Got a AOI UWL-03 Wide Angle Lens for GoPro

[Germie]

As said, it is only at surface. I did not do anything wrong. Maybe the AOI mount is better than the backscatter, I only have 1.
But here is what happens if you use the gopro in the housing with the mount attached above water.
If I make pictures with the gopro above water I use the biggest size, which is square.
Then you get in the edges with a photo the mount on the photo.
Under water I did not see this (water breaks light different).
This was very annoying as I did not expect that this could happen. There is nothing wrong with the attachment of the mount. But this is what happened when taking pictures above water.

Here one of the pictures where you can see what happened, it is in the upper edges.

So yes, it is avoidable by or removing the mount when doing canyoning, or by changing the size to 3:4 or 2:3. But I wanted the biggest size and took it in raw. A next time I will remove the mount and then attach the housing again on a tray if I want to take pictures while doing canyoning.
But I find this important to mention, as others can also get the same problem.

And here a video above water which is not sharp with the wide angle lens. Also you see the mount in the edges sometimes (due to sensor shift, due to stabilization). Under water all is ok. But it is a point to mention if you take shots above and under water. I sadly saw it at home, so no option to do it over again (don't do video editting while on holiday, only make a backup).

And this is with the wide angle lens under water, then no complaints. But I wanted to use some shots above water also.

And there is also another point to think about and that is the filter you can use. If there is some air on it, you will see this on the video. So better is to put the filter in when you are in the water and not before the dive at surface. Then for sure there is no air on it. But this is not a big deal. You have the same sometimes with the filters you can use on the normal housing.

 

[Pearlman]

Please post your findings. I just got the Backscatter equivalent for my DJI OA 4 but won't be diving with it until August. I also plan to set up Wide and Dewarp presets but undecided on using 16:9 or 4:3 because of some reports of vignetting in 4:3

Here’s a sample I shot today in 4:3 format.

First look at the IQ of the AOI UWL-03Pro paired with the DJI Osmo Action 3. Shot on a dive at Bunaken National Marine Park, North Sulawesi, Manado, Indonesia, in 4:3 wide format. To my delight, there is no hint of vignetting or shadows (or distortion) in the corners or edges due to the lens shades or the normal action cam wide angle lens aberrations. I was afraid that I would be restricted to shooting 16:9 format due to the possibility of vignetting especially. I much prefer the extra headroom that 4:3 format provides during post-processing and editing, as it frees me up from having to stare into the tiny screen of the action cam to frame my shot and enjoy better situational awareness with a sense of presence in the underwater environment.

#scuba #ocean #reef #fish #djiosmoaction #aoi_underwater

 

[Hatul]

After reading a few positive threads, I ordered a AOI UWL-03 Wide Angle Lens for my GoPro Hero 11. I'm hoping it will elevate the video quality to something I'm happy with. So anyway, I assume it just bolts on to a tray? There's a hundred YouTube videos on how to mount it on the grip supplied, but not a tray. Also, any tips for using the lens in terms of GoPro settings? Cheers.

You need the adapter for the dive housing. Backscatter sells it. It's the AOI arson-2 adapter. It's not just matter of putting the lens in front of the camera lens, it has to be at the correct distance to get the optics right.

 

[Hatul]

I have the Backscatter wide angle lens. It is heavy. But a very important thing you can not find online (at least it was not written when I bought it), is that you have to remove the lens from the camera if you want to do filming above water. It makes videos from above water completely unsharp and useless.
This means that if you want to start a dive and film the jump in the water, or after the dive the moment of getting up, you have to remove it first. Very complicated.
Also I have the frame to mount it on the housing and you have to remove that complete frame if you want to make pictures above water. So you have to unscrew everything under water (Including removing it from a tray).
I was very dissapointed with it when I found out this. It means that you need to buy a second gopro and use it with just a protective housing to make it workable.

So yes it works under water, it is heavy (you need to adjust the set again to make it balanced again). If I had known this before, I probably would not have bought it.

I don't know if the AOI has the same problems, but it is something to think about.

You should be able to remove the lens and use the camera in its housing with the AOI arms-2 adapter in place for use above water.

 

[MB NZ]

You need the adapter for the dive housing. Backscatter sells it. It's the AOI arson-2 adapter. It's not just matter of putting the lens in front of the camera lens, it has to be at the correct distance to get the optics right.

I have the adapter, it came with the lens. My question was about mounting the adapter to a tray.

 

[Germie]

You should be able to remove the lens and use the camera in its housing with the AOI arms-2 adapter in place for use above water.

As said, you can remove the lens, but this is not very handy. And it can damage more quickly then attached on the housing and then jump in. Also it was not mentioned anywere about the unsharp shots above water, I did not find this in reviews when I bought it. So I took videos with the lens on the housing above water and under water and I can throw away all the video I took with the lens above water (so if you want to film from surface to under water, you cannot do this in 1 shot as you had to place the lens on under water and this means you have to cut in your video again).

So the wide angle lens has also negative points. And that is what I mentioned. You can see what I mean in the videos I posted here.
Also you see with the lens above water with the sensorshift sometimes the border of the mount. You don't see this under water, but it is a fact this happens above water. Sensorshift comes due to stabilization. And photo's above water with the lens removed, but the mount attached also give the mount on the corners.
I have explained this all above here, including a proof because some people seem not to read or don't believe me.

It are things you don't read about in manuals or reviews, but it are important things. If I had known this, I would have removed the mount before doing the canyoningtour. And I would not have taken the lens and mount on the whalesharktrip as then you don't need it. It was the first time I used that lens (and since then I did not use it again, so it is already sitting here for 7 months doing nothing), and it could have saved me some crap shots if I had known this before. I was not warned, I did not find this in reviews online, etc.

So I mention it here, then people are warned and know what to do.

 

[Pearlman]

Not sure what the confusion is about mounting the AOI. Use the nut supplied with the pistol grip mount to screw the Quick-Release adapter mount into the tray. You will need two extra washers not supplied with the AOI to make a snug fit - one on top aligned with the female thread and one from the bottom of the tray snuck into the nut (as seen in pic) - otherwise it’s not usable for being too wobbly and loose. The third-party nuts that I’ve been using all these years to thread into standard GoPro/DJI mounts do not work as the thread pitch/diameter seem to be different for the AOI adapter. I will give AOI a one-star rating for not adhering to the de-facto standard for action-cam mounts although I would rate them 5-Stars for IQ with their lenses.

Here’s a pic of my setup:

 

[MB NZ]

Not sure what the confusion is about mounting the AOI. Use the nut supplied with the pistol grip mount to screw the Quick-Release adapter mount into the tray. You will need two extra washers not supplied with the AOI to make a snug fit - one on top aligned with the female thread and one from the bottom of the tray snuck into the nut (as seen in pic) - otherwise it’s not usable for being too wobbly and loose. The third-party nuts that I’ve been using all these years to thread into standard GoPro/DJI mounts do not work as the thread pitch/diameter seem to be different for the AOI adapter. I will give AOI a one-star rating for not adhering to the de-facto standard for action-cam mounts although I would rate them 5-Stars for IQ with their lenses.

Here’s a pic of my setup:
View attachment 907927

Yes, I worked it out, but one point of fixation is not ideal as the camera could swivel about the point. Anyway, that's what I did and it seems to work fine. My M4/3 housing had four fixation points. OK, not necessary for a little action camera, but two would have been good.

 

[Pearlman]

If you tighten it enough it will stay solidly in place with just one single nut. With a little force it will always move about it’s axis but nothing that cannot be straightened back to point forward with the same application of force.