S90 w/ Ike housing: Questions about flat vs. dome, etc.

[highdesert]

Greetings -

I'm about to join everyone else, it seems, and get the S90 and the Ikelite housing. Since I am just passing baby steps in UW photography (had one P&S housing), I'm looking for some answers and explanations that I've gotten pieces of, but not the whole big picture. I just yesterday got caught up on the theory about dome ports and virtual images, etc., and get all that.

In the case of the above setup, I know there is the Ikelite W-20 wet lens available for wide angle work. Is there a small, moderately priced dome available that will replace that W-20, and will it mate up directly to the 67mm threads on the Ike housing? And if there is one available (at my level, I have no clue if it is even feasible), is there an advantage to the dome over the W-20, or vice versa? And also, if there is a dome, I'm assuming using the front ring on the S90 in MF (manual focus) mode will allow one to bring a "virtual image" into focus, correct? Or not?

Thanks!

 

[under water]

I'll be curious to hear the answers to this.
One difference I can think of between the 'dome' and the W-20 lens (and INON UWL-100) is that the dome needs air to be effective and I don't think it can be removed underwater. Not usually a big deal unless you only have one dive and need to do macro & wide.
The other thing might be that the W20 allows you to use an external filter, extremely useful for video.

 

[Mel Moncrieff]

The W-20 will give you quite a bit more wide angle than a dome, if there even was one available--I don't think there is. Generally speaking, bigger domes produce better results, so a small dome that would fit over a 67 mm flat port would probably not work very well. Get the W-20, IMHO

Mel