I want to go dive with thresher sharks at Malapascua, which is dark and the sharks stay generally at quite a distance. I read the Thresher shark at Malapascua with M43 discussion about lenses for this dive and I am now considering a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC Macro lens for this. I am using a Hugyfot housing and have the 10-17 Tokina fisheye and the Nikon 40mm macro. Neither of these lenses are ideal for this type of dive.
Other than the focal length being quite flexible, the relatively good aperture for such dark conditions, the ability to focus rather close and the rather cheap price. The main advantage of this lens for me is that it is recommended to use the 7" dome port in Hugyfots port chart, which I already own for the Tokina fisheye.
Another option is the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC C OS HSM which according to Hugyfot also fits well behind the same 7" dome port. The slightly wider FOV makes this one an option as well.
However, I am skeptical about this, how can you put an 18- 50mm (or 17-70mm) lens behind a fisheye dome port and expect good results. Anybody has experiences with similar weird lens-port combinations that might give me hope this might actually work?
What camera have you got?
2 hours ago, eikenhorst said:
I want to go dive with thresher sharks at Malapascua, which is dark and the sharks stay generally at quite a distance. I read the Thresher shark at Malapascua with M43 discussion about lenses for this dive and I am now considering a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC Macro lens for this. I am using a Hugyfot housing and have the 10-17 Tokina fisheye and the Nikon 40mm macro. Neither of these lenses are ideal for this type of dive.
Other than the focal length being quite flexible, the relatively good aperture for such dark conditions, the ability to focus rather close and the rather cheap price. The main advantage of this lens for me is that it is recommended to use the 7" dome port in Hugyfots port chart, which I already own for the Tokina fisheye.
Another option is the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC C OS HSM which according to Hugyfot also fits well behind the same 7" dome port. The slightly wider FOV makes this one an option as well.
However, I am skeptical about this, how can you put an 18- 50mm (or 17-70mm) lens behind a fisheye dome port and expect good results. Anybody has experiences with similar weird lens-port combinations that might give me hope this might actually work?
Fast lenses don't usually help you a lot behind a dome as the corners go to mush, you're in open water with water in the corners so you can get away with wider apertures than you would with shooting reefs with important details towards the corners. Sounds like you are shooting APS-C so you might use f5.6 at a stretch. These sort of lenses work well behind domes if you stop them down enough.
One option might to use a 1.4x with the tokina, just need to add a 20mm extension ring and a different zoom gear to your current system, it will get you out to 24mm focal length which is close to a 20mm rectilinear lens or about a 30mm lens in full frame terms. Might be a little short on focal length but the extra water if you are back further and using more focal length is also strarting to give you issues. Apparently the water is not super clear there.
2 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:
One option might to use a 1.4x with the tokina, just need to add a 20mm extension ring and a different zoom gear to your current system
A neat idea from Chris.
Just one note of caution if you think about going down this route with a Kenko TC1.4 which is a popular choice.. There a couple of versions of the Kenko, the DG and the DGX. I found that both variants work differently on the AF depending on the lens selected and the camera body. So what might AF with, say the DG, won't with the DGX and vice versa.
So if you went the Kenko route, it'd be worthwhile getting it in advance to allow time to check carefully that you can get AF to work properly.
22 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:
Fast lenses don't usually help you a lot behind a dome as the corners go to mush, you're in open water with water in the corners so you can get away with wider apertures than you would with shooting reefs with important details towards the corners. Sounds like you are shooting APS-C so you might use f5.6 at a stretch. These sort of lenses work well behind domes if you stop them down enough.
One option might to use a 1.4x with the tokina, just need to add a 20mm extension ring and a different zoom gear to your current system, it will get you out to 24mm focal length which is close to a 20mm rectilinear lens or about a 30mm lens in full frame terms. Might be a little short on focal length but the extra water if you are back further and using more focal length is also strarting to give you issues. Apparently the water is not super clear there.
That is not such a bad idea indeed. It is a little bit short indeed, but you are right that in all likelyhood you don't get any sharp pictures beyond 30mm full frame. Corner sharpness is much less of an issue on this dive as you pointed out, unless they happen to get so close they do end up filling most of the frame. I will certainly consider this option as it only means a slightly different zoom gear and an extension ring. Thanks
@eikenhorst
Having recently gone down this exact same path w/my son for a trip, just know that the zoom gear is likely a custom order from any dealer now. They will likely end up producing it for you after the order is placed... this will take time (mine was ~4 weeks post order).
I have looked into the posibilities today, and the strange thing is that there is almost no market for second hand 1.4x teleconverters, but there is for 1.7x teleconverters (a bit of a unique magnification factor that Nikon build in 2004.)
So I am now wondering if I shouln't use the Nikon TC-17E II with a 30mm extension tube and get a 17-29mm (25.5-43.5mm FF) result but at the cost of it becoming a F6.3-7.1 lens.
10 minutes ago, eikenhorst said:
I have looked into the posibilities today, and the strange thing is that there is almost no market for second hand 1.4x teleconverters, but there is for 1.7x teleconverters (a bit of a unique magnification factor that Nikon build in 2004.)
So I am now wondering if I shouln't use the Nikon TC-17E II with a 30mm extension tube and get a 17-29mm (25.5-43.5mm FF) result but at the cost of it becoming a F6.3-7.1 lens.
The 1.4x normally used in the Kenko, the Nikon 1.4x won't fit due to the protruding front element. The 1.7x also protrudes a little so I expect won't fit.
The other issue is anything other than the Kenko needs a custom zoom gear as the zoom gear needs to be longer than the straight 10-17 gear by the flange length of the converter in use. It needs to be longer to reach the zoom control in the housing.
5 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:
The 1.4x normally used in the Kenko, the Nikon 1.4x won't fit due to the protruding front element. The 1.7x also protrudes a little so I expect won't fit.
The other issue is anything other than the Kenko needs a custom zoom gear as the zoom gear needs to be longer than the straight 10-17 gear by the flange length of the converter in use. It needs to be longer to reach the zoom control in the housing.
Which model Kenko is used with the Tokina 10-17mm? The Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 or the newer Teleplus HD (PRO) 1.4X DGX? I can get a Pro 300 for very little money
34 minutes ago, eikenhorst said:
Which model Kenko is used with the Tokina 10-17mm? The Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 or the newer Teleplus HD (PRO) 1.4X DGX? I can get a Pro 300 for very little money
I don't have direct experience, believe it varies with the camera being used. @TimG I believe shoots one with a D500, you might like to to post a specific question asking for experience with the two different models with your specific camera.
Hi elkenhorst
Yep, as Chris says, I do indeed use the Tokina 10-17 with a Kenko 1.4TC. I outlined a couple of posts above that I did discover "issues" between different lens/body combinations between the Kenko TV variants.
This might help explain it a bit more. I do though only have experience of this issue with Nikon cameras.
