60mm macro behind a dome port?

I'm sorry if this has been covered before. I'm curious what happens when you shoot with a Nikkor 60 behind a dome. I've never done it before.

Thanks

I'm sorry if this has been covered before. I'm curious what happens when you shoot with a Nikkor 60 behind a dome. I've never done it before.

Thanks

I have the Aquatica "macro dome" port that I used with my A3 and A4. A wonderful piece of equipment.

Basicly, chromatic aberation drops pretty much to zero.

So for a regular dome port, assuming the dome curve matches the apparent pupil of the lens, I would assume the same optical results.

I would also expect a lot of swearing and polishing from bumping the dome into stuff!

All the best, James

Another effect is a loss of magnification. The macro lens gains additional magnification behind a flat port (just like when we look through the flat glass in our mask), this magnification is lost behind a dome. Otherwise I didn't notice any difference.

Another effect is a loss of magnification. The macro lens gains additional magnification behind a flat port (just like when we look through the flat glass in our mask), this magnification is lost behind a dome. Otherwise I didn't notice any difference.

Would the distance from the lens to the port make a big difference like it does with a wide angle lens? I was having so-so results with one dome port and my 12-24 but when I switched to one that fit closer, the edge sharpness improved. I think the colors look truer too. Maybe I'm nuts...

Another effect is a loss of magnification. The macro lens gains additional magnification behind a flat port (just like when we look through the flat glass in our mask), this magnification is lost behind a dome. Otherwise I didn't notice any difference.

We had a thread on this awhile back. Yes. Objects do look bigger behind a flat port, but the maximum magnification of the lens does not change. Your 60mm is still 1:1, you just have to move in closer with a dome port to get that magnification.

I am assuming the most important point, although made above but not clear is that you can get closer to your subject with the flat port, less space from the lens to port and subject. The dome curving outward you will loose a few inches so in effect you are not getting as close to your subject. Is this a correct generalization? or do many ports differ with manuf.

Hi, what I meant to say (and Herb clarified) was that by placing a dome in front of the macro is as if you had a macro with a shorter focal length.

So, let's assume that to get a 1:1 magnification with a 60mm behind a flat port your port glass must be 5 inches from the subject (these are not the actual numbers, its just to make my point clear). When you use the same 60mm behind a dome you will have to get closer, let's say to 4 inches in front of your port glass. So, the risk of hitting something with your port gets higher with a dome and you will be less likely to photograph shy animals.

To answer the question about corner sharpness, the issue is not so important with macro lenses because their field of view is much smaller than that of the wide angles. By photographing only the central portion of the dome we eliminate most of the edge sharpness issues.

Despite some of my efforts to the contrary, this still has the original dome.

Superb results with the 60mm, not as good with 105mm.

All the best, James

Another issue is that you won't be able to add a wet lens like a Woody's diopter to the front of a dome.

I've done something similar with my Olympus 7070 - Athena dome and camera locked in super macro mode (55mm eqv.) and not using any converters. That worked very well! Camera focused very quickly/accurately and corners were sharp. It was great for taking portraits of crabs and things like that.