Fisheye FIX for the S90

[Nemrod]

In conjunction with lens testing I posted in the Great Summer Wet Lens Shootout in the underwater photography forum I began to take a closer look at the 10Bar AD to 67mm adapter. I decided that I could reduce the thickness somewhat and improve the function with the Inon UFL165AD lens.

What I did was to first install the AD lens and note if it was "tight" or "loose" and mine was very tight indicating the grip length of the 10Bar adapter bayonet mount was not perfect. I then removed the lens from the adapter and then removed the 6 screws from the back separating the two pieces. I measured the front piece, the piece with the bayonet mount and mine was .34 inches thick.

OK, next I took two pieces of high quality paper wet and dry sandpaper, 180 and 400, and soaked them in warm water and set them on a piece of glass (I have a piece of plate glass I use for this type of thing) with a touch of Dawn soap. The soapy water sticks the paper nicely to the glass and then I put another drop of soap on top of the paper. Next, with the 400 grit I set the bayonet front piece down face first on the paper and worked it gently in a figure eight, rotating frequently to change pressure points. I went from .34 to about .30.

OK, the fit was better, now I could mount the lens and it was still snug but not tight and still locked nicely. Now, with the 180 grit, I set the bayonet piece down on it's aft side and sanded it using a figure eight and rotating frequently. Once it was down to about .26, I went to the 400 grit and finished up at about .25 OA thickness.

I reassembled the adapter pieces and found that the stack was now similar to my DIY version, still a touch thicker but very close and it did eliminate some vignetting to the point now that I could live with it for most shots. I could probably take it down to .23 and then I would be the same as my DIY version. I may do that next time I have time.

The goal, with the assembled adapter installed on the UFL165AD note that the metal surrounding the rear optical element is inset from the aft face of the adapter when installed into the 67mm FIX kit lens mount. With my DIY version this is FLUSH. This is the goal, flush to the aft surface of the FIX lens mount kit. If you go to far in addition to other bad things, if the lens is proud to the surface you may scratch the lens or camera port in use.

YRMV and I take no responsibility for the potential outcomes, especially if they are bad ones.

N

 

[fongalv]

Just got back from another trip with the setup with the addition of a borrowed strobe and I must say I really am getting the hang of the system! I managed to tether the UFL by means of a cable-tie wrapped with duct-tape around the rear of the lens and looped a thick guage fishing line from my dad's drawer. Unless one tries to slide out the cable-tie loop with equal force on the entire ring, the fishing line which pulls at at angle results in a very tight system that does not come off easily.

Nemrod: I was wondering how much real world difference the sanding down of the 10bar adapter gives? I tried placing the UFL right on top of the FIXS90 port without any adapters and found that it still vignette, and since to overcome even the reduced amount of vignette would require me to zoom up to 35mm, I thought there might be no real use to actually sand down the 10bar adapter unless there is some way to zoom between 28-35mm? I do not have any calipers to measure my sanded down adapter which I gauge by intuition, but at 28mm it gives me rather interesting "porthole" images like this:

I am also beginning to dig the macros that the S90 and +10 Subsee can achieve!

I found macros with the Subsee(or any other diopter for that matter) requires a little more patience to use since after 1/2 depressing shutter, I still have to manually move the camera within the focal range(0-150mm) to obtain a sharp focus, but the "enlarge focus point when half depressed" function to work great in this situation. Compared to those I took on the stock G7 which focuses up to 0cm, I found it easier to shoot skittish critters like shrimps without the diopter.

BTW, as this is the first time I'm using a strobe, when in Aperture Priority mode, is there anyway to get the camera to shoot at a shutter at any other speed than at 1/60s when the onboard flash is enabled? The same seems to happen under Tv which locks the aperture to F4.0...

 

[Nemrod]

Nemrod: I was wondering how much real world difference the sanding down of the 10bar adapter gives? I tried placing the UFL right on top of the FIXS90 port without any adapters and found that it still vignette, and since to overcome even the reduced amount of vignette would require me to zoom up to 35mm, I thought there might be no real use to actually sand down the 10bar adapter unless there is some way to zoom between 28-35mm? I do not have any calipers to measure my sanded down adapter which I gauge by intuition, but at 28mm it gives me rather interesting "porthole" images like this:

The Inon lenses are designed for a 35mm native lens, they will always vignette until you zoom to approximately 35mm. The "sanding down" does reduce vignetting at the 35mm zoom level with the UFL165AD from some to essentially none as is the case with my DIY version. The "sanding down" is entirely optional, you can remove most issues with a 98% crop, I prefer no cropping at all. As I said, YRMV, any bad outcomes are not my fault.

BTW, I shoot the Inon UFL165AD at 35mm and occasionally with my DIY AD adapter at 31.5mm and the Inon UWL100 with dome always at 35mm zoom. They will not work to my satisfaction at full wide. As I said, they are designed for a 35mm lens and zooming to 35mm accomplishes that as I have shown.

The Fisheye UWL-04 with the 52mm FIX single piece adapter seems to work very well at full wide 28mm and of note is the fact that the lens was designed for 28mm native camera lenses. The Inon WAL100-28AD was also designed for 28mm camera lenses and it is reported that it works fine at full wide with no zooming required.

I don't understand the reluctance to zoom to 35mm? The lenses are designed for it in the cases mentioned above, they work fine as has been shown with no real downside. The S90 can be pre-set to zoom at power up in Custom settings or quickly zoomed accurately using the front ring control or two quick bumps on the zoom lever also takes you to 35mm, one quick bump goes to about 31.5mm.

N

 

[fongalv]

Oh, I think you read me wrongly. It's not that I'm reluctant to zoom up to 35mm, and am fully aware about the native 35mm required by the UFL(as you have brought up several times). I just gave up sanding the 10bar adapter because I realised even an optimally thick adapter will still require some sort of zooming in(I thought 35, but it seems you got favourable results at 31.5).

That aside, I guess from what you have stated above, it can also work without vignette at "one quick bump" of the zoom lever? I will do some trial and error on my part using your numbers as references so don't worry, I won't hold you responsible if anything goes south!

 

[Nemrod]

Well, I am still working on the in between 31.5 thing. I wish the zoom lever allowed infinite adjustments. The 31.5mm is going to be too wide to ever completely eliminate vignetting but I may can get it down to acceptable 95% to 98% crop. At 33mm I am sure I could eliminate vignetting to all but a touch and have the full 165 degree FOV but the dang camera will not let me. Yeah, the small differences add up.

In my lens testing the Fisheye UWL-04 is a touch wider than the UFL165AD and the reason is that just because Canon say 35mm is actually 35mm equivalent is not exact and complete. It varies a few mm and those few mm FL do matter. The A570IS, I think from an online review, for example stated the lens was actually a 32mm equivalent (Canon said 35mm) and thus the resulting fact (I can no longer demonstrate since I sold my A570 stuff) is that it worked closer to the potential 165 degree FOV than with the Canon S90. The UFL165Ad on the FIX rig is working around 155 degrees DFOV give or take a bit when the S90 zoom is at "35mm". Per Inon, if I recall, I will try to verify, the UFL165AD actual requirement is 32mm FL to get the full 165 degrees (plus optimal distance between lenses).

N

 

[Nemrod]

Main results are posted in the Compact Forum in my sig but just a little here.

S90 at 28mm through flat port:

S90 with Inon WAL100-67 and dome kit using the FIX67mm mount kit (BTW, the slight corner vignette upper right, lol, that was because I burped the lens to clear some bubbles and then only threaded the lens back on one thread, so it was kinda hanging on barely and a bit crooked and nearly fell off):

S90 with Inon UFL165AD plus 10Bar AD to 67mm adapter and FIX 67mm lens mount kit:

S90 with Fisheye/FIX UWL-04 and FIX single piece 52mm lens mount:

These were all hand held at f4.0 and about 1/8 to 1/10 second shot from the exact same place to the exact same aim point. These are intended for FOV comparison only and nothing else should be concluded from these pics as to IQ etc.

This kind of thing took me eight hours in the pool, plus an afternoon to build a lens board and I was very rushed. It simply takes a bunch of time when I have to work around and through and over people and aquatics directors who claim I need an appointment etc. so my point is that forgetting to thread a lens in all the way or not having perfect studio lighting or hand holding for FOV and not giving a c---p about IQ otherwise still achieves my intended result.

The result is that despite what has been said, there are multiple wide angle options for the FIX90 rig, all of them work very well and are very useful.

Preliminary as I plan further testing:

1. The Inon WAL100-67 plus dome is the heaviest, best IQ, contrast, least prone to flare and by far the most expensive and has the smallest working DFOV of about 125 degrees. At well over eight hundred dollars you better really think you need this lens. The weight does make the FIX90 nose heavy and the lens is somewhat difficult to handle while installing etc due again to the weight and size.

2. The Inon UFL165AD plus AD to 67mm adapter is an excellent lens choice. This lens is very small and lightweight, balances very well with the FIX90 and can bayonet on and off for quick lens changes. At about 450 dollars it is an excellent value. This lens is somewhat tricky to use with strong fore ground lighting and careful attention to light and especially strobes must be given or there will be flare. DFOV approaching 150 to 155 degrees depending upon adapter and need for minor cropping in some cases. Excellent IQ when used with skill and great choice for close focus wide angle macro work, focuses right down to the dome surface.

3. The Fisheye/FIX UWL-04 lens, wow, very nice, largest DFOV approaching 160 degrees if I am measring this correctly. This lens is larger than the 165AD by quite a bit but also is not nearly as heavy as the WAL100 plus dome. This lens with the single piece 52mm mount is probably the least expensive choice. Balances well, not especially negative, not as prone to flare as the 165AD but much more so than the WAL100 plus dome (IMO). Easiest to use because it does not require a preset to 35mm FL on the S90.

Another bit of info, I see no need or reason to set focus to "Macro" with any of these lenses. I also have found that using Manual Focus and zone setting my focus greatly speeds up the shutter response as auto focus lag is eliminated. The S90 is way faster than most P&S anyways and this trick only makes it faster, as fast or faster than the ELP-1 (in auto or manual focus). The depth of field at f4.0 and above with small sensor cameras is huge and then coupled with the natural huge depth of field that ultra wide angle lenses have the "zone focus" concept works well unless you are especially critical on focus such as close focus wide angle macro shots. YRMV

N

 

[fongalv]

Hey Nemrod, wanted to "thank" the post but it seems the feature has been taken down...

As per the bit about setting it to macro, I have actually found that my S90 has a tendency(not always) to take unfocused shots when not set to "macro". Say for instance, whenever the camera auto shuts down and I restart, will default to "landscape" mode and sometimes the shots will be totally unfocused. A quick change to macro mode usually fixes this. MF and zone focussing? hehe sounds like my good ol' XA2 but never knew it was a feature on the S90.

Anyways, I really appreciate you taking the time to conduct these tests and sharing them with us. Even tho I already have "completed" my rig and am quite happy with it, I still follow your informative posts as I always learn new stuff.

Once again, thank you, and I look forward for more!

 

[Nemrod]

Do you have the feature, turned on that puts the focus check magnified area up, forgive me, I forget what it is called? Very useful to me to let me know the camera is focusing.

Tell me about using the macro focus, what does this do to other features of the camera? What is the downside? I am just not seeing this as useful but if it works for you I will look into it more, maybe I am missing something here? Thanks.

There is no "zone focus" feature but when you turn on Manual Focus you can zone focus by using the focus bar that appears on the right side of the LCD as a vertical bar.

If you recall, or maybe not, lol, the Nikonos III and previous models had no focusing vf or LCD or even any batteries so we always zone focused by estimating distance and setting it with the knob on the lens. The same concept works here as well except that we get to actually see the result on a LCD screen, glory be. Manual focus BTW can be accessed via the front ring control selection menu and then focus with the front ring just like a real camera!

There is some new info floating around that Dyron has a 67mm adapter that uses I think a sleeve and a nylon set nut. I can see that this might be a superior means of utilizing the AD to 67mm adapter for AD lenses vs the same adapter and the FIX three piece 67mm lens mount.

Yeah, some people love me, some people hate me, it is what it is . It is said you catch more flies with honey but then they are after all, flies, so not to sure I would want to catch them? This may be my new sig.

N

 

[skynscuba]

There is no "zone focus" feature but when you turn on Manual Focus you can zone focus by using the focus bar that appears on the right side of the LCD as a vertical bar.

Without the wet lens, just the camera/housing: if I want to focus on something at say 12" underwater, do I set the focus at 12" as in air, or something different?

 

[Nemrod]

Without the wet lens, just the camera/housing: if I want to focus on something at say 12" underwater, do I set the focus at 12" as in air, or something different?

It would be the apparent distance. The "zone focus" idea may not work as well with the native lens, at least not up close because DOF will be somewhat limited but you can give it a try, it definitely works with wide angle lenses and does improve camera speed and possibly reduce battery drain a touch.

N