sigma 17-70mm in a Sea and Sea

Hey folks,

I'm intersted in giving the sigma 17-70mm a punt in my sea and sea 350D housing.

Only thing is, there is no support for it on the sea and sea site. I'm already using a sigma 10-20mm without zoom gear (not a problem as I use it for the 10mm end). But there would be no point in getting the 17-70 withought the gear.

Sooooooo, does anyone know a gear that would do the trick? Or somthing that I could modify?

I know it's a long shot but there might be someone out there......?

Thanks again

Rob

The outside diameter of the zoom ring on the lens is 70mm. This may help others to give you an idea of what Sea & Sea zoom gears for other lenses may fit. I can't help in this area as I'm using a Subal housing.

Thanks Gudge....and for your earlier info on DiveOZ!

Cheers

Rob

The gear for the nikon 18-35 gear will work but you'll have to file a small notch in it.

Tom

Tom, Thats interesting news. Do use this nikon gear in a canon housing? I just want to make sure before I spend $$$$ on a cog!

Cheers

Rob

A friend of mine uses it with his Nikon. I didn't notice you were using Canon when I posted but the diameter is the same for both brands. I would e-mail Ryan just to be sure.

Tom

I'm also interested in this lens/enclosure combo, and emailed Sea&Sea about it.

Here is part of their reply:

Currently we do not offer a zoom gear that will fit that lens, nor will

there be one in the future.

I guess its up to us consumers to find a workable solution.

-kbs

I've never actually held the Canon variant, but the Nikon was a very easy modification to the 18-35 zoom gear as stated above.

I'd be willing to make one for anyone that sent me a lens.

After you solve zoom gear issues, you may want to figure wich port you must use for this lens, I use this on an Ikelite and with 6" dome port I had to dremmel tool the shade in order to reduce vignetting, I think this work better under a bigger dome port since doesn´t need a diopter to focus.

I think I've solved the port thing already, though need to do a final check. Using a Sea&sea housing, extension 40 and the Athena dome. When wide the lens sits back in the dome where it should and when focussed close and zoomed for macro the front of the lens very nearly touches the glass dome. (this is the bit i need to do a final check with....don't want any scratches!)

I'm hoping this wil all work as it could be quite a versatile setup.

I have the extension 40 and the Sea&Sea fisheye dome port, and the rest of the message from Sea&Sea about this lens is that those ports should work:

The fisheye dome and the extension 40 should work. It close focuses well

enough to not need a diopter (7.9").

 

Thank you for your inquiry.

-kbs

Thanks KBS, the Fisheye dome is nearly twice as seep as my Athena, that's why I'm thinking i might need to throw a SX ring in there as well.

Really versatile setup, and excellent lens.

- just the post I was hoping to find after a month away.

I have the Sea & Sea DX50 housing and after a fisheye and macro lens a better close focus mid range range zoom really interests me. Can anyone help me with the following queries:

Regarding getting a zoom gear to fit, the specs indicate the Sigma 17-70 has a diameter of 79.0mm as opposed to the Nikkor 18-35 having 82.7mm. Surely to get this zoom gear to fit something has to be used to pack out the space rather than file something off? How exactly to you get this zoom gear to fit?

I have the Sea & Sea compact dome port. Would a 40mm extention ring be all that is needed to fit the sigma?

What would be required to use this sigma behind the NX flat port (even if it is optically not that great at the wide end)? Would a 40mm ring do the job? Would a 22mm ring or the SX ring be long enough. Any vignetting at the wide end?

Thanks for any reply

Hey, well I finaly got my sigma 17-70mm. Been testing it out of water and think it's FANTASTIC, thanks for the recomendation Gudge!

RE the lens in the Sea&sea. TKR, I have a 40 ring and the Athena dome which is roughly the same size as the S&S compact dome. With this configuration the lens DOES touch the dome at about 55-60mm zoom. This is without a filter in place. So I would say that an SX ring should be used with the 40 when using the compact dome or the Athena dome.

Cheers

Thanks for the feedback Notoious. I'm not sure if I like the sound of having a lens that can be zoomed out to bang in to the port. Using two extention rings sounds costly too.

This lens certainly does have large change in length when zooming. I'm not sure how good optically this arrangement can be underwater.

I'll let you know, just call me guinea pig!

Regarding getting a zoom gear to fit, the specs indicate the Sigma 17-70 has a diameter of 79.0mm as opposed to the Nikkor 18-35 having 82.7mm. Surely to get this zoom gear to fit something has to be used to pack out the space rather than file something off? How exactly to you get this zoom gear to fit?

The figures you have quoted above are the maximum diameter of the lenses. I don't know about the Nikkor 18-35 but the zoom control on the Sigma 17-70 is slightly smaller at 70mm diameter. I'm guessing the zoom control on the Nikkor is about the same.

This lens certainly does have large change in length when zooming. I'm not sure how good optically this arrangement can be underwater.

First UW Pictures with Sigma 17-70

More Sigma 17-70 Shots from Ningaloo

Sigma 17-70 Tryout

Thanks Gudge for all the information. Some excellent attatchments.

It looks like a 40mm ring plus dome on your Subal is good for this lens. The photos show well the range of subjects the lens can do.

The use of a dioptre puzzles me though. Is it really needed?

I would also be interested to hear if you have used this lens behind a flat port and how you got on.

The use of a dioptre puzzles me though. Is it really needed?

I would also be interested to hear if you have used this lens behind a flat port and how you got on.

I haven't used the 17-70 behind a flat port because:

• The performance of the lens at 17mm behind a flat port will be less than desirable; and
  
• I'm sure there will be vignetting problems at the 17mm end of the zoom as well