Struggling to find any information on Nikons underwater lenses... I've found a 15mm UW lens online that is relatively cheap and will cover me for a while while I save up for a 'proper' ultrawide, however I'm not sure what, if any, the differences are between normal and UW lenses, I've noticed some knobs on the outside of the lens, similar to Nikons tilt shift lenses, I'd also like to confirm that it would indeed work on a modern FX DSLR and will autofocus correctly above water (ok not a necessity, but would be an advantage).
Nikon UW Lenses
- Thread starter Auraomega
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I'm slightly confused by what you are asking, UW is ultra wide not under water? A quick google and I can't seem to find any specific under water lenses only people using normal wide lenses in housings etc. Can you post a link to the lens you are refering too?
Plus I would have said 15mm on FX would class as ultra wide. As long as the lens is an AF lens I'm pretty sure all FX Nikons have af motors in the body and aperture feelers for metering.
Dave
Plus I would have said 15mm on FX would class as ultra wide. As long as the lens is an AF lens I'm pretty sure all FX Nikons have af motors in the body and aperture feelers for metering.
Dave
UW is under water, it's a very rare, specialised breed of Nikon lens (like the Noct-Nikkors) that are, from what I can tell, designed to be used on a very specialised under water body (that doesn't require a Subal body or the like).
As I said I've not been able to find much, if any information on it suffice to say it's an underwater lens. I can't find anything definitive on whether it's F mount or something completely different, I can't tell if autofocus works at all, just under water, or in all situations, it's not so much a case of if it autofocuses, but if it will actually autofocus correctly above water (like trying to autofocus in ir photography doesn't work correctly). If it is an F mount will it cause damage to the camera (like the old invasive fisheye lenses), and what are the knobs for? I figure one is for focusing, but the other?
What I meant by a 'proper' ultrawide is a good quality one like the 14-24, I'm just looking for a stepping stone while I re-buy all the kit.
The only link I can find is this.
As I said I've not been able to find much, if any information on it suffice to say it's an underwater lens. I can't find anything definitive on whether it's F mount or something completely different, I can't tell if autofocus works at all, just under water, or in all situations, it's not so much a case of if it autofocuses, but if it will actually autofocus correctly above water (like trying to autofocus in ir photography doesn't work correctly). If it is an F mount will it cause damage to the camera (like the old invasive fisheye lenses), and what are the knobs for? I figure one is for focusing, but the other?
What I meant by a 'proper' ultrawide is a good quality one like the 14-24, I'm just looking for a stepping stone while I re-buy all the kit.
The only link I can find is this.
There was an article a while ago about the Navy Seals using some sort of modified Nikonos a while ago. There's a few more lenses listed here. I think you'll struggle to find anything for sale that doesn't cost the earth or that would be an improvement to a good lens in a new underwater housing though.
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Having done more than 2 seconds of googling and looking at your nikonions link I see what you are talking about now!
I would hazzard a guess that one of the two knobs if for the aperture as I don't see any other way of changing it on the lens. Having looked at it I doubt it would be a standard mounting as I would imagine that it would need some pretty serious and specialist gasketing if it is to be used underwater. Is it really cheap (would be suprised as something so specialist isn't usually cheap!) or a huge bargain this second hand lens you are looking at? Is there no way of getting any info from the seller? Surely an older wide lens might be better as if you want an ultra wide as not having AF is not a massive issue on a wide lens?
Dave
I would hazzard a guess that one of the two knobs if for the aperture as I don't see any other way of changing it on the lens. Having looked at it I doubt it would be a standard mounting as I would imagine that it would need some pretty serious and specialist gasketing if it is to be used underwater. Is it really cheap (would be suprised as something so specialist isn't usually cheap!) or a huge bargain this second hand lens you are looking at? Is there no way of getting any info from the seller? Surely an older wide lens might be better as if you want an ultra wide as not having AF is not a massive issue on a wide lens?
Dave
Well it went for just over £120, and it was a 15mm f2.8 so a bargain I'd say.
I've looked at getting a fixed manual this wide, but in all honesty they just don't come close to the price, I do have my eye on a Tokina 17mm lens as I like their quality, but there are 3 versions, all really hard to find, and 1 of them is useless to me as it's got a fixed lens hood so I can't fit my filters on it properly
I've looked at getting a fixed manual this wide, but in all honesty they just don't come close to the price, I do have my eye on a Tokina 17mm lens as I like their quality, but there are 3 versions, all really hard to find, and 1 of them is useless to me as it's got a fixed lens hood so I can't fit my filters on it properly
I really should have read your post all the way through. I didn't see that you were wanting this for a modern dslr and more importantly not in the water.
The nikonos range of UW lenses are not compatible with dslr's. The mount is specific to the nikonos range of cameras and the lenses are purely designed for use under water and not suitable for use out of the water.
What about the Samyang 14mm as a stepping stone? It's probably the best optical quality out of the ultra cheap uwa lenses on offer. Manual focus really isn't much hassle for an ultra wide anyway. There's also a few cheap uwa's from Sigma and the Nikon 18-35mm. I'd be tempted to simply save a bit more than going for one of these offerings though.
The nikonos range of UW lenses are not compatible with dslr's. The mount is specific to the nikonos range of cameras and the lenses are purely designed for use under water and not suitable for use out of the water.
What about the Samyang 14mm as a stepping stone? It's probably the best optical quality out of the ultra cheap uwa lenses on offer. Manual focus really isn't much hassle for an ultra wide anyway. There's also a few cheap uwa's from Sigma and the Nikon 18-35mm. I'd be tempted to simply save a bit more than going for one of these offerings though.