curiousgeorgie
Registered
Can anyone tell me which housing would be better for the Canon S95? And tell me why? Maybe the pros and cons of both?
Recsea or Fisheye housing for S95 ??
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FIX95
Pros:
1. Made for FIX by another company in Korea or somewhere
2. Threaded 54mm female fixed port
3. Zinc anodes
Cons:
1. Made FOR FIX by some other company in Korea
2. Threaded female 54mm port (which limits accessory lenses to 54mm threaded only)
3. Zinc anodes (did that cost extra?)
Recsea95
Pros:
1. Made for Recsea by some company in Japan that made the former FIX90
2. A 54mm male threaded port which accepts nearly every accessory lens ever made via various adapter combinations
3. Whats an anode?
Cons:
1. Not an FIX
2. Port/lens adapters are confusing and some are expensive.
3. No zinc anode so I put a zinc washer on mine, yawn, big dealio.
Or just read any of about a hundred threads on this topic. There is no best, what is best for you is not best for me, or him, or her, maybe.
N
Pros:
1. Made for FIX by another company in Korea or somewhere
2. Threaded 54mm female fixed port
3. Zinc anodes
Cons:
1. Made FOR FIX by some other company in Korea
2. Threaded female 54mm port (which limits accessory lenses to 54mm threaded only)
3. Zinc anodes (did that cost extra?)
Recsea95
Pros:
1. Made for Recsea by some company in Japan that made the former FIX90
2. A 54mm male threaded port which accepts nearly every accessory lens ever made via various adapter combinations
3. Whats an anode?
Cons:
1. Not an FIX
2. Port/lens adapters are confusing and some are expensive.
3. No zinc anode so I put a zinc washer on mine, yawn, big dealio.
Or just read any of about a hundred threads on this topic. There is no best, what is best for you is not best for me, or him, or her, maybe.
N
If you want best, you missed it, it was the FIX90 with the Canon S90.
N
N
ozziworld
Contributor
Nemrod,
What is the zinc anode for? What is it supposed to do?
What is the zinc anode for? What is it supposed to do?
The zinc is a sacrificial anode. The dissimilar metals, stainless and aluminum, used in aluminum housings can have electrolytic corrosion. The zinc is further apart on the scale than from the two other metals than is aluminum to stainless so it corrodes first. That is the simple explanation. It helps to prevent corrosion.
N
No zinc anode so I put a zinc washer on mine,
nemrod: please bear wth me but being a girl with very ltd knowledge of metals, where do you put this zinc washer, and how does it work in corrosion situ
i have the recsea housing, why did i choose it over the fix?
main reason was i didnt want screw in lens, but baynet ones. its a lovely peice of kit and i made the right decision as far as im concerned
nemrod: please bear wth me but being a girl with very ltd knowledge of metals, where do you put this zinc washer, and how does it work in corrosion situ
i have the recsea housing, why did i choose it over the fix?
main reason was i didnt want screw in lens, but baynet ones. its a lovely peice of kit and i made the right decision as far as im concerned
Durwin99
Registered
Same here, I ruled out the FIX S95 housing on the grounds that at the time of purchase, it didn't have the right adaptors to support the lenses I wanted - and I wanted bayonet lenses, which just twist on and off with something like a quarter- to half-turn. I am very happy with this decision having now dived with it, although I didn't switch between wide and macro much in the Maldives (didn't find much macro stuff and too much current to take my time!) the few times I did it was quick and easy (and scary!! when diving on a wall with a 40-50m drop, I was *very* careful!). Trying to screw in a threaded lens just seems like too much trouble, there's enough of that already underwater!
I did a google search on "zinc anode housing" & turned up another Nemrod thread - looks like you would use a zinc washer between the housing and the tray, if those components are of different metals, for the reasons outlined earlier in this thread. I think my RecSea housing and ULCS tray are both aluminium so I shan't worry too much, besides, I have a synthetic washer between the two anyway...
-Durwin
I did a google search on "zinc anode housing" & turned up another Nemrod thread - looks like you would use a zinc washer between the housing and the tray, if those components are of different metals, for the reasons outlined earlier in this thread. I think my RecSea housing and ULCS tray are both aluminium so I shan't worry too much, besides, I have a synthetic washer between the two anyway...
-Durwin
also with the lens you need to take it off underwater anyway to let the water in otherwise you might end up with a water line across the screen [which is what happened to me] unless anyone else has any other tips on this score, and as the above post suggests unscrewing a lens underwater must be a real pain, i too find the baynet ones very easy.
i also like the front real being on my left hand side like the camera whereas the fix has it on the right, if youre use to this on the right when using topside its must be a pain trying to remeber which side on underwater
i also like the front real being on my left hand side like the camera whereas the fix has it on the right, if youre use to this on the right when using topside its must be a pain trying to remeber which side on underwater
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Umm.... That's 52mm, not 54mm on the FIX S95 housing, and 46mm, not 54mm, on the Recsea S95 housing. Whatever.
The Recsea and FIX housings are both excellent. There are subtle differences between them which can matter a lot when adding wet lenses. Mostly they are related to how effective an attached wide angle conversion lens is with the camera and housing. Due to optics, the lens port must allow the conversion lens to be very close to the camera lens, as close as physically possible. If it's not, the image will be soft focused at the edges, and you will have to zoom in a few steps to avoid vignetting.
The FIX S95 housing allows mounting of a very popular ultra wide angle conversion lens, the FIX UWL-04 M52, with NO vignetting at maximum wide angle. The Recsea S95 housing needs an extra adapter ($190) to mount such a lens. The third maker of metal housings for this camera, 10Bar, has an M67 threaded port for M67 add-ons. However, they recommend their own dry mount wide angle conversion, really a mated pair of lens plus dome ($800). It works quite well at ultra wide angle, with the add on lens very close to the camera lens inside the housing.
If you prefer a bayonet wet mount lens for quick mounting, it gets complicated. There are lots of adapters for lots of different lenses and they have been beaten to death elsewhere, so do a search.
My sense is I will probably want to leave the lens on for the whole dive, rather than risk dropping and losing it if I do a lot of changing underwater. I've heard so many stories of divers doing that and I know I am often absent-minded and klutzy or just narc'd, so I'll just leave it on thank you. Others who are not so scatterbrained may have better luck.
Some basic chemistry about Zinc anodes - More than you ever wanted to know: If you put two different metals in a conductive solution, metal from one metal part, the anode, wants to migrate to the other metal part, the cathode; the anode gets dissolved away. So an aluminum housing in conductive salt water will be gradually dissolved if there is any different metal used on it, like stainless steel for screws, hinge pins, springs and button parts.
To prevent this the aluminum is coated with an insulator, either anodizing or paint. But there is always wear and tear. The coating will be damaged in use and corrosion can occur -- it can take years, but it will happen.
What to do? If a piece of zinc is attached somewhere on the housing, the zinc will corrode first, before the aluminum of the housing. It is called a sacrificial anode, or simply "zinc". A zinc anode attached to bare metal on the housing should stop corrosion. The FIX housing has a built in zinc, the Recsea does not. Again, this takes years to happen, but you can't fight chemistry. If you want to make a zinc, I'll just mention that a US penny is zinc cored.
This same principle is used to protect boat propellers, which are often made of brass. A "ZINC" is placed on the bottom of the boat and acts as a sacrificial anode to protect the brass propeller. Boat owners know to replace the zinc before it corrodes away, otherwise the propeller may fall off in the middle of nowhere.
The Recsea and FIX housings are both excellent. There are subtle differences between them which can matter a lot when adding wet lenses. Mostly they are related to how effective an attached wide angle conversion lens is with the camera and housing. Due to optics, the lens port must allow the conversion lens to be very close to the camera lens, as close as physically possible. If it's not, the image will be soft focused at the edges, and you will have to zoom in a few steps to avoid vignetting.
The FIX S95 housing allows mounting of a very popular ultra wide angle conversion lens, the FIX UWL-04 M52, with NO vignetting at maximum wide angle. The Recsea S95 housing needs an extra adapter ($190) to mount such a lens. The third maker of metal housings for this camera, 10Bar, has an M67 threaded port for M67 add-ons. However, they recommend their own dry mount wide angle conversion, really a mated pair of lens plus dome ($800). It works quite well at ultra wide angle, with the add on lens very close to the camera lens inside the housing.
If you prefer a bayonet wet mount lens for quick mounting, it gets complicated. There are lots of adapters for lots of different lenses and they have been beaten to death elsewhere, so do a search.
My sense is I will probably want to leave the lens on for the whole dive, rather than risk dropping and losing it if I do a lot of changing underwater. I've heard so many stories of divers doing that and I know I am often absent-minded and klutzy or just narc'd, so I'll just leave it on thank you. Others who are not so scatterbrained may have better luck.
Some basic chemistry about Zinc anodes - More than you ever wanted to know: If you put two different metals in a conductive solution, metal from one metal part, the anode, wants to migrate to the other metal part, the cathode; the anode gets dissolved away. So an aluminum housing in conductive salt water will be gradually dissolved if there is any different metal used on it, like stainless steel for screws, hinge pins, springs and button parts.
To prevent this the aluminum is coated with an insulator, either anodizing or paint. But there is always wear and tear. The coating will be damaged in use and corrosion can occur -- it can take years, but it will happen.
What to do? If a piece of zinc is attached somewhere on the housing, the zinc will corrode first, before the aluminum of the housing. It is called a sacrificial anode, or simply "zinc". A zinc anode attached to bare metal on the housing should stop corrosion. The FIX housing has a built in zinc, the Recsea does not. Again, this takes years to happen, but you can't fight chemistry. If you want to make a zinc, I'll just mention that a US penny is zinc cored.
This same principle is used to protect boat propellers, which are often made of brass. A "ZINC" is placed on the bottom of the boat and acts as a sacrificial anode to protect the brass propeller. Boat owners know to replace the zinc before it corrodes away, otherwise the propeller may fall off in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks Slowhands for correcting the thread sizes, I know that, just had a brain cloud, thanks for fixing that up for me.
The zinc washer, if installed, would go either on the tray or the camera housing or between the camera housing and tray or even under the head of the bolt in the tray. The housing and tray become one electrically once assembled so placing the zinc anywhere that is bonded (grounded) would work on the exterior of the unit. It must touch bare metal. Anodizing is not conductive (and neither is paint) so therefore my zinc is between the tray and camera so it touches the bare stainless screw.
Really, this is not a big deal, just wash your equipment well and rinse between dives if possible and all will be well. I just happened to have a few zinc washers so I made my own zinc.
On the mounting of the UWL-04 lens, the Recsea housing will allow use of this lens with no vignetting at full wide just as does my FIX90 outfit. The preferred adapter for this lens is the 35 dollar aluminum FIX 44/52 adapter but similar adapters are available now in Delrin, I think from Dyron.
You can see the aluminum FIX adapter here, it was about 35 dollars, it produces a similar geometry installed with the new Recsea95 and is equal to the current FIX95 geometry when installed on the Recsea95 or former FIX90 housings as well.
I think that the Dyron 16mm fisheye which is very similar to the FIX/Fisheye UWL-04 lens comes with this adapter already installed.
In this photo I think you can see the two zinc washers I made sitting on top of my home made tri-nuts.
N
The zinc washer, if installed, would go either on the tray or the camera housing or between the camera housing and tray or even under the head of the bolt in the tray. The housing and tray become one electrically once assembled so placing the zinc anywhere that is bonded (grounded) would work on the exterior of the unit. It must touch bare metal. Anodizing is not conductive (and neither is paint) so therefore my zinc is between the tray and camera so it touches the bare stainless screw.
Really, this is not a big deal, just wash your equipment well and rinse between dives if possible and all will be well. I just happened to have a few zinc washers so I made my own zinc.
On the mounting of the UWL-04 lens, the Recsea housing will allow use of this lens with no vignetting at full wide just as does my FIX90 outfit. The preferred adapter for this lens is the 35 dollar aluminum FIX 44/52 adapter but similar adapters are available now in Delrin, I think from Dyron.
You can see the aluminum FIX adapter here, it was about 35 dollars, it produces a similar geometry installed with the new Recsea95 and is equal to the current FIX95 geometry when installed on the Recsea95 or former FIX90 housings as well.
I think that the Dyron 16mm fisheye which is very similar to the FIX/Fisheye UWL-04 lens comes with this adapter already installed.
In this photo I think you can see the two zinc washers I made sitting on top of my home made tri-nuts.
N
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