Subal ND70 housing for Nikon D70s

November, 2005

First Impressions

The Subal ND70 housing for the Nikon D70S, like so many other Subal products, is a superbly put together housing which gives the underwater photographer complete confidence whilst shooting any subject, mainly because the ergonomic design puts everything right where you need it. The small size and light weight makes this housing a perfect choice for any photographer, from novice to professional.

A single piece of Aluminum is machined with the precision you would find on NASA spacecrafts, and the controls that operate the camera and lenses are all quality stainless steel with nylon fittings to give lightness and years of corrosion free use. Some customers of ours have managed to bend (!) the shutter button shaft (making it a little stiff) and we only mention this because repair/replacement is so easy , no fuss, and very low maintenance is what really matters when you're on a boat in the middle of nowhere!

Controls and ease of use

Using the camera and housing is straightforward once you are familiar with the layout of the buttons. The camera slides smoothly into the housing on a metal shoe, which locks into place. Arguably, the most fabulous part of the housing is the shutter release lever, uniquely shaped, it is incredibly responsive and remarkably tuned to feel the D70S shutter button. There has been some minor slippage of the shutter speed and aperture controls, but only in a few cases, and that can be righted in moments with a few adjustments. As you rotate the aperture gear the f-stops actually feel indexed, no inaccurate whizzing around: one small shift and the f-stop moves. The lens removal button and lever is a real plus, allowing fast lens changing without removing the camera (often needs a modifying bend towards the button). The single locking mechanism for the back door is deceptively effective and works very well indeed with the large 4mm thick o-ring. You can see the mode selection through a window in the top of the housing; this adjusts from a rear spring-loaded knob. All the other controls work beautifully, which takes away a great deal of stress, giving the photographer more time to concentrate fully on the subject and shoot! Buoyancy is admirable, once arms and strobes are set; neutral to very slightly negative is easy to achieve.

Ports and Lenses

Subal has a wide range of ports, and they are interchangeable from all the previous Subal housings; only the o-rings have changed along the way. Most Nikon lenses are accommodated, but we have had wonderful results from the wide-angle 10.5, 12-24, 18-70, and micro 60mm/105mm lenses. The gears for some zoom lenses require a little heat from a hairdryer to get them on. The ports use a reliable twist-bayonet mount with a very positive feel so you really know that when they're locked, they're locked. With the FE2 wide angle/fisheye port, most of the wide-angle zoom lenses fit with the appropriate extension rings, and work nicely - the disengageable zoom control sits on the housing; the FE2 fisheye port allows auto focus only (18-70/12-24 etc). When the FE2 fisheye port is attached with no extension ring (for 10.5mm and other fixed length lenses), the gap between housing and port is reduced restricting finger access to just 11/16" or 17mm, so some divers may have issues if they have large gloves on. The micro 60mm and 105mm ports have controls for both auto and manual focus from the housing body, and focus from the built-in knob on the port. These gears work smoothly and need correct assembly for fluid operation; this is just a case of making sure the a/m gear is set properly. With the D70S having a less than full frame CCD, a 1.5x factor is applied: the 60mm becomes a 90mm, the 105mm becomes a 158mm, wide angles too, even the DX lenses. The latest lenses are superb when chasing that little goby or catching mating hamlets on the reef, fish portraits, elusive turtle shots etc., the SWM (silent wave motor) focus motors in the lenses are fast!

Strobes and mounting / connection options / Handles

Mounting your two strobes appears difficult until the addition of extra equipment. Ok, we can hear you say more? - Unfortunately Subal has stopped making the old metal handles with the holes atop, now they're plastic, albeit very hard wearing. So, the solution is: remove one and fit an adjustable Ultralight handle (on the right hand side - sadly losing the nice neoprene hand grip) but gaining adjustment for different sized hands and a ball on which to add a strobe arm. The left side (from the back) has already threaded holes on top; it's just a case of adding the Ultralight ball to take the other strobe. As for sync cord connectors, Subal is now as standard building all their housings with two sync plug holes. One sync plug is fitted and the other is available as an add-on. A double sync cord can be fitted, but those wanting one 5pin and one 3pin (say a Nikon SB800-TTL housed speedlite plus a manual strobe) or two single cords should get both plugs installed. Having two is better than one, as a third strobe can be added later if needed. There is an internal choice: a 3 or 5-pin user changeable connector for manual or TTL circuitry, which at the time of writing is incapable of handling two TTL 5-pin connections but can work fine with two manual strobes (using two cords) with a small wiring modification.

Traveling

With all systems traveling is either made difficult by size and weight, or not! Subal has machined every last mm of metal out of this housing to make it light, yet it remains tough. What really matters is getting it all there safely, and especially that expensive and fragile dome port. The size of the housing really counts toward ease of travel; except for that pesky sticky out viewfinder, all handles etc., easily detach. With a medium pelican case, all your strobes, arms, cords, lenses, camera, ports, and so on can be transported with ease. Just don't forget to take off that port and body o-ring to avoid a vacuum lock! It compares and beats hands down the Sea & Sea D70 housing for weight and size. The only other housing which is smaller is the Nexus D70 housing, and not by much. For those unhappy with just 6.1mp, the difference between 6 and 8 is negligible, and printing to 11x14 is easy. But, we could argue that 6.1 megapixels doesn't equal 12.4, and right we would be, but the Nikon D2X and housing is considerably larger, is over twice the price and twice the weight! But if you must have it...

Overall

This D70S/ND70 system is well thought out, the combination of camera functions and intuitive controls makes it a leader. Underwater, the D70S is an improvement over the D100 as the shutter speed increased to 1/500th Sec from 1/160th . The screen is larger, but the Subal rear window remains the same. The auto focus is faster, even with older Nikon lenses.   Battery life is very long, easily lasting a day of diving, if not days. If you are moving up from a compact camera to this SLR, you will be grinning from ear to ear uncontrollably at first, as it is super responsive to your needs. Grabbing that shot that everyone else failed to get will be the norm, as we have seen - even with other SLR systems. Cathy is very pleased with the D70S and Subal housing, recommending it as the best system presently on the market ...and if even Cathy is pleased well then it must be great!