Sony A7, Nauticam & Nikonos 15mm Lens shots

Had hoped to compare the Nikonos 15mm to the Zeiss 24-70mm in Cocos but the Zeiss extension arrived the day after we left, oh well.

It took a little getting use to and I would say about 30% of the shots were just out of focus. But especially in low light, low contrast, poor viz situations there is something to be said for manual focus. The Nikonos lens requires good eyesight as the f-stop and distance numbers are small and a little hard to read. I had to turn the camera on it's "side" to read them. The focus peaking feature on the Sony A7 was actually helpful.

Sorry, can't figure out how to link from Flickr. So here is the link to the shots at my website. All these were taken with the Sony A7 and Nikonos 15mm will add RX100II shots later.

http://aquabluedreams.com/#/gallery/costa-rica-june-2014/dsc82301/

The photos look beautiful. If I may be forward, the website interface is difficult (like Windows Charms being inadvertantly activated on the right side by you search & social media tags). There also doesn't seem to be a way to view the photos with enough resolution to get a good look at the details.

Desert Eagle, I appreciate the feedback. Not being very tech savvy always looking to improve the site. I think the max the program allows you to post is a 30mb photos. If you click on the photo it does give you a little larger version. Will look into the other issues.

Again thanks for the comments.

One other thought with the Nauticam and 15mm lens. I was on the fence with having the Vacuum Check System but the with the 15mm Adapter and 20yr old lens pairing the Vacuum system worked great did provide a sense of security.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm really interested in this setup.

What was it like shooting? Much of hassle? Would you recommend the system? Any other thoughts?

Cheers

So the main issues, obviously, are getting the focus right and making adjustments to f stop. Do you miss shots that an autofocus lens would get? Yes, a good one like the beloved Tokina 10-17mm. Making adjustments to distance and f-stop were a bit cumbersome in that I had to turn the camera on it's side to read the settings. The numbers are pretty small so I needed good light to see them. It is said "your fins are your best zoom gear" that goes double in this situation. Once you set the distance you have to keep that in mind.

I tried to shoot at f.8 or higher to give me a little room if the focus was off a little. The lens is sharp in the corners. The Manual focus did work well in low light and low viz situations. No hunting autofocus with grey sharks in murky water, just set the range and shoot. On the other hand it really did not work well on the White Tip Night Dive, everything just moved too fast to get any decent shots.

So in the end I am not in a rush to go out and buy a wide angle lens in the 15mm range when Sony or whomever comes out with one, the Nikonos works well. Now if I was going to the Sardine Run...

Hopefully this weekend I will get out with the 24-70mm and see how that does.

Have updated the gallery with photos taken with the RX100II, Nauticam housing, and Inon 100 Degree WA Lens. Still really impressed with the RX. Photos on the bottom of Page 1 (Shark in crack on) and all of Page 2 were taken the with RX100II.

http://www.aquabluedreams.com/#/gallery/costa-rica-june-2014/dsc82301/