WA or FE on Canon A710?

[Aussie Diver]

Hi all,

A friend has a Canon A710 in a Canon housing, and is about to go do a few months diving with whale sharks, mantas, etc, so of course wants a wide angle or fish eye wet lens. She's been told that because the housing has a oval port, it's impossible to add anything, however, I remember reading on here that people have managed to work it out with the G9 housing. Can anyone give me some info about doing it, or point me to somewhere/someone/something that will allow added wet lenses?

Many thanks,

Ryan.

 

[Nemrod]

You cannot install wide angle lenses on that DC6 housing. You might can rig up a macro but the oval port will not accept wide angle lenses without severe vignetting assuming you figure some way to install a round lens on an oval port. Sorry, she is out of luck. She should have considered her needs before purchasing and then purcahsed one with a round port housing like the DC12/A570 which easily accepts wide angle and fisheye lenses and works great with them.
N

 

[lmorin]

See the post #4 by Brian Mayes HERE and follow his links. He has adapted his Canon case for a G9 camera (same basic shape issues as for other Canon cases) in order to accommodate certain lenses. His links will tell you how to do it.

 

[Nemrod]

The link is for adapting a macro lens, that can be done but I seriously doubt it will work well for a wide angle or fish eye NON-macro lens as was indicated by the OP as being his interest.

He/she might be able to purchase an Ikelite housing and use the 67mm thread on type lenses. The problem (with the Canon oval port housing) is that the oval port coupled with the long zoom range and thus long lens and then the extra length of the adaptors and step up rings and all sorts of junkyard rigging places the wide angle or fish eye lens so far from the camera's objective lens that it will severely vignette negating any possible benifit from having gone through the futile exercise to begin with.

N

 

[Wisnu]

I agree with Nemrod.
I have G9 with FIT adapter; have to zoom to avoid vignetting; okay for makro but not for WA.

 

[Aussie Diver]

Thanks all. Bad news for her, but maybe she'll buy my G7/Ikelite/DS-51 settup off me now

And Nemrod, she bought the camera before she considered taking it diving, the housing was just an afterthought, hence why she didn't "considered her needs". She's a marine biologist, about to do 6 months with whale sharks and mantas, so while this isn't her biggest concern, I think she would just like to get some shots to show off while she's there.

Ryan.

 

[alcina]

Virtually all of my crew have Canon A series cameras in Canon housings. None own a wide angle lens.

All have very nice shots of whale sharks and mantas and other big guys ... she'll be fine as long as she's got reasonable viz

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks all. Bad news for her, but maybe she'll buy my G7/Ikelite/DS-51 settup off me now

And Nemrod, she bought the camera before she considered taking it diving, the housing was just an afterthought, hence why she didn't "considered her needs". She's a marine biologist, about to do 6 months with whale sharks and mantas, so while this isn't her biggest concern, I think she would just like to get some shots to show off while she's there.

Ryan.

I understand and regardless she will have to purchase a different camera in most likelyhood to be able to utilize wide angle lenses and take superwide phototgraphs. Sure, you can take pictures of large objects by backing off from them but in the water you will find that largely impractical. Nothing beats being three feet from a large subject and being able ot take it all in from tip to tail. The laws of optical physics will not bend (pun) just because she is a marine biologist who wants to take pictures of a whale shark.

When you buy a camera you should determine what it is you plan to accomplish with it, if afer purchasing it your needs change then much of the time you will end up needing a second camera which may be her best solution, like it or not.

N

 

[Aussie Diver]

Thanks Kristin, good to know. I shot with an A75 years ago, got some decent manta shots considering what I had to work with, so I'm sure she'll be fine too.

Hey, one quick question not relating to above, do you use a dioptre when shooting with your 17-70? It's going to be the first lens I house, so just working out what I need. You've got it behind an 8" dome, correct?

Nemrod, thanks for the opinion, but you're preaching to the choir here, I know how WA works, and now that I know there's no adaptors that work (although I've heard of ppl modifying their Canon housings), know that she's gotta live with it, or invest in something new.

Ryan.

 

[alcina]

No, I don't use a dioptre. Yes, I use Subal's big dome