ianmarsh

Hello All For sale today I have a few random ports and accessories I am not using anymore. This is the last push to clear out redundant gear:) Subal Flatport 90, Type 3, perfect condition. $100 Subal Flatport 120/3, 9/10, glass perfect condition. $100 Subal Extension EXR 33mm/3. $50 Subal Extension EXR 40mm/3. $50 Subal Focus gear, Nikon 20-35mmf2.8. $10 Seacam Macroport 90, perfect glass. $100 Seacam Extension PVL20mm. $75 Seacam Superdome, one small scratch in glass which has been polished , so no sharp edges, no effect no image. Does not show up on under/overs. Comes with spare lens shade, in a Cinebags case, minimal wear on anodizing. $650 Nikon 3T magnifying macro "dry diopter" 52mm $75 Nikon 5T magnifying macro "dry diopter" 62mm $75 Nikonos 15mm, Gen2, rebuilt & pressure tested, excellent optics, Very good condition. $350 Nikonos 15mm, Gen2, rebuilt & pressure tested, excellent optics, Excellent condition in box $375 Nikonos External Viewfinder for 15mm, Gen2 new in box. $75 Pictures on request. Shipping extra. All prices in USD. Located in beautiful Vernon BC Canada As always, honest straight forward sales, so no worries:) ian

Found this... not your usual television topic https://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/underwater-optics/11014458#

Hi Adam Thanks for the great review:) I am interested in investigating the Nikon 20mm f1.8 behind a dome. I noticed in your discussion you used a 30mm extension with a 230mm Zen port... just wondering how you came up with that extension number? The Subal website suggests a 20mm extension with the 8 inch FE port. Seacam recommends 20mm with the wide port and 25mm with the Superdome. Nauticam does not list this lens in their Port Chart. ian

Let me know if you have one for sale:) ian

Can't really argue with either you or Pawel; I don't have the technical chops. I will let the two of you duke it out... Signing off

This one looks good (as far as one can tell) at a pretty good price... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-R-UW-Fisheye-Nikkor-13mm-f-2-8-AF-for-Nikonos-RS-Excellent-From-Japan/153465899270?hash=item23bb47c906:g:vpAAAOSwVKhcw7Wg Watch out for any listing with ANY scratches, or fungus, even though they claim "no effect of image quality" ALWAYS check the feedback on the seller ian

FOV issues aside, here is Pawel's take on IQ of the lens: http://24x7.com.au/Optics/Nikonos/index.htm :)) One advantage of the lens over the rectilinear/dome system is size and weight. It is also relatively cheap. ian

I flooded my original 15mm in Cozumel in 1991, when there were fish there. I had it on my trusty Nikonos III. The lens was toast, but I flushed the camera body out with distilled water in my hotel room, dried it with a hairdryer and carried on with my 20mm. My household insurance replaced the lens when I got back to Canada (pretty sure that wouldn’t happen today) and its the one I still have:) One of the worst days of my life. I still remember it to this day. The mistake I made was jumping in with the camera. The lens is quite large and heavy relative to the size of the mounting O ring and that’s what flooded it. When you look at the construction, the three water entry points are the shaft orings and the mounting o ring. The shaft rings are dynamic (rotating) but are completely covered and seated by the base of the shaft knob. They are pretty bullet-proof. The rest of the lens is built with compression gaskets, and they simply do not leak if installed properly. The problem of the mounting Oring is solved by using a vacuum in the housing. When mounted and the vacuum drawn down to -10 cm (backscatter airlock) you simply cannot remove the lens. The only precaution I observe (as I do will all housings) is having the camera handed down after entering the water, or hanging it over the side on a lanyard and collecting the rig once in the water. The beauty of the vacuum is that it also tests the integrity of the shaft o rings. To be honest, I don’t really worry about this system leaking anymore than any of my other housed system. Probably the one that freaks me out the most is my Nikonos RS 13mm!! I would die if that flooded. The 15mm solution is a bit unconventional for sure, but the rewards are many. According to Pawel Achtel, it is the simply best image quality you can obtain underwater. I agree and for me, the whole point of what we do is IQ. It is on a par with my converted RS 13mm, which is a fisheye. This lens is rectilinear. There is no other lens on the planet that does what this does! The lack of AF is really a non issue because of the massive depth of field and you can always use focus peaking if you need too. The focusing was designed to be used on a camera that did not even have a TTL viewfinder. It was a rangefinder camera, for Gosh sake. I really love this system. It is a dream come true, essentially a digital Nikonos system. Anyway, not trying to sell you one way or the other, just trying to share the Nikonos love, brother. Can I pour you some KoolAid:)))) ? ian

So, my 2 cents worth I purchased some of Mr Grouper's gear. Straightforward, honest, no problemo. Package arrived 5 days later via Canada Post, well packaged, with absolutely no issues. The rear cap for the port had been overlooked, and he happily sent this out at his expense. Nothing but positives with respect to this seller. I feel for Lowjack 8, but there is always some risk with shipping, especially when it crosses borders. It really sucks to have to pay taxes and brokerage fees, especially on used items, but that is the reality. ian

When I contacted Oskar at Retra to place my order 3 weeks ago, he said they would be shipped mid November. They will arrive very quickly after they are shipped. I am guessing by my lateness in ordering, I am at the back of the queue. I feel for the guys (and gals) who are planning trips around now, but Retra has been clear that the shipping dates are guidelines only... It seems nothing moves fast in the heady world of strobe development, and who knows what the holdups are. I will say that when I received my V1.0 strobes, they were definitely worth the wait. ian

The Seacam Diopters are sold. Just the Seacam Macro Port 90 remains ian

I think I have to agree with Tim. It's an expensive hammer looking for a small nail. That said, it could be useful for large animals, Tonga Humpbacks come to mind. Also sharks, dolphins, baitballs. The small footprint would be great for freediving. That is where the 13mm also excels, compared to a domeport. However the above applications are typically "Blue water" shots where there isn't much in the corners anyway... I have the 15mm, 20mm and 28mm wet lenses from the Nikonos V days, which work beautifully on the Sony A7 platform. The 15 and 20 are amazing optics. Can't say I have ever chosen the 28mm though. Maybe I will have to try it next trip as a testbed to see if the RS version is worth the effort. (Of course, focus becomes a bigger issue with longer lenses, so this may be an unfair comparison compared to the autofocus 28mm RS. With the 15mm using zone focus, everything is sharp from infinity down to about a foot and a half.) It is interesting that the lowly, low priced 28mm R-UW seems pretty much to have disappeared off of the usual sites, and I am guessing they will re-appear at a higher pricepoint:(( ian

Hello all, Now that Harald has announced the option to convert the 28mm Nikonos RS R-UW water contact optic, anyone care to weigh in on the utility of that lens? (FOV = 60 degrees and minimum focus distance of 0.9 ft.) Price of conversion is 1150 Euros. Should work well on Nauticam with Seacam port adapter, and natively on Seacam, of course. What are your thoughts? What would it be good at? ian

Andrey I have a nice: Nikonos UW Nikkor 15mm F/2.8 Lens For Nikonos camera available. Rebuilt by Pacific Housing Repair in Monterey, functions like new, cosmetically 8.5/10 $300 USD Located in BC Canada ian

My experience with Retra 1.0 was I had the strobes in my hands in western Canada less that 48 hours after they shipped from Slovenia.