60 mm macro and Zen minidome

Here are some shots from a short trip to the Swedish west coast. The visibility was horrible, so I decided to try something else than my usual 100 mm macro lens. I used the EF-S 60 mm macro, but as I do not own a specific macro port for it, I decided to try to use my Zen mini dome with it. Here are some results. More can be found on http://www.pbase.com/borneobent/sweden_2011 . Comments and suggestions are as always welcome.

And a couple more

regards

Bent C

Wow, very nice pics. It's really interesting to see the marine life from other parts of the world.

I've never tried a macro lens behind a dome port before. Does it have a distorting effect?

These came out very well.

Thanks to both of you.

With regard to the distortion, as I understand it there will be no distortion behind a dome (asumming that the dome is correctly positioned relativ to the lens). With flat ports, some extra enlargement will happen (which might be called distortion??), and this enlargement effect will be lost with a dome port. This might of course be a problem for really small stuff, but for small stuff I wouldn´t prefer the 60 anyway. Also, add on lenses such as the SubSee is of course out of the question when using the 60 behind the mini dome. I will try the 60-mini dome combination on my next Lembeh trip in September for some frog fish and octopus pictures, where the EF 100 macro simply is to narrow to get the whole animal. I wil probably also try it for some reef fish pics later in the year.

/regards Bent

Hi Bent,

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.

I have a nauticam 7D housing and am waiting to get the macro port for the same from singapore. But before this, have a dive trip to philippines next week. Do you think the 60mm will work with the mini dome ? Does one need to put the extension ring ? Thanks for any info or help on this.

Cheers,

Diggy

Hi Diggy

I used the minidome for the 10-17 without extension for the pictures above. For somewhat "larger" macro stuff such as nudis and close ups of larger stuff such as frogfish, I am pretty sure you will be happy with the 60 and the mini dome. However, when I was in the Philippines earlier this year, I certainly would have missed my 100 mm and the SubSee for the abundant very small macro stuff (as an example, images such as http://www.pbase.com/borneobent/image/132585831 ) I believe more or less need 100´s with some extra enlargement). Then again, as you can see on the other pictures of that gallery, and the two other Philippines galleries there, there were loads of stuff that would have been very good to shoot with the 60, and probably even better with the 60, so you will probably be fine.

Have a nice trip. I will be back there in january and looking very much forward to it.

And maybe a word of caution also. You will come pretty close to ypur subjects with the minidome and a macro. Be careful not to hit anything with it!

regards

Bent

Hi Bent,

 

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

I have a nauticam 7D housing and am waiting to get the macro port for the same from singapore. But before this, have a dive trip to philippines next week. Do you think the 60mm will work with the mini dome ? Does one need to put the extension ring ? Thanks for any info or help on this.

 

Cheers,

 

Diggy

nice shots!

Thanks Bent,

I am not sure if the 60 mm will fit with the nauticam minidome cause the 10-17 will touch the inner part of the dome without extension. BUt will try it out. Anyway at this point i don't have a subsee let me try and lay my hands on one before the trip if feasible.

Will revert once i am back with results. BTW this will be the very first time for me with the 7D Nauti combo :-)

Cheers,

Diggy

Hi Diggy

 

I used the minidome for the 10-17 without extension for the pictures above. For somewhat "larger" macro stuff such as nudis and close ups of larger stuff such as frogfish, I am pretty sure you will be happy with the 60 and the mini dome. However, when I was in the Philippines earlier this year, I certainly would have missed my 100 mm and the SubSee for the abundant very small macro stuff (as an example, images such as http://www.pbase.com/borneobent/image/132585831 ) I believe more or less need 100´s with some extra enlargement). Then again, as you can see on the other pictures of that gallery, and the two other Philippines galleries there, there were loads of stuff that would have been very good to shoot with the 60, and probably even better with the 60, so you will probably be fine.

 

Have a nice trip. I will be back there in january and looking very much forward to it.

 

And maybe a word of caution also. You will come pretty close to ypur subjects with the minidome and a macro. Be careful not to hit anything with it!

 

regards

 

Bent

Nice ones!

See you soon in Lembeh Bent ...

Serge

Thanks Serge! Man, am I looking forward to 20something degrees of water. Also, compared to the viz I had on those dives, Lembeh is gin clear megaviz!!!

See you soon!

Bent

Nice ones!

 

See you soon in Lembeh Bent ...

 

 

Serge

Hi Bent,

Nice shots!

Just to be clear, you were shooting the Canon EFS 60mm behind the Zen 100mm (mini) dome with no extension ring? Did you need to use the 13mm extension ring (recommended by Subal) when you used the Tokina 10-17? The reason I ask is that I'm assembling the exact same setup (7D + Subal CD7 + Zen 100mm). Cheers!

.mike

Thanks Serge! Man, am I looking forward to 20something degrees of water. Also, compared to the viz I had on those dives, Lembeh is gin clear megaviz!!!

 

See you soon!

 

Bent

Very nice shots. thanks for sharing.

Yes, I shot the EFS 60 behind the Zen minidome with for Nauticam and the 10-17. As the 60 mm is about the same length as the 10-17 I did not add any exyension.

I am now packing for my next trip. As cabin luggage I will bring the above setup as well as the 10-17. I will then be able to shoot both macro and WA if anything happens to the checked in luggage. Supermacro and big domes will be checked, but most often it is OK to wait a couple of days for those if the luggage gets delayed. Preliminary it seems as if I will not be wildly over 10 kgs in the carry on bag. However, I then have a couple of big pockets and one of those horrible waistbags with the Camera and lens in it. Still way better than before.

Cheers Bent

Hi Bent,

 

Nice shots!

 

Just to be clear, you were shooting the Canon EFS 60mm behind the Zen 100mm (mini) dome with no extension ring? Did you need to use the 13mm extension ring (recommended by Subal) when you used the Tokina 10-17? The reason I ask is that I'm assembling the exact same setup (7D + Subal CD7 + Zen 100mm). Cheers!

 

.mike

Hi Diggy

 

I am pretty sure you will be happy with the 60 and the mini dome. Then again, as you can see on the other pictures of that gallery, and the two other Philippines galleries there, there were loads of stuff that would have been very good to shoot with the 60, and probably even better with the 60, so you will probably be fine.

 

And maybe a word of caution also. You will come pretty close to your subjects with the minidome and a macro. Be careful not to hit anything with it!

 

regards

 

Bent

Very nice work Bent!

I have been testing the Bare Dome Port with the Nikon 60mm in the pool and have had similar successes, with no extention needed.

Using the 60 with a dome will allow one to photograph slightly larger creatures as well as head and shoulder shots of divers.

You are right about being able to get very close to your subject; care with distance is definitely in order.

I cannot wait to try the Bare Dome with the 60mm on my next trip.

Good luck on your upcoming venture and be sure to post some of your favorites.

Barry

www.bareports.com

www.keywordworkflow.com

Here are a couple more with then EF-S 60 and the Zen mini dome. This time obviously not from Sweden though, Lembeh is the place. Once again, I like the 60 with somewhat larger animals. I will definitely try it again on the next trip. However, it is very easy to get just to close and get some scratches on the dome. I haven´t succeeded yet, but it has been a really close call a couple of times. On the other hand, the same problem applies to CWFA with the 10-17, so that might just be the nature of using the Zen dome for close ups and something to learn to handle.

A Hypselodoris laying eggs

A coconut octopus

Cheers Bent

Thanks Bent,

Not sure how I missed this thread before asking about this exact setup in another thread. Great shots and thanks for sharing your experience. I also have the Zen mini-dome and have been hoping I could use it with a (yet to be purchased) 60mm AF-S. This seals the deal, I'm pulling the trigger on a lens today

-Erin

It's cool, but you lose a little macro because of the dome. It's probably best in the mid-range rather the super-macro. It looks to me as if you don't quite get 1:1...

... but I think that some of the most attractive shots are at about 3:2 anyway, as you prove in some really nice images.

Tim

You are absolutely right, some enlargement is lost due to the curvature of the port. I was under the impression that the enlargement lost is what is won by using a flat port in water compared to air, such that the dome would bring the lense back to 1:1, but I am not really sure. Anyway, I do now use the "proper" flat 60 macro port, and also a diopterholder with a SubSee, so the small dome is now for WA or emergencies in case my checked stuff doesn't make it. Still good to know that alternatives exist and that it is possible to do quite varied shooting with the stuff I carry on.

It's cool, but you lose a little macro because of the dome. It's probably best in the mid-range rather the super-macro. It looks to me as if you don't quite get 1:1...

 

... but I think that some of the most attractive shots are at about 3:2 anyway, as you prove in some really nice images.

 

Tim