Which Domeport for a Nikon D800?

I am about to take the step into the world of the D800. It will most likely end up a Subal or Nauticam Housing to it.

My main reasoning for these Manufacturers are the availability for service reasonably close.

Which Domeport should I choose to them? I plan to use a Nikon16-35mm Lense.

My question is more about optical Performance of the Domeport rather than scratches and imploding :-)

Nauticam:

According to their Lense Chart it should be OK with the Acrylic 8.5". They do a 9" as well and the ZEN 9" should also fit with the Port Locking.

Do the Glass ports justify the price difference, when it come to performance? Flaring and corner sharpness.

Is the ZEN 9" glass dome better than the Nauticam 9" glass dome?

Subal:

ZEN 9" glass dome or the Subal version?

So what are the pros and cons of these Domeports?

Does it really matter which one of the Glass Domeports that I choose?

Or is one better than the other?

/Erik

Get the 9" for that one. I believe that the glass in the 9" is the same in the Zen (where it originated), the Subal and the Nauticam.

I am writing an article at the moment all about this (domes and lenses for Nikon FX) for Wetpixel. I will post it after DEMA so it is not buried beneath the show news and new product announcements.

Alex

Ok, that would make sense that the glass is originally from the same place in all 3 of them 9" Glassdomes.

Sounds good that you are writing an article about it. I need to wait until the Boot in january anyway :-)

/Erik

Welcome to the wonderful world of the D800!

be advised that this camera will picture everything, also any erros and imperfections, so you should go only with the best in lenses and ports!

Have a look on this technical paper from Nikon regarding the D800 and it's use: http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D800/D800_TechnicalGuide_En_v2.pdf

I use/d 3 domes on my D800 in Hugyfot housing and my experiences are:

- Hugyfot 170mm dome ( better than expected picture quality, very sensible to (micro) scratches)

- Hugyfot minidome ( the small dome gives you a small rig and more CFWA possibilities, on the Sigma 15mm you need at least f/11 to avouid soft corners)

- Athena 174mm Vario glass dome: (excellent building quality, excellent anti-reflection coating, excellent picture quality, heavy)

I would go again with a Athena dome as it's price and build quality seems the best to me.

Chris

P.S. You better try personally the Dome-Lens combination under various conditions to be sure that you don't have problems with vignetting or soft corners.

Hi,

HUGYFOT D800 with

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm 1,2,8D IF-ED

ATHENA Fisheye Dome Port 200mm Series HUGYFOT with 75mm Extension

The Port will fit direkt on the HUGYFOT Housing without any Adapter and

works also with Fisheye oder Wide Lenses

The Athena V170 need a Adapter and with D800/D700 it can be a Problem with Vignetting

The only Way - ATHENA V170 for Inon and HUGYFOT Adapter (this Adapter is very Short near the Port)

Manfred

Get the 9" for that one. I believe that the glass in the 9" is the same in the Zen (where it originated), the Subal and the Nauticam.

 

I am writing an article at the moment all about this (domes and lenses for Nikon FX) for Wetpixel. I will post it after DEMA so it is not buried beneath the show news and new product announcements.

 

Alex

any feeling when this will be published?

Peter

I suspect I will write this over Christmas now. I am not going to have time while I am here in Cayman, sadly.

It will basically be a copy and paste article from close to 100 emails I have sent this year to people who have asked me this. I am not exaggerating on that 100. I would have been much better to write the article straight away and then just send the link!

Anyway, Peter, if you have a specific question - just email me.

Alex

I am looking forward to the article

I suspect I will write this over Christmas now. I am not going to have time while I am here in Cayman, sadly.

 

It will basically be a copy and paste article from close to 100 emails I have sent this year to people who have asked me this. I am not exaggerating on that 100. I would have been much better to write the article straight away and then just send the link!

 

Anyway, Peter, if you have a specific question - just email me.

 

Alex

Keep the thread alive...I contacted Hugyfot and the guys are very helpful

Resurrecting this topic since I just bought a D800 with the Nauticam housing.

I plan to use it with the Sigma 15mm and the Nikon 16-35mmF4.

Here in Japan, the Nauticam port chart suggests two options for the Nikon 16-35mm: The nauticam 200mm acrylic port or the Athena 170mm glass port. Either of these ports is also supposed to work with both lenses.

However, based on what I've read on this forum, the Athena 170mm is not suitable at all for the Nikon 16-35mm and produces heavy vignetting (to the point of unusability) on the Sigma 15. Can anyone whose tested this combination confirm? Is the Nauticam Japanese port chart just plain wrong? Is it perhaps assuming an APS-C camera?

Assuming that the 170mm is too small, is the Nauticam 200mm acrylic a reasonable option? I would prefer the 230mm, but it seems Fisheye Co., the Japanese dealer for Nauticam doesn't import anything bigger than the 200mm port. I don't want to compromise image quality too much, but it seems I'm limited as to my options. The only bigger dome I can find is this Sea and Sea Fisheye dome port 240 here: http://www.seaandsea.jp/products/digital_slr/port/index.html

However, I can't tell if it would be compatible with the nauticam housing, or only sea and sea housings. Any advice?

Athena 170 won't vignette (IE black corners), but you'll see more corner softness with a smaller dome and this lens than you will a bigger dome. You could mitigate this with a strong diopter (maybe +4?), but that will narrow the lens' fov, increase pincushion distortion, and increase purple fringing.

A bigger dome, like the particularly impressive model that Alex uses, is less likely to need this additional closeup lens. I'm comfortable using that combo with no diopter in almost all shooting situations. There is however a travel size and initial expense tradeoff.

Once you pick up a dome, I think buying a cheap set of closeup lenses and spending a half an hour in a pool comparing image quality with no diopter, +1, +2, and +4 is a worthwhile endeavor. It will teach you a lot more about your gear than any internet expert can.

Fisheye, Co. Ltd will import Zen 230 domes on a special order basis, but I don't believe they inventory it because small size resonates with the Japanese domestic market.

Agree with Ryan. Smaller domes will "work" just not as well as the bigger ones. Bit of a waste of a Nikon D800 not to get the best optical quality out of the lenses underwater.

I use the Zen 230 always with the 16-35mm on D800 and other FX slrs. A smaller dome (IMO down to about 6"/150mm) is OK with the Sigma 15mm, but the smaller the dome the more you should keep the lens stopped down for acceptable corner sharpness.

Alex

I ended up going for the Zen 230 and I do not regret it.

The Corners are great, even with the 16-35mm without Diopters.

The downside is cost ( only hurts once ) and size ( for travelling).