Dear Forum Users,

1 week ago i recieved my order from Nexus which is a D200 Housing and the new 12-24mm Port.

I spend my whole week diving at the red sea and unfortunatly noticed that the images are still very soft at the corners.( I had the same problem wit my old rig :Sea&Sea D70 and Fish Eye Dome Port).

Has anyone expierience with this new port of Nexus ,is there a diopter recommendation,or any advise?

Your help is much appreciated,

Tunc Yavuzdogan

For the Ikelite 8" dome port they recommend a +2 diopter. It seems that everyone is having trouble with this lens. Alex Mustard uses a +2 diopter with his Subal ports as well. I think a diopter is the best solution.

I have used a 4+ diopter with a nexus setup, on recomendation from marine camera in san diego

I used to use +2 diopter with my Nexus setup with the 12-24 without great success. If you can, move to the 17-35 or 17-55DX lens with the nexus 170 dome...which I assume you are using. Others on the board have had much better success with the 12-24...not sure if they are using Nexus 170 dome.

It's kinda interesting that a lot of the Shell Wildlife underwater photo winners used the 12-24 !

M.

Hello Everybody,

Thank you for your responses,

It's not the 170 port that i am using ,it's the new port made by Nexus espacily for the 12-24 its about 125 mm in diameter.

But unfortunatly no sucsses.I asume that no one has tried it out yet ,i will post a picture taken with it.

I also tried a +3 diopter also without sucsess.

Is anyone using this port ?

Your help is much appreciated,




Interesting isn't it starbuck,there must be an solution,i realy dont want to throw this lens a way.But they mainly using their 12-24 lenses for big fish shots ,not for reef scenes i assume.

I was disappointed at first but (against all my better judgement) I fitted a plus-2 dioptre lens and stopped it down beyond f/8. (You can up the ISO to compensate if you have to.) I also use it behind an 8 inch port. I have never had what I would call sufficiently sharp results from a compact dome port of any make. You can compensate for any chromatic distortion if you have to with the Adobe Photoshop RAW converter.

Tunc-

You need to get rid of the 125 and get the 170...You will do better with the 170 and a diopter with the 12-24.. Also, the 170 can be used with a lot of different lenses.

M.

You may be expecting more than this lens is capable of. I have yet to see any dome port combination offer better corner sharpness than a Sea & Sea NX Fisheye Dome Port & Extension Ring 40 w/ the 12-24.

The port you have will definitely offer better corner sharpness than the FP170 will. The 125mm port is a cut down version of the very large FP230 for use with the 12-24, 17-55, and 18-70 zooms. With the proper placement of the port you should be able to match the performance you saw from the Sea & Sea NX Fisheye Dome, but you won't beat it.

What extension ring are you using?

The 12-24 is a great big animal lens. It's best with a blue water background. There will be a bit of edge distortion, but it's minimized with a big dome (mine is Subal's 8-inch), a +2 diopter, and as mentioned before, keeping the f-stop at f8 or smaller.

The 12-24 is my choice when I'm not sure what I'm going to encounter on a dive. I've had excellent results shooting sharks and whales with it.

Hello Everybody,

Sorry i was away for a couple of days ,Thanks for all the responses and suggestions.

Dear Ryan,
I dont know if it is suitable to add a extension ring to this port because it is not a full dome,it looks more like a macro port with dome glass at the end.

If i would add a extension ring it would result in vignetting i think.
I called my local Nexus dealer and he told me he would contact Nexus for any suggestions,he also told that maybe a diopter is needed ,but how good is a port which is especially made for that particular lens and still needs a diopter ? Am i wrong,

I use the 12-24 behind the Superdome from Seacam (with a 35mm extention ring). No diopter; images are very, veru sharp.

What's all this talk about diopters to fix edge distortion?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it is my understanding diopters only shift the focus on the lens barrel as lenses will focus on the virtual image behind a dome.

You need the correct diametre dome and more importantly spacers to fix edge distortion.

Check this site: http://www.marinethemes.com/domespacer.html

I am one eyed Nexus, but if their recommend port for the 12-24 is giving soft edges, that's not on.

Mary

The 12-24mm nikkor that I tried (before I tested and bought a Sigma 10-20 instead) was very ordinary on the edges, unless you stopped down to at least f11. And those tests were done in air, with no dome port or diopter in front to add more problems... so you might be expecting too much from this lens.

Sure, good/award winning pics can be taken with it, as they could be taken with any lens if the subject matter is right... I agree with ehanauer and ryan and others about expectations of extreme WA zooms. Even in air my Canon EF16-35mm is only really good in the corners at f11.5 or f16. It's a matter of work-around with these lenses.

darren

Using Nexus D70 system. The 12-24 custom port will not work with the 12-24mm lens & the proper extension ring (40mm I think - not home to double check that). The lens vignettes at about 14-15mm. Nexus D200 may be similar. The FP170 port, 40mm ring & +4 diopter works well with the 12-24mm lens. I can't explain the optics but the +4 solves the edge softness problem quite nicely. You have to settle for some barrel distortion thou.