Has anyone built their own dome port? I've used an 8" dome but was looking to test a ~17" dome for split shots on my Nauticam N120 DSLR housing. I looked at purchasing a dome port of this size and the Matty SMith ones look awsome but they are $2k+ which is way out of my budget. I've read a number of posts and watched videos online but didn't find anything on this forum.

I've read the "Barry Guimbellot designs DIY small dome port for CFWA" and it looks like there might be more info on wetpixels but I didn't get my account approved before it went down so I cannot access those forums.

Edited February 27Feb 27 by brightnight

I've wondered if the BluRov hemispherical dome ports could be used to make a fisheye port. They are cheap enough and very robust.

You need to contact this man, he's located in The Netherlands. https://www.corkuyvenhoven.nl

He built this ultra megadome for over/under shots.

And that's the other guy

https://www.mattysmithphoto.com/custom-dome-ports/

Edited March 1Mar 1 by fruehaufsteher2

Do you need 17"? the 12" domes are more affordable, about $US1500 delivered assuming you'll need to pay duties on the way in.

6 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

Do you need 17"? the 12" domes are more affordable, about $US1500 delivered assuming you'll need to pay duties on the way in.

Nope, just wanted to experiment with larger domes and figured if I was going to make something I might as well go big, figured the larger I went from 8" the bigger the difference and if people are selling them there might be supplies available off the shelf to DIY, I assume they aren't getting custom molded domes. Truthfully I just want to experiment with one to see what it's like which is why I want to build one since I don't know how practical or useful it will be.

I have done my own dome ports, 4" with 3 different plexiglass curvature, I have change the plexiglass to a 8" old Sea&Sea dome port, for which I had to modify the fitting system,and a 17" dome port, which I don't have any picture right now and I lent it to a friend. When I have it again I can send you pictures, but basically is the same design of the pictures above.

I finally managed to take pictures of the big dome. My goal when i start thinking about doing it was that me and my two dive buddies can use it. At that time I had a Sea&Sea housing, and my buddies Nauticam and Subal each. So i had to make a system that can fit in 3 different housing. I first contacted to a plastic manufacturer specialized in manufacturing custom domes for security cameras and this sort of things. I told him the exact measures of what I wanted and in 3 days i had it, I can't remember exactly but the price was really inexpensive, something like 50€. After that I went to a friend who is miller turner, I explained him what I needed and he did it in aluminum, after that i sent the aluminium piece to anodize, again, this was inexpensive, about 50€. After that I assembled the dome with screws, for sealing it the miller did a groove in the edge of the aluminium where I poured polyurethane. For the fitting to the housing, I took a macro port of each housing manufacturer and again the miller turner cutted the front part and machined a male thread and a groove for an o'ring, the same thread is the female in the dome plate. Here you can see some pictures of it and the first picture that I took with this dome, but to be honest I haven't used it that much

THIS IS AWESOME!!!

On 2/27/2026 at 6:51 PM, Grantmac said:

I've wondered if the BluRov hemispherical dome ports could be used to make a fisheye port. They are cheap enough and very robust.

I didn't see this until now. Yes, they are perfect for the work. I also have a Bluerov and the dome ports are cheap, they are around 3 mm thick, I have go with the rov up to 100 meters depth with no issues. They are exactly the same that I ordered to the plastic manufacturer. If I knew about that domes before buying the bluerov I would used it.

That said, I didn't found out a big lack of definition in the corners of the image when I used the 4" dome port with the DSLR, but once I bought the FF Mirrorless this lack of definition has become a lot worst. I have ask here in the forum and to two professional underwater photographers that I am friend of, the issue is the dome diameter, 4" is to small, so now I'm using a glass 5,5" and it's not perfect but is good enough.

I'm always talking using it with the Canon 8-15 fisheye, with and with no teleconverter.

I think BluRov have a 6" hemispherical dome. That might be worth building something around.

A dome which is cheap and easy to replace would be a nice for CFWA.

I have tried to find it on their web, but I didn't. What I have found is different enclosures in 4", 5", 6" and 8", but when at the dome end of the enclosure looks like there is a flange which reduces from the 8" enclosure to the 4" dome. I also have found a flat "macro" port which is 8" wide.

Looking at the Panasonic camera integration for cinema, when i read about that and looking to the pictures it looks like there is a finished dome port to fit the housing, but when I try to buy it I don't find it. I will have to ask to my dealer, he knows about bluerov way more than me. In fact my one is an integration with Poseidon Robotics which converts from battery powered to AC current, which gives me unlimited bottom time.

https://bluerobotics.com/store/watertight-enclosures/locking-series/wte-end-cap-vp/

Seems like a variety of domes?

1 hour ago, Grantmac said:

Seems like a variety of domes?

I could not select 6" or 8". Maybe out of stock currently?

When looking at atus' beautiful job I was struck by the length between the center axis and the perimeter - the attendant leverage forces applied the the flange port structure if hit or by wave action. I wonder if this is a concern?

Edited March 8Mar 8 by SFEgr

23 hours ago, Grantmac said:

https://bluerobotics.com/store/watertight-enclosures/locking-series/wte-end-cap-vp/

Seems like a variety of domes?

I also thought the same, but after choosing the size you have to choose the type of material, between aluminium or acrylic and the only option appearing is end cap, So this leads me to guess that you can choose only the rear cap and in the front the only difference is the flange they send with the enclosure, but the dome port is always 4".

I hope I'm wrong.

21 hours ago, SFEgr said:

I could not select 6" or 8". Maybe out of stock currently?

When looking at atus' beautiful job I was struck by the length between the center axis and the perimeter - the attendant leverage forces applied the the flange port structure if hit or by wave action. I wonder if this is a concern?

Thank's for your comment, I didn't experience any issue about the waves, etc. But I always used it with flat sea, if you have to take splits the waves are a pain in the ass. What I use to do is to put underneath the housing any kind of flotation device ir order to balance the camera the more I can, if not, it tends to submerge the housing and leave the dome above, which is difficult to manage and very tiring for the hands. I deal with this dome the same way any other port, I make the vacuum and leave it the more time possible before go into the water, it never loosed it. But to be absolutely honest if I had to do it again I would look for any way to block the ring which connects the dome with the housing. The fact it's threaded in addition to the leverage exerted by such a big plate has give me more than a scare when I carry the rig because it's easy to unthread the dome accidentally. But I have plans to make any kind of blocking latch, it's not a big deal to install it

I made a lot of housing in the past using compass domes. Look for a company who fixes them .

Im looking to get some RFQ's from Chinese glass manufacturers for 200-300mm domes. What would be the thickness for the glass? They make 1-10mm.

On the webpage they say domes are for underwater photography, so that leads me to think they might actually supply some of the Chinese manufacturers like Seafrogs or Weefine. Or maybe even higher end ones. Some of the prices i found were under $20 for a smaller dome.

And yes, might go down the acrylic route found on this thread, but hey, why not glass if its cheap.

Don't have an answer for you will share my experience and I'm surprised they are that cheap. I contacted a number of companies in the USA and China and the acylic domes were much more expensive but they were also many times larger. It was hard to find anything that was "optical grade" which I'm guessing is much harder to make for larger domes, but I also wasn't sure I needed it and didn't want to spend the money to find out the hard way. Sounds like you have that part figured out.

The most challanging part of the dome I hadn't solved was the housing interface, making it waterproof, and getting the right standoff distance. Definitely can be done and much simpler to do for taking images on the surface compared to depth. I'll be curious what you find out.