Nikon 1 AW1 Fisheye?

Lorenzo

My question is, with the high crop factor of the CX format, is it possible to make a fisheye lens for this line? I love the idea of the AW1 for underwater shooting, but would absolutely need an AW1 fisheye lens for underwater work...is it a poor idea to hold out hopes that Nikon will release a waterproof CX fisheye lens for the 1 AW1? Surely I can't be the only underwater photog that has little use for a cam without an extreme wide angle right? If they released a waterproof CX Fisheye I would snap up the camera with that lens and the 10mm F2.8 for land use in an instant.

heartyfisher

who knows.. maybe next year :-) .. its not even out yet :-) . Would the 6.7 - 13 be good enough for you ? they may make an under water version of that lens :-)

Msmoto

As a fisheye fanatic....LOL....I think some underwater shots would be super.... but, as the demand for a fisheye for the AW1 would no doubt be limited, I cannot imagine Nikon producing one in current market conditions.

Lorenzo

Heartyfisher - I just check that wide angle zoom out and that would suffice at about an 18mm equivalent, though I would really prefer wider. If they make an AW version of it though I am going to at least give it a shot. When shooting with a DSLR in an underwater housing I found the 10-24DX to be ok but the 10.5 fisheye and Sigma 8-16 to be lot better.

Msmoto - I certainly love fisheyes too, when used in moderation and properly! As a DSLR out-of-the-water lens they are a specialty piece of glass with low demand, but I would really think for underwater photography either a fisheye or a super wide angle with a 12 or 14mm equivalent would be pretty high demand. For many underwater situations such a lens is a necessity, and are extremely common for surf photography, fishing photography, etc. Most all underwater DSLR folks shoot with a fisheye or UWA much of the time and divers with high quality P&S cams like Canon S100 series and G series use fisheye conversion ports on their housings.

Has Nikon said anything about at least converting already existing 1 series lenses to AW versions? The 6.7-13 would be better than nothing, though something wider would be much better - get super wide and I don't care if it is a fisheye or rectilinear. I am currently using a Canon g12 in a recsea housing with a fisheye fix dome on it for my underwater work and it is so dang heavy for travel/hiking when also carrying my DSLR - I would love to sell it and get a 1AW1 if wide angle was there.

Juergen

Lorenzo, can you post some of your work?
Jürgen

Lorenzo

Lorenzo, can you post some of your work?
Jürgen

Sure thing Juergen. For a little background, I began with a DSLR housing and large dome. Loved the images but too large to carry as often as I wanted. Downsized to my current setup of a Canon g12 in recsea housing with small dome. It is much smaller but still just as heavy because the DSLR housing was an aquatech sport housing meant to be light for near surface work while the g12 housing is a true dive housing made of super heavy aluminum - not ideal for me since I work near the surface and don't want to carry so much weight. A Nikon AW1 with a waterproof fisheye lens would mean I couldn't do the over/under shots but that would be a worthy sacrifice for a tiny setup that would capture sweet underwater images. A little fisheye might have a nice bulbous front element that would allow some over/unders (though of course with less success than a big old dome port for a DSLR housing).

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/IMG_1864.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/IMG_1849.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/DSC_1207.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/DSC_1359.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/DSC_4693.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/DSC_4573.jpg

Lorenzo

Sorry I don't have a flickr and this forum doesn't seem compatible with Photobucket for embedding images

Juergen

Hi Lorenzo,
Thank you very much! Great and very unique photos. Now I understand better why you want a fisheye.
Maybe Nikon hears you.
Jürgen

Msmoto

@Lorenzo

Can you give us the Exif data on the shots above?

Oh, I like your images, so I thought I would post a similar situation in the surf...17mm on full frame


part of a sequence of the surf hitting the camera...LOL...and me!

heartyfisher

LOL !

DaveyJ

We have researched the Nikon 1 AW 1 and concluded for the moment we are staying mostly Go Pro UW. The Go Pro 3 just introduced yet another higher resolution (and the Go Pro 2 and regular 3 Black are both very good now) which will take that camera to a even more competitive level. We went round and round with a Canon G12 and housing and were very disappointed with the cost and returned it during the period we could and put our money in a dry suit to add to our other diving gear.

We are in the water everyday and right now the water is cold and it will get colder. We are approaching fall turnover when the 39 deg. F. water starts sinking to the bottom. After that we go to Belize and deal with warmer water. We are taking at least 5 Go Pros there and virtually NO OTHER UW cameras. The Nikon 1 AW 1 doesn't seem to have much commitment from Nikon, but it will be interesting to see how it will sell. My guess is it will sell quite well. FOr now we are waiting for someone else to test it!

Lorenzo

Hi Lorenzo,
Thank you very much! Great and very unique photos. Now I understand better why you want a fisheye.
Maybe Nikon hears you.
Jürgen

Hey thank you Juergen! Obviously fishing is a niche sport for serious photography, but surfing photography is huge and those folks use super wides a ton, and so do divers.

@Lorenzo

Can you give us the Exif data on the shots above?

Oh, I like your images, so I thought I would post a similar situation in the surf...17mm on full frame

Thanks Msmoto - and that is a fun shot you posted! Not sure I can embed the exif but I can tell you my usual underwater settings, condition dependent of course:

When I was using the 10.5 DX fisheye lens on a D7000 I usually shot at F4-F8, adjusting in that range as necessary to keep ISO under 1000 and shutter speeds over 1/200. For some of the shots though like the casting shot I would try and get shutter speeds up towards 1/500 to freeze quick motion.

With the Canon g12 I would often times just shoot at wider apertures to get lower ISOs because the smaller sensor would give adequate DOF at F2.8 and I considered lower ISOs mandatory since of course ISO 1,000 looked a lot worse on this cam than it did on a D7000.