Re: Nikonos V

[Fred Ward <fward@erols.com>]

The Nikonos has a vertically-moving metal shutter operating within a
thick, heavy, O-ringed environment designed to withstand water pressure.
It is quiet because of all this. If regular air-oriented photographers
were content to carry the extra weight and padding, then they too could
have quieter cameras.

Interesting that you should bring up this point at this time. My eldest
son composes movie music in Hollywood and is constantly in studios with
famous performers. He was looking for a quiet camera so he could
photograph during recording sessions and did not want to use a blimp or
a housed underwater camera, so I have him one of my Nikonos cameras, a
movel V in fact. The downside is guess-focusing and limited lens
selection. It does have a through-the-lens meter and a good 35mm lens
that works in air. 

Finally, many people have used the Nikonos camera for bad-weather
photography and a number of hurricane and boating pictures that you may
have admired over the years were made with this classic underwater
camera.

You might also be interested in this historical point. The camera was
designed by, for, and made by Jacques Cousteau in the 1960s and marketed
as the Calypso, the name of his famous ship. When it was apparent that
Cousteau had other interests and was busy making and marketing dive
equipment, he sold molds, specs, and rights to the camera to Nikon,
which immediately made and sold the same camera as the Nikonos I with
the same Nikon 35mm lens. Shortly thereafter Nikon changed only a couple
of things and marketed the externally similar camera as the Nikonos II.
Then came the altered models III and IV, and finally the totally changed
model V was introduced. All use the original lenses in the original
Calypso mount. Now there are completely new models. 

Fred Ward