Sea frogs a6xxx housing from Meikon

[dlutzer]

doea anyone know if I can use the Zeiss 50mm 2.8 macro with the a6500 in a sea frogs salted housing?

If so what port would you suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Barmaglot]

It's slightly smaller than Sony 90mm f/2.8 macro (65mm vs 79mm diameter, 104mm vs 130mm length), and it does not extend to focus, so it should fit in either of the long macro ports, though the front element will be a few centimeters away from the port glass. However, I have seen it reported (link) that this particular lens has crippling issues functioning underwater in a port.

 

[dlutzer]

Thank you Barmaglot I know it can be finicky underwater but with a good focus light it can get the job done. I have a nex-7 and it does ok in my Nauticam housing, but I’m hopeful the focus improves with the a6500. (It does above water as you can use higher iso to keep the Appature at f7 ish).

Do you know if it will fit in the base port? With 10cm of distance there may welll be lots of inner reflection.

 

[Barmaglot]

Do you know if it will fit in the base port? With 10cm of distance there may welll be lots of inner reflection.

No way, the base port is built for the Sony 10-18mm, which is a full 40mm shorter than the Touit 50mm. What do you mean by 10cm distance though? If you put the Touit into the long macro port, there will be probably about 3.5-4cm of air between the front element and the port glass, not 10cm.

 

[dlutzer]

Thanks again for the response mate. That was a typo on my end. Mean 30mm not 10cm. But 3-4cm is still a good deal of space. Esp if you want to add on a diopter. Would a diopter even work with that much distance?

 

[Barmaglot]

Would a diopter even work with that much distance?

Probably not, although, on the other hand, you could fit a dry close-up lens inside the port - that would seriously inhibit flexibility though.

You could get a Nauticam housing for A6500 and keep using the ports you already have, but that'd be quite expensive. You could also take some power tools to Meikon's long macro port to shorten it - remove the end part with the glass (it's fastened with a bunch of little screws), shorten the tube, polish the end, drill some holes for the screws and re-mount the cap - but that could be dangerous for the camera, and it might not work at all because the tube is slightly conical. You could also sell your Touit 50mm (looking at ebay, they appear to be worth around $600) and buy a Sony 90mm - I got mine on ebay for $750, so it's about a $150 difference.

 

[dlutzer]

Appreciate the thoughts!

I actually own the 90mm too, but was looking to keep the working distance down to help keep out back scatter especially when doing fish portraits.

I would love the Nauticam housing but need to keep costs down right now. And I do not trust my carpenter skills enough to do my own work on the housing. So if it can’t be used I may go with the 90mm but have my fingers crossed that someone may have found a solution.

 

[Barmaglot]

I thought long and hard about what macro solution to go for - 16-50mm with diopter, 30mm, 50mm or 90mm, and I had the same misgivings about 90mm having too much working distance for fish portrait shots, but eventually I broke down and decided to go for it. I've seen some very interesting shots taken with 90mm on APS-C (Nikon DX actually) even of whale sharks, although obviously they did not fit in the frame. Once I get it in the water, I might try using the Meikon wet dome, which I already have, to widen its angle of view a bit when circumstances demand.