Split shots with Micro Four Thirds and rectilinear lens

Has anyone tried a split shot with the Panasonic 7-14 and wide angle port?

The dome for the fisheye is really small at 11cm and I don't like the distortion.

I tried last year with a Nikon D7100 and Tokina with the 20cm dome but had to zoom to 16mm to get rid of distortion I like the resulting shot

I am aware the image with the fisheye will be sharper but the larger port seems easier to handle for a split

Here's mine:

P1070593.jpg by bonadjalins, on Flickr

GH4, 7-14 with nauticam housing and Nauticam 180mm glass dome. I've cropped the pic basically to make the "candi" (or castle) a bit bigger in the centre of the frame. Shot at Menjangan island, Bali - Indonesia.

Hope the pic helps.

Good image however 18 cm dome will be definitely easier than 15 to shoot. I can't open the exit on Flickr what settings did you use?

Strange.. I did not hide the EXIF

Anyhow I use f/8, 1/400, ISO 200 at 7mm.

I got myself the lens second hand now looking at the nauticam port that will make splits even more challenging as the water in a way sticks but we should see

Hey bona I looked at your pictures and at f/4.5 the corners look really bad. However I can't really see lots of difference between f/6.3 f/7.1 and f/8. What's your experience been? Have you tried f/5.6?

I use f/8 almost exclusively now for still, when I just got the lens I did try f/4 and f/5.6 but both did not give "predictable" corner sharpness. Some times f/4 did give good corner like bellow:

P1070051.jpg by bonadjalins, on Flickr

But most of the times f/4 and 5.6 the corner were horrible. So just to be safe I use f/8.

It depends on the distance to the subject. In this case the corners are further behind in other cases they are in the same focal plane of the centre of the picture. For reef shots you really want to use the fisheye, this lens is more for wreck interiors and large fish where there is blue water background

I bought the lens and it worked well

Sunset by Interceptor121, on Flickr

Ras Katy by Interceptor121, on Flickr

Selfie by Interceptor121, on Flickr

I have used both ZEN 170mm ports, open water shot is ZEN type I with the Olympus 12mm F/2 and the pool shots are with the ZEN type II (longer extension for the Olympus 12-40 F/2.8 and the Panasonic7-14mm zooms). The pool shots are also at 12mm with Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8, I like 12mm for people shots and find the corners look very good compared to some of the wider AOV's of the 9-18 and 7-14mm.

EM-5 in Nauticam housing, Pany 7-14mm with 6"dome port,

Olele village 2 by Wisnu Purwanto, on Flickr

Are such pretty split shots also possible with a smaller Port?

e.g. the Nauticam 6" Port http://www.nauticam-shop.com/detail/index/sArticle/5939

or Subal 4" Port http://www.subal.com/a131c15c32/Ports/Dome_Ports/DP_100_Dome_Port.aspx

Both Wisnu and I use the 6" port. 4" requires very still conditions

ah, thx4info!

and which body do you use?

Panasonic GX7. Panasonic lenses tend to work better with Panasonic bodies as there is automatic distortion as chromatic aberration correction. I understand distortion gets corrected anyway as part of lens profiles but not CA so you may want to check this lens combination with an Olympus body as removing ca in post leads to even more soft corners

Panasonic GX7. Panasonic lenses tend to work better with Panasonic bodies as there is automatic distortion as chromatic aberration correction. I understand distortion gets corrected anyway as part of lens profiles but not CA so you may want to check this lens combination with an Olympus body as removing ca in post leads to even more soft corners

the correction is also done in the RAW-file, or just in the jpeg?