The Nikonos Story

The Nikonos is, without a shadow of a doubt, the world's most popular underwater camera. They are used throughout the world by amateur and professional alike.

The reason for the Nikonos success story is based on the evolution of a product that is 30 years old this year, and it is a testament to that basic design, and quality of manufacture, that some of these early versions are still in use, having survived years of punishment in the harshest environment for equipment in the world!

The First Nikonos?
The first incarnation was not a Nikonos at all. It was an underwater camera manufactured in France from a design by a Belgian engineer called Jean de Wouters, and was named the Calypsophot. It was sold in a box under the La Spirotechnique label; a small company dedicated to underwater equipment and formed by a gentleman called Yves Jacques Cousteau.
With Cousteau's Calypsophot all the basic features of the later Nikonos were employed: compact size, lightweight, cast body, and rangefinder viewing.

This was pre integrated circuit era of course and so no electronic metering was built in, instead, the Sekonic Marine meter was the ideal companion for light measurement. Although there was always provision for using a flashgun in those days such units were not commercially available and so the underwater photographer was limited to the primitive flashbulb.
Of course there was no competition in the underwater photographic equipment market at that time. The early pioneers of underwater photography were previously forced to build their own camera housings or not bother at all. The British Society of Underwater Photographers had not even been formed yet and who knows what impact that the introduction of the Nikonos had on that event.

It's amazing to consider how such a specialised camera would survive when the market, and therefore the demand, was so limited. But survive it did - and into a production run of thousands.

The original design had proved itself to be a sound one, but there was one flaw - the lens. Cousteau approached a Japanese company called Nippon Kogaku (who were originally renowned for manufacturing precision scientific instruments) to commission them to design a lens.
This Japanese company had also been producing a series of landmark rangefinder cameras under the Nikon name since 1950, which were based on the Lieca design. The European camera manufacturing industry was now in decline. It was, however, the golden period for the Japanese camera manufacturers (who had been encouraged to rebuild by the allies under occupation) and had firmly established themselves as a favourite with photojournalists who were introduced during the Korean War.

So, instead of producing a lens for Cousteau's camera, Nikon took the bold step of buying the patents.

The Nikonos I to Nikonos III
It was the commitment of Nikon that ensured the camera's survival when they revamped the Calypsophot as the Nikonos I in 1963. This move also established Nikon as the dominant force in underwater photography for the next three decades.

The Nikonos I was followed in 1968 by the Nikonos II and gained a few improvements to the internal mechanism whilst, externally, being almost identical. The film advance had been erratic so this was improved, an 'R' rewind setting was introduced, and a hinged pressure plate was added.

The first 'classic' Nikonos was arguably the Nikonos III and was introduced in 1975. It still retains a high second-hand value because, as it has no expensive electronics inside, it can sometimes be restored to working order after a flood.

It was a major re-design, retaining the same basic outward appearance as the earlier models but was larger, had gained film advance sprockets, and various controls changed location such as the film counter, which moved more conveniently to the top of the camera.
The Nikonos III also had other refinements, the most notable being the new style flash socket that was far more reliable and could make use of the electronic flashguns now on the market.
A lost Nikonos III was once allegedly found underwater, identified from it's serial number and returned to it's grateful owner. It transpired that it had spent three years on the seabed and yet was still in perfect working condition. It was opened and the film was allegedly successfully processed.

The Nikonos IV-a
The first Nikonos to feature a built in light meter was the VI-A ( A for automatic) and came on the scene in 1980. This was a departure from the original design, in some ways better, in some ways not. Previously the actual camera mechanism slotted into the body from the top but the VI-A had a hinged back rather like a conventional camera. Unfortunately it closed onto the O ring and was therefore prone to flooding unless kept immaculately clean (a problem put right on the Nik V).

Another unnecessary change was the film advance lever being redesigned. Previously, this lever also fired the shutter when pressed from the front and then popped out so that you could not avoid re-cocking the shutter. The VI-A had a separate shutter release (which was necessary to activate the meter) but again opted for an advance lever like a conventional camera. This forced you to remove the camera from your eye in order to advance the film and consequently you were at a disadvantage with action shots. The VI-A had no indication of shutter speed, merely an LED in the viewfinder to indicate correct aperture.

Nikon simultaneously introduced the SB-101 electronic flashgun in 1980 as companion to the IV-A. This meant that underwater photographers had, for the first time, a completely automatic exposure system.

Nikonos cameras were now being used extensively by everyone from the North Sea Oil industry to watersports enthusiasts. Canoeists still favour the VI-A because it is simple to use on automatic and cheaper second-hand than the Nik V. The Nikonos III is still favoured by travellers in humid conditions such as jungles as it is not only waterproof but not reliant on electronics either.

The Nikonos V
The Nikonos V was the next 'classic' underwater camera that Nikon made, and it was introduced in 1984. It retained the outward appearance of the VI-A but came in orange or moss green instead of only boring black! Internally the flash socket gained another two pins to allow TTL flash metering with the SB-102 and SB-103 flashguns which were brought out within months of each other in 1985 (and are still current).

The V returned to the idea of allowing shutter speeds to be manually set in addition to the 'A' setting. Apart from not being able to see through the lens the exact picture area going on to the film, the Nikonos V was the supreme underwater amphibious camera.
The Nikonos RS

For a long time it was speculated that Nikon would never produce a reflex viewing underwater camera. Yet they did just that with the Nikonos RS. Much has already been said about this camera in this and other magazines so it would be not appropriate to go over the same ground in too great a detail.

The RS is packed full of features (autofocus, zoom lenses, motordrive, DX coding, umpteen metering modes etc) and it is high tech, high spec - but some purists feel that it has unfortunately lost touch with the Nikonos ethic.

Basically the RS is too big and too expensive. One diver I once met used his Nik II not for photography but to keep his keys dry during the dive. Few eccentrics like him would do that with the RS, which belongs to the world of designer stubble and fashion accessories, not club dives.

Diving with the RS has been likened to diving with an engine block. It is so negatively buoyant that (if you have a wings type BC) you can find it very difficult to remain upright on the surface. The combination will force you to do a lot of finning to stop you going face down.
The RS was obsolete the day it was launched. Already, the F90/N90 was proving to be virtually infallible with its advanced features.

Nikonos Lenses
In common with Nikon land equipment the lens mount has remained constant on the Nikonos throughout its history. You can, therefore, fit any lens on any body (excluding the RS of course, which had a new range of auto focus lenses).

The various Nikonos bodies were generally bought with a 35mm standard lens (and still are). The earlier versions were generally satin finish, had smaller knobs, and may only have a distance scale shown in feet. The more recent versions are black and also have a metric scale, but are optically superior, having benefited from advances in lens coating technology.

In its own right the 35mm lens is not very useful, as it is difficult to use due to a limited depth of field. At a distance of .9 apparent metres (1.2 actual metres) feet it covers a picture area of .8 by 1.2 metres making it possible to photograph the head and shoulders of a diver. However, with only a .4 of a metre depth of field on F8, your estimate of distance has to be spot on!
The 35mm is however worth having because with extension tubes you can photograph macro (small) subjects or, with a slip on (supplementary) lens close up and wide-angle subjects. The 35mm can be used underwater or in air and has always been the cheapest lens.
The 28mm Nikonos lens is slightly more useful (but a lot more expensive) than the 35mm and has a wider angle of view. It is quite popular however, as you can start a dive with a supplementary lens attached for close up shots, but whip it off if larger subjects appear.

There is also an 80mm Nikkor lens, which has a very narrow angle of view, not really suited to underwater use at all!
Underwater photographic subjects have always suited the extreme focal length lenses, either in the macro range or wide angle, with very little in between. The 15mm Nikonos has an angle of view of 90 degrees and will focus down to .3 metre making it suitable for subjects from reef fish to wrecks!

Beware - you may think you have a bargain if you buy an old 15mm lens form the Nikonos III era. It will fit on the Nikonos V but the metering will be thrown out!Other manufacturers produce lenses for the Nikonos, for instance the Sea & Sea 15mm (retailing at a third of the price of the Nikon version). Whilst optically inferior, the Sea & Sea range has only marginally less performance, certainly not a third less!
Supplementary lenses are also made by other manufacturers, such as the ever-popular Subawider, and at a third of the cost again of the Sea & Sea 15mm. They also have a marginal performance loss compared to the Sea & Sea (except when pointed at the sun they do suffer from extreme flare).