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
2

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.
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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.
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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)
5

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
1
2
3
4 7
5
6
6

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
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
7

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.
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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.
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9

Four-Way Multi-Control:
•Press Up and Down buttons to scroll through Menu options.
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•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.
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•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.
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•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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