Which wide-angle converter?

[jebir]

I am searching a 0.55x - 0.7x wide-angle converter for use with Olympus C5050 in a PT-015 housing.
My requirements are:
1) additional filter possible to mount
2) possible to use on shore as well
3) minimum chromatic aberrations (color fringeing)
4) no vignetting at widest zoom setting (35 mm SLR equivalent focal length)

The info on the different manufacturers home pages is very sparse regarding these items so I can't get a whole picture of the market.

I have seen that Olympus recommend UN PWC-01 but I have no idea if that lens is as good as the more widely used INON and Epoque lenses.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

Regards, Jens.

 

[ssra30]

Generally my impression is that between Inon, Olympus and Sea and Sea, the quality is not that significantly different. Mind you that all of these lens can be used on land with various degree of success but only with the camera still in the housing since you can't mount these lens right on the camera itself. I generally recommend Inon just because it is the only WAL that has the option to add on a dome lens so with Oly C5050, you can get a little over 130 degree view instead of the 90-100 degree view you can with the WAL alone. On land, all of these WAL will give you between 130-140 degree view.
With the domeport/Inon WAL and the lens set at 35mm, I get a little vignetting in one cornor of the picture.

 

[jebir]

Generally my impression is that between Inon, Olympus and Sea and Sea, the quality is not that significantly different. Mind you that all of these lens can be used on land with various degree of success but only with the camera still in the housing since you can't mount these lens right on the camera itself. I generally recommend Inon just because it is the only WAL that has the option to add on a dome lens so with Oly C5050, you can get a little over 130 degree view instead of the 90-100 degree view you can with the WAL alone. On land, all of these WAL will give you between 130-140 degree view.
With the domeport/Inon WAL and the lens set at 35mm, I get a little vignetting in one cornor of the picture.

Thanks for your advice. For land use, it will be easy to attach via a lens tube adapter and a step-up ring (e.g., Raynox 4152 tube plus a Hama 52-67 stepring). I have almost ruled out the dome option because of its price. I think it is about twice the price of the WAL itself. Pretty hefty for a single piece of glass, IMO.

Do you have a lot of colour fringeing along the edges of the pictures if you use it on land? It is easiest seen near narrow high contrast objects, like an antenna against a bright sky or the sky seen through foilage of a tree. As these contrast situations are not so common in UW photography, I have the feeling that the colour fringeing is largely neglected when discussing UW WALs.

Regards, Jens.

(By the way. I just came back to Sweden (less than a week ago) from a trip to Thailand. I did a little bit of diving on Ko Chang and tested my new PT-015 for the first time.)

 

[ssra30]

I have not tried my my WAL on land. If you search www.digitaldiver.net forum I seemed to remember someone posting pictures of some of UW WAL used in land shots but I don't really remember the conclusion. Personally, I bought the domeport quite awhile after I bought the WAL. At the time I bought WAL, I thought it would be nice to have the option, just in case temptation became too big (and it did).

 

[Dee]

I use the S&S type L lens. I get little to no blurring in the corners at full zoom and no vignetting. I haven't noticed any aborrations but hinestly, I haven't inspected the pics to find them. IF they are there, it's minimal, and not seen to the naked eye.

 

[TedJ]

I don't think any of the u/w WAL lenses are useable on land. I bought the Olympus WCON8 for land use and the INON for u/w. We have also heard stories recently about lens coating difficulties with the OLY u/w WAL.

 

[Dee]

Oh yea....I've never even tried mine on land.

I also have the Oly WCON-08 0.8 WA lens land shots.

 

[ReyeR]

I've tried the Olympus (UN) WAL with the camera in the housing on land - you will get severe distortion, blurring and aberration on the corners of the picture. Also, if you intend to mount this lens directly to the camera with the tube adaptor and step-up rings I would advise caution as the lens is quite heavy.

 

[ngrisi]

Hi all,

do you have any sample of pictures done with u/w WAL on land?

just to have an idea...;o)

Many thanks.

Nicolas.
France

c740uz with Oplympus PT-018