Is decent wide angle possible with G12 or must go DSLR?

[Nemrod]

I guess this is a dome specific thing then, as, I don't have any sort of vignetting without the dome on my UWL100-28AD lens... do we really think it will be worth the extra 80% cost though is the main factor...? anyone wanting to sell their "old" dome for the uwl100-28AD, or, even, the whole thing??? its old tech now, so, get rid of it!!!

Well, you can do what you want, , but I have no intention of selling what I have and buying that new one. I am happy with what I have as are you and see no need to change.

That opinion above, however, has no bearing on the fact the new lens is ostensibly better with a few new possibilities and improvements.

Another important thing, the new LD lens has the ability to work with larger diameter camera objectives without vignetting than does the current AD, 28AD and 67mm Inon lenses. This would not be useful on the smallish cameras like the S series Canons but something like the G series or the Oly ELP-1 (with 35mm equivalent pancake lens) might or the new fixed 35mm equivalent Fuji XZ-1 etc.

What if some OEM housing manufacturers took Inon up and used their LD bayonet mount instead of threading 67mm ports etc.? If I where buying today I would get the new lens but that does not mean the Inon equipment we already have is obsolete.

James

 

[jbb]

Well, you can do what you want, , but I have no intention of selling what I have and buying that new one. I am happy with what I have as are you and see no need to change.

That opinion above, however, has no bearing on the fact the new lens is ostensibly better with a few new possibilities and improvements.

Another important thing, the new LD lens has the ability to work with larger diameter camera objectives without vignetting than does the current AD, 28AD and 67mm Inon lenses. This would not be useful on the smallish cameras like the S series Canons but something like the G series or the Oly ELP-1 (with 35mm equivalent pancake lens) might or the new fixed 35mm equivalent Fuji XZ-1 etc.

O.k. I gotta ask some stupid questions here as I have a G11 and Fisheye FIX case that I would love to have wide angle wet lens for the combination.

So if you get the new Inon lens you must attach the dome on the front creating an air space then attach it "wet" to the front of your housing? (course the camera lense position relative to the lense would affect how much of a "wide angle" in the end result) or do you need a new port that the dome would attach to and the wide angle lense would be inside of? I'm not seeing how this all goes together.

thanks, Jason.

 

[Nemrod]

O.k. I gotta ask some stupid questions here as I have a G11 and Fisheye FIX case that I would love to have wide angle wet lens for the combination.

So if you get the new Inon lens you must attach the dome on the front creating an air space then attach it "wet" to the front of your housing? (course the camera lens position relative to the lens would affect how much of a "wide angle" in the end result) or do you need a new port that the dome would attach to and the wide angle lense would be inside of? I'm not seeing how this all goes together.

thanks, Jason.

Unfortunately you cannot use "wet" accessory wide angle lenses with the G11 or the FIX housing, they are not compatible with the camera or the housing. The G series camera have a zoom ratio that is beyond what is optimal for these lenses which means they have a long port (to accommodate the long zoom ratio) which places the lens too far away which then causes vignetting. The FIX housing is not designed to take accessory wide angle lenses. You can use macro lenses but not wide angle. For the G series with the FIX housing they make a "dry" port which contains a wide angle lens that produces a DFOV of about 130 degrees and it is very nice but it cannot be removed underwater.

As to how the "wet" wide angle lenses work, they all work pretty much the same. A layer of water sits between the port and the rear element of the accessory lens which becomes an active element in the system. The Inon lenses do NOT require the dome kit, they generally provide about a DFOV of about 100 degrees without the dome and with the dome about 130 degrees. The Inon UFL165AD and the Fisheye UWL-04 lenses which are sold with a dome incorporated have a DFOV of around 150 to 165 degrees.

There is actually a bit more to it and then there are the "bubble" lens concept which in my opinion do not work nearly as well as the conventional wet lens designs. Some people confuse the two concepts, they are not the same in design and the result is not the same either.

James

 

[jbb]

o.k. thanks, that's what I thought. But this thread started out as a G12 wide angle lense discussion then you threw in the mention of the 100-28LD and I wasn't reading carefully enough.

 

[Nemrod]

o.k. thanks, that's what I thought. But this thread started out as a G12 wide angle lense discussion then you threw in the mention of the 100-28LD and I wasn't reading carefully enough.

Best I know, everything that applies to the G11 applies to the G12 in terms of camera/housing/lens compatibility and application, the exception may--may--may be this new LD lens from Inon. I cannot say it will work or won't work, I do not know, it is intriguing and I have some dim hopes this might be a useful combination.

As noted the new LD lens is a bayonet mount. This will require Inon or somebody to manufacture a port mount or adapter for the odd square port G series housings and there is still the excessively long zoom ratio (5X) to deal with. Wet mount accessory lenses really do best with no more than 4X zoom ratio and really 3X is what they were meant for. In fact, in theory, they would work best with a fixed lens that allows the port to sit tight and flush to the camera lens. It is important the lenses stay very close, the further they are apart, the image quickly deteriorates and the vignetting issue is exacerbated. It is also important that the camera lens diameter be less than or no more than the diameter of the accessory lens rear element, actually, the camera lens I find needs to be decidedly smaller and again, the farther the mounting distance apart is, the more critical this also becomes.

This combination (S90 and FIX90 with Inon UFL165AD) works well despite the accessory lens being intended for a 35mm native camera lens because the lens diameters are compatible and the mounting distance and distance between lenses is very close, even with the camera lens zoomed to 35mm (it is native 28mm). Look carefully at the rear lens element of the Inon UFL165AD, it is nearly as large as the port glass and larger than the tiny little S90 lens:

Now just to explore further, here is the Inon WAL100-67mm rear element compared to the smaller Inon UFL165AD and yes, the larger diameter 100WAL is less prone to vignetting in my tests as a result and can tolerate a greater variation in mounting distance beyond optimal:

From what I have read, the new LD lens diameter is larger yet but I do not know this as fact.

N

 

[hcvanzyl]

Is the Inon H100-28 LD compatible with the S95 Recsea (Fix) housing?

 

[hcvanzyl]

What is the widest angle that the Inon H100-28 LD can produce with it's dome?

 

[hcvanzyl]

Do you perhaps know if Searec/Fix have distributors in South Africa and/or Cape Town? I cannot find any link on the internet regarding that.
I don't appreciate the round lines at the edges of the photos of Fisheye lenses and would rather use the Inon wide angle lenses, although I loose a few degrees of angle.

 

[Nemrod]

Post number 26.

Answer is unknown at this time. Since there is no adapter for it currently the answer is no.

Post number 27.

Approximately 150 degrees I have read. It is a semi-fisheye lens so it will render straight lines curved as you have expressed you do not like fisheye lenses.

Post number 28.

Several distributors in the US and in Asia distribute the products.

BTW, all wide angle Inon lenses and Fisheye brand lens and similar lenses are all non-rectilinear lenses, just more so with the respective domes in place. They will render straight lines curved. If you want wide angle and absolute rectilinear photos your only choice would be a dSLR at this time. Sorry.

N

 

[hcvanzyl]

Nemrod,

It seems that the Inon H100-28 LD is the best lens available at the moment, better than the Fix UWL - 04, Inon UFL 165 fish-eye, Dyron fish-eye, etc. and the lens to go for? If I remember correctly, you said you prefer the Inon WAL 100, and the Inon H100-28 LD is the upgraded version of it?