Sony 50 1.8 NEX

[bkkchris]

Has anyone tried this lens underwater. Its a great land lens, and seems like it might fit in the 18-55 port.

Maybe with a macro wet lens it could be a good 'macro' lens with a bit more working distance than the 30 macro?

Or maybe their is little benefit with this vs. just using the kit 18-55 in the same manner.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

This lens has been addressed several times in this fourm. Minimum focus on this lens is 15 inches at .16X. If you add a +10 close-up lens it would focus to about 8 inches at around twice life-size or a little better. I don't see a lot of up-side to this over the 30mm macro other than a bit better image quality before you add the C/U lens. The C/U lens on the 30 macro is all but useless, a placebo at best.

I have been shooting with the Sony/Zeiss 24mm F/1.8 with a dome port. This is the best NEX E-mount lens to date and has steller I.Q. The lens will focus to about four inches so you can shoot from four inches out beyound four feet with great success. This lens has produced the best image quality of any of the E-system lenses I have used with the NEX-7 to date and is the only lens which truly allows all 24MP's to shine. I will have a full review on the lens in July.

Phil Rudin

 

[bkkchris]

Thanks Phil. I do love the NEX-7 and that 24mm Zeiss is great, but as someone who has not invested in a mirrorless body or lenses, I just made up my mind and purchased an OM-D, can't wait to try it out.

 

[alien]

Phil are you running the 4 inch WA dome with the Zeiss?

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Yes, that is what I was using when I tested the lens. I would however like to see a Nauticam port made for the lens. Same dome optic with a shorter length.

Phil Rudin

 

[dlutzer]

Hi Phil,

Do you find that the 4inch dome port is big enough for over/under shots? I would think you would want something a tad larger no? Also are there any other housings for the nex-7 or is nauticam it?
Cheers,
Dave

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I have used the Nauticam 4.33 inch dome to do split images with the Olympus 12mm and Panasonic 8mm fisheye. While it can be done an eight inch dome or bigger with a very wide lens is the best choice. This is one of the trade-off's for the much smaller mirrorless camera systems.


At this time Nauticam has the only NEX-7 housing to the market that I am aware of. Acquapazza has just released a housing for the Sony NEX-5n and their web site has a CAD drawing for the NEX-7 but I would not be holding my breath for the release.

Phil Rudin

 

[dlutzer]

Thanks for the post Phil!

---------- Post added ----------

It's just surprising as even the s95 fisheye is larger than that I believe!

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

We have gone completely off topic here but comparing a compact camera to an interchangeable lens camera is hardly apples to apples. The Canon S 95 uses add-on lenses to support the existing lens incorporated into the camera. The Panasonic 8mm fisheye lens stands on its own and the dome port becomes an additional element of the lens configuration. Fisheye lenses like the Panasonic 8mm and the Takina 10 to 17 zoom require a hemisphere type port like the ZEN Underwater 100 mm dome port. Since the fisheye lens does not render straight lines the diameter of the port is much less important than it is with rectilinear lenses. While a larger port will renderer slightly better image quality with the fisheye lens the trade off for the smaller size and the ability to get close to the subject is well worth the slight loss of image quality. Shooting split images is a completely different issue and the larger the dome port the more likely you are to get better image quality.

Phil Rudin