I am currently shooting M4/3 cameras in Nauticam housings with N85 flat ports plus water contact optics (WWL-1 and diopters) with the 12-50ez kit lens.

Although I'm happy enough with the WWL-1 I do wish it wasn't such a massive piece of glass to deal with. Also I find myself never removing it although I've just gotten the bayonet mount so that may change. I find myself frequently diving with the 12-50 just behind a flat port and wishing it was a touch wider. When I'm using the WWL-1 I wish it was wider still.

Which brings me to the question. I'm tempted by a dome and I see that Zen offers an adapter for Sea&Sea domes which seem to be available at less than painful prices. Does anyone have experience with adapting either the NX Compact dome 150 or one of the larger domes on a M4/3 in a Nauticam housing?

The use case would be wreck and CFWA plus occasional freediving.

Thanks,

Grant

7 hours ago, Grantmac said:

I am currently shooting M4/3 cameras in Nauticam housings with N85 flat ports plus water contact optics (WWL-1 and diopters) with the 12-50ez kit lens.

Although I'm happy enough with the WWL-1 I do wish it wasn't such a massive piece of glass to deal with. Also I find myself never removing it although I've just gotten the bayonet mount so that may change. I find myself frequently diving with the 12-50 just behind a flat port and wishing it was a touch wider. When I'm using the WWL-1 I wish it was wider still.

Which brings me to the question. I'm tempted by a dome and I see that Zen offers an adapter for Sea&Sea domes which seem to be available at less than painful prices. Does anyone have experience with adapting either the NX Compact dome 150 or one of the larger domes on a M4/3 in a Nauticam housing?

The use case would be wreck and CFWA plus occasional freediving.

Thanks,

Grant

The adapter you mention has quite a bit of extension and is designed to use with a couple of specific lenses and the Zen S&S DP170. If you want to use a dome with your 12-50 then there are a number of options.

First is to use the Zen 170mm dome, it's available in N85 in two versions, and no adapter needed. I expect you could use the 12-50 with the N85-DP-170II. It's about the same size as the WWL though, just lighter.

The S&S dome would also work, but possibly a bit small for the 12mm end and you may have to add extension? Also it's acrylic versus the glass in the Zen dome.

You could also try and work out if the Nauticam 6"dome port would work, its cheaper than the adapter plus S&S 150 dome.

The advantage of using the adapter would be to use it with DP170SS for larger lenses like the 7-14 and 8-25mm lenses which require an N120 size dome as the front element lens won't fit through the N85 port opening. They are installed from the front - camera in housing, add the adapter, install the lens and zoom gear then fit the port. This future proofs you if you want to use those lenses in future.

I would also suggest looking into the 12-40 or 12-45 lens, it will be sharper than the 12-50 and will give you more magnification as it focuses closer. You can get more magnification with the 12-50 but you need to be able to operate the macro switch and it won't be possible in the dome. Should be possible to use the same port with all of those lenses.

I'm not sure the 12-50 would be that great for CFWA as it doesn't focus that closely unless you throw the macro switch - I think it's 50cm at the long end which is long enough that you would need to closely consider whether of not it would focus behind a dome. Might be OK at the short end though?

I want to say that there is no need to use domes other than made for Nauticam. Acryl ports are cheaper and optical glass ports are heavier and more expensive, but more durable and have better resistance to flare. Both are offered for Nauticam system as well at similar pricing compared to S&S (no adapter needed)...

In addition to what Chris is writing, there is the option to use fisheye lenses (you write that WWL is often not wide enough). They offer widest angle and work with small and light ports (Zen 100mm or Nauticam 140mm), but they are not recommended for rectilinear lenses as e.g. your 12-50mm (I read repeatedly, however, that some people are using these hemispherical fisheye ports also for rectilinear WA lenses; My guess would be that e.g. your 12-50mm, at 12mm, works better behind 100mm domeport compared to planport in case the extension is the right length (at 50mm there should be no IQ difference compared to planport, but 50mm remains 50mm instead of getting longer because of "diving-mask" effect that the planport has)).

Either native 8mm, as Zuiko, or Canon 8-15mm adapted work very well behind Zen 100 domeport for MFT cameras. (The Canon version is not the cheapest, but offers widest fisheye AND practically replaces the need for WWL since offering zoom out capability as well; this combo is clearly smaller and probably also lighter compared to WWL)...

Wolfgang

Edited Tuesday at 09:45 AM2 days by Architeuthis

I realize I could use Nauticam or Zen domes, however on the used market S&S are far less expensive.

The 60mm extension on that adapter seems to line up with the required extensions on the S&S and Nauticam port charts.

My WWL-1 does cover most of my use cases except it makes the camera significantly larger and heavier.

Some sort of zoom in a dome would be far more convenient on a lot of dives. Either a native MFT or adapted lens.

3 hours ago, Grantmac said:

I realize I could use Nauticam or Zen domes, however on the used market S&S are far less expensive.

The 60mm extension on that adapter seems to line up with the required extensions on the S&S and Nauticam port charts.

My WWL-1 does cover most of my use cases except it makes the camera significantly larger and heavier.

Some sort of zoom in a dome would be far more convenient on a lot of dives. Either a native MFT or adapted lens.

There's lots of choices possible there, though I would venture the Canon 8-15 option is not lighter than a WWL setup. and the size is very close. Unless you go with a 4"dome most of the dome options will be lighter but a little larger than a WWL setup. Rectilinears need bigger domes, you might get away with a 5-6"dome with 12mm though if you are not fussy about corner sharpness.

I'm not sure what your budget is however the 6"acrylic Nauticam dome is $690 new at Backscatter which seems somewhat reasonable for UW gear and you don't need the $350 Nauticam - S&S adapter. You can also use the Panasonic 7-14 in that dome if you want something wider and I expect the 12-45 lens would also fit, it's not on the port chart but given the size of the lens it would be close to the same positioning in the dome. The dome is a little small for lenses that wide but it will work OK, the corners might be a touch soft.

It strikes me though that the Nauticam to S&S adapter might be a cheap path to adapting Canon-8-15 or Tokina 10-17 to a m43 camera, it appears to have 60mm of extension and is half the price of the no longer available it seems 34.7mm N85-N120 adapter. It doesn't have a knob but you could use the 3D printed gear I use to mate with the main knob on the housing. Only problem is you would need a 10mm extension ring to get the same extension as used with the Nauticam setup, but S&S doesn't make one. The DP-100ST for S&S might be a solution as it has extension built in. These are excellent solutions for m43 and cover the range from 180° diagonal fisheye through to 28mm FF equivalent in terms of field of view so replace an 8mm fisheye, a 7-14 wide (in terms of horizontal field of view) and will cover about 2/3 of the horizontal field coverage of a WWL.

Adapting a Tokina was something I considered but the speed booster isn't exactly cheap either.

It seems like S&S or N120 can be swapped back and forth using different bayonet fittings which is useful. The Zen adapter adds 60mm which seems to be what Nauticam and Zen call for with any of the N120 domes.

you just need to watch which domes you refer to, some of them the bayonet is machined into the metal part of the dome, others use a bolt on lug ring and extension rings typically use a machined bayonet. For example the Zen DP 170 N120 dome does not use a lug ring it appears, while many of the Nauticam domes do. This is the only way to change between S&S and Nauticam mounts without adding extension.

For example this S&S dome does not seem to use an interchangeable lug ring so would not be readily adaptable:

S&S dome Ebay

This is the lug ring for converting Nauticam ports to S&S:

lug ring

Note it is discontinued but I think available through other vendors??

Also this small S&S dome port appears not to have removable lug ring:

dome port 165

while this larger port does:

Dome port 210

Regarding the Tokina - yes the adapter is expensive but you can use the one dome setup for all wide angle applications and it's all available to you during the dive, all you miss out on is the long end of the 14-42 behind the WWL.

I am not familiar with the Nauticam ports, but if you get a small dome that has very little extension to begin with, you could try out a real fisheye quite cheaply with the Samyang/Rokinon/... manual focus 7.5 mm lens. These are usually not expensive on the used market and after calibrating it a bit, it can be used as a fix focus lens under water. Mine can cover things from a few cm away from the glass to "infinity" quite well at f 11. I use it with a ~ 10 cm dome in a polycarbonate Olympus Pen housing. That is a really light and very compact combination, both in and out of the water. Nauticam may be a bit heavier on the housing side but the port should be quite similar. If you like it, you can later sell the MF Samyang and get a used Lumix 8mm AF lens (also not too expensive second hand). They work with the same port configuration.

Alternatively the adapted Tokina 10-17 is more flexible and apparently works with the same ~10 cm / 4 inch ports. There is a different brand Speedbooster alternative available (can't remember the name) and you can perhaps pick up one of those second hand for not too much money. The Samyang could be an entry point for this as well, you only need some extension. But they all require that one dome port.

Fisheye-shooting is fun!