24 replies to this topic

[christianh]

Hi all,

I will (most likely) buy a NEX-7, but the available lenses are of no interest to me for underwater use.
I'm getting a bit desperate, as I'm leaving on a (very) long journey of photo and diving soonish.

Looking at the Nauticam port chart (http://www.nauticam....t/pdf_143_1.pdf), there are some Nikonos to Nex adapter.

I've no experience in Nikonos, but would that be a viable option?
How does Nikonos lenses work, the aperture and focus knobs are directly on the lens IIUC, which is waterproof without a port? (forgive my ignorance, I was not in the water during the Nikonos era .
Would they be alright for an APC-S sensor?

Any input on the combination NEX 7 with Nikonos glass most appreciated!

cheers,
Christian

[christianh]

OMG, Backscatter charges $420 for the Nikonos converter.. The most expensive 15mm Nikonos lens can bought (used 'As new') for that price..
http://www.backscatt.../na-36201.lasso

Sometimes this industry is outrageous in pricing, even though I understand that the small volumes of these products are somewhat responsible.

Still, I will probably go down the Nikonos route until there's some third party lenses for the NEX system (and ports and that whole dance).

[Deep6]

Hi all,

I will (most likely) buy a NEX-7, but the available lenses are of no interest to me for underwater use.
I'm getting a bit desperate, as I'm leaving on a (very) long journey of photo and diving soonish.

Looking at the Nauticam port chart (http://www.nauticam....t/pdf_143_1.pdf), there are some Nikonos to Nex adapter.

I've no experience in Nikonos, but would that be a viable option?
How does Nikonos lenses work, the aperture and focus knobs are directly on the lens IIUC, which is waterproof without a port? (forgive my ignorance, I was not in the water during the Nikonos era .
Would they be alright for an APC-S sensor?

Any input on the combination NEX 7 with Nikonos glass most appreciated!

cheers,
Christian

Don't remember the Nikonos era? You young puppy Here's a link to a thread about that subject Nikonos with NEX

Snoop around here on WP and you will find topics of interest. I am interested in the NEX-7. I am no expert, but here's my opinon. I have the Nikonos 15mm which will be not wide enough for the APS-C NEX. All of the Nikonos lens are MF and manual f-stop. There is a 16 mm (~24 mm 35FF) with a fish eye attachment and an 18-55 zoom Sony lenses. For macro, I would use the 60 and 105 Nikon lenses I have with an adaptor (they will be MF). Looking at Sony's lens road map only a wide angle zoom maybe of interest released in 2012. Sigma and Tokina may release some lens for the e-mount, but what is not know. And, who knows what the next NEX-9 will be?

So, jump in if you must and by all means ENJOY!
Bob

[christianh]

I have the Nikonos 15mm which will be not wide enough for the APS-C NEX

I find that 15mm has its uses also on APS-C, but sure, it's not optimal.

For macro, I would use the 60 and 105 Nikon lenses I have with an adaptor (they will be MF).

I would love to use my Nikon 60, but can I get an aperture and focus knob to go with it on the Nauticam?
I've struggled to even get that running on my S&S Nikon DLSR setup, I rely on AF and setting aperture on camera. In my youth I didn't understand that certain S&S ports came without a focus knob, so my hopes on getting that on a new foreign system with all kinds of adapters are not high.
With a 'dump' adapter it will as you say be all manual and some manufacturer would need to build the bits and pieces to get the knobs working. There's less bits and pieces with the Nikonos, I think (hope).

I just want one good wide prime for now, and in future a macro.
On my S&S Nikon I use 10.5, 12-24 and 60mm. If I can get any of those on the Sony I'll take it.
The reviews (for land usage) on Sony's 16mm has not convinced me, and it feels wrong to buy an uncertain lens which is also not wide enough. Nikonos has some 'proven' quality (from what a youngster like myself have read). Nikonos 15 + 80 mm would make a neat setup, which apart from the Nauticam adapter wouldn't even be very expensive.

So, jump in if you must and by all means ENJOY!

i hear you
Thanks

Edited by christianh, 08 February 2012 - 11:43 PM.

[Phil Rudin]

I have used the Nauticam NA-NEX5/5n housings with the Nikonos adapter and with the 16mm pancake lens. The 16mm can be used with a flat port and with the 4.33 inch dome port. I like the 16 with the wide angle adapter best. It has an angle of view about the same as the Nikonos 15mm on a 35mm camera, 90 degrees or so. I like the fisheye adapter as well, but favor the W/A. Image quality with the adapters improves in the corners over the 16mm lens without the adapters.

I also like the 30mm macro for fish shots. It gets to close to your subject at 1:1 but when backed up at two to eighteen inches it covers a wide range of subjects. For a sub $250.00 lens it has very good image quality.

The Nikonos 80mm does not focus close enough to work well for much and the 35 and 28 are only useful as macro lenses with extension tubes. The 15mm has good image quality but not as good as it did with film because of the 1.5X crop.

If you are interested in looking at some of my images with these lenses they can be found in the NEX-5 section at nauticamusa.com.

Much of the equipment I used was on loan from NauticamUSA

Phil Rudin

[christianh]

Phil,
Thank you very much for your valuable feedback.

The 16mm and W/A adapter seems like a good starting point then.


Cheers,
Christian

[Longimanus1975]

Good info phil, this is the lense I was going to start with.

What is the current best option for macro? Is it the standard lense with diopters?

[christianh]

I got the Nex 7 and the 16 mm + wide angle converter lens now.
It looks to me the lens is VERY close to the dome port with the converter attached. Doesnt this produce inferior sharpness, or it doesnt matter where the front lens element is?

About the Nex 7, on land its an excellent machine and works very well with non Sony lenses.
I have shoot it for about one week now, and the sharpness I get from Nikon lenses and manual focus + "focus peeking" (i.e. a heavily magnified view) easily outperforms what I could do with my DX Nikon. I pretty much can choose which pixels I want sharp, which is very cool I think. On Nikon I could only hope for the best, the viewfinder was way too small to see any details. Theres virtually no reason to preview the result on the LCD anymore.

First UW trial in the Cenotes tomorrow (without strobes though). I am a little worried about its UW performance because the autofocus has much to ask for, but as with everything I guess learning its strengths and weaknesses are essential. I wish I could shoot manual focus though because its a lot of fun =)

[derway]

Don't forget the micro 4/3 cams. Especially the latest oly omd em5. Great sensor. Great controls, including 2 control wheels, an EVF second only to the one in the nex7.

Much better AF than the sony. And infinitely more lens selection.

[christianh]

Don't forget the micro 4/3 cams. Especially the latest oly omd em5. Great sensor. Great controls, including 2 control wheels, an EVF second only to the one in the nex7.

Much better AF than the sony. And infinitely more lens selection.

Well, right now I forget about all cameras except for the one I have, which is a Nex 7 in a Nauticam housing

[Jakes03]

What about using Sony's adapter for one of their A-mount lenses? Does Sony even make a decent UW lens for their Alpha series cameras?

[gobiodon]

What about using Sony's adapter for one of their A-mount lenses? Does Sony even make a decent UW lens for their Alpha series cameras?

There are many good alpha lenses. For macro you have 30, 50 and 100mm (200mm from minolta, available as used) 1:1 from sony, but from sigma and tamron you can add 60, 70, 105, 150, 180mm to the list.
There is also a wide range of fisheye and wide angle lenses (fix and zooms) for alpha including some high quality AF Zeiss lenses, and they have even some very special glass, like the STF lens for bokeh lovers:
http://www.dyxum.com...5f28_review.asp

What is missing is the tokina fisheye zoom, but it can be adapted to nex (without AF) or the very special super macro lens from canon.

[Marsh]

I just got a NEX7 Nautiacm set-up and wondering what's the best approach for super-macro? So far, it looks like the 18-55 kit lens with a Subsee +10, a few divers even put the Subsee stacked on an Inon 165. The results were mixed. I came to this thread because Nauticam says the Nikonos with TC is the best for NEX super-macro. I'm somewhat familiar with Nikonos and the Nauticam adapter, but where do the TC's come in? Are there TC's for the Nikonos UW lens?

Edited by Marsh, 15 October 2012 - 10:52 PM.

[bfowles]

I have used the 18-55 with a subsee +10 and an inon 165. It doesn't provide very sharp images I have posted some samples on scubaboard before. The 18-55 with the subsee +10 produces some good results, but you will struggle to shoot small subjects like hairy shrimp.
If you want to do super macro the sony nex is not the best platform at the moment, but if you are willing to wait the nex is a great small camera with an APS-C sized sensor and the best EVF of all the mirrorless cameras.

[Marsh]

Thanks Starfish, you actually were the diver and images I was referring too. I had read your earlier reports.

The case comes this week to compare it to the NA-600D. From the looks of the measurements at Nauticam, it may not be a whole lot smaller then the T3i system. Mostly not as deep a housing. I want those 24.3 MP for large prints and a small camera, but the future doesn't look good for SM and NEX. Nauticam mentions the Nikonos (maybe 35 0r 50mm macro) with an extension tube being the king for super-macro on NEX, but I've found little researching the subject, and even less on the availability or where one can get an extension tube or converter for UW Nikonos lens. I'll give Reef photo a call this morning as they are the ones who wrote the info in their marketing. I'm glad no one has bought my T3i set-up year, as I might just stick with it. I have the Canon 100mm f2.8 USM, a Kenko 1.4 TC w/ 20mm locking extension, and 2 FIT +5 +8 diopters, which is what the NEX needs? As an alternative for compactness, I'm looking into getting a Canon 60mm macro and use the Tenko with it. By itself, it gives me a little more flexibility for larger macro. Combine it with the TC and Diopters and it's SM with very little water to shoot through. Plus, it uses the same ports as the stock 18-55mm lens, so I'll also have a general purpose lens. I really don't use the Tokina 10-17 and ZEN dome which constitues a lot of the weight and need for floatation. Just replaced one of my Z-240's with an S-2000 for backlighting off the rig and it's tiny. I'd replace the other too, but I want to try working with snoot lighting affect (snoots are available for both Inon's). I think the Z-240's focus light would come in handy for modeling through one of their snoots or even a fiber optic tube.

As much as I don't want to, I may turn around and sell the NEX rig if I can't see how I'm going to shoot the kind of imagery I'm after. If I could see even a rumor that a longer macro than 30mm (what a waste) was on the horizon, I might wait, but not a peep of news on such. Anyone know about the Nikonos super-macro stuff Nauticam is referring to? It seems like the last resort. Plus I like the idea of manual focus built right into the lens.

Marshall

[A.Y.]

If I could see even a rumor that a longer macro than 30mm (what a waste) was on the horizon...

Three E-mount lenses - 12mm F2.8 Zeiss, 32mm F1.8 Zeiss, and 50mm F2.8 macro Zeiss were officially announced at Photokina for 2013 release. Here is a list of all of the announced and currently available Sony/Zeiss lenses:



According to E-mount roadmap four more Sony lenses should be announced in 2013.

Edited by A.Y., 18 October 2012 - 10:31 AM.

[Marsh]

Wolf Eel,

Great news, especially the release of the Zeiss 50mm macro! Hopefully this will rejuvenate the NEX line. I read tonight that they just released a needed firmware upgrade for the camera too. So, looks like things are finally starting to move.

Based on this, I've decided to keep the NEX rig now. Matter of fact, I just bought an Aquatica +10 (much smaller and lighter than the Subsee) and it looks great even stacked on a FIT +5. I'll put my FIT +8 up for sale and maybe get another FIT +5 for more stacking, even though I probably won't need it and it may shorten the working distance too much. I don't suspect I'll have much DOF, but hopefully the combination will provide some SM until the Zeiss 50mm macro gets here. I imagine in time there'll be a 100mm macro E-mount available. Also, : Kenko now has a E-mount extension tube set, so that may play a role too if Nauticam can come out with a series of extensions like they have on the SLR side: 20, 30, 40 etc. NEX users can then play around a little more with lens combinations.

Thanks for the info.

Edited by Marsh, 19 October 2012 - 08:06 PM.

[NWDiver]

A.Y. Thanks for that list! I sold all my D7000 gear and have been going back and forth between the Oly-EM5 or the Nex7, now I might go with the Nex.....Anyone else have a thought????

Edited by NWDiver, 22 October 2012 - 05:30 AM.

[Scubysnaps]

Kenko now has a E-mount extension tube set, so that may play a role too if Nauticam can come out with a series of extensions like they have on the SLR side: 20, 30, 40 etc. NEX users can then play around a little more with lens combinations.

It would yes I agree...

Interesting...Would there be enough room to use the dome port instead with the extension tube on the new 16-50 at 50?

[A.Y.]

... now I might go with the Nex.....Anyone else have a thought????

NEX-6 and NEX-5R both have on-sensor phase detection autofocus and all hands-on reviews mentioned it being noticeably faster and more accurate than contrast detection AF. Here's Steve Huff's quick look and a YouTube video (just corrected the link... sorry), showing how fast the new PDAF performs.

To me, the big picture shows the NEX system has a lot of potential: phase-detection autofocus, class leading 1080 60p to 1080 240p consumer and pro video, best in class high-ISO IQ, Full-Frame sensor option, M43-sized pancake kit lens, and the most surprising part of all - Sony announced 15 E-mount lenses in 2½ years - faster than anyone had predicted!

Edited by A.Y., 22 October 2012 - 04:19 PM.