Nauticam 4.33" Dome Port - Nex 5R

[PHIL RUDIN]

I think it is quite clear that the 10-18 zoom is a much sharper lens than the 16mm pancake, an $850.00 V. $250.00 lens should be better. Adding the W/A or fisheye adapter to the 16 pancake makes the results even worse. To give you an idea of the difference go to photozone.de and go to lens reviews. Look at the NEX lenses and see the difference in the two lenses.

Two make the Ziess 12mm lens work in any of the Nauticam housings would require a two part port. A port plate to mount to the housing followed by the lens and then the the dome would need to be mounted to the port plate. Nauticam has this design in the works for mounting a DSLR macro lens to the system which is also to fat to fit the port mount.

Regarding the ports for the 10-18 zoom, I have attached photos of the ZEN Underwater 170mm port mounted to the Nauticam NA-NEX5R housing with the 16 and fisheye adapter on the camera. While this optical glass port is more expensive than the Nauticam 7 inch port it can be used with an expanding number of lenses. With the 10-18 F/4 zoom I use a 20mm port extension, but without the port extension you can also mount the 16 with fisheye or W/A adapters, the Ziess 24mm, the 18-55 zoom and more. If you add up the cost of the Nauticam ports to house those lenses the $999.00 cost does not seem so great. While both domes are larger the 10-18 will just not work without a port this size. If it could Nauticam would have just used the six inch port already made for the Panasonic 7-14 zoom for M43 cameras. Another thing not addressed in the thread is how much better the larger ports (both Nauticam and ZEN) will work for split (over/under) images. I have attached two photos using the 16 and fisheye adapter with the ZEN 170mm port. Images using the 10-18 can be found in the Ziess 12mm thread below.

Phil Rudin

 

[alien]

Thanks again Phil terrific info. When are you coming to Oz to teach some underwater photography?

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

No plans for OZ any time soon but I will be teaching the workshops for next years Digital Fiesta in Cozumel Mexico.

New dates for 2014 are April 12-19 and April 19-26th. You can do one or both weeks. Check for more information at Mexicandiver.com

Phil Rudin

 

[alien]

Thx doing cave diving in Mexico this September not much chance of getting back there again soon a loooong trip from here. Thx anyway

 

[Marsh]

Hi Phil,

Thank you for all the info you provide to us NEX users, especially your complete overview of the NEX and Olympus systems in the Zeiss 12mm post.

As an artist working with abstractions, I'm after a high MP system for very large prints which led me to the NEX7 system. I'm trying to piece together the lightest and most compact system for travel. Currently, I'm using the 18-55 like many in a port 72 with swing mount for Aquatica +10, plus the Sony 16mm w/ adapters in the 4.33 port.

I'll most likely upgrade to the Zeiss 50mm macro and have considered adding the Z-24 since I don't really do much extreme WA other than for personal video, which the Sony 16mm + system handles acceptably.

So, the 2 ports I carry are the Port 72 and 4.33. The Sony stuff is so light and and small, I thought I'd keep it for video as I upgrade to Zeiss lens. Can the Z-24mm operate in the 4.33" dome in any manner (extensions, etc?)? I recall you saying you used the 4" semi-dome, which wasn't perfect, but worked okay. This 4" dome can also be used with the 18-55 for general purpose and slightly wider angle. I almost bought that dome for 18-55, but went with Port 72 so not as to lose magnification when working with macro.

Any advise on ports and lens in this range to keep things small and compact? Most important for me is high quality macro and limited wide angle. The extreme wide angle, even for video, would not be all that much missed.

Thank you,

Marshall

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

As you may or may not know I write equipment reviews for Underwater Photography Magazine (UWPMAG.com) and other publications on a regular basis. As a result many of the items I test are in the bata stage of development and not the finished product or missing some component. This was the case with the ZEN Underwater 170mm dome when tested it with the Sony 10-18mm F/4 lens. At the time I did not have the Nauticam gear to zoom the lens so I used it set at 10mm to evaluate the lens at its widest setting. We have since found that the Nauticam gear does not fit the 170mm port well and as they say, it is time to return to the drawing board.

The same is true for the Ziess 24mm lens. When I used the lens with my NEX-7 no port had been developed for the lens by Nauticam. This still appears to be the case because the latest port chart for NEX still does not list the Ziess 24mm as being supported. I used the lens with the four inch dome because as best I can recall it fit to close to the dome in the 4.33 inch port. At the time Nauticam had not released the 20mm and 30mm port extensions. These extensions are very useful tools. I use the 20mm extension with my Panasonic 45mm macro port (same as the Sony 30mm macro port) for the longer Olympus 60mm macro and with the ZEN 170mm dome for Panasonic 7-14mm W/A zoom (with this lens the gear fits very well). With an extension the Ziess 24mm could perhaps work with the 4.33 port but I have not made that test. A few of the images I have taken with the NEX-5 and NEX-7 systems can be found on the NauticamUSA.com site and in the past issues of UWPMAG.com.

Going forward you need to keep in mind that because of the size of the APS-C sensors used in the NEX cameras V. the M43 sensors lens size just needs to be bigger with NEX to cover the sensor. Now the rumor mill is saying that Sony may come out with a mirrorless APS-C sensor camera that uses A-mount lenses so that the entire line of Sony lenses can be used. This would result in a much larger system for U/W use. The other option is two part ports for use with lenses like the Ziess 12mm or macro lenses like the Sony A-mount 100mm macro with an adapter and focus gear.

Phil Rudin

 

[Marsh]

Phil,

Thanks for all the good info. Interesting news about the Sony A-mount rumor. I also saw an earlier rumor that the supposedly forthcoming FF NEX9 will have a mount compatible with both E and A mount? How they would make that work would be a marvel and surely take care of the lens issues. Maybe the same one you're referring to? Then again, all rumors. Hopefully Edward will continue his work on a 2 port system for not only the Canon 60mm macro, but other wider (physically) lens combinations as well.

In the meantime, it looks like I'll hopefully be able to use the 4.33 port with the addition of an extension ring if necessary. It would be great if the new upcoming 50mm macro will also work in the Port 72 since I already purchased the expensive 67mm swing mount for it. The 2 ports and extension will hopefully allow me to use the Zeiss 24 & 50M, along with my Sony 18-55 and WA lens combinations if I'm correct in my assessment. This would cover my needs nicely.

Again, thanks for all the NEX info. It's way too expensive to experiment with this stuff.

 

[alien]

Agree Marsh! Cant wait.

 

[deco369]

The same is true for the Ziess 24mm lens. When I used the lens with my NEX-7 no port had been developed for the lens by Nauticam. This still appears to be the case because the latest port chart for NEX still does not list the Ziess 24mm as being supported. I used the lens with the four inch dome because as best I can recall it fit to close to the dome in the 4.33 inch port.

Phil Rudin

Phil, would you be able to post a couple of uw shots with the zeiss 24?

 

[Sieg@VU]

Here are the Nauticam Port Charts (Sony on page 10): http://www.nauticam.com/images/catalog/catalog_18.PDF