Fisheye FIX for the S90

[ozziworld]

Yeah, He offered to get it for me but I sat on the decision then the used lenses came around.

A few pages back page 39 - 40 or so, Nemrod showed me a simple 52mm Adapter

FIX S90 Threaded Adadpter Ring M52 [fix.m52.ring] - $35.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

If I remember right, the UWL-04 comes 52mm and with an adapter for 67mm. Suggest you read back a few pages.

Interesting that I was exactly where you are a few weeks ago agonizing over which set of lenses and mounts for the FIX S90.

 

[boogs]

I read the whole thread Thing is, I already have the 67mm mount.

 

[ozziworld]

Then I guess you just have to pull the trigger.

Just confirm that the UWL-04 comes with both 52mm and 67mm adapters. Also, I guess if there is some concern about the included (w/ the UWL-04) 67mm adapter then it leaves you with the FIX single piece 52mm adapter to go with the UWL-04.

If you go the 10bar 67/ad adapter + UFL165AD route, I guess you will be detaching the lens between the 10bar adapter and the 67mm adapter

since your macro lenses are 67mm your swapping lenses will already be threaded vs. bayonet.

If you get it through Splash, you will at least have local support. His prices are actually slightly better than those I see on other internet sites.

Took him two weeks to get my 28AD Adapter.

 

[pjdavo]

in the words of the great Columbo, (George Peppard version, not the one who sailed the ocean blue),,,
"Just one more thing"

so 10bar do two 67 - AD adapters,
* Adaptor Ring ADF-M67 (adaptor ring with thread OD 67mm and ADF mount)
* Adaptor Ring ADM-F67 (adaptor ring with thread ID 67mm and ADM mount)

If i had the Fix S90 with 67mm mount adapter, I'm guessing that i'd need the first one (ADF-M67). can you please confirm this for me though as I'm living in Oz and it takes a while to get these things here plus they seem to cost twice as much!

Thanks
Phil.

 

[phillybob]

in the words of the great Columbo, (George Peppard version, not the one who sailed the ocean blue),,, "Just one more thing"...

Peter Falk

 

[pjdavo]

lol! thanks,, also pretty sure it was columbus who sailed the ocean blue!

 

[fongalv]

so 10bar do two 67 - AD adapters,
* Adaptor Ring ADF-M67 (adaptor ring with thread OD 67mm and ADF mount)
* Adaptor Ring ADM-F67 (adaptor ring with thread ID 67mm and ADM mount)

If i had the Fix S90 with 67mm mount adapter, I'm guessing that i'd need the first one (ADF-M67). can you please confirm this for me though as I'm living in Oz and it takes a while to get these things here plus they seem to cost twice as much!

Thanks
Phil.

I believe the codes should mean:
ADF-M67: AD Female to Male M67
ADM-F67: AD Male to Female M67

The component to attach to the FIXS90 67mm mount adapter should be the ADFemale to Male67(ADF-M67) one, but I highly recommend getting one of each(what I did) so that you can convert any M67 diopters/lenses into ADMale to attach onto the housing.


Cheers!

 

[pjdavo]

Yeah i was thinking the same as i already have a 67mm inon macro lens (never been used as i lost my old camera)

 

[VictorZ]

Since I got so much information here that influenced my decisions in this camera setup (thank you everybody on this forum, especially Nemrod and Compu) I’d like to share my impressions from my first dives with it. The setup I had:

1. Fisheye Fix/s90 with FIX S90 Threaded Adapter Ring M52 ($35) attached with Loctite blue
2. Fix UWL-04 M52
3. Inon UCL-165 M67 with Step-Up Ring 52-67 ($9) attached with Loctite blue (I originally ordered Seatool 2 Elements Close-up Lens 52mm, but it looked flimsy and did not thread into the metal adapter so I returned it).
4. These adapters were recommended by Ryan (Reef) and they allow easier exchange of lenses (still threaded)
5. 2 Inon s2000 strobes with cables on Ultralight arms and small focus light

I shoot in Av and Tv modes with STTL on the strobes, WB was set to Cloudy. These were my first experiences with this camera and strobes so I left Safety FE on in hope to get more properly exposed shots. I also often decreased Flash Power on the camera to achieve proper exposure. You can see some of the shots here: Fiji and St. Croix. (Several images here were shot with Canon SD700 IS in Canon housing by my wife)

Major impressions:
1. The setup is pretty heavy on land but manageable underwater, even holding by one hand, which does not contribute to camera steadiness (I had some DIY floats on the first trip, but used it without them on the second)
2. The housing is easy to handle, never fogged (as opposed to plastic housings I had before. Because of metal is a better heat conductor?), but I had it adjusted at the Reef because of the rear wheel slipping. I think after the adjustment it vignettes a bit with UWL-04. (The vignetting is big in RAW images when viewed in Picasa, but not in DPP since it trims them for some reason).
3. The shutter delay/slow focusing speed is still there (this is not a DSLR!) and I missed a lot of shots of fast (and not so fast) moving animals. I probably would be better off shooting with manual focus set in the middle of the huge DOF provided by UWL-04.
4. Holding the rig steadily is really important, otherwise I got soft shots (and I got plenty of them even of corals, and great DOF of UWL did not help). I guess it can be partially fixed by shooting without Safety FE (that defaults to shutter speed 1/60) and high speed setting or shooting on manual settings.
5. I did not remove UWL-04 underwater. I changed it to UCL-165 between dives, but I often unscrewed UCL-165 during the dive and shot just with camera.
6. The weather and water were not perfect and I got some backscatter (sometimes a lot) and will need to work more on strobes positioning
7. It is very hard to photograph anything within small holes: strobes will not allow you to get the camera in (my wife with small camera without strobes did the shots).
8. I shot in RAW and JPEG and wish all shots were in RAW since it is a pleasure working with RAW in Canon DPP (especially WB and exposure adjustment)
9. Shots with UCL-165 require the camera Macro mode set as expected. Unfortunately when camera is switched off/on, the Macro does not stick and many macro shots are out of focus because I forgot to turn it on. It sticks if saved in Custom setting!
10. Several semi-macro shots were done with UWL-04 and max zoom. They turned out to be not bad.
11. Camera battery life is good for 2 dives with lots of photos with flash (it is usually dead on the 3rd dive)
12. I used Eneloop rechargeable batteries for the strobes and they lasted for many dives.
13. Divers could recognize me well during the night dives because of the strobe lights :kiss2:
14. Post processing was done primarily in Canon DPP (WB, exposure, contrast, some trimming and backscatter removal). Some JPEGs were adjusted in Picasa, and I am still playing with this great extreme color correction technique.

 

[Nemrod]

I have spent much of the last week underwater with the FIX90 rig, my longest expedition with it thus far. I am still having problems seeing digital!

I am not yet home but have been scanning through my pics and I suppose a few are OK but we had fun despite my usual weather issues that follow me. I was expecting clear water and blue skies, lol, nope, rain and brownish water and current and lot's of stuff in the water challenged my best efforts as well. Shooting three different lenses in one trip might not have been wise either.

FYI, focus and shutter lag are much reduced with manual focus with little hazard of poor focus with the wide angle lenses. I would turn off the "Safety Functions" as they are unpredictable, slow the camera etc. My rig handles well with excellent balance with the dual strobes, easily handled with one hand, which is a good thing because my other hand is usually holding my wife's hand so as she does not go off on an adventure without me. The eight inch arms plus Inon swivel strobe mounts give me the capability to spread wide or tuck in close for maneuverability in close spaces.

I am not having vignetting with any lens I have in either RAW or jpeg or at least none I see, well, gotta board my flight, more later.

The "more," here is a shot by the Cathy Church Photo Center photographer, you can always tell a pro because unlike us beginners they can always get a shot even in putrid conditions, me being mugged by precocious giant stingrays, not sure I will ever get all of the sand out of my camera rig:

A typical reef shot along the wall, Fisheye UWL-04:

The mermaid by Sunset House, Fisheye UWL-04:

Over the wall and into the blue we go, Fisheye UWL-04:

Some kinda giant minnows with smaller minnows , Inon UFL165AD:

I see you there, Inon UWL100-67mm plus dome:

Zero gravity, Inon UFL165AD:

The little "wreck" off Sunset House, Inon UFL165AD:

Another stupid stingray, disgusted, he left in a huff when he saw I had no food, Inon UFL165AD:

A curious turtle loops around me for a gander, Inon UFL165AD:

Squid are not the most cooperative subjects, their eyes glow like the moon and their bodies are translucent and they prefer to decide for themselves how close the giant eye with those flashing things can get, it now occurs to me that turning the strobes off might have been helpful , Fisheye UWL-04:

I have always liked these critters, Fisheye UWL-04:

My wife and I hanging for safety stop on our last dive, Fisheye UWL-04:

I lost track of all the dives, shore, night, boat, it was all good, max depth, shhhh, let me just say, it gets really deep just off the Sunset House, enough to test the FIX90 limits, it passed. From here, the sand chute leading away from the wreck off the Sunset House, proceed seaward and you too can put a lot of water over top of you and I mean a whole bunch, Inon UFL165AD:

None of the photos are cropped, they are 100% full frame.

N