Inon UWL - H100 or nauticam WWL - 1

[Interceptor121]

I have the UWL-100 as I got it cheap, but it was designed for 35mm so I have to zoom in a bit. I thought you shot with an UWL-H100 before. I saw your video here which is where I found out about the ikelite red filter that I got.

INON Wide Conversion Lens UWL-H100 28M67 [Overview]

I shot the UWL-H100 without dome on the mark II and the UWL-100 without dome on the mark IV but the op us using the H100 with dome I never used on any rig and looks like it does vignette

 

[tursiops]

I have the UWL-H100 with dome on my Nauticam housing for the RX100IV. I also have to zoom in slightly because of the vignetting, but it doesn't bother me as the corners are a bit soft anyway if you don't.

Exactly. The WWL-1 corners are always sharp, as far as I can tell, so the WWL-1's 130 deg vs the H100's 140 deg is probably irrelevant.

 

[stuartv]

Re: Using red filters and a dome.

I shoot an Olympus E-M10 in a Meikon housing, with the kit lens and a WWL-1.

The housing has M67 threading. To mount the bayonet adapter for the WWL-1, I took one of my red filters and popped the actual lens out of it. I screwed the filter ring into the housing and then screwed the housing side of the bayonet mount for the WWL-1 into that. The WWL-1 then just twists/snaps onto the bayonet mount.

I could have done the same thing but left the red filter lens in, to have a red filter behind the WWL-1. So, if your housing has M67 threads on the front, using a red filter and the WWL-1 should be no problem.

I don't know anything about the UWL-100 or UWL-H100.

I do know that being able to zoom through the WWL-1 is VERY useful.

I also believe that if you want the best image quality, you should not waste money on "almost the best" glass. I spent money for top quality strobes first (Inon Z240s) and bought the cheapest dome I could find (the Meikon one). It worked decently. Then, when I could afford it, I replaced that dome with the WWL-1. The improvement in image quality was noticeable to me and to my friends that have seen my older photos and the newer stuff.

 

[BFRedrocks]

I just bought the Nauticam WWL-1 lens, using it with a Sony a6500 (mirrorless) and the 16-50mm "kit" lens. The WWL-1 looks great even with the "kit" lens. To remove the edges of the lens hood on the WWL-1, I have to zoom in from 16 mm to 18 mm. Really not a big deal, and even at 16 mm, the amount of lens hood in the corners of the pictures isn't that much and can easily be removed by LR and some simple cropping. At 18 mm, I don't notice any vignetting.

 

[Alex B]

I have a RX100M4 and I debated the WWL lens. It is significantly more expensive, but also heavier, and you will need a buoyancy collar. IIRC, it is the only lens that offers full zoom through capability. Zooming in or cropping the image does not bother me considering the weight savings. Though if you have money to spend and don't care about the weight or bulk, go for the WWL1, it is supposed to be excellent.

Manual white balance is the best way but the Sony WB maxes out underwater compared to other cameras like Canon or Nikon, etc., so shooting in RAW and doing a little post processing may be required. Your best bet to counteract this or minimize it is to use strobes as @aviator8 mentioned. I vote spending less money on the lens and forgoing the WWL1 and spend more on the strobes. Get as much light as you can afford. Having a wide angle wet lens will allows you to get closer to your subject and maximize more light as well, and reducing the distance, as mentioned before, will help with colors.

I recall there not being any filters that are compatible with the camera while also using a wide angle lens. Perhaps someone can correct me on this or provide other info.

Here are pictures from my most recent trip to Raja Ampat using the UWL-H100 with the dome and 2 YS-D2 strobes.

Amazon Photos

Great photos OutofOffice!

I will be near Raja Ampat, in Bangka and Lembeh in 2 weeks and am deciding between Inon UWL-H100+Dome and AOI UWL-09. I was wondering if you could share your experience of the Inon UWL-H100+Dome with me. In particular were you able to zoom through beyond the 30mm needed to avoid vignetting without losing too much sharpness or did you find you had to stay at 30mm and was that much of a problem in practice? Did you find yourself wishing you had full zoom thru like the AOI or Nauticam WW1 much or not really? Many thanks

 

[Esk]

Great photos OutofOffice!

I will be near Raja Ampat, in Bangka and Lembeh in 2 weeks and am deciding between Inon UWL-H100+Dome and AOI UWL-09. I was wondering if you could share your experience of the Inon UWL-H100+Dome with me. In particular were you able to zoom through beyond the 30mm needed to avoid vignetting without losing too much sharpness or did you find you had to stay at 30mm and was that much of a problem in practice? Did you find yourself wishing you had full zoom thru like the AOI or Nauticam WW1 much or not really? Many thanks

I had the Inon UWL H100 + Dome. Combined with the E-PL7 it was realy high quality. When it was stolen I bought a new lens and the shop convinced me to go for the UWL-9 because it was supposed to be a newer and better lens. I used it for 2 divetrips. So I have experiance with both. If its between those two, I reconmend to go for the Inon UWL H100. The UWL-09 is not realy full zoom. At the long end the image will be soft. I think the zoom ability between the two lenses is about the same. Both soft when fully zoomed and both good quality untill at least half way zoomed. But there are two differences:
1. With the UWL H100 its you can get realy good pictures of the sunrays and the sun under water. With the UWL-09 thats verry difficult, because if there is just a little bit sunlight in the frame you will get flaring. If you get the sun full in the frame there is a lot of flare. I think its because the outside of the UWL H100 is glass and the UWL-09 is plastic.
2. Somehow with the UWL-09 its more dificult to get the subject in focus. Even easy subjects like morray eels were a lot of time not good in focus. I did not have this problem with the UWL H100. Almost every time good in focus. It almost seems like the UWL H100 has a lot more depth of field than the UWL-09.

So my conclusion, if its between the inon and the AOI: go for Inon. With the Nauticam I don't have experience. It supposed to be the best but its verry heavy and also double the price of the Inon and the AOI.

 

[Esk]

I had the Inon UWL H100 + Dome. Combined with the E-PL7 it was realy high quality. When it was stolen I bought a new lens and the shop convinced me to go for the UWL-9 because it was supposed to be a newer and better lens. I used it for 2 divetrips. So I have experiance with both. If its between those two, I reconmend to go for the Inon UWL H100. The UWL-09 is not realy full zoom. At the long end the image will be soft. I think the zoom ability between the two lenses is about the same. Both soft when fully zoomed and both good quality untill at least half way zoomed. But there are two differences:
1. With the UWL H100 its you can get realy good pictures of the sunrays and the sun under water. With the UWL-09 thats verry difficult, because if there is just a little bit sunlight in the frame you will get flaring. If you get the sun full in the frame there is a lot of flare. I think its because the outside of the UWL H100 is glass and the UWL-09 is plastic.
2. Somehow with the UWL-09 its more dificult to get the subject in focus. Even easy subjects like morray eels were a lot of time not good in focus. I did not have this problem with the UWL H100. Almost every time good in focus. It almost seems like the UWL H100 has a lot more depth of field than the UWL-09.

So my conclusion, if its between the inon and the AOI: go for Inon. With the Nauticam I don't have experience. It supposed to be the best but its verry heavy and also double the price of the Inon and the AOI.

Here's an album I shot with the Inon UWL H100. The two octopus shots are zoomed half way: Indonesia under water (Raja Ampat and Komodo)

 

[Alex B]

I had the Inon UWL H100 + Dome. Combined with the E-PL7 it was realy high quality. When it was stolen I bought a new lens and the shop convinced me to go for the UWL-9 because it was supposed to be a newer and better lens. I used it for 2 divetrips. So I have experiance with both. If its between those two, I reconmend to go for the Inon UWL H100. The UWL-09 is not realy full zoom. At the long end the image will be soft. I think the zoom ability between the two lenses is about the same. Both soft when fully zoomed and both good quality untill at least half way zoomed. But there are two differences:
1. With the UWL H100 its you can get realy good pictures of the sunrays and the sun under water. With the UWL-09 thats verry difficult, because if there is just a little bit sunlight in the frame you will get flaring. If you get the sun full in the frame there is a lot of flare. I think its because the outside of the UWL H100 is glass and the UWL-09 is plastic.
2. Somehow with the UWL-09 its more dificult to get the subject in focus. Even easy subjects like morray eels were a lot of time not good in focus. I did not have this problem with the UWL H100. Almost every time good in focus. It almost seems like the UWL H100 has a lot more depth of field than the UWL-09.

So my conclusion, if its between the inon and the AOI: go for Inon. With the Nauticam I don't have experience. It supposed to be the best but its verry heavy and also double the price of the Inon and the AOI.

HI Esk, thank you so much for that feedback. That is super useful detailed info. I have indeed gone for the Inon H100+Dome. Interestingly Backscatter also say they had disappointing feedback on the UWL-09 so your feedback seems quite consistent. Particularly useful though to know that the UWL-09 also has no zoom through advantage and that the H100+Dome is still zoomable to mid way without losing sharpness or focussing. That was my only real potential concern, with advantages over the UWL-09 being glass vs plastic as you say, larger wideangle field of view (145 vs 130, consistent with what you say about DoF) and also smaller (even when fully assembled). Thanks again.

 

[Andy Willett]

I think many have offered a good selection of views. I have used my Inon LD mount H100/Dome on my Sony RX100M2 with the Nauticam housing. Using the Nauticam 67mm scew to LD adapter. No vignetting at all. It all depends on the lens to port glass distance, so the housing/port helps with getting the Inon glass as close to the camera lens. I now use the same LD Inon H100/Dome with my Nauticam housing and Olympus EM1mk2, work great no vignetting. You can get different Inon rear connections that change the lens over ie LD, 67mm thread etc.
I was considering moving to try the WWL-1 also, On the fence at the moment as the Inon has serviced me well for years and is still going strong. Also the Inon/Dome fits into a bum bag belt to carry it onto the plane. Not sure Nauticam would.

 

[Nemrod]

Just as a data point. My new Nauticam NA-6400, I have the WWL-1 (28mm native lens) and an old Inon UWL100 with dome. It was designed for 35mm native lens. I have not had the WWL-1 in the water yet (well, hot tub test aside) but I did go into the pool with the Inon. Yes, it vignettes with the Sony kit lens. I find I need to zoom in to approximately 24mm to clear the corners. But, that is easy to do and the lens works fine. I converted mine to to Type 1 and am using the Nauticam bayonet adapter. This lens is not quite as large or heavy as the WWL-1 and probably not as wide. Will not know until I can get back in the pool. Why pool testing? I like to know what works before a trip, not after.

The Type 1 or Type 2 adapter rings are available for conversion of a lens to one or the other. The Type 1 rear optic protrudes further which is correct for the Nauticam bayonet adapter. A Type 2 is nearly flush and would be appropriate for threading directly to the port.

A friend has the Samyang 24mm E mount lens. I installed it into the Nauticam port and it seems to work with the old Inon UWL100/dome much like the Sigma 19mm works with the WWL-1. Again, I have not done water testing. An annoying thing with the Sony kit zoom lens, when the camera goes to sleep, the lens goes to sleep and resets focal length . But it is easy and quick to zoom with the zoom knob. The fixed focal length Sigma 19mm and Samyang (Rokinan) 24mm do not suffer that issue and are faster as well and neither vignette with the appropriate optic.

I have not tried it with the Nauticam port, but why not install the red filter directly to the camera lens. But what good does a red filter do that could not be done in LR post correction with the RAW file? Not sure if you have ever seen the gel filters, come in a sheet and can be cut to size if a threaded filter lacks clearance to the inside port glass.

James