What Sea & Sea ports should I order for my D50 with 60mm,12-24mm, 105vr?

[Travisc]

Hello everyone- I finally ordered a DX-D50 Sea & Sea housing- I have two YS-90DX strobes and some ultralight arms- But I need to determine the best combinations of port bases and ports- What would you recommend?

Should I also order the TTL converter?

Nikon 18-55 Kit lens
Nikon 12-24mm
Nikon 105VR
Nikon 60MM

these will be used on a d50 underwater and a D300 on land.

 

[fisheyeview]

Not sure on the 18-55 kit lens. I think that the dome port would be a waste fror the marco end of it, and the flat port would not allow you to go too wide. I would go with the flat port and lose out some on the W/A end.

12-24mm - I would go with the NX Fisheye Dome Port (56401) with the SX Extension Ring (50261)

60mm - Either the NX Standard Flat Port (56101) or the NX Custom Flat Port (56231). I use the Custom Flat Port as it allows manual focus if you have the gears for the lens.

105mm VR - Sea & Sea says to use the DX Macro Port 50 (30106) with the DX Macro Port Base (30105). This means you have to carry around a lot of ports with you if you want to switch between the 105mm & the 60mm. A better way is to use either the NX Custom Flat Port or the NX Standard Flat Port with the SX Extension Ring. In order to do this ther is a ridge inside the end of the flat port near the glass that will need to be ground out. Ryan at Reef Photo did this for me. This way I can switch between the 60mm and the 105mm VR just by adding or removing the extension ring. Since it is the same extension ring I use with my dome and the 10-17 Tokina I travel a lot lighter.

 

[bfdc]

just a note....while there has been skads of posts related to what combination works best with the fickle 12-24mm, the S&S system chart doesn't show a combo of SX Extension ring and the 56401 NX Fisheye. For the 12-24mm, it uses the SX extension ring with the NX Compact Dome (56601) only....

I use just the 56401 NX Fisheye Dome with my d50/S&S/12-24mm....works pretty well.

 

[santacruz]

I'm also a sea and sea/D50 user. Here's my opinion on ports I use for the lenses you asked about:

18-55mm: NX Flat port. I have also used it behind my NX dome port with good results, but I do more close-up with this lens.

12-24mm: Sea and Sea says you can use the NX dome port with no extension, and it does fit and focus behind the port. But when I used this combination, I had trouble with blurring at the corners. Fortunately I have an extension ring for my 105 (extension ring 40), IOS tried it with the dome, and the blurring went away.

105VR: Sorry, I have no experience with the VR lens.

BTW, anyone have any recommendations for making a port lock to use with the extension rings?