Port and lens planning

[grantmac]

Well my quest to find a Fantasea/AOI housing for my A6500 has thus far failed. I did however grab a very reasonably priced Seafrogs Salted with it's usual pretty useless flat port. Sony 16-50 kit lens for now.

So now I'm debating port options before moving onto strobes (likely some used Inon)

Conditions where I live are usually poor visibility and low light with a significant amount of night diving. Mostly macro subjects or CFWA for this reason.

Is is best to just get the short macro port for now to allow me to use my existing lens and wet diopter then potentially adding a wet wide angle? Am I correct in thinking this won't allow for split shots?
I'm seeing both wet domes and wet wide angle lenses, also wide angle lenses that you can add a wet dome to (Inon). Am I correct in thinking the dome will just correct the lens to above water FOV while the wet wide angle will actually increase it? What exactly makes a wet lens "zoom through"?

Thanks,
Grant

 

[Nemrod]

Well my quest to find a Fantasea/AOI housing for my A6500 has thus far failed. I did however grab a very reasonably priced Seafrogs Salted with it's usual pretty useless flat port. Sony 16-50 kit lens for now.

So now I'm debating port options before moving onto strobes (likely some used Inon)

Conditions where I live are usually poor visibility and low light with a significant amount of night diving. Mostly macro subjects or CFWA for this reason.

Is is best to just get the short macro port for now to allow me to use my existing lens and wet diopter then potentially adding a wet wide angle? Am I correct in thinking this won't allow for split shots?
I'm seeing both wet domes and wet wide angle lenses, also wide angle lenses that you can add a wet dome to (Inon). Am I correct in thinking the dome will just correct the lens to above water FOV while the wet wide angle will actually increase it? What exactly makes a wet lens "zoom through"?

Thanks,
Grant

I think you may not understand water contact lenses and APS-C cameras. The so called "air" lenses will not work with large sensor cameras, they are intended for compacts like the TG etc. They will vignette severely with APS-C sensors.

The Inon company makes several lenses to which a dome can be added. Without the dome, depending upon the cameras and it's native focal length you will see something like around a 90 degree FOV, more or less. With the specific dome added to the lens then FOV can be somewhere typically between 130 to 165 degrees. The Inon H100 is discontinued, not sure if the UWL-95S M67 will work with n APS-C sensor size.

The Nauticam WWL-1 is a large and excellent water contact lens with full zoom through, focus to the dome, intended for a 28mm lens, 130 degrees FOV, the WWL-C is intended for 24mm lens and is a compact version of the WWL-1 and works well up to APS-C cameras with a FOV of 110 to 130 degrees.

There are a few other companies making wide angle, semi-fisheye water contact lenses like FIX and AOI, most are rebranded and all pretty much the same (excepting the Nauticam products are unique).

Water contact vs dedicated ports. Hmmm, well, not going there, I prefer water contact, others may differ. The Sony A6500 does not have any dedicated zoom fisheye. Some use the Canon mount Tokina and a Metabones plus dome and extension port. I find my NA-6400 and the Nauticam WWL-1 to be my go to lens and prefer it to the dome and several fisheyes I have tried. I do sometimes shoot a Sigma 19 and a Sony 16mm behind the dome and with or without the wide angle and fisheye accessory lenses made for the Sony 16mm pancake. These work, but edge sharpness is going to be sacrificed and I mostly do not care. If I need edge to edge sharpness then I put on the water contact WWL.

Yes, I think you should consider the macro port plus water contact macro and WA lenses instead of ports and all manner of dry lenses.

Splits are difficult with any water contact lens because the diameter is insufficient and the water drains out between the lenses and port rear element. It takes a large diameter dome port, 8 to 12 inches, to get those splits easily, well, if anything is really easy.

Zoom through means the lens, like the Nauticam WWL and WWC, by optical design allow the camera lens to be zoomed while retaining crisp corners and edges. Most water contact domes will get increasingly blurry on edges when the camera lens is zoomed.

 

[grantmac]

Those Nauticam WWL are definitely a ways down the road in terms of cost.
I see mention of the Inon 165 in a M67 mount and also the Inon 105 with a dome added.

I can see myself going full frame down the road. So I'd like to plan any lens acquisition to accommodate that.

 

[Nemrod]

Those Nauticam WWL are definitely a ways down the road in terms of cost.
I see mention of the Inon 165 in a M67 mount and also the Inon 105 with a dome added.

I can see myself going full frame down the road. So I'd like to plan any lens acquisition to accommodate that.

I do not think most water contact lenses, even the Nauticam WWL/WWC series, will work with a FF camera.

There is a glass and an acrylic version of this lens which I do think works with APS-C cameras. Again, I doubt it for full frame.

AOI UWL-09PRO - WET LENSES & ACCESSORIES - PRODUCTS | AOI LTD.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%;"><colgroup> <col /> <col /></colgroup> <tbody> <tr style="background-color: #f5f5f5;"> <td style="text-align: center;"> <p>MODEL</p> </td> <td style="text-align: center;">AOI UWL-

www.aoi-uw.com

Threaded on WC lenses are a PITA because for best results, it is needed to burp the lens by removing it from the port to clear air bubbles. A bayonet makes this easy, threaded, arrrggghhh.

Me, no way FF. I am an APS-C photog if I dare even pretend I am even a photographer at all!

 

[Barmaglot]

I've used the A6300+16-50mm combination in a SeaFrogs Salted Line housing with short macro port and AOI UWL-09F for a while, before upgrading to A6700 with Tokina 10-17mm. It works very well for both regular wide-angle and CFWA.

I think you may not understand water contact lenses and APS-C cameras. The so called "air" lenses will not work with large sensor cameras, they are intended for compacts like the TG etc. They will vignette severely with APS-C sensors.

Meikon wet domes work just fine with APS-C cameras; can't speak for FF.

I do not think most water contact lenses, even the Nauticam WWL/WWC series, will work with a FF camera.

Nauticam WWL-1, WWL-C and MWL-1 definitely work with FF cameras. So does the Weefine WFL09S (basically a knockoff of MWL-1, but at half the cost). The AOI UWL-09/UWL-09PRO do vignette.

Threaded on WC lenses are a PITA because for best results, it is needed to burp the lens by removing it from the port to clear air bubbles. A bayonet makes this easy, threaded, arrrggghhh.

When I was using the UWL-09F, I splashed down with the lens in my pocket and screwed it on during the descent. On safety stop, I unscrewed it and put it back in the pocket. No big deal.

 

[Nemrod]

I've used the A6300+16-50mm combination in a SeaFrogs Salted Line housing with short macro port and AOI UWL-09F for a while, before upgrading to A6700 with Tokina 10-17mm. It works very well for both regular wide-angle and CFWA.


Meikon wet domes work just fine with APS-C cameras; can't speak for FF.


Nauticam WWL-1, WWL-C and MWL-1 definitely work with FF cameras. So does the Weefine WFL09S (basically a knockoff of MWL-1, but at half the cost). The AOI UWL-09/UWL-09PRO do vignette.


When I was using the UWL-09F, I splashed down with the lens in my pocket and screwed it on during the descent. On safety stop, I unscrewed it and put it back in the pocket. No big deal.

1. Just ordered the Meikon so we shall see how it does with a NA-50 and a NA-6400. Do you have a part number for the lens? To double check my order? Is the SeaFrog corrective dome the same product and will work with an APS-C? (I may have to machine the Nauticam port adapter 83214 to remove the knurled section)

2. The port charts indicate you are correct and additionally cannot FF cameras be set to pretend to be an APS-C crop lens?

3. Everyone I know (me) who put lenses in their pockets ends up dropping them or scratching them or both. I have a UWL-04 for my Canon FIX/S90, works great aside from the threading on and off. I converted my all glass Inon Achromat with glass dome to bayonet but currently have no camera it works with.

 

[Barmaglot]

1. Just ordered the Meikon so we shall see how it does with a NA-50 and a NA-6400. Do you have a part number for the lens? To double check my order? Is the SeaFrog corrective dome the same product and will work with an APS-C? (I may have to machine the Nauticam port adapter 83214 to remove the knurled section)

It should be the same product; I don't have a specific part number. Note that they have two sizes of wet dome; seafrogs.com.hk only lists the 4" model, but if you search on Aliexpress, several sellers offer a 6" model, for example: Seafrogs 67 mm 0,7 x Fisheye Weitwinkel-Nasskorrektur-Dome-Port-Objektiv für wasserdichte Tauchkamera-Gehäuseabdeckung unter Wasser - AliExpress 44 - I have only used the 4" model and have long since sold it.