Athena glass dome

I'm intrigued about the Athena glass dome port that is available for Sea & Sea housings. This has been mentioned previously and there was a reference indicating that Athena may stop producing this and Sea & Sea may offer it as an option instead.

Does anyone know how it compares size wise to the two current Sea & Sea acrylic dome ports avaiable, namely the compact dome and the fisheye dome? I am not sure what the 170 number for the Athena actualy denotes.

Any comment about the port shade that you get on the Athena dome?

Also, I am told the glass dome is likely to be much heavier than an acrylic one and may affect the balance making the housing more likely to roll forward. Any one any experience here.

I bet there are loads of Sea & Sea users who have no idea of this glass port option but might be interested if anyone has a view on it.

I've just ordered one of these, it should arrive next week The 170 denotes the diameter of the dome 170mm. I believe the size of it sits in between the sea and sea fisheye and compact dome.

As I understand it the weight of the glass should counter the buoyancy of the dome nicely. It should be pretty much neutral. Cant wait to try it out and will post my thoughts on it if that's any use.

Cheers

BOB

I have been using this same port for about six months on an Olympus housing with the following lenses, 8mm fisheye, 11 to 22 mm zoom and 7 to 14 mm zoom (zooms use an extension tube which comes with the zoom gear). All work very well with sharpness all the way into the corners. Each housing will have a diffrent balance but I have no problems with the Oly housing rolling over as a result of the weight of the dome. Reef photo and video has the Sea and Sea NX port in stock and Ryan can give you some first hand accounts from customers using the dome. I love it because it is compact for travel and is an outstanding optic. The old shade is removeable and the new version, (same glass) has a fixed shade. http://www.athena-opt.com/kougakue.htm

Phil Rudin

It is always frustrating to hear about these kind of products available in the States but to have little chance of actually seeing them if you live elsewhere in the world. I guess it is quite specialist kit really!

It would be nice to know for sure if the size of this particular dome really is somewhere between the Sea & Sea compact dome and their fisheye dome.

If we forget about all the arguments of glass versus acrylic, not to mention the cost I wonder how much of an improvent the larger size of this dome would be over the compact Sea & Sea version if say using a 10.5 Nikkor. Is there anyone with any practical experience of being able to compare?

Perhaps as suggested I should contact Ryan at Reef photo.

I should have mentioned I really do like the 10.5 nikkor and although I have done very few slit image shots I would like to do more of them. Using the Sea & Sea compact dome I do get a lot of water droplets on the acrylic. Perehaps a larger dome and a glass one is better - I just don't know.

Or search for a shop in japan!

Or this one which i think is located in taiwan.

http://www.divervision.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=34_51

I ordered mine from Japan http://www.uwdigitalcamera.com/En/default.php?pathID=0_0_0 Yuzo there is very helpfull.

Vannar, how are you getting on with your housing? I'm looking forward to mine arriving soon.

Im very happy with the housing. It handels superbly underwater and it is easy to become comfortable with the housing underwater. The sutter is smood and accurate aswell...

But my first impressions might be tru for all dslr housings, i do not know since this is my first one.

But anyway its much smaller than the ikelite housing, ant that alone might make the purchase worth it.

/Jonas

I've just ordered one of these, it should arrive next week   The 170 denotes the diameter of the dome 170mm.  I believe the size of it sits in between the sea and sea fisheye and compact dome.

 

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The diameter of the Compact dome is 174mm and 242mm for the fisheye dome port