NIKO-MAR IV Underwater Housing

This Niko-Mar IV underwater housing is one of only 50 pieces made by dive-photography innovators Al Giddings and Mike Felgen of San Francisco. Made in 1979, the housings were delivered to National Geographic along with the Nikon FEA camera.

Between 50 and 100 Nikon FEA cameras bodies were made and none immediately made it into public hands. The “A” stands for “Action” – the camera is otherwise a Nikon FE model. Action finders were originally developed by Nikon for pilots who needed the full view of the focusing screen from a distance since they could not place their eye to the viewfinder while flying. Likewise for diving; this set is one of the initial 25 Niko-Mar IV and Nikon FEA sets commissioned by the National Geographic Society in 1978-1979 and delivered in 1980.

Transcription:

Dan Tamarkin here from Tamarkin Camera in downtown Chicago to talk a little bit about our rarity du jour. This is the Niko Mar Nikon Marine Underwater Kit. This was designed in 1978 and manufactured in 1979 for a National Geographic Society commission. And it consists of the Nikon FEA camera, an 18 mm f3,5 lens, a motor drive, an underwater sekonic meter, and the Niko-Mar underwater housing designed by Don Giddings who is one of the most foremost underwater dive innovators of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

And so here's our shutter trigger, here's our focus wheel, you have your shutter speeds, and then you have your F stops on the back. The whole thing was designed for this camera, for the Nikon FEA. So here's the back of the Niko-Mar, obviously, this is we'll be looking in here to see through the finder. The interior has a set of wheels and cogs and cables that connect the camera to the housing so that really all you need to do is click click click and you're firing off a bunch of frames. It's just as easy as picking up the camera.

So the really interesting part of this setup is the Nikon FEA camera, and so let's remove the motor. This is your basic MD-12 Nikon motor and we have a fabulous NiteCore lens. This is an 18 mm f3,5 NiteCore. It's a fabulous lens and it's the perfect focal length for underwater photography because you really get a sense of the immediacy with that wide-angle 18 mm. Most exciting and rare part is our Nikon FEA camera, and the "A" stands for action finder it's otherwise just like a Nikon FE. This fixed finder was made for aviators to not have to put their eye to the viewfinder to be able to frame their image and it works fabulously with the Niko-Mar.

The Niko marine, Nikon Marine Underwater Housing has been specifically machined by Don Giddings for this camera, this exact camera. So this is a custom-made set by one of the foremost underwater photography innovators of our time and it's available here in our Chicago showroom to view, or to play with, or to purchase, or if you want to take a dive, happy to rent it to you. It'd be a really fun piece to take out, although as you can see it takes a little bit more to put together than your basic underwater digital camera. And so, thank you for watching today and our rarity du jour, the Nikon FEA camera and the Niko Mar Underwater Housing Unit.