Help with zen 170 dome port II

Good morning.

I would like to set up a configuration to use the oly 7-14 and the 12-40 pro.

My nauticam dealer sent me a quote with this:

N120 180mm Optical Glass Wide Angle Port................1189,38€

N120 Extension Ring 10 with Screws..............................135,93€

N85 to N120 55mm Port Adaptor...................................475,75€

O1240-Z Zoom Gear.......................................................226,55€

O714-Z Zoom Gear.........................................................226,55€

Now, I see in a USA store(bluephotostore), they sell a zen dome 170mm II, they say it is compatible with both lens, and if I understand correctly it is N85.

Do you know if I buy this dome I can mount both lens only buying O1240-Z Zoom Gear and O714-Z Zoom Gear?

Many thanks

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A3003 mediante Tapatalk

The version ii Zen dome you are describing does not fit the Oly 7-14, only the Panasonic 7-14. If you want a single optical glass dome from Zen for both the Oly 7-14 and 12-40, you need to get the 120 dome with appropriate adapters. That is what i use for those lenses. Going back to the items priced by your nauticam dealer, I would change things up a little and not get the extension with screws. You have to remove and reinstall the screws any time you wish to install or remove the extension ring. I don't recall for sure, but I think that means you need to get the Zen dome and not the nauticam. Check with a dealer before relying on that, however. I could be wrong.

I don't know about your local dealer, but most of the well known US dealers who sell nauticam also sell Zen and can help you with this. For example, Optical Ocean Sales, Bluewater Photo, Backscatter and Reef Photo.

As Draq says I know the 7-14mm Oly doesn't fit that port because I have it. The Panasonic 7-14mm does.

Hi Jetor,

Here is the compatibility chard for the Zen ports and Nauticam N85 housings:

http://www.jaredparsons.com/portchart/zen-only/by-combination-group/nauticam-n85/

Wolfgang

Thanks, I got it . can I ask you something... Do you think the oly 7-14 is good enough to spend the extra cost of the nauticam n85-120 adapter? I m just asking to know a real opinion. Many thanks

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A3003 mediante Tapatalk

The version ii Zen dome you are describing does not fit the Oly 7-14, only the Panasonic 7-14. If you want a single optical glass dome from Zen for both the Oly 7-14 and 12-40, you need to get the 120 dome with appropriate adapters. That is what i use for those lenses. Going back to the items priced by your nauticam dealer, I would change things up a little and not get the extension with screws. You have to remove and reinstall the screws any time you wish to install or remove the extension ring. I don't recall for sure, but I think that means you need to get the Zen dome and not the nauticam. Check with a dealer before relying on that, however. I could be wrong.

 

I don't know about your local dealer, but most of the well known US dealers who sell nauticam also sell Zen and can help you with this. For example, Optical Ocean Sales, Bluewater Photo, Backscatter and Reef Photo.

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A3003 mediante Tapatalk

You can use the 8mm in the 170mm dome but there are two options, the DP-170 is the one you want then you need to add the extension to use the 12-40mm or 7-14mm. The other one is DP-170 ii this one has a built in extension so you cannot use the 8mm in it.

Jetor:

I don't know that anyone has conducted any comparison tests underwater to see if either 7-14 is better than the other. Typical comparisons between lenses on land are not always helpful to underwater usage and the faster speed of the Olympus lens probably does not mean much in most underwater situations. Also keep in mind that variations form one lens to the next may be greater than any inherent differences between the brands, so even lens tests may not be helpful. However, these days Panasonic and Olympus seem to be increasingly diverging in their features and I think it can be beneficial to try and stick with the same brand lens and body. I did not used to feel that way and have several Panasonic lenses for my Olympus cameras. I am sure I will continue to buy some Panasonic lenses, but to give one example, Olympus has the new "pro-capture" feature that does not work with Panasonic lenses.

That said, the Panasonic 7-14 is less expensive than the Olympus and you can save quite a bit by avoiding adapters, so it may be worth it to get the Panasonic, especially if you are hoping for a single dome to use with the 8mm and the 7-14. Keep in mind that dome does not work with the 12-40.

You may want to wait and see how the 8-18 lens form Panasonic performs and what domes work with it. It is very close in size to the Panasonic 7-14.

I chose to go with the N120 dome that works with both the 7-14 and 12-40 and I use a small dome for the 8mm.

Hi Bear35 and Jetor,

As I wrote already in http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59963, it is very well possible to use the DP-170-N120 with the three following lenses (only the N120 version, the two other versions will not work with all three lenses):

#1.: Zuiko 12-40mm 2,6 Pro (this is the lens that I use already since recently). This requires the Nauticam 60mm N85-N120 adapter.

#2.: Zuiko 7-14mm 2,6 Pro. This requires a 20mm extension in addition (21120).

#3.: Zuiko 8mm FE 1,8 Pro. According to Zen this requires the DP-170-N120 port to be used with a 30mm N85-N120 adapter. This adapter is not available from Zen or Nauticam but is produced by Manfred Werner from http://www.unterwasserkamera.at/(a company located in Vienna).

I personally think the Zuiko 7-14mm and 8mm FE are worth the investment, but it is practically impossible to find direct comparison of lenses and domeports in underwater use. I just think when investing many thousands of Euros in an underwater camera (camera, housing, domport, flashes, ligths...) it is the wrong way to save some few hundreds of Euros on the cost of optical quality...

Wolfgang

Another thing Jetor: I see you are from Spain. When considering to order from a store located in US, take into account that you have to pay coustom and taxes.

I recently bougth a second hand housing (NA-EM5II) from US from a private person (advertised here in Wetpixel) and the coustomers charged me approx. 100 Euros in addition, just because it came from US. Was still a good bargain and I am happy with it, but buying within EU is easier...

Wolfgang

Architeuthis:

I am interested to see how that adapter works out, but I have no idea what it costs or how it will perform. As I understand it, you will not get yours until June or July. I think it It is hard for people to make a purchasing decision on an expensive dome based on the possibility that a custom part might be available to make it work. What is the cost of the adapter? Please let us know how it works out for you after you get it.

The cost of the custom adapter will be substantially less than what I payed for the premade 60mm from Nauticam (I will not tell the exact price here since the price was negotiated personally). The company already made a lot of adaptors and extensions, so no reason why it should not work. They also produce Zoom gears by themselves, the Zoom gear for the 12-40mm works very well and costed about half of the Zoom gear from Nauticam (https://www.unterwasserkamera.at/shop/catalog/product_info.php?info=p5833_d-d-na-em-olympus-m-zuiko-digital-ed-12-40mm-1-2-8-zoom-gear.html; I am not an employee of the company, but I really can recommend it ). Here I see space for saving money.

No practical example for optical quality with the 8mm FE yet, but it should be identical to using the 8mm FE with the DP-170-N85. According to Phil Burghard from Zen, the DP-170-N85 has a build in 30mm extension and for that reason he recommended to make the adaptor 30mm (The minimum distance the company can make such an adapter is 20mm). Phil also said the image quality with the 8mm FE is the best with the DP-170 dome (I am not shure, however, whether I will not acquire an additional DP-100 later, for close focus photos - the DP-170 is sometimes in the way when coming close...).

I will keep you informed, but unfortunalely it will take some time...

Wolfgang

Hello mates! I finally made a decision... Maybe is not the decision I wish, but I think is the smarter for me...

I cannot spend much more money, I sold my motorbike to afford the camera and housing... Lol!! I wish to buy the oly7-14, but the port system is expensive, and I know I want a 8mm... So, i Think I'll buy the 8mm first with the 170mm n85i dome, then maybe I'll get the pana 7-14 with the extension ring.

I m still looking for a dealer of zen in Europe, your right Wolfgang, If I buy in USA I probably must pay taxes in the border. I took a look to your dealer in Viena, but the website is only on german(I think) and I m scare to not choose the right dome. Many thanks to you guys... I would like to share a dive with you guys!

As I usually say, I m sorry if I had a mistake with my English..

Enviado desde mi ONEPLUS A3003 mediante Tapatalk

you can buy Zen gear from http://www.uw-fotopartner.de in Germany. Whether its cheaper than the US price plus customs charges you'll have to figure out yourself

And also dont expect any advise from them... They just sell...

Back to the Zen Dome: Does this have some way to use manual focus gear like the Nauticam 6'' acrylic? Their webpage only refers to the Zoom Gear.

thanks

I use the ZEN 200mm n120 optical glass port for the Olympus 7-14 and other lenses. It can be paired with the N85-N120 extension with a wheel for zoom or focus. It you use the focus wheel on the housing with the standard zoom gear you can then get focus with the gear off the port extension.

See attached parts. The photo is the same type of configuration with the N100-N120 port extension with focus wheel on the Nauticam Sony A7 II housing.

http://reefphoto.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=80_148_149&products_id=7472

http://reefphoto.com/shop/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=0&keyword=olympus+7-14mm+focus+gear

Many thanks, Phil. Looks beautiful.

Jetor

If it helps, http://www.nauticam.co.uk(Underwater Visions) Sell Zen ports as well as all the other stuff.

@Phil: Can you tell how the Zuiko 7-14mm performs when used with the Zen DP-200 dome compared to the Zen DP-170 dome?

Do you know the radius of curvature of the DP-200 dome (Could not find it on the Zen homepage, for the DP-170 it is already 110 mm)?

Wolfgang

Wolfgang: The Olympus 7-14 works very well with the ZEN 200 dome port. I used this port with the Nauticam system for the Sony A7R II ZEN has now discontinued the 200mm. Your choices would now be Zen 170, Nauticam 180 and Zen 230.

I used the Panasonic 7-14 with the Zen 170 port but have not used the Zen 170 port with the Olympus 7-14. As you would expect with a larger port the results with the Zen 200mm and only 7-14 were better in the corners than with the Pana 7-14 and the Zen 170 port.

Attached shots were taken at F/7.1 and F/6.3 so not as high as you could go to improve corners. The AngleFish is at the 14mm end the others are at the 7mm end. The bigger dome works better for the split images. Shot with EM1 II and Nauticam NA-EM1II housing.