WTB René Aumann 18mm f/2.8 Nikonos RS lens

Hi all, I'm looking for the René Aumann 18mm f/ 2.8 lens for the Nikonos RS. Please let me know if you have one you'd like to sell.

Thanks, Tobias.

I guess this is a rare beast, does anyone even own one?

I only owned the Aumann teleconverter. My understanding is that this is not water corrected - basically just a lens and dome in Nikonos RS mount. 

Hi Alex yes that is what I've read as well. Hoping someone has one laying around without use.

9 hours ago, Alex_Mustard said:

I only owned the Aumann teleconverter. My understanding is that this is not water corrected - basically just a lens and dome in Nikonos RS mount. 

I concur with Alex's statement. I bought the RS18 when it came out as a pre-order (only option as only a few were going to get made) and was disappointed when it arrived as it was much larger than the prototype picture that was sent to me. The front element looked like a simple 8" (20cm) dome port. As this was the only way to get a 100 degree non-fisheye image on an RS it made sense to keep. I recall the cost as being over 3 grand in 1990s money so figuring inflation was about the same cost as the WACP-2 is today. After moving to digital I bought the Nikkor 18mm AF-D lens and made careful eyeball comparisons of the two lenses then sold the RS18 (as part of a gear dump along with two RS bodies, the 20-35 and 13). To me the front and back of the RS18 lens (ignoring the dome) looked identical to that of the 18 AF-D. IMHO it only makes sense to own the RS18 for shooting on an RS camera. There are better and less expensive solutions for other applications.

I hear you Tom, that's a lot of money for what it was. Did you get any good photo's with it when you had it? I'm hoping to find one at a reasonable price these days particularly because they have become more or less obsolete.

I suspect you might be optimistic on the "reasonable price". Sounds like, even if they are of dubious value/quality, they have become a collector's item!

The RS seems to be a bit of a cult thing with some u/w photographers. I can see why: very cool things.

13 hours ago, Tobi-Wan said:

I hear you Tom, that's a lot of money for what it was. Did you get any good photo's with it when you had it? I'm hoping to find one at a reasonable price these days particularly because they have become more or less obsolete.

I got some satisfactory shots with it. Keep in mind I was using film so no pixel peeping like with digital today. It did not get used as much as I would have liked due its large size - I recall doing just one plane trip with it. You might get lucky and find one for not much money but keep in mind that only few were made. A really good price would be a rare find. I do recall that it took a while to offload mine so they may not sell all that well.

For the money the Nauticam EMWL is a better idea and there is a 100 degree objective for it so you have the same angle of view as the 18. At this time the amount of distortion is unknown...

Still looking for this rare beast!

I owned the Aumann 2X tele converter and the 18mm for a number of years. I moved from a 35mm film system with manual focus and a Nikon 20mm lens with acrylic port to the RS system which I used for over 15 years. The 18mm lens was in fact the guts of a Nikon 18mm with the RS mount encased for U/W use with an optical glass eight inch port. Comparing image quality at that time was subjective, compared to my old manual system the auto focus 18mm was excellent, by todays standards not so much. I have attached a few images from low res scans. 

The biggest up side to the Nikonos RS system V. todays digital systems is that after 12-15 years of use depending on which individual item of equipment when I sold the complete system I got back more than $0.80 on the $1.00. 

Thanks for posting the pictures Phil! I'm wondering how many were made in the first place and if there is a single one for sale somewhere...

Hi Tobi-Wan,

I owned the Aumann 18mm for a while which I purchased from Doug Perrine. I sold it many years ago to someone in Germany or Holland, I can't recall. A guy called Dave was looking for one then; maybe he has one he wants to sell? daveblackham@me.com

You might get at least as good results with an 18 behind a good dome using the Sea & Sea internal correction lens, a combination Doug Perrine likes.