Sea&Sea DX-D80 on shark expedition in the Bahamas

I am standing on the back deck of the M/V Shearwater and am ready to jump in the water. I have to clear my throat three times and ask myself if I really want to do this. About 10 Caribbean reef sharks are circling below me. They have curiously approached the smell of the bait, which is in closed crates so that the sharks cannot eat it, but are attracted to it. Jim, the captain, reassures me again that nothing can go wrong as long as I let myself into the water slowly. My breath is quick and I feel the furthest thing from comfortable. I look for a spot near the reef and try to calm down. I have the Nikon D80 in a Sea&Sea underwater housing in my hands, as well as two Sea&Sea YS110 flashes. I do not do any photographing in the first 15 minutes. I feel safe with this big camera between me and the sharks. At one point my breathing gets easier and I start looking around a bit more easily. I notice that the sharks do not pay any attention to me or the other divers. The only things that they are interested in are the fish boxes and they actually deal with them rather casually when they realize that they are not able to get to the fish.

The M/V Shearwater departs from West Palm Beach (Florida) towards the Bahamas where we go on our shark expedition. During this expedition we are searching for large sharks such as the tiger shark, the bull shark and the great hammerhead shark. The Nikon D80 in combination with the Nikon 12-24mm lens will capture a very special experience. I am nervous about what is to come. I do not know if they are healthy nerves or if they are nerves that make me ask myself if I should have booked this trip.. After a very rough passage from West Palm Beach to the Bahamas I prepare my camera in the morning. The underwater housing that I have the pleasure of working with is the Sea&Sea DX-D80 with an accompanying NX-fisheye dome port. For optimal lighting I use two Sea&Sea YS110 flashes which are fastened by the Sea&Sea brackets. The flashes are operated via an external TTL-converter, which is developed by Sea&Sea especially for Nikon cameras.

The DSLR market has never been as interesting as the past year. Before, only Nikon and Canon regularly put new models on the market, but now there are also a few big competitors such as Sony and Olympus. Nikon has not lagged behind in the past year, partly thanks to this competition, and after introducing the semi-professional Nikon D200, they introduced the 10 Megapixel Nikon D80. This camera is geared towards the hobbyist who demands a lot from a camera. The D80 has a lot of the same technology as the D200, as well as the professional D2X. The camera has a new 10.2 effective Megapixel CCD image sensor. The autofocus is extremely fast, it only needs 0.18 seconds to start up and the shutter release is about 80 milliseconds. These are characteristics that I really appreciate when shooting underwater. The lens I work with is the Nikon AF-S 12-24mm F/4.0 G DX IF ED. This wide-angle zoom lens is approximately the same as an 18-36mm on a 35mm format camera. It is an ideal lens for close-ups of the sharks!

The Sea&Sea DX-D80 is a professional underwater housing, but because it is very easy to use the beginner underwater photographer can use it as well. It is quite robust; it can be taken down up to 60 meters. Without the camera it weighs 2700 grams, which is still quite heavy. Luckily it is easy to handle, and because of the neutral weight underwater, you do not notice that it is heavy. The back of the housing is made of polycarbonate and the front is made of corrosion-resistant aluminium alloy, for maximal stiffness and a solid grip. It is too bad that it is not made completely of aluminium, because this makes it more robust. The accompanying NX-ports fit onto the body so that you can choose a different lens each time you take a dive. Normally the underwater housing comes with a leak sensor which gives off a sound signal to the photographer when water leaks into the body. Luckily I have never heard this sensor give me a warning!

This trip is a real expedition. The boat is very small and can barely fit us all. One by one we have room to prepare our camera, so I patiently await my turn. Because I am not familiar with the set, I take my time to set it up. Although I have made a set several times before, the first time is still a tense moment for me. It only takes one moment of inattention to fill the camera with water. This is the last thing I want because the camera is not even mine! The camera is screwed onto a plate and then slid into the underwater housing, and then fastened to it. The advantage of this is that camera is fastened in the right position in the underwater housing and cannot move. The housing is sealed with three stainless steel fasteners. These are secured, so that they cannot open by accident. Closing the underwater housing demands a bit of precision work, because it is possible that the camera is turned off in the process. Once you are underwater it is a real pain to then discover that the camera cannot be turned on. Also, there is a chance that the function button gets turned by accident. This is not such a big problem, because you can still use the camera, but it is a nuisance as you do not know which setting the camera is in.

After the rough passage from Florida to the Bahamas, the captain, Jim Abernethy, gives us an extensive briefing. He tells us how to deal with the sharks. Our clothing must not contain any light colours and we have to wear gloves. White hands in movement would look like fish to the sharks. And if there is one thing we do not want is that a shark bites into a diver by accident. During this trip we might see lemon sharks, Caribbean reef sharks, bull sharks, silk sharks, tiger sharks, nurse sharks and great hammerhead sharks. When we go into the water we have to slide in carefully and then sink down vertically to the bottom quickly. According to Jim, all sharks are harmless, but we have to keep our wits about us with the tiger sharks. Tiger sharks are curious and make contact with the divers. It is important to maintain eye contact with the shark and to work together as a team. This way everyone will know where the tiger shark is. And lastly, you always have to hold an object between you and the shark. Everyone gets a stick (a meter-long tube), and the photographers can use their camera as a shield for curious tiger sharks. Finally Jim gives us a clear instruction: do not look through the viewfinder longer than 5 seconds so that you can look 360 degrees around you again.

I use the first day to get used to the camera set, and to get used to all the Caribbean reef sharks that are circling around me. During the third dive I notice that I am the first one ready to go overboard, and I am even starting to enjoy myself. I see my first tiger shark. He is swimming by at about a 10 meter distance from us. I am so overwhelmed by this shark of five meters in length that I hide behind Jim for protection. The shark does not even pay attention to us and swims by beautifully. The next day we see more tiger sharks and I slowly start to get used to these enormous beasts. During a dive at sunset we are treated to four great tiger sharks. As a team we work together and take turns taking photos. At a given moment one of the sharks gets in too close to one of the divers and Jim intervenes. He gives the shark a push with the camera. The tiger shark is not impressed. He grabs hold of the camera and swims aggressively away with it. I am feeling uncomfortable and go through my oxygen quickly. Luckily the shark eventually lets go of the camera and swims away. Once we are back on board Jim asks if anyone made a photo of it. I ask him if he’s crazy. When I look at my photos that night I realize someone did take photos...

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...

The on and off button, the compensation button and light metering button are found on the top of the housing. It is very pleasant that the metering can be changed with one hand, by pushing in the compensation button and then turning the wheel. A transparent plate is mounted onto the back of the housing, so that you can read the camera settings. Unfortunately the plate is not mounted exactly above the screen, which makes some of the settings, such as shutter speed, hard to read. It is pleasant that the lighting of this screen can be turned on. This makes the settings easier to read. All the essential functions of the camera can be operated in the underwater housing.

Shooting

The underwater housing is comfortable to handle. An ergonomic hand grip ensures that even small hands can operate the camera easily. The shutter release button on the housing is large. The button can be pressed halfway to focus and then pressed all the way to shoot. You can even hear it click underwater. I must say I really like this typical SLR feeling. It is a pleasure to photograph with.

Viewfinder

Luckily Nikon used the same large viewfinder for the D80 as the D200. It has a remarkable clear view for the camera as well as the underwater housing. This makes it really easy to compose my photographs. Although the viewfinder does not show 100% of the image, it did not bother me at all. You have the option of mounting an interchangeable viewfinder onto the housing, which increases the view.

Dome port

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.

Zoom ring

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.

Flash connectors

The DX-D80 housing has two standard Nikonos 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.

TTL-converter

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.

I only need to use two Sea&Sea YS 110 flashes because I use a 12-24mm wide-angle lens for the sharks. The flashes have a range of 22 on land, at ISO 100. The image angle of 105? by 105? works fine to capture six sharks completely. The flash uses three flash lamps with a colour temperature of 5400? Kelvin. The flash also has a focus lamp. This is not absolutely necessary for photographing sharks, but for macro photography it is very useful.

Adjustment

The flashes are mounted onto the underwater housing with a Sea arm set. It is great that these arms are very lightweight, and easy to adjust while underwater. The TTL-converter allows for TTL photography. I think this works fine. However, I do prefer to manually set the flashes, which is possible with the YS110. A real specialty of the YS-110 is the DS-TTL supported through a fibreglass cable, which allows for the slave-TTL compatibility with digital cameras. These flashes are very versatile due to these three possibilities.

All in all I can say that the Nikon D80 DSLR camera in combination with the Nikon AF-S 12-24mm F/4.0 G DX IF ED lens is a beautiful set to do underwater photography with. I thoroughly enjoyed capturing my trip by combining this set with the Sea&Sea DX-D80 underwater housing, the Fisheye dome port and a 4 cm zoom ring. The underwater housing is comfortable to handle and when you shoot you get the feeling that you are working with a real top-end camera. It is great that Nikon uses the same viewfinder as the D200 and even the viewfinder of the underwater housing works fine. The underwater housing is equipped with a leak detector. Other manufacturers charge extra for this option. All the important functions of the underwater housing are easy to operate. The camera can be operated with one hand. It is too bad that the underwater housing is a bit heavy. This is not a problem while underwater, but it is extra baggage to travel with. You must also be very careful when shutting the underwater housing. All in all I had a really great expedition. My dream of seeing Caribbean reef sharks, lemon sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, nurse sharks and the great hammerhead shark was fulfilled. Despite my initial fears I have enjoyed diving amongst the sharks and photographing them immensely. I can actually only think of one downfall of this trip...I had to return the Nikon D80 and the Sea&Sea DX-D80 underwater housing at the end of it!

Pros

1. Underwater housing is easy to handle
2. Both the camera and the underwater housing have a clear viewfinder
3. Equipped with a leak detector
4. All the important function can be operated
5. The speed of the Nikon D80 SLR camera

Cons

1. The underwater housing is somewhat heavy
2. When shutting the housing you have to be very careful that the on/off button does not end up in the wrong position
3. Not all the settings are displayed on the LCD screen on top of the Nikon D80

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