Which mini dome ?

[Steen Nissen 2]

Hi all.

I'm trying to decide which mini dome to get for may Canon 8-15, on a Sony A7R4 in a Nauticam housing. 

I have heard good things about Zen and Saga.

Anything to consider ?

[simonK 10]

A friend of mine is very happy with the saga mini dome on a cannon with the 8-15.

[ChrisRoss 150]

I would think either would be a good option - just confirm you get a model with a removable shade for the circular fisheye option.   It might be based upon whichever one is in stock locally.  Overseas shipping is a potentially less reliable with the current lockdowns.

[Interceptor121 704]

I shot a Nikon D850 with mini dome. Aperture f/13 and it was still blurred

On full frame I would avoid it like the plague mini domes really work well on crop

[Steen Nissen 2]

7 hours ago, Interceptor121 said:

I shot a Nikon D850 with mini dome. Aperture f/13 and it was still blurred

On full frame I would avoid it like the plague mini domes really work well on crop

Which lens did you use?

 

[Interceptor121 704]

1 minute ago, Steen Nissen said:

Which lens did you use?

 

Tokina 10-17 with TC 1.4 

But a guy had a sigma 15mm and his shots were blurred too at the edges which may or not be a problem depending on shots

Some people think that a minidome can make miracles if brand A or B but the reality is that the field of curvature is too much

If I recall Alex Mustard even said 140mm dome was blurry for his standard on full frame but likely his standards are very high

 

[Phil Rudin 423]

The two full frame images are with the Zen 100mm port and the circular shot is with a 6 inch port With A7R II and A7R III. The split is with EOS R, Canon adapter and an 8" port.  My personal equipment for the 8-15 with the A7R IV is the Zen 230mmII has removable blades and the Nauticam 140mm with removable shade. Of the smaller ports I like the 140mm size better.

 

[Gudge 58]

I've used a Zen 4" mini dome for many years with the Tokina 10-17 and Canon 8-15 on a variety of Canon crop sensor cameras and have always been more than happy with the results.  Earlier this year I got a Sony A7RIV and have been using it with the Canon 8-15 behind both an 8" Subal dome port and the Zen 4" mini dome.  I'm more than happy with the results with the 8" dome.  However, the 4" dome is not producing good results due to soft edges (something that never happened with the crop sensor Canons).

I have just ordered a Nauticam 140mm dome port with removable shade to replace the Zen 4" dome.

[ChrisRoss 150]

It's quite hard to find much in the way of reviews of the 8-15 fisheyes in mini domes online - there are some but frustratingly incomplete or without many images or only APS-C images.   there is a review on WP here of the Nikon:  https://wetpixel.com/articles/review-nikon-8-15-mm-f-3.5-4.5-fisheye-lens/P2   Couldn't find anything similar for Canon.

that review is using the lens in a 6" dome port so not too far removed from the Nauticam 140mm dome.  The corners at f8 are not crisp but not horrible either and stopping down a little more helps - certainly f11 looks fine.  Nauticam recommend the 140mm dome as most optimised for this lens in their port charts.  I would think this experience will translate across to the Canon lens are both lenses are very sharp and have similar characteristics.

I also found this review in a 4" dome :  https://www.mattysmithphoto.com/2018/01/14/nikkor-8-15mm-review-for-underwater-photographers/

it looks to work OK there but the test shot shown was taken at f29 for some reason.

A lot of the reason for shooting with a mini dome is you can do things you can't do with a big dome in terms of getting in really close.  It also helps immensely for travel - so is a compromise people find acceptable.  You need to recognize that fisheye optically are quite different to rectilinear so they don't have the fundamental problem of rectilinears that are designed to render a straight line parallel to the sensor as a straight line.  The Rectilinear struggle to convert the curved virtual image  as the corners fall outside the depth of field, the fisheye however is designed to render such a line as straight if it crosses the centre of frame.  The problems with corners are likely a combination of bare lens corner issues with small differences in dome placement from optimum together with degradation from light travelling through water.  In theory a properly placed fisheye lens should not struggle to bring the corners into focus and unsharpness is due to other issues.

I would suggest too that the tokina 10-17mm is in a different universe to the Canon and Nikon 8-15 lenses it's usable but not the sharpest knife in the drawer and it's a DX lens which while you can use it on FX is not that great so not surprising it looks horrible on full frame shots.

[Phil Rudin 423]

I have attaches the front page from an older review using the Canon 8-15 zoom and Zen 100 port with the Sony A7R II. Higher MP's and full frame add to softness in the corners at F/stops below about F/13. Since this review I have used this lens with a verity of other cameras and dome sizes. Works very well for splits with domes of 200mm or greater. I have also used the Nikon 8-15 with Nikon mirrorless cameras with like results. I have also used the Canon with Canon full frame cameras and see no difference in AF speed or image quality with or without an adapter. 

 

This is a free PDF download at uwpmag.com at the top od the page in back issues #93/

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Phil Rudin

[ChrisRoss 150]

8 hours ago, Phil Rudin said:

I have attaches the front page from an older review using the Canon 8-15 zoom and Zen 100 port with the Sony A7R II. Higher MP's and full frame add to softness in the corners at F/stops below about F/13. Since this review I have used this lens with a verity of other cameras and dome sizes. Works very well for splits with domes of 200mm or greater. I have also used the Nikon 8-15 with Nikon mirrorless cameras with like results. I have also used the Canon with Canon full frame cameras and see no difference in AF speed or image quality with or without an adapter. 

 

This is a free PDF download at uwpmag.com at the top od the page in back issues #93/

 

 

Thanks Phil,

is there an index to look up reviews in UWPMAG?

[Phil Rudin 423]

Perhaps I was not clear. Go to uwpmag.com and enter your email. At the top of the page you will see back issues, click on that then select issue #93 the article starts on page #39.

[ChrisRoss 150]

1 hour ago, Phil Rudin said:

Perhaps I was not clear. Go to uwpmag.com and enter your email. At the top of the page you will see back issues, click on that then select issue #93 the article starts on page #39.

Phil,

thanks, I got all that what I'm wondering is if there is a way to search for other reviews in UWPMAG?  It's a good resource and being able point people towards a good review is quite helpful - if I know there's one available.

 

[Interceptor121 704]

5 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

Phil,

thanks, I got all that what I'm wondering is if there is a way to search for other reviews in UWPMAG?  It's a good resource and being able point people towards a good review is quite helpful - if I know there's one available.

 

You can go on Peter website. uwpmag.com it does have a basic search function

[Phil Rudin 423]

The magazine does not have a search engine. Each issue in the back issues has an index when you open them, included in the index are product reviews but not by page number. It is up to the viewer to do the work. If you have a  product you are looking for I may be able to help as I have done many of the reviews. Also if you have a new product you would like to see reviewed let me know and I will attempt to make that happen.

[Interceptor121 704]

The back issue page has a search box if you enter something for example tokina will return the back issue that have tokina in it but not search inside
Generally this is sufficient

http://www.uwpmag.com/?p=uwp-back-issues


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Phil Rudin 423]

My bad regarding the search engine. It will work for some searches but not for others and in many cases it does not diferentuate reviews from product announcements. If for instance you put in WACP you will fine several listings. If you but in Sony A7R IV you won't find any listings in spite of several announcements and reviews. If you search Sony only  you will get a full page including the Sony A7R IV information. The items that are listed direct you to the issue in which you appear the you need to open the issue and look for the article.