Panasonic 8mm + Zen DP-100-S3 + PA-N85-S3 = dome petals visible in photo?

I finaly managed yesterday to go and test the Panny 8mm in zen dome using the nauticam milc adapter to make everything fit together.

The result puzzled me a bit as not only did I get dome petals/shades visible in the corners (something I had seen before when using the inon WA wet lens on my previous setup), but the bottom petal is realy visible, whereas the top one not at all. I would expect then both to be visible.

I have attached two sample photos to demonstrate what I am talking about. Is this expected behaviour of such setup? The camera cannot be misaligned to shoot a bit upwards as it would not fit the nauticam housing (NA-EM5).

I can crop, this is not a dealbreaker of any sort but I did not anticipate this.

I have had the same problem with my Nauticam NA-EM1 with a Nauticam to Zen adapter and the Panasonic 8mm lens. I sent the whole system to Reef Photo and they tried to adjust the camera to fix the issue. They were partially successful and apparently, this is a know issue as I was told that Zen is working on a dome to fix this issue.

Interesting, thank you for sharing this info.

It seems this may be due to the adapter moving the sensor a bit back and the lens accordingly from the dome itself. This is probably not the issue with native zen domes without the adapter.

I do not know what adjustments can be made to the camera to fix this, but I will rather just crop the image as there's plenty of room to do so. It seems to me if you adjust the camera for UW use it may affect its performance on land, not something I am keen on doing.

Can you post a photo of a side view of your port system when it is installed on the housing? I have never had any of these issues with the ZEN 100 port for Subal type III and the Panasonic 8mm on my Nauticam NA-EM1 housing.

Sure, sorry for the poor quality but it should suffice:

I have attached photos of your port configuration (top view) the ZEN DP-100-s3 + PA-N85-s3, the ZEN DP-100 port for the Panasonic 8mm, the PA-N85-S3 adapter ring and the DP-100-S3 port.

The DP-100 is a combination of the 100mm port with a Subal type 3 mount and the PA-N85-S3 extension with a Nauticam Mini mount.

The DP-100-S3 is a combination of the 100mm port and a different Subal type 3 mount which mounts to Subal housings for Fisheye lenses that are longer than the Pana 8mm.

Your port configuration and the DP-100 for Panasonic 8mm look different to me, two distinct seems where the O-Rings are rather than one. So the ZEN DP-100 has the visible O-ring on the PA-N85-S3 adapter and a second O-ring where the adapter and port connect. Your port configuration looks like it has three O-rings rather than two.

Bottom line is that if your port extends further from the housing than the DP-100 port it is going to vignette.

Thanks Phil.

The adapter is as pictured (and bought from Reef Photo). I could not fit a different zen dome other than subal type 3 in it (at least I hope so ). I can confirm we are talking about two o rings, one that goes into the housing and the other that is on the dome itself and it goes into adapter.

I will double check if there was any other possibility of an operator error, it is a very snug fit, not easy to assemble/dissasemble.

In any case, it is not much of an issue as there is plenty of room to crop but better make sure not to flood the whole thing by having assambled it wrong.

Aleksandar, shoot an email to glass at zenunderwater.com. You have an older DP-100-S3, from back before Nauticam even existed I think, that was a two piece design. Now it is a one piece part, placing the glass closer to the Panasonic 8mm lens, and solving this problem.

With current parts there is no vignetting with E-M5 and Pansonic 8mm.

Aleksandar, shoot an email to glass at zenunderwater.com. You have an older DP-100-S3, from back before Nauticam even existed I think, that was a two piece design. Now it is a one piece part, placing the glass closer to the Panasonic 8mm lens, and solving this problem.

 

With current parts there is no vignetting with E-M5 and Pansonic 8mm.

Hi Ryan,

thanks for the info, I will get in touch. I was not aware that there were two types of this dome (and it seems the internet didn't know as well as I did some extensive searching to make sure i don't have the wrong parts ).

BTW, I must give compliments to the level of service I received from your colleagues on my email inquiries and delivery of items as requested.

BR

Alex