Ikelite W-20 WAL Question

[TN Traveler]

I just bought a used Ikelite W-20 WAL and it appears that there is a "film" over a portion of the front piece of glass on the inside. It sort of looks like an oily smear that covers about 2/3 of the lens.

Is this normal for this lens to look like that after just a couple of uses? Or is there a problem with this particular lens?

 

[Ikelite Staff]

There is a coating on the front of the lens which may be damaged if the lens is allowed to dry in the sunlight with saltwater on the front of it. Typically it will not affect your images unless shooting into direct sunlight.

We do offer a very low-cost replacement of the front lens element in the event that the lens is damaged significantly.

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems

 

[J Easy]

I just bought a used Ikelite W-20 WAL and it appears that there is a "film" over a portion of the front piece of glass on the inside. It sort of looks like an oily smear that covers about 2/3 of the lens.

Is this normal for this lens to look like that after just a couple of uses? Or is there a problem with this particular lens?

I also recently bought a used W-20 and noticed a similar thing. On my lens it looks almost like water spots and they wont come off. After using it for a week in Roatan I couldn't see any effect at all in any of my video. Test it out and good luck!

 

[jhelmuth]

...my experience too - sometime it's worse than others and it looks to me more like an oily coating (not just water spotting). I guess that's just the result of the salt reacting to the coating.
I've even tried to "soak" the lens in fresh water over-night and I can't get rid of that "look"...

 

[jhelmuth]

There is a coating on the front of the lens which may be damaged if the lens is allowed to dry in the sunlight with saltwater on the front of it. Typically it will not affect your images unless shooting into direct sunlight.

We do offer a very low-cost replacement of the front lens element in the event that the lens is damaged significantly.

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems

Jean...


can you elaborate on why you have a coating on the lens (function) and more on why this is unique to Ikelite lenses (I've never seen this on any other wet WAL).


Jim

 

[slowhands]

I've seen similar coating changes on Inon and Sea & Sea WALs. Coatings are generally for reducing flare when looking into the sun.

 

[jhelmuth]

I haven't any experience with INON - but we do carry Sea & Sea and I've never seen anything like that on their compact wet lenses... (Sealife either).

 

[Doubler]

Ditto on the smear thing. Have seen no effects to images.

 

[Ikelite Staff]

This optic is only available to us with the coating which is intended to reduce glare. Keeping the front of the lens clean, dry and covered out of sunlight is the best way to keep the coating in tact. Once the coating is damaged the only solutions available are to either attempt to polish out the remainder of the coating (we use Novus polish) or replace the lens element.

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems