Macro with a dome port

Underwater macro photography through a dome port

On my recent trip to dive Milford Sound, New Zealand and Adelaide, Australia I wanted to travel light. So in addition to cameras and lenses, I only brought my underwater camera housing, two underwater strobes and my compact dome port.

Even though it was mainly a hiking and wildlife trip with my wife, we did plan for a few dives, mainly to find the famous leafy sea dragon.

Red crab, Edithburgh Jetty, Adelaide. D300 + Nikon 60mm lens, dome port. F20, 1/80th

I did want to take some underwater macro photos of Adelaide, so I decided to use my Nikon 60mm lens behind my dome port.

I was very pleased with the results. Also I lost 25% magnification that a flat port gives you due to the refractive index of water, I never missed the magnification. The colors of my underwater photos and sharpness were great. I also found the combination worked better for photographing fish since I could get closer to them. And finally, using a dome port is theoretically supposed to result in less chromatic aberration.

Next time you want to photograph fish and large nudibranchs, give your macro lens a try behind a dome port! 

Underwater macro photographs, behind a dome port

All photos are with the Nikon 60mm lens, Sea & Sea compact dome port

Featherduster worm closeup. F18, 1/80th

Nudibranch, F20, 1/250th

Diver behind a featherduster worm. F9, 1/160th

Fish swimming past colorful jetty pilings. F8, 1/125th