Aquatica wide angle dome shade

I've never had much luck with Aquatica's fisheye dome shades. They're quite delicate and keep snapping in transit; nothing seems to be able to hold them together properly once they've broken. Anyway, I recently got my mitts on an Aquatica dome shade for wide-angle. Can anyone out there tell me if I can get away with using the wide-angle shade with lenses such as the Tok 10-17 and Nikon's 10mm (used with the same 8-inch acrylic dome port)? I was wondering if I can get away with it, or if the shade will intrude into the frame? I'll be in a position to test this in a pool soon, but if anyone out there has a definitive answer, I'd appreciate any feedback

Hi Simon,

Yes you can and it won't intrude in the frame. I use the dome shades with the 6, 8 and 9.25 inch Aquatica dome ports with a combination of WA lenses - Tokina 10-17mm, 10.5mm, and 16mm with and without a teleconverter and never had a problem.

Very best wishes,

Michael Patrick O'Neill

www.mpostock.com

Cheers Michael - and great to hear from you. Just to confirm that I'm talking about the wide-angle shade, as opposed to the fisheye shade for the 8-inch dome. Have you experience with this specific shade, as it is quite different to the fisheye shade?

All the best,

Simon

Ha, ok, Simon, you will probably get something in the frame then. I bought one of those and never used it, opting instead for the fisheye shade, because if it doesn't show up with fisheye lenses, it won't show up in narrower lenses.

BTW, I only starting using the fisheye shades about 10 years ago to protect to some extent the acrylic dome ports (on the boat, etc.). You can use the port without the wide angle shade, no problem. Flaring/glare with me was never an issue.

All the best,

MPO

I've never had much luck with Aquatica's fisheye dome shades. They're quite delicate and keep snapping in transit; nothing seems to be able to hold them together properly once they've broken. Anyway, I recently got my mitts on an Aquatica dome shade for wide-angle. Can anyone out there tell me if I can get away with using the wide-angle shade with lenses such as the Tok 10-17 and Nikon's 10mm (used with the same 8-inch acrylic dome port)? I was wondering if I can get away with it, or if the shade will intrude into the frame? I'll be in a position to test this in a pool soon, but if anyone out there has a definitive answer, I'd appreciate any feedback

Hi Simon,

You can. I am using a 8" dome with dome sahde, and it is perfect with my 10-17 from Tokina.

Damien

just to clarify, the Wide angle dome shade # 18482 (the thicker one on the right) will show up in the picture with fisheye lenses,

the Fisheye dome shade # 18480 (the thinner one on the left) will not vignette, Damien what you have is a Fisheye dome shade not the Wide Angle one.

I have had success reinforcing my 2 Aquatica fish eye shades with stainless steel strip - just glue the break with epoxy (not sure that it does much but at least it helps holds the shape while making the main repair) and then wrap the steel strip around. Drill holes at suitable intervals, tap some threads (1/8th works well and - it's easy to tap a thread into the plastic) then fasten the strip on with some stainless bolts.

After breaking one while traveling I fixed it and then just reinforced the other in the same way to save time - no more problems even after much air travel.

Regards

just to clarify, the Wide angle dome shade # 18482 (the thicker one on the right) will show up in the picture with fisheye lenses,

 

the Fisheye dome shade # 18480 (the thinner one on the left) will not vignette, Damien what you have is a Fisheye dome shade not the Wide Angle one.

Hello Jean,

You are right, I forgot to mention it as there is only one gear in my planet , my gear !!!

BTW, I took a 17-70 instead of the 10-24 Nikon, as per A. Mustard recommandation. We'll see !!

Thanks for making that so clear Jean. Broadly speaking I'm very happy with my Aquatica kit, but I do seem to have a propensity for snapping the dome shades.

All the best,

Simon Rogerson