dome port question(s)

greetings fellow amphibians

im interested in shooting over-under style of photography.

i heard a dome port/fisheye lens is a must to achieve this and also to avoid that distortion.

so here i am at the crossroads with a couple of questions.

if i have a dome port with a normal (zoom) lens,

1)will i achieve over-under photography??

2) can i shoot macro with it?? how does it compared to the flat port??

please help.

(do share some sample pics/ advice)

thanx

What lens do you have?

You can do over-under with a dome. The larger the dome the easier and better.

As long as the lens is somewhat wide angle, and focuses close enough, you should be ok. It may require a diopter to focus on the virtual image created by the dome.

The macro behind a dome is generally not very good. Most lenses cannot focus close enough. There is a sigma 17-70 lens that is popular for this, though it is not near to 'real macro'.

The flat port gives much stronger macro, as it creates a view about 25% larger.

What lens do you have?

 

You can do over-under with a dome. The larger the dome the easier and better.

 

As long as the lens is somewhat wide angle, and focuses close enough, you should be ok. It may require a diopter to focus on the virtual image created by the dome.

 

The macro behind a dome is generally not very good. Most lenses cannot focus close enough. There is a sigma 17-70 lens that is popular for this, though it is not near to 'real macro'.

 

The flat port gives much stronger macro, as it creates a view about 25% larger.

thanx

that really helps

right now i only have a 18-55,

however im very interested in getting a fisheye lens (to go with a dome port)

but im sure with that i will not be shooting any nudis..

*sigh*

really torn apart between nudis & over-under...

I'm sorry to disagree, but without a fisheye lens it's very difficult to achieve sufficient depth of field with a split-level: a normal wide-angle lens will need a split dioptre, limiting the framing options available. The dome needs to be as big as possible, too, making it relatively awkward to handle.

Tim

I works, but a lens like the 18-55 is sort of a compromise. I use a Tamron 17-50 on my 40D behind a 6" dome as a catch-all when I don't know what to expect. You can do over/under as well as macro, though none works really well. A wide angle behind an 8" dome will make over/under easier and a real macro behind a flat port will give much better results on that end.

I have an example of an over/under here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4433...p;id=1508363838

and a macro here: http://lucato.name/images/photo.php?id=53&ln=9

Both were taken with the said Tamron 17-50 with a Canon 40D/20D in an Ikelite housing with a 6" dome.

Nikon D80, 8" dome, Tokina 10-17 @ 10, f/16

For decent split levels you need a big dome and very wide fisheye and f/16 to get everything in focus.

I tried with a Sigma 15mm FE on Nikon D80 and felt it wasn't wide enough. Bought a Tokina 10-17 and bingo.