Maintaining your Nikonos V

by Scott Frier

Soaking the Camera

The simplest yet most important part of maintaining the Nikonos system is soaking the equipment after a dive. Place your whole Nikonos set-up; camera, lens and flash -- in a container of fresh water. It's important to try to do this before the saltwater has a chance to dry on the O-rings. Let the equipment soak for at least a half an hour; during this time gently swish the camera around and work all the controls.This action helps to circulate the fresh water into some of vital yet hard to reach areas of the equipment.

Steps in Servicing an O-Ring

  1. Remove the O-ring from the equipment. To do this without damaging the O-ring, pinch the O-ring between your thumb and forefinger, creating a small loop. Use this loop to pull the O-ring off with your other hand. Do not use sharp objects such as dental picks or screwdrivers as they may damage the O-ring. Under pressure even a slight scoring of the O-ring could be significant.

  2. Rinse the O-ring off with fresh water, or better yet place it to soak for a few minutes in a small bowl of fresh water while you do the next step.

  3. Clean the O-ring by taking a double-ended Q-tip, wetting one end and running it around the groove a few times. Then flip the Q-tip over and run the dry end around the groove a few times. You'll be amazed at the amount of old black O-ring grease and particles of sand you'll get out. It's useless to put a clean O-ring back into a dirty O-ring groove.

  4. Dry off the O-ring with a lint-free towel and apply a light coat of the O-ring grease supplied with your Nikonos equipment. This application should be just enough O-ring grease to enable you to pull the O-ring smoothly between you thumb and forefinger. Keep in mind that O-ring grease does not seal anything, it only lubricates the O-ring to keep it supple. Putting on more O-ring grease than necessary does nothing but make a mess.

  5. Place the O-ring back in its groove making sure it sits correctly and is not twisted.

Nikonos Service Schedule

Everyday

O-rings

  1. Main O-ring on back door of camera (if film is to be changed.) If film is not to be changed this can be skipped, however do not let it go for more than a day or two.
  2. Lens O-ring on rear of lens and extension tube if you are using one.
  3. O-ring on sync-cord that goes into the camera -- don't forget to clean contacts on both sync cord and camera.
  4. Flash battery compartment.

Other

  1. Clean rear element on rear of lens
  2. WD 40 lock bolt on bottom of flash arm
  3. WD 40 lock bolt on flash arm joint
  4. WD 40 tension arm on flash arm joint

** If you are using a close-up kit be sure to WD 40 the three metal locking screws(bottom of lens, top or keeper arm, bottom of frame arm).

Every Three Days

O-Rings

  1. Camera battery compartment
  2. Sync-cord terminal that goes into flash -- Don't forget to clean contacts on both flash and cord.
  3. Sensor port cap on SB-102

Take your time. Be sure all O-rings go back correctly into their grooves. If you aren't sure about something ASK! Remember -- It only takes a small mistake and a fraction of a second for a flood to happen... THE OCEAN NEVER FORGIVES!!!

The internal O-rings also need to be serviced and you cannot do this yourself. Every year or so (depending on the equipment and the amount of use it gets) the gear should be sent back to Nikon or to an authorized Nikonos service station for maintenance.

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Modified 08.28.06