nexus housing d70 and zoom lenses

i'm confused as to which zooms can be used with this housing. i've been told nexus only makes zoom gears for the 12-24, and the 17-35, any experiences with those or other zooms would be appreciated, and experience with different diopters.

You can use any lens that is usable with any of the earlier Nexus housings for either film or digital cameras. All the ports, gears, and accessories available for the earlier housings work with the D-70 housing (except the F4 Pro ports and I have an adapter that will allow even that). You will not use aperture gears with the digital SLR's of course. Nexus supports many Nikkor and some Sigma lenses. The need for and use of diopters will be determined by the dome and lens used.

which if any have you used, 18-70, 17-55? I planed to use the 170 port with the 40 extension adapter. I previosly used that on a 20-35 n90 film camera with a 4+ diopter

The 170 dome w/ 40 extension is what Nexus recommends for the 12-24 lens. At this time Nexus is not supporting the kit lens (18-70). However, I am working on adapting my 12-24 zoom gear for the kit lens. I will let you know how it turns out.

Dave

http://www.usanexus.com/ports_lens.html

for all the current choices (note the 17-55 gear will be released in September

I personally use the 12-24 zoom but I have also used the 70-180 Micro Nikkor, The 17-35 AF-S, and a couple of Sigma zooms. The zoom gears are in the process for the kit lens but there is one available for the 12-24, and the 18-35 - Nikkor and Sigma. Be careful of some of the Sigma zooms, though, because some of the newer, wider ones use an 82mm size diopter. The price of the 82mm diopter may cause heart failure in the purchaser.

thanks woody. which diopter did you us with the 17-35? i've heard a 4 or a 2. have you found a way to also do manual focus along with a zoom gear?

As a follow-up, I was able to adapt a 12-24 zoom gear to my 18-70 kit lens

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...y;threadid=8873

HTH,

Dave

for 17-35 and 12-24 no need for any diopter because it can focus down to virtual focus

I did a lot of testing with the Nikon 12-24mm lens and the Nexus housing. I saw that on nexusa.com the recommendation was the 170mm port, 40mm extension and no diopter. I found that this combination produced an image that was sharp in the center but soft on the edges. With equipment from Woody Mayhew at nexusamerica.com, I tried different port, extension and diopter combinations. The best was the 170mm port, 40mm extension and a +4 diopter.

I have examples of the testing on my web site at http://www.gotosnapshot.com/digital-slr/di...tography-17.htm. I haven't tested the 17-35mm lens but I do have one.

Herb -

Thanks for all that info.. i just got nexus housings and port and will try your +4 diopter recommendation. Did you find a 2 element diopter that you thought performed well? My Hoya and Sunpak i believe are 1 element..

m.

ps. the lobster shot almost does no look real! really cool.

There are not a lot of two-element diopters to choose from. The Canon 500D is supposed to be one of the best. The problem is that it is much thicker than the single element B & W diopter. The vignetting occured (I believe) because of the thickness of the diopter. Overall, the results that I have seen with the B & W +4 (about $49 US dollars) at B & H are excellent.

Herb Segars

i talked to lee at marine camera about diopters. He has noted that digital systems don't do well with diopters. He sees alot of image quality loss. Is there any reason to use a diopter with a wide angle lens, other then to be able to focus closer? or am i missing something.

i talked to lee at marine camera about diopters. He has noted that digital systems don't do well with diopters. He sees alot of image quality loss. Is there any reason to use a diopter with a wide angle lens, other then to be able to focus closer? or am i missing something.

The reason for the diopter for the Nexus housing is that Nexus does not make an 8" dome like most other housing manufacturers. Their 170mm dome is around 6.7". With a smaller radius dome, the apparent image created is closer to the camera. The Nikon 12-24mm lens will not focus on the apparent image with the smaller dome and no diopter. The diopter allows the lens to focus closer. I have found that the +4 diopter has provided the best image with the 170mm dome and 40mm extension. The photos taken without the diopter are sharp in the center but soft on the edges. That is not the case with the diopter.

Herb Segars

Curious. That's not my experience with the 12-24 and the 170 dome. My image quality is fine without a diopter and pincushion is dramatically reduced. I do not use the 40mm extension though. I use the 25mm because that's what I have. My use predates the Nexus recomendation.

Nexus does make a larger dome (9" I believe).

Wide angle lenses do not need achromat diopters. Single element ones work fine. The purpose of two elements is to reduce chromatic aberrations---more an issue at longer focal lengths.

Marine Camera told me that I didn't need new zoom gears for my Subal C10 housing, that I could use the old film camera zoom gears....if I believed them, then my 2 most used lenses (EF28-105 & EF16-35L) on my last trip would have been fixed focus ones...

Yeah, I'd believe what they say about digital imagers too...

Stu

Very nice test Herb......I wish you were testing the Ikelite dome combination

My 1st experience with the 12-24/Ikelite/no diopter combination isn't bad, just not as sharp as I'd like to see it....guess I'll test with my +4 B&W diopter and see if it improves

Karl

thanks herb for that great information. there seems to be confusing opinions/information to me as these products are so new. your work is greatly appreciated, and i await further info. ill be using my new d70/nexus system for the first time in a few weeks in the sea of cortez. i'm going to try the a 17-35, as i like this range for seals. along with the 12-24.

Craig:

I didn't have a 25mm extension to try. I originally tried the 170mm dome with the 50mm extension and no diopter. It was soft on the corners. I then used the 40mm with no diopter as recommended on the usanexus.com web site. I still found the photos soft in the corners. I tried the +3 diopter and thought that it was really good until I tried the +4. It looks sharper than the +3. I would love to do this without a diopter. Can you post an example of a shot taken with the 25mm extension and no diopter?

Nexus does make a 9" dome but my understanding is that it is a real monster and you have to add 2.2 pounds of weight to overcome the buoyancy of the dome. I also understand that Nexus is working on a dome for the 12-24.

Herb Segars