Help With Lens/Port Choice and What to Keep/Sell for Future Use

[Amy B-G]

I'm getting ready to sell my Nauticam housing for my EM5II. Eventually I plan to take my OM-1 underwater, but when I do I am leaning towards the AOI housing for weight and size benefits when traveling. Therefore, I'm tying to figure out if I should keep any of the lenses I currently have since I would have to purchase new ports anyway.

I like a mix of wide angle and macro but I usually concentrate on macro since I dive in cold water that often has poor vis.

This is what I currently have set aside for the Nauticam unit:

Pana Lumix G 8mm Fisheye Lens f3.5
NA-36132 Nauticam N85 4.33-inch Acrylic Dome

Olympus MZ 12-50EZ Lens f3.5-6.3
N85 Nauticam Port and Zoom Gear for the 12-50 Lens which includes ability to control macro mode

*Since AOI doesn't have a port that controls macro, would it be better to use my 12-40 Pro 2.8 lens instead of the 12-50EZ? I originally got the 12-50 so that I could have a bit of mid-wide with macro too on a dive.

Thanks for your help sorting out some efficient and reasonable options

 

[Furnari]

I'm not a huge fan of the 12-50, but I dove with the 12-40 for many years in a 170mm dome and liked it much more. Crop a bit and the near macro quality exceeds the 12-50 (IMO).

Coincidentally, I just dove my AOI OM-1 housing for the first time yesterday in a pool, and it replaces an AOI E-M1mkIII set up. I have no complaints about the AOI housings; they're compact, well built, and affordable. Using the 12-40 is doable on those housings but requires a clunky port adapter; well-engineered and workable but kind of defeats the purpose of the small housing size. Here's what I ended up doing instead:

I bought an INON PEN dome for the Oly 8mm fisheye, added the AOI 34mm extension ring, and use the Oly 12-45 lens. It's a significantly smaller form factor, and the optics just work, even though the port was never designed for it. The problem is that the port is discontinued; I scratched it pretty bad on a recent Puget Sound trip and ended up having to buy the OMD version of the same port just to get the glass to have Backscatter fix my screw-up; totally worth it because of how stellar this port works for the size- it's at least as good as the 12-40. In doing a bunch of research before going through all the trouble, it turns out the Inon PEN dome is a little bit wider than most domes meant for the fisheye lenses, so it's possible that's why it works so well. That said, if you're going to be putting your Panasonic 8mm in a mini-dome anyways, it might be worth trying the 12-45 as you would just need a 24mm extension ring (to make the port the same length as needed for the Oly 8mm) and the 34mm extension ring. The lens itself can be found fairly easily used for 350 or so; add that up and you're saving money compared to buying a second dome and the OMD adapter to port the 12-40 (disregard this advice if you're also planning on porting a wide-angle zoom like the 8-25; if you are, skip the 170mm and get the 8" dome). If nothing else, having the 2 sizes of AOI extension rings comes in handy because you can add one or the other to the cheap AOI flat port meant for the 14-42EZ lens ($200 at Backscatter) and now you've got a macro port for the Oly 30mm/60mm lenses.

Alternatively, the partial PEN dome port made by Zen and AOI intended for the 9-18 is what the port charts call out for the 12-45, and I've seen them used for $200 or so. I just like having one dome for both the fisheye and the zoom (it also works with the Panasonic 9mm, but it's not great).

This post is getting long, but I've tried a lot of different lenses and ports from the M43 ecosystem; happy to take a swing at any questions you may have, and I'll try to get a photo of my housing and dome to show how compact it is.

 

[Furnari]

Here’s a couple of shots of the rig with the Inon dome…

 

[Barmaglot]

If you're shooting a lot of macro, why not get a proper macro lens? There's a wealth of choices in the M43 system, from 30mm to 90mm.

 

[Amy B-G]

I'm not a huge fan of the 12-50, but I dove with the 12-40 for many years in a 170mm dome and liked it much more. Crop a bit and the near macro quality exceeds the 12-50 (IMO).

Coincidentally, I just dove my AOI OM-1 housing for the first time yesterday in a pool, and it replaces an AOI E-M1mkIII set up. I have no complaints about the AOI housings; they're compact, well built, and affordable. Using the 12-40 is doable on those housings but requires a clunky port adapter; well-engineered and workable but kind of defeats the purpose of the small housing size. Here's what I ended up doing instead:

I bought an INON PEN dome for the Oly 8mm fisheye, added the AOI 34mm extension ring, and use the Oly 12-45 lens. It's a significantly smaller form factor, and the optics just work, even though the port was never designed for it. The problem is that the port is discontinued; I scratched it pretty bad on a recent Puget Sound trip and ended up having to buy the OMD version of the same port just to get the glass to have Backscatter fix my screw-up; totally worth it because of how stellar this port works for the size- it's at least as good as the 12-40. In doing a bunch of research before going through all the trouble, it turns out the Inon PEN dome is a little bit wider than most domes meant for the fisheye lenses, so it's possible that's why it works so well. That said, if you're going to be putting your Panasonic 8mm in a mini-dome anyways, it might be worth trying the 12-45 as you would just need a 24mm extension ring (to make the port the same length as needed for the Oly 8mm) and the 34mm extension ring. The lens itself can be found fairly easily used for 350 or so; add that up and you're saving money compared to buying a second dome and the OMD adapter to port the 12-40 (disregard this advice if you're also planning on porting a wide-angle zoom like the 8-25; if you are, skip the 170mm and get the 8" dome). If nothing else, having the 2 sizes of AOI extension rings comes in handy because you can add one or the other to the cheap AOI flat port meant for the 14-42EZ lens ($200 at Backscatter) and now you've got a macro port for the Oly 30mm/60mm lenses.

Alternatively, the partial PEN dome port made by Zen and AOI intended for the 9-18 is what the port charts call out for the 12-45, and I've seen them used for $200 or so. I just like having one dome for both the fisheye and the zoom (it also works with the Panasonic 9mm, but it's not great).

This post is getting long, but I've tried a lot of different lenses and ports from the M43 ecosystem; happy to take a swing at any questions you may have, and I'll try to get a photo of my housing and dome to show how compact it is.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply, really appreciate it! I will check out all the options you recommended. Also, do you think it would be worthwhile to hold onto the Panny 8mm or sell it with the 4.33" dome and use something different?

 

[bvanant]

I have been shooting the AOI for the OM-1 for quite a while (I was a real early adopter). For macro one of the 30,45,60 or 90 lenses (or all of them). The AOI port for the 90 is awesome as it lets you change magnifications on the fly). I think a lot of modern thinking is that it is better to use a wet lens setup for wide angle than a traditional WA lens behind a dome. In the full frame world that is really happening. I have used the 12-50 for Mantas in Komodo with reasonable results using the AOI port for the 60 macro. A lot depends on what you want to shoot, for me mostly macro with an occasional wide shot.
Bill
One thing to remember about the AOI system, it is very negative underwater and needs quite a bit of flotation but probably not more than the Nauticam version.

Bill

From a dive yesterday here in LA with the Oly 60, OM-1, AOI, 2x Backscatter MF-2 strobes

 

[Furnari]

do you think it would be worthwhile to hold onto the Panny 8mm or sell it with the 4.33" dome and use something different?

I've never used the Panny, but I love the Olympus 8mm. It's probably not worth the upgrade for UW use unless there's topside benefits of the Olympus lens for you (it's great for Milky Way shots, some Olympus features won't work with the Panasonic lens, etc.). I don't think there's a way to adapt the Nauticam dome, so you might as well try to get your money back on that, and having the lens might sweeten the deal for someone.

 

[rmorgan]

The AOI port for the 90 is awesome as it lets you change magnifications on the fly

The Nauticam port does as well--an excellent feature. Bill, excellent nudie. The diffuse reflection is cool. I haven't thought of Los Angeles as a good macro venue, but then everywhere is.

 

[bvanant]

Yeah, there are a ton of local nudies, snails, small shrimp here as well. Cold though (low 50s) most of the year.

 

[Amy B-G]

Here’s a couple of shots of the rig with the Inon dome…View attachment 832105View attachment 832106

Thank you, it's nice to see the visual of it all set up