Field Review of Nikon D700 in Subal ND700 
Last Update: 18 November 2008 12:12 AM
20 comment(s) | discuss in forums
Author: Alex Mustard ( Alex_Mustard )
THE HOUSING
I am a long-time Subal user and because of their consistent design philosophy I find any new addition to their range fits automatically into my hands. Diving with the ND700 required no adaptation. Subal’s ergonomic placement of controls means that every important function falls easily to fingers. Push buttons have just the right resistance and command dials require just the correct rotation to change aperture and shutter speed settings. Subal housings are hard to criticise.
Compared with other manufacturer’s I see Subal’s design evolving more slowly with each generation of housing. Fans would argue that there is no need to fix what is not broken, pointing out that increasingly more and more of Subal’s design solutions (such as for gearing for command dials, camera trays and latches) are emulated on other housing brands.
My only criticism of the housing was that the zoom gear did not seem to be correctly aligned with the gear on my 17-35mm. It worked OK, but seemed to be touching the camera. As it was Peter’s housing I decided to leave it alone rather than fiddle with it. I suspect the problem was the position of the gear on my lens as it worked perfectly at DEMA.
Since the ND300, Subals have been available in two different port opening sizes. At present the only lens that requires the wider port opening is the 14-24mm. Peter Rowlands, like me, is far from convinced about the potential of this lens underwater and has stuck with the older narrower port size. The 14-24mm is phenomenal on land, but underwater, behind a dome and unable to take a dioptre, it can be expected to struggle with corner sharpness meaning its potential will be hard to realise. That said, if you are new to Subal, with no money tied up in existing “port holes” it makes sense to go for the wider Mk4 ports. In the future, lenses will surely get fatter not thinner. Adaptors are available to convert between the two port sizes.
The ND700 is much smaller than the ND3, being about equal in size to the ND300. This has advantages for travel and for getting down to eye level for creatures on the sand, but disadvantages for buoyancy. The ND700 is noticeably negative in the water, even without strobes and strobe arms connected. With my heavy Subtronic Alphas attached it became arm-achingly weighty. Neil Rosewarn kindly lent me some spare STiX buoyancy pieces with him, which I slotted over my UltraLight arms. I was using Subal 45 degree viewfinder (WS-45) for the first time on this trip, but I found that having a neutral rig was essential to get comfortable handling with this eyepiece.
One ergonomic advantage of the ND700 over the ND3 is the placement on the ISO, WB and QUAL buttons on the top, which of course is dictated by their position on the different cameras. On the ND3 (and ND2) they are on the back of the housing, which means that you must take your hand off one of the handles to push them. On the ND700 they are on the top of the housing on the left, within easy reach of your thumb, while still holding the handle (and keeping your eye on the viewfinder). With a camera with such ISO flexibility, this is a particularly useful.
The most challenging button for housing manufacturers on the D700 (as well as quite a few Nikons) is the flash control on the left side of the pentaprism. Quite a few housings fail to provide access to this important control, which allows you to select different flash modes, such as rear curtain synch, and to add exposure calibration for TTL flash. Subal’s neat solution is a lever on the left side of the top of the housing in front of the push buttons (see above).
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Comment(s):Very well done Alex! Thanks for the effort and thorough review. And the WA Clownfish is super.
Best rgds,
Michael Patrick O’NeillPosted by Michael on 11/17 at 11:58 AMA great report Alex, It looks a great in the
subal housing & is very compact.
Very Well Done,
AndyPosted by AndyBarker on 11/17 at 01:43 PMThanks for a great review Alex. I always love to read a review of a new camera from someone who has major experience with its brothers and sisters. Not to mention the joy I felt when seeing your hand-modeling photo.
Posted by James Wiseman on 11/17 at 03:04 PMThanks guys (need hairier arms, James). I was asked question about the 105mm VR - and how it fits in the older style Subal ports. Felt my answer was worth repeating here.
Didn’t take the 105mm VR to the Red Sea, but with the correct port I am sure it is fine on the D700, as it was on the D3. It is best with Subal’s dedicated 105mm VR port (this is what I used it with on the D3), but Martin Edge used his with the old 105mm port on his D300. On my D2X, I have always used a home made port extension ring.
The downside of the official Subal 105mm VR port (as I stated in my D3 review) is that there is no room in there for a dioptre.
Posted by Dr. Alex Mustard on 11/18 at 01:27 AMThanks a lot for this review. For non professional users as i am, these bodies & housing are a dream. Thanks to let us dream !
Posted by divocean on 11/18 at 03:49 AMWow, great review Alex. I’m a Canon guy and will probably never have the opportunity to shoot the Nikon but I really enjoyed your effort. The images you are able to achieve are simply breath taking. Thanks!
StevePosted by Steve Williams on 11/18 at 10:46 AMHi Alex,
First off. Great review and coverage of this particular housing and options. You state “the underwater world provides very few opportunities to utilise this feature above ISO 400”, but don’t forget the guys diving in temperate (cold, green and dark) waters! I myself am pining for any U/W setup that can handle higher ISO’s in the water I mostly dive in. My D80 -not in the same league- fails miserably at ISO400 and higher here in the Netherlands.
Posted by Arne on 11/19 at 06:24 AMAlex,
Great review!
As I mentioned in my email; I ordered my housing. Good news is that Ryan should be shipping it tomorrow, unfortunately not in time for Friday’s first Manatee outing with Michelle and Carol. A minor detail to add is that the housing has an extra bulkhead. I have Ryan creating a USB port for me so that I will be able to use Nikon Camera Control and have a laptop on a table for my pool stuff for immediate review without having to take the card out etc. How cool is that!
JeffPosted by loftus on 11/19 at 05:16 PMAlex,
Great review!
Ryan should be shipping my housing tomorrow. Yesssssssss!
Unfortunately not likely to be in time for my first manatee outing on Friday with Carol and Michelle.
A minor detail to add, is that the housing has an extra bulkhead. I’m having Ryan fir mine for a USB connection. The plan is to use Nikon Capture Pro on a laptop for my pool stuff. Immediate download and review without having to open the housing to download the card. How cool is that!
JeffPosted by loftus on 11/19 at 05:19 PMI agree about temperate waters, Arne. Check out my D3 review from Canada.
Good stuff, Jeff. Will you be able to control your camera through the USB? That way you could just sit in a chair and leave the camera on a tripod in the pool!Posted by Dr. Alex Mustard on 11/20 at 01:53 AMI’ve downloaded a trial of Nikon Camera Control Pro, and it looks like you can control the camera as well as take pics with the camera and see the images immediately on the computer screen. Yeah, I could set up the lounge chair and maybe get the model to serve me a beer before diving in. :)
Posted by loftus on 11/20 at 04:21 AMHello colleagues,
thanks for the great review. I have a Subal D3 housing and I´m currently considering fitting an USB port for polecam work, so my question is:
Who´s Ryan, is he from backscatter.com?
Posted by Andrej Belic on 11/20 at 08:26 AMRyan is at Reef Photo; they advertise on the sidebar on the front page
Posted by loftus on 11/20 at 08:57 AMDr. Mustard,
Thank you for the extremely informative review, and the photos are stunning as well. In particular, it is reassuring to hear your thoughts about the D700 vs. D300 as I already have Subal’s D300 housing and am totally in love with the 10-17. When Nikon’s high resolution SLR is shipping I will revisit the idea of upgrading to FX, and this review along with your D3 review provide an excellent framework for lens selection and technique when making the jump. Thank you again.
SterlingPosted by sterlingz on 11/20 at 12:01 PMAlex,
Thanks for the nice review. I guess you would not recommend the D700 to people (like me) who lik eto keep using their Tokina DX (10-17) lense? D300 would then probably be a better option? Albert KokPosted by albert kok on 11/28 at 07:27 AMHi Alex,
Interesting review. I’m tempted by the low light performance and getting a wider angle back with the 60mm macro, but it’s interesting to see that the smaller sensor of the D300 has advantages too. I just started using a Tokina 35mm macro, which has the same angle on a DX sensor as the 60mm on a FX, but it focuses too close to the front of the port to use it’s full magnification.
I wondered which port that is on the front of the housing shown here?
Bernard
Posted by BernardPicton on 12/22 at 01:08 PMHi Bernard,
The D700 is a very interesting camera - but for what I suspect you need it for the D300 really has every base covered.
This port on the camera here is one of the variety of 4” domes that Subal made. The most well know was the one for the 20mm, but they made a variety on longer ports too. I am not sure that they make them anymore. Peter Rowlands tends to use them for studio shots because they look nice and don’t obscure too many features of the housing (unlike a larger dome port).
Alex
Posted by Dr. Alex Mustard on 12/24 at 05:49 AMHi Alex,
Thank you for the great review.I agree with Arne. Don’t forget the cold water people around the world. Here in the northwest we get some great kelp forests in the summer that are not as tall as the California kelp. This allows the sun to come streaming in. Too bad you couldn’t have taken it down to San Diego and run through the kelp in the summer and see if you still don’t see a need for High ISO. Come on up to Seattle or Nanaimo and see if you can’t find use for the High ISO.
I do have a question. I am using a D70s with the 6 Mega pixel DX sensor and older focusing firmware. Would it be worth it to move up to FX sensor, newer firmware and double the pixels that the D700 would provide or stay with DX, double my pixels and better firmware the D300 provides? I am already compensating for not seeing the full frame in my view finder, so that is not a problem.Posted by Chogless on 10/10 at 09:47 AM
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