Coming close on UW setup but.....

[dmpaq20]

First of all the suck up, thanks to everyone on this board for the posts these are without a doubt huge for us beginners.

For the past 4 years I have been using a Casio P&S with no strobe as my first setup shooting macro with the on-board camera flash . It is now nearing Xmas time and I can smell my year-end bonus just burning, I mean burning!
Hopefully the gods at my work will come through. And if they don't, damm it boys I am still going pulling the grenade pin.
Kidding aside here is what I am thinking about spending it on:

Canon S95
Recsea UW Housing
Inon D2000 (single strobe)
ULCS or OpticalOcean tray set

Now you know what is missing, a WAL (UWL-04 or equiv). I am on the fence as I am wondering if I have never had one how much could I miss it

I plan on shooting macro and coral/fish scenes as well as some primitive video (don't hit me Nemrod)
I have poured over this forum and UWPG (this is a huge help) and here is my question:

Based on what I want to shoot can I leave my WAL lens on at all times? The thought of taking it on and off (using a caddie of course to store it) multiple times a dive doesn't seem to make sense to me given that my subject matter has already moved on .

In what instances are you installing and removing your WAL lenses?

As always, many thanks for your thoughts.....Dave

 

[Maddog59]

Hi Dave,
Seems like you have put a lot of thought into your system and I think your on the right path. The S95 is not my choice of camera, but to each their own I say!
As to the WAL issue you will hear a lot of pros and cons from all perspective of the argument so I'll put mine in first and let the others have their say. I always leave the WAL on my Patima housing (once I've decided that it is the format for the dive) as it is a 63mm screw thread and I don't think it would last too long if continually removed and replaced U/water with grit and sand in the thread.
Secondly as you stated the time lag between that Manta Ray appearing and fitting the lens and setting the shot and framing the shot! Well!!!! what can I say, some people might be quicker than me!
Also remember that forced perspective macro shots are some of the best uses for a WAL setup that you will come across.
The bottom line is that it is your choice but there are reasons why you wouldn't take it off u/water and reasons why you would leave it on!


Peter

 

[under water]

I concur with what maddog said. Unless you plan on using other 67mm lenses for macro, I would leave the Wide Angle on. This will allow you to get closer to the subject and still keep it in frame. Now, if you are going after the close-ups of shrimp faces, nah.. that won't work very well.
That's what I did when I had a G9. There were times when I would unscrew the WAL and screw on a UCL-165M67 lens to get real close-ups, but that didn't happen that frequently.