Adapting Nikonos RS R-UW AF 13mm f2.8 lens to a Nauticam housed digital SLR camera

I have a question regarding adapting Nikonos RS R-UW AF 13mm f2.8 lens to a housed digital SLR camera. I know Seacam has successfully reconfigured and modernized the lens by separating the front element and turning it into a front port while the rest of the elements fit the camera body in the case of the Seacam housings.

My question here is, would the same set up work if the same front Seacam/RS 13 port was fitted into a Nauticam adapter for Seacam ports?

The distance from the adapted port mount to the sensor plane (or other reference plane on the camera body), or registration distance, would have to be the same as a Seacam housing. This is not seemingly likely as this is not claimed in the adapter description: https://www.nauticam.com/collections/port-adapters/products/adaptor-for-seacam-ports-custom-part

Note that there is a slight port extension to the adapter The native Nauticam port mount registration distance would have to be less than that of Seacam by this amount of port extension for it to work as you want.

It may be possible for Seacam to supply the port part with a Nauticam mount instead of Seacam.

@Walt, Andrej Belic can do the conversions and builds the native adapters for Nauticam housings. I suspect, as Tom said, mounting it the way youre considering would change the relationship of the lens elements to the water contact elements and likely impact image quality in some way. The way Andrej does it, the lens remains as one part. There is an adapter that seals the housing and then the lens seals against the adapter while mounting directly to the camera. I use it this way and have never had an issue.

Walt

I had the same question a few years ago and was unable to find any answers... so I swallowed hard and pulled the trigger. The answer is YES, it works fine.

I used the RS 13mm with a D800 in a Nauticam housing with a port adapter. It works perfectly, mechanically and optically. Never happier with the result!!

Until I converted the 20-35 RS lens:(

Despite many attempts and $$$ I was unable to adapt the zoom gear to work in the Nauticam. Reluctantly, I sold the Nauticam setup and bought a Seacam for the D800. Both lenses work flawlessly in that setup, but I miss the practicality of the Nauticam design.

So, in short, It works just fine with the setup you propose. Harald is very easy to work with through the process, but it aint cheap!!

ian