Fantasea FD-50N User manual

Fantasea FD-50N

Housing

User's Manual

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. 2

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 3

INCLUDED WITH HOUSING....................................................................................... 4

CAMERA MODEL .......................................................................................................... 4

A VARIETY OF USES..................................................................................................... 5

SPECIFICATIONS........................................................................................................... 5

CONTROLS ORIENTATION........................................................................................ 6

CONTROL DETAILS...................................................................................................... 8

PREPARATION OF HOUSING BEFORE THE DIVE............................................. 12

USING EXTERNAL STROBES:.................................................................................. 15

CARE & MAINTENANCE........................................................................................... 16

BASIC SHOOTING TECHNIQUES............................................................................ 18

CAMERA LENSES AND PORTS ................................................................................ 21

FANTASEA FD-50N WARRANTY ............................................................................. 22

FLOOD INSURANCE:.................................................................................................. 22

Introduction

Fantasea has upgraded the housing for the Nikon D-50 and the FD-50N is the result.

Improved features include, embedded optical view finder, enhanced trigger/shutter

control system, new port mounting system, zoom lens capability and separate button for

On-Off control.

Welcome to the exciting world of underwater digital SLR photography. Your purchase of

the FD-50N housing for the Nikon D-50 digital camera will set you apart from other

photographers. With this system, you will enjoy the best chance of capturing the widest

variety of superior underwater images. The FD-50N offers you the opportunity to use the

exact Nikon lenses for the best circumstances, including a choice of macro, wide angle,

fisheye, and zoom lenses. You will find the housing to be easy and instinctive to use and

handle and will have countless dives in which to experiment with the D-50’s advanced

imaging capabilities. Fantasea Line Photo is pleased to offer our help with any of your

photographic needs.

The purpose of this manual to is to provide you with the basic introduction to your FD-

50N, which should get you comfortable with the housing and allow you to get started

taking great underwater images right away. We strongly urge you to thoroughly read the

Nikon D-50 instruction manual as well, to familiarize yourself with the most common

controls and settings that you will use for your underwater photography. The FD-50N

housing will permit access to most of the important controls on the camera. To take full

advantage of these features, it is best to have a good command of what each option can

do for you, so you will know when you should use each specific control.

Included With Housing

•The FD-50N housing consists of a front and back shell that latch together to

form the housing body.

•A screw in standard flat port is included. This port will accommodate the

18-70mm lens (without a manual zoom control). Other optional ports are

available for different lenses ( 5 inch super wide angle Dome Port, 60 mm

macro/close up port and 105 mm super macro port)

•Two housing handles are attached to the camera body and the base plate.

These handles are made with the standard Fantasea strobe arm mounting

shoe on the top of each one for attaching a Fantasea (or other company)

Flex arm or Ball and Joint arm for the accessory flash and/or underwater

light.

•Base plate for mounting other tray and arm systems.

•Zoom Control Guide Band that is attached to the camera lens.

•Optical viewfinder eyepiece built into the back cover of the housing to assist

the photographer in viewing and focusing.

•A five-pin TTL flash sync port to connect with the D-50’s hot shoe.

•Removable camera mounting tray that slides into position with the D-50

attached, positioning the camera in the exact location for perfect control

alignment.

•Spare gasket

•Adjustment tool

•Wrist lanyard

•Warranty and other documents

•Instruction Manual

Camera Model

The FD-50N is dedicated exclusively to the Nikon D-50 camera. The size and shape of

the camera, plus the location of controls for alignment with housing controls requires this

precision design. Together, the D-50 camera and FD-50N housing offer the best

combination of advanced digital photography at an affordable price. No other camera

may be used in the FD-50N housing.

A Variety of Uses

The Fantasea FD-50N housing is more than just an underwater camera system. It protects

the D-50 against damage from such environmental conditions as rain, snow, dust, sand,

and dirt. It is perfect protection for active outdoor sports, where these elements would

normally not allow an advanced camera like the D-50 to be used without danger of

damage. The lightweight, compact housing and handles make it easy to hold and use

while sailing, fishing, kayaking, backpacking, or just for fun at the beach or around the

pool. It will also provide a valuable tool for many commercial, industrial, and medical

applications, because it is impervious to most liquids, and sprays.

Specifications

•The FD-50N is an injection molded polycarbonate housing

•The main seal between front and back halves is a compression gasket

•The ports are sealed when mounted by a radial O-ring

•Controls use stainless steel shafts and springs

•Controls are sealed by double O-rings

•Control knobs and buttons are made of molded polycarbonate

•Latches are stainless steel

•Handles are made of molded polycarbonate

•Flash sync port is a standard five-pin Nikonos type TTL connector

•The Fantasea FD-50N has a maximum working depth rating of 200’ (60m)

Controls Orientation 8

Top and Front of Housing:

•Flash Sync Port 1

•Zoom Port Control 2

•Handles 3

•Trigger Release Control 4

•LCD Control Panel Illuminator 5

•Light Meter/Exposure Compensation Control 6

•On-OffControl 7

•Exposure Mode Control Dial 8

4 7

17 18

Back & Right Side of Housing:

•Command Dial 9

•AE-L/AF-L Control 10

•Four Way Multi-Control 11

•Delete Control 12

•Playback Control 13

•White Balance/Image Control 14

•ISO Sensitivity/Menu Control 15

•Auto Bracketing/Advance E-mode Control 16

•Latching Buckles 17

•Viewfinder 18

Control Details

The following is a partial list of the most common uses of housing and camera controls.

For the full list of camera functions and settings accessed by each control, you should

consult your D-50 camera instruction manual.

Please note that some of the FD-50N housing controls are designed to operate more than

one camera control. The command dial and sub-command dial will perform multiple

functions when operated in conjunction with other camera/housing controls.

Flash Sync Port: 1

•Connect any standard five-pin Nikonos type sync cord to this bulkhead

connector.

•Align the index dots to correctly position cord to seat in flash port.

•Push down on cord to seat the O-ring seal, and make connection with the

five pins.

•Tighten collar on sync cord to insure cord does not come loose or separates

while underwater or during use.

Zoom Port Control: 2

This button activates the zoom lens of the camera.

•Attach the Zoom Control Guide Ring to the lens. This is attached using the

Velcro strip. Insure that the projected nub is directly on the bottom.

•The camera and tray are inserted in such a way that the nub of the Zoom

Control Guide Ring is sandwiched between the two projections found on the

lens port. All are pointed a downward direction. The Zoom Control is

operated when camera is installed in housing is this manner using button #2

Handles: 3

•Ergonomically located for easy gripping and access to controls. Strobe arms

can be mounted on the base shoe on top of each handle.

Main Shutter Release Control [Trigger]: 4

•The camera has a two stage shutter-release button. The camera sets focus and

exposure when the button is pressed halfway. Focus and exposure will remain

locked while the shutter-release button is kept in this position. To take the picture,

press the shutter-release trigger [of the housing] the rest of the way down.

LCD Control Panel Illuminator: 5

•Push housing control button activates the control panel backlight [LCD

Illuminator], allowing the display to be read underwater.

Light Meter/Exposure Compensation Control: Dual Control Swivel Button: 6

•Rotate housing control over camera Light Meter control.

oPress button and rotate command dial to choose Matrix

Metering, Center Weighted Metering, or Spot Metering.

•Rotate housing control over camera exposure compensation control

oPress button and rotate command dial to choose amount of

compensation.

On-Off Control: 7

•The Control Panel will turn on and the display in the viewfinder will light.

Exposure Mode Control Dial 8

•Push down and rotate housing control to change camera’s main exposure

modes. Choose Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program, or any

of several Scene Modes.

Command Dial: k

•Rotating dial independently changes Shutter Speeds in M or S exposure

mode.

•Rotating dial independently while in P mode shifts the program exposure

into flexible program, and changes the combination of shutter speeds and

apertures.

•Rotating while pushing other control buttons affects:

oFlash Mode

oLight Meters

oExposure Compensation

oAuto Bracketing Set or Cancel

oAdvance Mode

oISO Sensitivity setting

oWhite Balance Mode

oImage Size

AE-L/AF-L Control:

•Press and Hold the AE-L/AF-L button to lock exposure and focus prior to

recomposing a scene. The original exposure value and focus distance will

remain set after re-composition.

Four-Way Multi-Control:

•Press Up and Down buttons to scroll through Menu options.

•Press Left and Right buttons to make menu settings and confirm settings.

•Use Left and Right buttons in Playback mode to scroll through images

recorded on memory card.

Delete Control:

•Press Playback button to turn on LCD Monitor and show last image

recorded on card.

•Use the Four-Way Multi-Control to scroll through images on card until you

find the one you want to consider for deletion.

•Press Delete Button once to activate delete function

•Press Delete Button a second time to confirm your decision to delete the

image shown in the LCD Monitor

•Press the Playback button again, or depress the shutter release button half

way to turn off the LCD Monitor and return to Shooting Mode.

Playback Control:

•Press housing Playback button to activate LCD monitor in Playback mode.

•View any image on memory card by scrolling with the left and right arrows

on the Four Way Multi-Control.

•Press housing Playback button once more, or depress shutter release half

way to turn LCD monitor off.

White Balance/Image Control:

•Rotate housing control over camera White Balance control.

•Press button and rotate Command Dial to choose Auto White Balance Mode

or specific Modes for the situation.

•Press button and rotate Sub-Command Dial to choose a White Balance

Compensation value to deviate from the camera’s normal value setting in

each White Balance Mode.

•Rotate housing control over camera Quality control

•Press button and rotate Command Dial to choose Image Quality. Choose

from Raw, Fine, Normal, Basic, or Raw & Basic options.

•Press button and rotate Sub-Command Dial to choose Image Size. Choose

Large, Medium, or Small Image size.

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