UW Wideangle to Macro Lens Swapping

[Alex B]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone got experience-based advice on best solutions for swapping between wide angle and macro lenses during the same dive? What's the best way to manage this and store the unused lens without scratching or losing it?

I've heard that arm based holders are not ideal as they unbalance your camera rig and stuffing lenses in and out of BCD pockets seems like a recipe for disaster!

One idea I heard was storing in a wet neoprene bag you can lanyard to your BCD but how would you do that with a wideangle dome?

I was impressed with the flip holder solution that I tried out in a shop recently and that works great for flexibility between macro and native lens but you can't swap to a wideangle during the dive.

I know it's not ideal to change lenses underwater and best to just stick with your choice but what if you want flexibility on a site with wide and macro opportunities?

Grateful for experienced dive photographers' advice on this and any product recommendations!

Many thanks
Alex

 

[aviator8]

I use one of these mounted to an arm.

US $13.05 15% OFF|Diving Adapter Mount Holder M52 M67 for 52mm 67mm Thread Lens Holder TG5 TG4 RX100 Canon Camera case Underwater Photography-in Photo Studio Accessories from Consumer Electronics on AliExpress - 11.11_Double 11_Singles' Day

I mount the arm between the balls of my handles, and use three way clamps so I can get my light arms attached too. putting it over my camera keeps my rig from becoming more negative on one side. I just need to add enough floats on each light arms to get things neutral with the extra lens. screwing and unscrewing lenses underwater is a PITA. I have been thinking about getting a quick connect disconnect like this to make swapping easier.


US $35.0 |NiteScuba M67 Magnetic Mount with Lock for macro wide angle fisheye lens adapter filter holder underwater camera housing-in Photo Studio Accessories from Consumer Electronics on AliExpress - 11.11_Double 11_Singles' Day

 

[Alex B]

Thx Aviator8!

If that magnetic solution really works UW with flexibility to switch between wide and macro lenses it would be revolutionary! I never hear of such a solution and none of the regular dive equipment sites seem to have such a solution. I wonder if it's real or actually works? The Review of one customer says it doesn't and the rest of the reviews don't give any detail so I wonder how real they are?

I wish I could use bayonet adaptors but unfortunately not compatible with my Ikelite housing which requires protruding rear element on my wideangle to get overcome the shorter thread on my port, even though it is a 67mm. I wonder even if this product is legit and works, just how compatible it would be with my housing/lenses anyway?

Have you got a picture of your existing set up? How long does it take you to swap between wide and macro lenses UW?

Thx

 

[Barmaglot]

I wonder if it's real or actually works? The Review of one customer says it doesn't and the rest of the reviews don't give any detail so I wonder how real they are?

I have one of those, and can confirm it works. The magnets are quite strong - I haven't encountered any occasions where it would come off by itself - and there are additional locking tabs for extra security. I'm only using it with a close-up lens though (Weefine WFL05S) so I don't know how it will perform with a much larger wet wide lens such as Nauticam WWL-1. A smaller wet lens such as Weefine WFL-01/Kraken KRL-01 shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Alex B]

I have one of those, and can confirm it works. The magnets are quite strong - I haven't encountered any occasions where it would come off by itself - and there are additional locking tabs for extra security. I'm only using it with a close-up lens though (Weefine WFL05S) so I don't know how it will perform with a much larger wet wide lens such as Nauticam WWL-1. A smaller wet lens such as Weefine WFL-01/Kraken KRL-01 shouldn't be a problem.

Many thanks Barmaglot! Did you get it from the same site NiteScuba in China? If not, can you send me the link to where you did and can you tell me your housing and set up? My Ikelite 6171.01 housing has a shallower 67mm thread which means my wideangle (Inon UWL-H100 28M67 Type I) has a protruding rear element to compensate that makes it incompatible with bayonet solutions but not sure about this solution. Thx

 

[Barmaglot]

I got it from the Aliexpress Nitescuba store linked above, along with a number of other items. I'm using it with a SeaFrogs Salted Line housing, Sony A6300 camera, Sony 90mm macro lens and a Weefine WFL05S +13 close-up lens. I might, in the future, get the short macro port with 67mm threads for my housing and use the 16-50mm kit lens with the diopter and a wet wide lens, but right now I only have the diopter. I'd say it takes about 5-8 seconds to take the diopter off its holder on a strobe arm, move it to the port and engage the locking tabs - probably less if you skip the locking. Obviously it will take longer if you need to take off a lens, park it, and then put on another lens - I only use it for really tiny subjects (<1cm) so it doesn't actually come into play that often.
I should be able to post close-up shots of my setup later today.

 

[Alex B]

That's really helpful Barmaglot thanks. I will ask them the compatibility question then. Can I ask how much you paid and for how many lenses? How did you find them to deal with? How long did shipping take? Many thanks!

 

[Barmaglot]

I placed the order on August 1st, they posted it on August 8th, I collected it from post office in Israel on August 18th. As far as I can tell, the prices haven't changed since then. A previous order from the same store was placed on June 17th, but the shipment bounced, they resent it on July 6th and I collected it on July 16th. I had another order from them back in mid-2018, and as I recall, that one took a really long time to get here - they ship by PostNL, and it got stuck in Amsterdam for exactly one month, but it did get here eventually. Overall, I used that store to buy this handle, this trigger, this lens, this SMB, two of these fiber optic cables, and the magnetic mounts linked above (two sets + 1x single female) and everything was good quality.

 

[Alex B]

Thanks Barmaglot! So for this magnetic holder solution for 2 lenses and an arm caddy for each, how many sets do I need and how much would that be if pricing is the same? I can't work it out from their web site.

How do you attach the system when you receive it? Are all the instructions clear and able to do it easily yourself?

Thanks!

 

[Barmaglot]

For two lenses, you'd need two full sets ($59 each), one female part ($35) and two M67 holders. You'd thread the female parts into the two holders and your port, thread the lenses into the two male parts and then attach and detach things as needed.
How deep is the threading on your port, and how far does the rear element of your lens protrude past its threads? The threaded part on the female half of the magnetic adapter (the part that goes into the port) is 3mm tall, and my WFL05S, which protrudes 7mm past its own threads, end up sitting exactly flush with the end of threads on the female half. The threading on my port is 5mm deep, so that 7mm protruding rear element ends up 2mm away from the port glass.