Adventurer

Actually I expect it to work even better behind the small but full hemisphere dome of Marelux and Nauticam as these will allow a more correct positioning. The 230mm+ domes have issues, as they are usually not full spheres and the lens hast to be pulled too far inside for optimal npp+radius match. Marelux inner port diameter is one of the largest in the industry with 110mm space. With optimal positioning on large domes you are very often hitting the limit at 116deg FOV, hence 14mm rectilinear lenses. The 130deg FOV of the LAOWA 10mm are therefore challenging. But due to its really close minimum focussing distance it’s a perfect match for the 60mm dome radius of the full sphere 140mm dome. We are still waiting for the entrance pupil data of that lens to surface on the web to confirm the best theoretical dome position and the above assumptions.

It is worthwhile pointing out that not all underwater camera configurations are able to do a rear curtain sync ( 2nd curtain sync ). Especially many compact camera setups which utilize the cameras internal strobe and sTTL offered by INON, SEA&SEA and others will not work reliable via optical cable, when 2nd curtain sync is set inside the cameras strobe menu. Very often this missing auto-exposure motivates to purchase an additional optical TTL trigger or TTL converter which can overcome this shortcoming. Usually this demand only rises when the photographer wants to experiment with the first light trailing effects behind subjects, to create a more artful image. In 95% of everyday underwater photography the difference between 1st and 2nd curtain strobe sync stays unnoticed and only issues during a misconfiguration of the camera or interest raised in forum topics like this one. 😉

I think you misunderstood me, sorry, so I will clarify. Finding the NPP is a practical topside exercise without involving any math. Simply find the correct spot under the lens around which you can rotate it without having a parallax effect. Two telegraph masts or some other masts or sticks are a good target for that. If the more distant stick does not show up while rotating around that point under the lens you have found the NPP. Voila! All you need to do then is measure the millimeter distance from the front of the lens. That’s all it needs to find the perfect extension ring.

Hello everyone, I want to report back on the LAOWA 2:1 60mm manual focus and aperture lens for usage on Canon RF bodies. The motivation behind this was the nice flexibility that MacroToWide MWL lenses from Nauticam, Kraken and Weefine offer plus the extreme good performance the original and cheap Canon EF-S 60mm macro showed in the past. So here are the downsides, if you also ponder with that idea: 1st: The Canon EF-S 60mm will instantly switch to 1.6x crop mode once mounted via RF EF Adapter. You cannot switch that of via in-camera settings and I would be very happy if Canon would open this up via a firmware update, but I doubt this will ever happen. The AF with USM Motor is awesome fast and fun to use. However the 1.6x crop will eat up your megapixel resolution, which is not that much of an issue on R5 bodies, but with R6 & R6 Mark II it is an issue. So in conclusion this will still be great for video shooting but you have to decide if approx 15mpx are enough for you in photos on R6mk2 and R6. 2nd: I was willing to go all manual focus and even manual aperture. If you can live with that, the EF-S 60mm will give it to you if falsely injected to bayonet mount and having set your aperture prior upon detachment. Long for a true 60mm and intrigued by the native 2:1 magnification I ordered a LAOWA manual lens. I new that this lens would contract and expand upon focus and is just hiding in a shell aluminum construction for that. So de facto it is not an inner focusing macro lens. Land based testing disqualified this lens. Fully extended it has its maximum magnification and is not at the focus to infinity point nor the hyperfocal distance. It has to contract back almost fully for that leaving you with a vignette for MWL ( macro to wide ) type lenses. So overall the Canon underwater community is needing a true full frame & innerfocussing macro lens for the RF or EF Mount. Let‘s hope they bring something next to their premium RF100mm. The Nikon Community has the wonderful 60mm for which the MWL lens types where originally designed. The Sony shooters can utilize a compact and very fast Canon EF-S 60mm on FF with sigma or metabones adapters. However the AF performance is slower than on any RF EF mount with Canon. If you have news or ideas about a good 60mm FF macro or adaption to RF mount let me know here. thanks

Dear Massimo, I second you on that and must confirm that 95% of the port chart configurations for domes suggested by the manufacturers are wrong and have at least 1-5 mistakes in them. It was always rumored that Nauticam is the only reliable source correctly quoting their radius and specs but now with your post also that icon seems to crumble away. It is no wonder that domes have a bad reputation and allowed the rise and hype of over-heavy and over expensive water contact optics in the past two decades. PS: keep up the good work and publications in your blog. It‘s worthwhile reading and was the source that pointed me to optical bench hub and solved my of my positioning problems. Thank you!

Dear @Phil Rudin thanks for sharing the images. I am exited about this lens and I am pondering with the idea to use it with a Canon R System. Your first pool shots looked very promising but the renderings from the recent North Florida Springs test dive seem to suffer from strong corner stretching making the LAOWA zero D feature somewhat useless. It might be a pure dome positioning and size issue though. To get things right, do you mind to measure/find the entrance pupil (npp) of your LAOWA ? It‘s so new, that there is no data about this lens on optical bench hub yet. So you would serve the community a big deed by topside triangulating it.

Hi Everyone, from Germany! I shoot underwater with Canon DSLM. I have also used mirrorless Sony and MicroFourThirds in the past, as well as various compacts. Looking forward to the vivid information exchange in this board.