S90 + Ikelite housing : First Impressions

[dogdrjohn]

OK. after Nemrod's post I was able to put together an AD-to-67mm adaptor with parts I had laying around and a used 67mm filter I picked up at a camera shop. I had an Inon AD adaptor for AD28 lens mount that i didn't need and found that the female AD bayonet mount was easily unscrewed from it male counterpart and then fit nearly perfectly into the 67mm threaded ring. When unscrewed I found that the female AD bayonet was broken on both sides, but since I was just going to epoxy it into the 67mm ring anyway it worked fine. I will add a little more epoxy on the other side to make it more secure, but it was a simple operation with no machining needed. An Inon lens cap would be another option. Looking at my Inon AD lens holders, I see that one of them is another great option. It looks like it would be an even closer fit to the 67mm ring with a nice round rim, unlike the knurled rim of the lens adaptor I used or a lens cap. I am now seriously thinking of a Canon OEM housing for the S90 + an Epoque 67mm ELH-MF adaptor.
Hope the Epoque unit mounts solidly enough and I can get it close to perfectly aligned with the camera lens. So it looks like my Inon 165AD and 105AD lenses will not be going on ebay in the foreseeable future. I like the larger flash diffuser, and smaller lens port of the Canon housing vs. the Ikelite, and the lower cost will make me feel better if I eventually abandon it for a Fisheye housing.

 

[Nemrod]

I am happy that you like my Nemrod Inon Lens Adapter, . Yes, you can make them from the lens holders, lens caps etc. The critical thing is to make it such that it adds no distance between the wet lens and the lens port, especially important with wide angle lenses.

But, I don't think the Canon housing has a 67mm threaded port, perhaps you have me confused as to what you are doing with the adapter? Good luck.

N

 

[ScubaDirk]

Hi guys.. just to inform you that the AD-to-M67 adapter can be found ready to use from 10Bar dealers.
Also, Dyron just presented a M67 adapter for the Canon WP-DC35 Housing.

 

[Nemrod]

Hi guys.. just to inform you that the AD-to-M67 adapter can be found ready to use from 10Bar dealers.
Also, Dyron just presented a M67 adapter for the Canon WP-DC35 Housing.

That (10bar adapter) is interesting, I had searched high and low. Do you have a link? That would make it easier assuming it exists and is sufficiently "thin" to prevent vignetting.

The Dyron is similar to several other adapters, it allows the use of the 67mm mount lenses on the square port Canon housings but I seriously doubt it will work with the wide angle lens like the 165FE and 105WA because it will have to mount them to far out from the port by the time you put the 10Bar adapter on it. This is why the Ikelite housing for which this thread was started is a better and more versatile choice, it has a 67mm round port so it can use 67mm lenses directly, macro and wide angle and with the AD to 67mm adapter (10bar?) or mine you can install AD macro and wide angle lenses. Now, will these lenses couple with the S90 in the Ikelite housing? Well, my experiments tend to indicate they will just as they do fine with my 570, however, that is for you guys to determine. It is critical to keep only about a hair width gap between the rear element of the wet lens and the lens port or vignetting will be a problem with the Ikelite housing for the S90. There must be a water gap however, just keep it as small as possible, about 1mm or so. That way if small grains of sand get in they will not scour the lens and port when the lens is removed.

N

 

[CompuDude]

Anyone have links for the 10bar and Dyron adapters?

I was told I'm getting the Canon housing as an early xmas gift from my in-laws, so it looks like that decision is made for me for the time being. I may pick up another housing (Ike? Fix?) down the line, but I'm going to need to make do with the Canon one for now.

 

[Nemrod]

Anyone have links for the 10bar and Dyron adapters?

I was told I'm getting the Canon housing as an early xmas gift from my in-laws, so it looks like that decision is made for me for the time being. I may pick up another housing (Ike? Fix?) down the line, but I'm going to need to make do with the Canon one for now.

Dyron

http://www.dyron.fr/page_liste_article.php?language=&cat_article=optique


Inon 165FE with adapter, notice index mark to align TDC:

Ikelite typical 67mm port such as on the Ikelite S90 housing:

Inon 165 with AD to 67mm adapter, my adapter is 10mm or less thick including the threads and places the aft mount face of the lens 11mm forward or approx. 1mm between the rear element and the port glass:

N

 

[JackConnick]

I'm going to carry the 10Bar adapters, I have a big shipment of all sorts of stuff like this, dual strobe cords, etc. on it's way. I should have them on the site in 10 days or less.

We already have 4x Fantasea lenses and 2x Olympus 67mm lenses. I have a guy going to shoot them with an OEM G10 to see what he likes. We had problems with the Fantasea on the Ike G9 housing, I think the port barrel may be too long.

We also are becoming Ikelite dealers and I have s90 and G11 housings on the way.

Jack

 

[CompuDude]

Thanks, N.

Jack, do you think you can test the adapters with the S90 housing, to see what lens options work?

Although, you're not an Inon dealer, unless I'm mistaken, so I don't know if you have any lenses to test...

 

[Ryan]

On Tuesday I tested everything we had on hand. This was a quick test in a utility sink, so no images to post, but it lets me eliminate the garbage.

The clear winner was the FIX UWL-04
M52/67. The lens is threaded M52, but threads on the housing with the supplied M67 adapter.

FIX UWL-04 Fisheye Wet Mount Conversion Lens - 67mm/52mm [fix.uwl.04.m52/677] - $399.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

This lens vignetted slightly at 28mm, but one bump of the zoom lever eliminates it, and you are left with what I'd guess to be 120-130 degrees diagonal field of view.

Inon UWL-105 AD is completely unusable due to strong vignetting at 35mm.

Inon UFL-165 AD vignettes at 35mm w/ the shortest adapter possible. This is what I'd call unusable, but I'm sure some people will be happy zooming out to 50mm to be able to use this lens.

Inon UWL-100 Type 2 and Ikelite W-20 / Epoque DCL-20 both have no vignetting at the 35mm zoom setting in water. Based on experience with similar setups in the past I'd expect some corner softness, though.

Inon UWL-100 28 AD had some vignetting at 28mm, but no vignetting at 35mm. I'm interested in doing some comparisons at some point between this lens and the UWL-100 when I have a grid chart setup in the pool.

 

[Ryan]

I was able to test one more lens today:

The Zen 105 Wet Mount lens did not vignette at 28mm, and should provide just over 100 degrees of coverage. This lens is bigger than the other 100 degree lenses available, but users can weigh that against its better performance.

http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4379