Two vintage watercameras!!!
I have been looking for a Nikonos water-camera for a while now.
The reason is, that although I am really happy with the Healthways Mako Shark, the camera is limiting. It has a dodgy (yet characteristic) lens, and with just one aperture and one shutter-speed there is not much room for adjustments. And even worse, the only shutter-speed the camera has (1/30th of a second) has proven to be a bit slow for action shots, or when trying to shoot and keep yourself afloat at the same time :-)
When searching for info on other types of analogue water-cameras with a bit more quality and features, I learned about the 35mm Nikonos cameras.. They are well built, sturdy, and completely mechanical cameras. Just the way I like them! Besides that, they offer some nice quality interchangeable lenses and you can fumble around with aperture and shutter-speeds (up to 1/500th of a second).
However, these cameras are scarce and so they don't sell cheaply. I already had relinquished to the thought I would only be dreaming about them, but this weekend I got lucky and found an affordable example on the net.
It's a Nikonos I from around 1963. It was developed in a joint venture between Jacques Cousteau's company La Spirotechnique and Nikon. It was first produced under the name Calypso, which was later changed to the name Nikonos. The Nikonos series of cameras continued to be a hugely successful line of underwater-cameras, but my interest goes out to the first three 'all mechanical' models mainly. I bought mine in a pretty good condition and it came complete with a 35mm lens and the original bag. It will not replace the Mako Machine, but I just want to experiment more with pictures that are actually in focus.
I'm incredibly happy with this find and I hope to get it into the water this weekend. Hopefully I will be able to post the first results after the weekend. But first I will have to figure out how the thing is opened :-)
ps: Like the pics of the cameras? Yeah I completely suck at productphotography.
Whoohoo! Let's get this baby into the ocean and see if it's seaworthy!
ReplyDeleteI'll bring a bottle of champagne on a string.
Waves are looking good by the way. Waist high north swell with a south/ south-west breeze.
Wha! The first water cam was great already, although it looks keeps reminding me of My First Sony plastic red radio that I had as a kid (and yes, I was proud of it).
ReplyDeleteBut the new cam really looks awesome. Hard to believe it can resist the cold January North Sea water, but you will find out this weekend. I'll wait for the warmer summer though :-)