Nikon D850 equipment Adivice Needed!

Hi I just bought a Nikon D850 and I need some help with my equipment choices. I currently use with my old DSLR camera an Ikelite housing and strobes, but for this new camera i was looking into Nauticam and Subal. I got a full equipment setup with nauticam and just wanted someone to help check if everything is OK or there might be some items that are not that usefull. I have three lenses in mind for underwater use 8-15mm, 16-35mm and 105mm. this is the underwater equipment.

nauticam housing

macro port 87 for 105mm

2 nauticam 200mm ball arm

2 nauticam 70x250 aluminum float arm

zen DP-100 glass dome port for 8-15mm

zen 230mm glass dome for 16-35mm

45 degree viewfinder

2 inon z330 strobes with optical fiber cable (or is sync cords better?)

so is this setup a good choice? do I need both domes? and i need help to figure out how to travel with this (please recommend a case) I use a pelican case now with my Ikelite housing but a lot of friend divers told me that the attract to much attention, that is heavy and that there might be a way to pack everything on a carry on bag.

I really appreciate all of your help in advance, I know how much this things cost and making the best decision is important to get it right from the start.

Thank you.

Looks a good choice to me although does the 8-15 work with the Zen100? I’m not sure but others will have a view. You definitely need the 230 dome for the 16-35.

I’m not so familiar with Nauticam, but do you need extension rings with the ports? And you’ll need zoom rings too for the WA zooms.

I’d go with fibre optic rather than sync cables. I’ve found moving to fibre a big plus: easy connections, less fiddly, more reliable and cheaper.

As for carrying case, I’ve been hauling a Pelican case (1510) for 15 years as cabin baggage. I can’t get everything in it by any means but it’s great for the crucial stuff.

Thank you for your response. I dont know about that zen dome. But they said it it good for that lense the bigger domes will show the shades if you go below the 16mm.

Yes I have selected port extensions and zoom gear for the ports but I didnt mention them, long list Lol.

That pelican case as carry on, isnt it to heavy to bring it on the plane?

OK, cool on the port and zoom gears

On the Pelican case, yeah, horribly heavy. Fully loaded about 14kgs. But no matter what bag you get as a carry-on, it's always going to be fully loaded and horribly heavy! One of the arts of u/w photog is struggling on a plane with a very loaded bag and making it look as light as a feather......

This Pelican does have wheels and looks surprisingly compact. As I posted, 15 years and, fingers crossed, touch my head, no problem.

The advantage, I think, of the Pelican, is that if the worst happens and you have to hold load it, you know it'll survive.

You can always place it inside a conventional roller bag to hide what people say as the Steal-Me-Pelican effect.

A friend of mine recommended me to not buy the 8-15mm and instead buy a sigma 15mm and just stick with the large dome. Is this a good choice?

How are you triggering the Z-330? Don't believe the D850 has built in flash, so you'll need a trigger to use fibre optics. Choice of trigger will depend on whether you want TTL or not.

I think the housing comes with a LED trigger, Ill be using the finer optics.

A friend of mine recommended me to not buy the 8-15mm and instead buy a sigma 15mm and just stick with the large dome. Is this a good choice?

I'm afraid I can't compare the two (yet!) but the Sigma 15mm is good for sure and doesn't really need a 230 dome - though if you plan to use a Nikon 16-35 that DOES need a 230 dome. The Sigma should be fine with a smaller, 170, dome. Over the last 4-5 years the Sigma has been my go-to wide-angle lens.

My housing manufacturers (Subal) recommends either of those domes for the Nikkor 8-15 - I don't know about Nauticam but I'm sure you can find that on their website.

There have been a number of posts on WP about the 8-15 so if you do a Search you should find them.

I think the housing comes with a LED trigger, Ill be using the finer optics.

So it does, it does manual triggering and TTL is an option.

I did note the vacuum valve is an accessory, so you may want to add one of those to your list.

The port charts are here: http://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/images/articles/NauticamPC/2018/N120%20Nikon%20System.pdf

and for Zen they are here: http://www.jaredparsons.com/portchart/zen-only/by-combination-group/nauticam-n120/

There are 4 dome options for the 8-15 listed for Nauticam. You may want a smaller dome for the fisheye for travel and to better facilitate CFWA and Zen offers a 4" glass dome while Nauticam offers a 140mm glass dome.

4" glass dome with full frame is not a great option unless you shoot at f/11 or greater.

This will be especially true with the D850's resolution.

I would look at a 6" or 170mm dome.

There is a huge amount of info on this forum about lens choices for the D850. I would suggest having a good search around...

All the best

Adam

I have the 16-35mm and ill buy the 230mm zen dome for it, the question is in the other lense, should I get the signa 15mm and use the same 230mm dome, or get the 8-15mm with the zoom gear and the 100 dome.

I have the 16-35mm and ill buy the 230mm zen dome for it, the question is in the other lense, should I get the signa 15mm and use the same 230mm dome, or get the 8-15mm with the zoom gear and the 100 dome.

Hmmm, if you bought the 100 dome you'd then have two domes to travel with. Maybe not an issue.

The Sigma works very well and was pretty much considered the go-to lens for FE on FX; and better than the Nikkor 16mm. I'm not sure the Nikon 8-15 is significantly better - others may have a view. I'm not entirely sure that the 8-15 is really a zoom between 8mm and 15mm. Yes, technically it is, but I'm starting to find that, in practice, it's two lenses - a 15mm like the Sigma and an 8mm circular fisheye image. If you really want that effect it's good and not achievable on the Sigma. But I'm not yet convinced there is huge benefit in the "zoom" aspect of 9-14mm.

As you'll have seen on the 8-15mm posts, Walt Sterns has been using it successfully with the Kenko 1.4 giving more options. So that's another thought.

What's "better" may well come down to a very personal decision. How many lenses do you want? How many ports? There's nothing wrong with the Sigma or the Nikon 8-15 options. Both are very good. Maybe the Nikon 8-15 provides slightly more options. Is it worth getting the 100 dome to go with it? That probably gives you the CFWA options too. But then the same is true with the Sigma plus the Kenko.

Decisions, decisions.

Im going to use the following w/45 degree viewfinder

105 w/smc and multiplier as possible

60mm

Sigma 15 with zen170mm

16-35/4 with a big dome primarily

I wish the wacp wasnt so big, in price and size, so not sure about it yet.

The 230mm glass dome will work for the 8-15, the 15, and the 16-35. You just get an extension port for the 16-35. The larger domes have better optical quality than the small ones and allow you to take split shots. So I skipped the small dome.

I wish the wacp wasnt so big, in price and size, so not sure about it yet.

Have you checked out the Sea & Sea Internal Correction Lens? There's a thread about that on here. It seems to really help with corner sharpness, I'm surprised there aren't more people talking about it. I'm hoping that a 16-35mm lens + S&S correction lens + 9" dome will get me pretty close to WACP sharpness. At least until they have the WACP 2 that's half the size/weight/price someday. Here's hoping.

The 230mm glass dome will work for the 8-15, the 15, and the 16-35. You just get an extension port for the 16-35. The larger domes have better optical quality than the small ones and allow you to take split shots. So I skipped the small dome.

But the 230mm with the 8-15 it needs a zoom gear right? And if you open the lens to 8mm will the shades show? I dont know how easy are zen 230mm shades to be removed. I know the smaller dome port is just a twist to remove it.

If you were to choose between sigma 16mm or nikon 8-15mm which one would be your choice?

Thank you!