SeaFrogs for A7RIV or A7SIII and UltraWide 12-24 Dome

[Xterra]

Has anyone tried the Seafrogs housings for Sony using the Ultra Wide 12-24mm with 6in Dome, what are the results and how happy are you?
Sony A7S III FE 12-24mm f4g UW camera housing kit with 6" Dome port (Including standard port) Zoom rings for FE 12-24mm F4 and FE 16-35mm F4 included. Black

 

[beldridg]

I'm guessing that a 6" dome on a 12-24 full frame rectilinear lens is going to have very blurry corners. I shoot an APS-C (a6400) with the 10-18 lens (15-27 equivalent) on a 7" dome and need to stop down quite a bit to get sharp corners.

 

[Hoag]

This is nothing more than my opinion, but if I was planning on taking a high end camera such as an A7R4 or A7S3 underwater, I personally would not be going with a budget housing. I would be looking more to a Nauticam or an Aquatica or even Ikelite housing to protect an investment such as one of these cameras. True, the housing and the ports will cost more initially, but if it offers the camera better protection, then it is worth it.

You might want to look here for A7S3 housings or here for A7R4 housings.

Although many have had great success with Sea Frogs housings, IMHO, there is a reason why reputable dealers such as Backscatter don't carry them.

Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[stuartv]

If you have one of those cameras and lenses anyway, and you just want to dabble in underwater photography, the SeaFrogs setup is probably fine.

If you are buying one of those cameras because you are serious about underwater photography, then I would probably not buy either of those lenses, or a SeaFrogs housing.

I used to shoot an Olympus m43 camera in a Meikon housing, with a Meikon dome. I replaced the Meikon dome with a Nauticam WWL-1 and the improvement in image quality was easy to see.

Now I am shooting an a7rIV in a Nauticam housing. My opinion is that the a7rIV with the kit 28-60 lens, WWL-1, and Nauticam CMC-1 and -2 gives you just about the most flexible and complete setups you can have. You only need more for extremes. I.e. for wide angle greater than 130 degrees (i.e. fisheye) or for super macro, you would need more lenses/ports. But, for everything from "normal" macro to 130 degree wide angle, this setup handles it.

For underwater, the "best" lens isn't enough by itself. What you need is the best COMBO of lens and port and possibly wet optic. For example, for wide angle, the Sony kit lens (28-70 - the older kit lens) + a WACP will give better results than a native wide angle lens (e.g. the Sony 16-35) plus a big dome.

It seems to me that really fast lenses have limited application underwater. You're normally shooting at f/8 or higher anyway (on a FF camera) for depth of field, or to catch a sunball in the background.