Panasonic 7-14mm with Zen DP-170 question

[athigunk]

Hi,

I am using an Olympus em5ii with Nauticam housing NA-EM5ii with a Zen DP-170-N85i (the first version without the extra built-in extension). I am using it with the Olympus 8mm PRO Fisheye and it works fine. Although, the website says that if I want to use it with the Panasonic 7-14mm, ideally I would need the DP-170-N85ii (version 2 which has the extra extension). That's a lot of extra $$$ I need to put in. So, I am looking at a cheaper alternative in buying the Nauticam mini (N85) port extension to put it on my existing DP-170i port. I saw Phil's post ZEN Underwater DP-170 optical glass port with Panasonic 7-14 zoom back in 2013 using the 20mm port extension when there was only the first version of the port, and the pics look great. However, the DP-170ii is advertised to have a 30mm builtin extension, in which it is compatible with the Panasonic 7-14mm. My question is that which one do you guys think would give a better results? 20mm or 30mm port extension?

Thank you in advance for your input!

 

[Interceptor121]

The 7-14mm does not fit into a standard N85 port with the zoom gear on and this is the reason to use an N120 adapter
Take also into account that unless you use the 230mm dome the optical quality at 7mm will be severely compromised
Currently there are no domes that work as they should with the 7-14mm lenses and the Zen 170mm is far too small for that 7-14mm

 

[athigunk]

The 7-14mm does not fit into a standard N85 port with the zoom gear on and this is the reason to use an N120 adapter
Take also into account that unless you use the 230mm dome the optical quality at 7mm will be severely compromised
Currently there are no domes that work as they should with the 7-14mm lenses and the Zen 170mm is far too small for that 7-14mm

I think you are referring to the Olympus 7-14mm PRO, but I was asking about the Panasonic 7-14mm f/4.0 which is significantly smaller.

Anyway, I already found the answer here: http://www.jaredparsons.com/portchart/zen-only/by-combination-group/nauticam-n85/. Apparently there are three options you could go with the Panasonic 7-14mm.

 

[Interceptor121]

Sorry I misread. The zoom gear for the 7-14mm should fit into an extension
But the consideration on the size still holds the 170mm is too small better the 230mm

 

[Chris Ross]

I've used the 7-14 a little bit in my Zen 170mm dome (type II) the performance is OK and better if you limit yourself to 8 or 9mm . The 30mm extension will work to make your dome the same as the type II dome. There is some discussion on the correct amount of extension to use here: The purpose of a Dome port?!?