a city with film stores but they still take a couple days to turn around.
Maybe I could try slide film @Angelo Farina I am still learning a lot about what films to shoot and how to develop them.
Traveling with film is quite the experience. The TSA looks at you like you have a second head when you ask them to hand inspect a roll of film! Actually, I even got some pushback from security who wanted to just send the film through the machine.
And unsurprisingly, there are no 24-hour photos anymore. I am lucky enough to live in a city with film stores but they still take a couple days to turn around.
Maybe I could try slide film @Angelo Farina I am still learning a lot about what films to shoot and how to develop them.
Slides (Kodak Ektachrome 64, that is) have much better color and fine grain than positive prints...
I can only imagine how good that picture could have been.... It was actually taken with iso400 film I had brought with me. My land camera died, so I decided to rent a camera to get a few memories, and underwater was an unanticipated plus... I had no idea what I was doing..... A miracle I got anything.
It actually was a very interesting experience as the strobe flooded and died toward the end of the dive...
It actually was a very interesting experience as the strobe flooded and died toward the end of the dive...
I've flooded my Nik V several times, still works! The 15 mm lens was amazing, but also clearly didn't take much to knock off the seat and flood the camera.
Last time I shot with a film camera was in 2002, used it collect all the data for my masters thesis.
Last time I shot with a film camera was in 2002, used it collect all the data for my masters thesis.
Green Frog
Contributor
Well, it’s good to see that up until a year and a half ago people were still finding ways to take their old Nikonos cameras down “one more time”. I’m planning a Bahamas trip in June and am convinced that I “need” a digital camera to get the most out of the trip, but I think I’ll try my faithful old Nikonos II for one last hoorah. I’m thinking in terms of a Shark Dive with Stuart Cove, and I’ll do all the external servicing possible and go for it… meanwhile taking the digital down as well.
Earlier in this thread, the Nik III was mentioned as desirable because it was the last of the all-mechanical models, but the late Bob Warkenton referred to the II as the “DC-3 of underwater cameras” (if you’re too young to understand the reference, it’s an airplane from the ‘30s on with the reputation of near indestructibility… some are still in regular use!). I wrote my first posts here contemplating a set up using the tiny little Sea&Sea YS-20 and perhaps doing some close-up work with a screw on auxiliary lens. The whole rig will break down very small, so…
opinions and comments welcomed!
Froggie
Earlier in this thread, the Nik III was mentioned as desirable because it was the last of the all-mechanical models, but the late Bob Warkenton referred to the II as the “DC-3 of underwater cameras” (if you’re too young to understand the reference, it’s an airplane from the ‘30s on with the reputation of near indestructibility… some are still in regular use!). I wrote my first posts here contemplating a set up using the tiny little Sea&Sea YS-20 and perhaps doing some close-up work with a screw on auxiliary lens. The whole rig will break down very small, so…
opinions and comments welcomed!
Froggie
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