Andrej Belic and team have successfully adapted a Nikonos 13mm lens to work with a digital SLR. The optical quality of the Nikonos 13mm and 20-35mm RS series lenses is reputed to be every high. Andrej is still working on a waterproof adapter to allow the camera and lens to be used underwater. Andrej has promised to keep us updated on the progress of the project.

After months of research work, thinking and rethinking concepts and approaches, cancelling out options, acquiring new ones, my team and I have made a 20 year old underwater photographer’s dream come true. A working prototype of a Nikonos RS lens that fully communicates with a regular Nikon DSLR.

The Nikonos RS 13 mm Fisheye and the Nikonos RS 20-35 wide-angle are considered the world’s best underwater optics. I remember that 10 years ago the performance of the Nikonos 20-35 easily dwarfed my usually “state of the art considered” Nikon 17-35 behind a coated 9” port with an exactly matched extension ring. The pictures looked like that from a normal lens compared to a Leica.

I’m going to present a second part when the Nikonos lens will be dive ready and thoroughly tested on its optical capabilities compared to regular lens/domeport combinations.

About the Author: Andrej Belic has started diving in 2000 and explored many technical aspects of it: Photography, rebreather diving, wrecks’n’caves, apnea freediving. In the last year he was investigating various possibilities on improving current underwater photography techniques. The first result is the world’s first adaption of a Nikonos lens on a Nikon DSLR. Please visit his website for more details.