14-42 mm & 9-18 mm in Olympus PT-EP10

[John Gulliver]

A shot with nothing in the corners is not a good representation anyway looking at the fish in the bottom right corner you can see a clear ring of purple fringing all around it and the diver in the chai suit is squashed like some gopro flat port clips

Hang on a minute, the guy clearly stated that the image would have been better with a dome port. It may be my computer or my ancient eyes but I can't see a ring of purple fringing all around the fish in the bottom right corner. And the fact that the divemaster looks squashed is certainly at least partly due to his posture. All things considered, I think this is a nice shot.

 

[StefanKruse]

Thanks for the picture ggibson. Photo looks good, beautiful shark. Is the picture taken at 9mm or?

@interceptor - the issues you mention are they port related or lens related in general? The 9-18mm does not have a good rep when it comes to corner sharpness OW nor UW.

In the long run the Zen port seems like the way to go, but it looks as if the 9-18mm is definately a step up from the 14-42 lens kit and combined with its topside usability, it looks like the way to go. I can live with a bit of fringing and softness in the corners.

As i do most of my Diving in Denmark/sweden is i mostly plan to do macro (limited visibility is the norm), but for travelling and topside i think the 9-18mm offers a lot at a limited price, especially when comparing to the alternatives pana 7-14 with port, Zen port etc.

 

[Interceptor121]

Issues are port related under 35mm typically you have pincushion distortion and fringing with a flat port which is what the picture shows. You can correct them but you affect the whole image. That's the reason why you use domes for wide angle. Also consider 18mm becomes 24mm in water with flat port that is not really that wide. If you had a 24mm compact with a wet mate you would achieve the same field of view but better sharpness

 

[StefanKruse]

John,

How much are you able to aply the 9-18mm when diving around Gothenburg?

 

[John Gulliver]

John,

How much are you able to aply the 9-18mm when diving around Gothenburg?

I haven't tried it around Gothenburg but have done limited tests in Gullmarsfjorden. As you say, poor vis is the norm, at least during the spring/summer/autumn (I don't dive in the winter any more, did enough of that when I was younger ) so it's mainly close-up and macro for me too.

 

[StefanKruse]

I haven't tried it around Gothenburg but have done limited tests in Gullmarsfjorden. As you say, poor vis is the norm, at least during the spring/summer/autumn (I don't dive in the winter any more, did enough of that when I was younger ) so it's mainly close-up and macro for me too.

Too bad, would have loved to see what kind of images the lense would be able to produce under Nordic conditions. Ill have to try it out once I get the lense.

 

[Storker]

Almost all of my OW pictures are taken with the 9-18, albeit behind Nauticam's 4" semidome. Most of those are in Nordic waters. About a year ago I started using an el cheapo +2 dry closeup lens to improve corner sharpneds, and my last couple of pics are taken using an achromatic +2 diopter.

Check my flickr stream for examples


--
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Typos are a feature, not a bug

 

[nudibranco]

Storker, which achromat are you using??

 

[John Gulliver]

Storker, please post a link to your flickr stream and tell us which shots were taken with the cheapo +2 filter and good close-up filter respectively.

 

[Storker]

which achromat are you using??

Canon 500D (+2 diopters), 52mm, as recommended by Interceptor121

please post a link to your flickr stream

It's right here. And here's a direct link to my UW photo flickr album.

and tell us which shots were taken with the cheapo +2 filter and good close-up filter respectively.

The shots from 2013 were taken without any dry diopter; I got the idea and tested various diopters in Feb 2014. After seeing the results, it was basically a no-brainer WRT corner sharpness. I've posted the test results on Wetpixel.

All shots from 2014 were taken with a +2 dry diopter. The two from December were with the Canon achromat, all the other were with the cheapo Vivitar single element +2 closeup lens.

And just to avoid confusion: I'm taking about a dry closeup lens, not a wet lens. It's used inside the dome, screwed into the lens' filter threads, to improve the poor corner sharpness which AFAIK is a quite common problem for almost any rectilinear WA inside a dome port.