Nikonos V with Conventional Flash (Above Water)

As you know the Nikonos has a somewhat oddball PC connector for the flash. It is a waterproof connection designed to accept a waterproof flash unit.

If using the Nikonos out of water, an adapter is needed. I just got my adapter. There are two adapters available for the Nikonos V

The Nikonos IV-A adapter, is a simple PC adapter that allows nearly any flash to work via a conventional PC cord. It is from the older generation Nikonos IV, but works fine on the Nikonos V without providing any TTL functions.

The more sophisticated Nikonos V-Type synch cord allows TTL functions.

I had trouble finding a V-Type connector (though still lookng) so I got the simpler version without the TTL function.

For the record this is the TTL Nikonos V-Type adapter.

Very cool, I never thought about using my Nikonos w flash.

thanks for posting!

I was considering a setup like this, seeing as how these waterproof flashes are pretty inexpensive these days and seeing as I like to use flash out doors. Gloomy, rainy days would be good candidates. But it does seem a little overkill for walking through the woods in a drizzle.

ic-racer said:

I was considering a setup like this, seeing as how these waterproof flashes are pretty inexpensive these days and seeing as I like to use flash out doors. Gloomy, rainy days would be good candidates. But it does seem a little overkill for walking through the woods in a drizzle.


View attachment 326713

Click to expand...

I have a Nikonos IVa that I used to shoot while scubaing and above water. I had a waterproof strobe similar to the one in your picture.

There's a point to having the flash so far from the camera. Water has a lot of particles floating rounding. When the flash is near the camera's optics, it reflects light back into the lens. So you can get specular lights in the picture. You could see that in some of my shots linked below. So underwater, you want the strobe as far away as practical so it reflects those specular lights away from the camera. For above water, a strobe near the camera is easier to handle and a smaller footprint. And of course, there's no problem with specular highlights.

Good luck with your setup. The Nikonos lens is very sharp. OF course, only the 35mm lens can be used above as well as underwater. The rest are exclusively for use underwater.

I just realized that one advantage of using a scuba strobe away from the camera is it places the light at a 10 or 2 o'clock position for placing catch lights perfectly in the subject eyes. Often camera mounted flashes put catch lights in the pupils which look terrible and unnatural.

Here's one that shows the strobe on the left making the catchlights pretty nice. Also note some of the specular highlights of crap in the water around her head. That's what I was referring to in my last post. Fortunately, because of it;s position, the rest of the photos had reduced reflections.