starting nikonos IV-A

[ftansari]

Hi guys,
I'm practically a newbie in the underwater photo, but my uncle sent me his old and rusted nikonos IVa and the nikonos SB101 speedlight.

I don't have any idea how to start this thing and he did not include the manual that comes with it. I intend to use this camera in my Manado diving trip

what should I do?

[Jonathan Bird]

Honestly? Throw it away and buy a point and shoot digital camera. Seriously.

[sorvju-f]

Honestly? Throw it away and buy a point and shoot digital camera. Seriously.

I feel great that somebody says straight how the thigs are.

Ftansari: I can assure you that Jonathan is right. World of underwater cameras is developing so fast...

Jukka

[tarczy]

Frankly, when I read this post, the first thing that came to mind was "see how much you can get for it on e-bay and dump it."

E-6 Film processing rooms on liveaboards are disappearing daily (in fact, I don't know of any boats processing film these days). Land based film processors are closing. Remember the one-hour phot processing stores? Can't find them anymore!

Face it. Film is dead! :eek:

See this thread . . . http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20&highlight=film+is+dead (http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20&highlight=film+is+dead)

[Jonathan Bird]

And for a person just starting out, you will learn so much faster with digital. And it's cheaper. (You will recoup the cost of the camera in short order without having to process film.) Finally, the Nikonos IV was the biggest dog Nikon ever made, possibly the worst underwater camera of all time. All those things together make it a no brainer. Don't even bother putting it on eBay, you won't get enough for it to make it worth the hassle. I doubt you could get $100 for it. Put it on the shelf as a conversation piece and buy a digital camera!

Jonathan

[docrobina]

Hold off a second before you toss the Nik IV.

What lens is on the camera??? Some are still worth some $$. :cool:

[ftansari]

Honestly? Throw it away and buy a point and shoot digital camera. Seriously.

LMAO. I think so too.....

[Sealizard]

assuming that your uncle gave the camera to you hoping maybe you could get some use out of it. Keep it dry and use it as a paper weight or a bookend or a doorstop, and tell "Uncle" that his gift was the inpsiration to get you started.

All the old Nikonos cameras, the Calypso, the II, III, IV, and the V were wonderful for many reasons. But the IV is the most difficult of them all to keep water-tight because of the unique o-ring (which should have been called a rectangular-ring). Difficult to put the o-ring in properly and difficult to find replacements.

As others have noted, trying to use this camera will be very expensive because of the cost of purchasing film and having it processed. In US dollars, it costs about 25 dollars for film and processing for a single 36 exposure roll. Because you can't immediately see the results of your shooting, it takes much longer than with a digital camera to understand what you are doing correctly and what you are not doing correctly. That can cost you a big chunk of change.

With digital, once the camera is paid for, the photos are free. So, you may have some up-front investment to make with a digital camera, but once the camera is paid for, you can shoot until the battery runs down. This is so different than shooting a roll of film ewith 36 exposure, then having to wait for it to be developed before you can see what you've done wrong and right. Unrestricted shooting gives you much better opportunity to observe your mistakes, see what you did wrong, and correct it almost immediately. That *instant feeback* makes mastery of the camera come so much faster and then you can focus on the real fun of making nice photos.

By the way, I love my old Nik IV - it was my inspiration, but mostly to find a better way to shoot photos!:D