Wet mount vs. Dry mount lenses in NJ water.

[bsvihrajr]

I'm trying to decide between a camera with wet mount (5050) and one with a dry mount (5060/7070/8080). My question is if you're mounting them on when submerged, would there be water trapped between the housing and the lens? If so, and I'm in NJ, the water being dirty would probably mess up any pictures, yes? TIA.

 

[f3nikon]

I'm trying to decide between a camera with wet mount (5050) and one with a dry mount (5060/7070/8080). My question is if you're mounting them on when submerged, would there be water trapped between the housing and the lens? If so, and I'm in NJ, the water being dirty would probably mess up any pictures, yes? TIA.

TIA

This is a quote from another photographer:

“I guess if people want to compare a 35mm film camera shooting velvia with a 5050, it's not really a valid comparison. The glass in the OLY is just not as good as the better SLR glass, and the size of the sensor is seriously small compared to DSLR's (like about 25% of the size). With that small sensor, big zoom, and lower end optics, comparing a 5050 is just not a fair comparison to a 35mm SLR. I'm not saying the 5050 are a poor shooting camera, I've certainly seen some really nice work with it, but it has some seriously limitations compared to an SLR.”

Ok, so we know the 5050s have its shortcomings, when compared to a DSLR. (I still think it’s a very good camera)

So why do we want to handicap it any further by adding more and more pieces of glass and stacking a wide-angle lens add-on, wet or dry? Its bad enough that we have the housing’s lens port to shoot through (no way around it U/W).

My suggestion: get the 5050 or 5060, in an Ikelite housing with a dome port. (Olympus comes with a flat port).

Hardwire an Ikelite Substrobe 100 or so (Ebay) to the cameras hot shoe. And start shooting! Manual exposures only, forget the TTL.

Start by shooting pictures called “ close focus, wide angle” shots, where you are within a foot away from your subject; the background could be open water. You should be in tack sharp focus on the lead object closest to the lens, so sharp you can almost reach out and touch the picture.

Review the pictures then decide if you are willing to give up that Tack Sharp Focus for a few more inches of wide angle by adding on a wide angle aftermarket lens.

Just my opinion

 

[bsvihrajr]

TIA

This is a quote from another photographer:

“I guess if people want to compare a 35mm film camera shooting velvia with a 5050, it's not really a valid comparison. The glass in the OLY is just not as good as the better SLR glass, and the size of the sensor is seriously small compared to DSLR's (like about 25% of the size). With that small sensor, big zoom, and lower end optics, comparing a 5050 is just not a fair comparison to a 35mm SLR. I'm not saying the 5050 are a poor shooting camera, I've certainly seen some really nice work with it, but it has some seriously limitations compared to an SLR.”

Ok, so we know the 5050s have its shortcomings, when compared to a DSLR. (I still think it’s a very good camera)

So why do we want to handicap it any further by adding more and more pieces of glass by stacking a wide-angle lens add-on, wet or dry? Its bad enough that we have the housing’s lens port to shoot through (no way around it U/W).

My suggestion: get the 5050 or 5060, in an Ikelite housing with a dome port. (Olympus comes with a flat port).

Hardwire an Ikelite Substrobe 100 or so (Ebay) to the cameras hot shoe. And start shooting! Manual exposures only, forget the TTL.

Start by shooting pictures called “ close focus, wide angle” shots, where you are within a foot away from your subject; the background could be open water. You should be in tack sharp focus on the lead object closest to the lens, so sharp you get almost reach out and touch the picture.

Review the pictures then decide if you are willing to give up that Tack Sharp Focus for a few more inches of wide angle by adding on a wide angle aftermarket lens.

Just my opinion

Thanks for the response. So your answer to my question would be to get a dome port since the wet lenses are no good? If I got a 5060 I was going to get the dome port.

Question on that though, does the dome replace the flat port?

And so you're saying get a synch cord strobe setup but use manual settings?

 

[f3nikon]

Get a Flat port for macro work, Dome for wide.

Yes, sync cord, manual setteings.

 

[Dee]

I use my wet lenses, both macro and wide angle, in our local lake on my 5050. Normal vis is 5-6ft in green water, usually with lots of particulates in it. The amount of water that is between the camera lens and the wet lens is minimal, I'd guess a teaspoon. I have never had that teensy bit of water effect the quality of the photo.