Still mourning my beloved Subal housed D500, I have to think about next steps.

I don’t want FF and there’s no Nikon Z equivalent to a D500. So I’m thinking M43 and the Olympus OM-1

I thought I’d switch to Nauticam. Paired with a 45 degree finder.

Then an Olympus 60mm macro and FP.

Tokina 10-17s are hard to find so I’m thinking a 100mm Zen glass domeport with either the 8mm Pany or 8mm Olympus.

Various articles I’ve read suggest the 8mm Pany works better in a Zen100 dome than the Olympus. But maybe I’m missing something?

I’m not sure I really want to head down the Canon 8-15/adaptor route. I do have a Nikkor 8-15 but understand that’s hard to set up with an Olympus.

So that’s where I’m at: saddened with slight trepidation staring into the barely known.

Thoughts welcome to add to excellent advice from Chris.

Thanks!

You’ve described my system (well, the camera body is a generation older). I’ve been very happy with it. The 60mm macro lens is fantastic and produces top quality images, add a +5 diopter and you’d want for nothing. I use a Nauticam port with the 8mm fisheye and find nothing to complain about there either. A 12mm rectilinear will also work behind that port for a bit more reach. I’d guess that compared to a Subal the Nauticam housing won’t feel nearly as refined, but it’s plenty ergonomic for me. Good luck shopping!

Camera therapy for PTSD? Sounds right to me. I've used the 8mm Panny with the 4.33" Nauticam dome for many years on a series of Olympus bodies, and have never been disappointed by it. Although the OM-1 (mostly, at least) comes with the LM-3 mini-flash, it depends on the camera for power; I've found that the O-Turtle triggers work well (I have the same flashes as you . . . had). All three Olympus/OM macro lenses are excellent; I'm currently enamored of the 90mm, but not everyone is.

Why not look at a Nikon Z5-II system? If you don't want FF drop it into DX mode. You can use your Nikon lenses and leave open FF for when it might have value

https://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/all-articles/nikon-z5-ii-underwater-review/.

Edited yesterday at 08:40 PM1 day by Dave_Hicks

Hey @TimG

Definitely a time of mixed emotions. Mourning the loss of your extremely dependable companion is tough, but this is also a time of excitement for some new features and a fresh new body.

I just hooked a buddy up with a pre-owned Oly E-M1 vII, the Oly 12-50, Nauticam housing, and WWL-C. Due to the unique macro locking capabilities, this lens does full zoom with a true macro option at 42mm. It's not the sharpness of the 60mm, but it's a pretty slick overall system. Compared to my years of both APS-C and FF, I was pleasantly surprised at the image quality from such a small rig. I owned the E-M1 and loved it as a land camera due to the size and much cheaper lens prices. As you mentioned, the Pan or Oly 8mm is a solid fisheye option. So far he is using the mini-flash as a trigger and it works great. The Nauticam trigger would be the go-to for faster action series. As a bonus, you would make Chris a happy-camper.

If you want to enjoy the rich "Canon colours" (and I even spelled it correctly for you 😁) the Canon R7 APS-C is an incredibly solid choice. The Canon 8-15 would be your fisheye option with the ability to use the WWL-1B for a very versatile wide option with zoom. If you find a Tokina 10-17 it works perfectly as well. The Canon RF 100 macro is exceptional. It is also a great land camera at about the same size as your D500.

Lastly, the Sony a6700 rounds out the APS-C line-up. I have used this as well and enjoy the overall size both uw and as a land option. It contains many of the great focus technology of the larger Sony a7V in a much more compact body. Focus tracking is one area in which the Sony line excels. Your Nikon 8-15 can work using the correct Monster adapter, but the Canon is potentially a better choice due to the Metabones V and Sigma MC-11 models having a more dependable connection. The new Sony 100 is razor sharp and a fast focus. In total this ends up slightly smaller than the Canon R7 rig and a bit larger than the OM option.

Sorry, Nikon is the only brand I have not personally owned so I defer to others to speak in that realm.

Rather than "telling" you which to buy, I'm just sharing my experiences with the various brands and models. From there it's up to you as to what best fits your needs, budget, and overall feel. In the end, thank you for contributing to the local economy and welcome to the Nauticam global alliance. 😎

Cheers!

chip

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by ChipBPhoto

Regarding the alleged fringing problem of the Pana 8 mm fisheye on Oly bodies, we should make sure to update the camera and lens firmware to the latest version.

18 hours ago, Troporobo said:

You’ve described my system (well, the camera body is a generation older). I’ve been very happy with it. The 60mm macro lens is fantastic and produces top quality images, add a +5 diopter and you’d want for nothing. I use a Nauticam port with the 8mm fisheye and find nothing to complain about there either. A 12mm rectilinear will also work behind that port for a bit more reach. I’d guess that compared to a Subal the Nauticam housing won’t feel nearly as refined, but it’s plenty ergonomic for me. Good luck shopping!

How much buoyancy do you usually need to add for a macro and a WA setup? I usually add Stix Jumbo floats to ULCS arms.

I use 8 Stix jumbo floats, 2 on each arm segment, for both setups. The Nauticam 4.33” FE port is not very buoyant so that setup is almost perfectly neutral, while the macro setup is slightly negative.

If you venture toward Olympus, you will likely end up reading some reviews written by Robin Wang. He uses the term „shutter therapy“ - I like that a lot.

I own a Nikon APS-C, the D3300 bottom-feeder model. Bought it new as my re-entry into photography (shot 35 mm Film when I was young, nothing when our kids were young) and loved it - humble kit lens and the 50-200 for reach. Then, I bought the pre-owned Olympus housing + Epl system for UW. I thought I should get the Epl out on land to learn the Olympus menu system & controls. I literally haven‘t touched the Nikon since. M43 is great because the lenses are really small and very lightweight. The bodies are almost too small for my hands (also have a 1st gen OM5 now), but the lenses are really nice to lug around. I have both Olympus 14-42 kit lenses (fine) but my favorite combination top-side are the Panny 12-32 and the 35-100 (the slow one, tiny) in a pocket. UW, with the housing, strobes etc the size &weight difference to APS-C may be less pronounced - but if you also use the camera top-side I can say that the system is very attractive.

Corner sharpness, contrast, fringes: Not an issue for me at all but AI can anyways straighten that out for you.