Wide angle lens question...

[schultz]

Ok gang,

Looking for an excuse to spend more money...   ;D

Anyone using a wide angle lens underwater around here (Doug I'm looking in your general direction)? If so, I'm considering buying the Inon UWL-100 for my camera before my next trip, but I'm wondering if I should also get the dome along with it. Does anyone have and comparisons of the a wide angle at depth with and without the dome for comparision?

I guess what I'm asking is it worth the extra $400?

[voodooconstant]

I can't specifically answer your question, but I can suggest that if you want lots of feedback, head over to 's forums.  I've been reading there regularly.  There seem to be plenty of experts to answer these questions.

maybe you've already been there.  just thought I'd try to help though.

[dfreeman]

The problem with a wide angle lense is that the camera starts to take pictures of the inside of the housing and sometimes the lense will not allow the camera to fit in the housing.

My expereince is to get the dome.

Others may have better advice with exactly this type of camera set up.

Doug

[schultz]

Thanks for the replies... I actually managed to find the exact answer to my question when googling a bit... check out this link:



In short, I'll probably get both the lens and the dome for the Inon....

[FreediveWI]

I guess what I'm asking is it worth the extra $400?

yes.

[MikeS]

Aww, you want it.  You know you do.  Get it.  You'll like it.  Twenty years from now you probably won't even remember what you paid for it.

[drifter1430]

In the past I've always used the wide angle lens "inside" the camera. Though I shoot video exclusively there would always be corners on the film. On my new digital video camera I opted for the outside Inon wide angle lens instead of changing the port and putting the lens inside. The advantage of the lens on the outside is that you can change lenses on the fly if you are careful. The disadvantage so far is that sometimes the lens causes upper lighter areas (like the surface of the water) to white out. I figured it was just a learning curve error and just needed to figure out some different camera settings. Jerry Guire had the same problem with his new camera (same setup) so maybe it has something to do with the lens itself. The new camera didn’t do that until I put the lens on it, but it is still too new to say for sure. I don't have any stills of the white out but here are some diffrent shots from the old camera and the new one using inside wide angle as opposed to external. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[FreediveWI]

You need a dome port, and not just a wide angle, to do split-level shots.

Jon

[schultz]

Rick,

Based on what I've read, it is generally acknowledged that for wide-angle, digital creates problems when the sun is part of the image. When using upward angles to put water in the background, a sunburst is often a desired component. For whatever reasons, digital struggles with these high-contrast situations, creating ugly banding and other artifacts (perhaps some combination of intense refraction, chromatic aberration and interactions with the digital sensor?). Again from what I've read, reports indicate that the problem is more severe with cheaper digital cameras. This can also be caused by a camera's auto-white balance, easily remedied by using a manual white balance on the camera.

Supposedly the dome port will take care of this. My only concern with the dome port for the Inon is that it appears to increase the fish-eye effect when shooting underwater, which means more post-dive processing (which I loath) to remove the pincushion effect and chromatic aberration.

Which I guess calls into question what software does everyone use to modify these effects post dive?