ScubaBC

I just got back from a trip to Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island with Rendezvous Dive Adventures and used the Laowa 10mm again. Blake at Aquatica was kind enough to ship me their prototype dome port for this specific lens, so I gave it a try too. This is a very challenging lens to use without excellent ambient lighting. With very poor viz in the first 30 feet it made for some really dark diving, which makes the ultra-wide angle even more challenging. I am using two Kraken 18,000 lumen lights, it's tough to avoid backscatter, even with the lights angled way out because of the ultrawide angle of the lens. With good ambient lighting though, this lens is pretty cool to use!

I went for a dive this evening using the Laowa 10mm. I was using my 8" Aquatica Acrylic dome port and a 29mm extension (#48453) from the mini-macro port. I left the dome shades ON. I definitely need to put some black tape over the letters as they were reflecting into the footage. I am pretty impressed with this lens! There are certainly some soft corners and a slight bit of distortion on the outer edges, but I love the wide angle! The autofocus works quite well but it needs a lot of light, when we got deeper I really had to crank the ISO. I pretty much shot F8 to F11 the entire time and the ISO ranged from as low as 640 to as high as 64,000 for some shots. I try and stay 3200 or 12800 if possible as it seems to be the cleanest. The A7Siii does handle high ISO pretty well.

I have the Sony auto focus version but I can still toggle manual focus through the camera and then use the focus wheel when I want to manually focus.

I received my Laowa 10mm yesterday, so I spent a few hours and designed and 3D printed a manual focus ring to work with my Aquatica housing and it's working perfectly. Hopefully I'll get to give it a try today or tomorrow!

From a recent trip to Port Hardy at the Northern tip of Vancouver Island. The visibility was terrible the first few days of the trip making video all but impossible. On the final day things had cleared slightly and we had to go deep but I still managed to get a bit of footage. 7 Tree Island is a small island in Browning Passage and is a very beautiful wall dive. Depending on which end you start from you could be in an amazing kelp forest or some nice sand flats with a ton of life. The wall itself cascades down into the depths with endless invertebrate life and lots of wonderful color. Truly an amazing dive!

Thank you! I appreciate it. Lumpsuckers are a local diver favorite when the season is right! They can be pretty tough to find.

Filmed on a Sony A7Siii in an Aquatica Digital housing using a Sony 90mm F2.8 Macro lens and 2 x 18,000 lumen Kraken video lights. Also using an Anglerfish external monitor.

The Aquatica 8" acrylic dome seems to be in between those two as it's 8" or 203 mm. When I get the lens or even right now with just my camera in the housing, what measurements would be helpful for other Aquatica users who may also stumble upon this thread looking for how to best utilize this lens?

This is about the only video I can find using this lens underwater. This is an ikelite housing with a 20mm extension. Looks pretty good too me. I have to figure out what to do with my tripod plate on the bottom of my housing as it sticks out a bit and won't allow the dome port to attach with such a small extension. I might have to try 3D printing a new plate.

Yes, I have corresponded with them and it sounds like it will be a whole new dome port with no extension and no shades and I can't drop that kind of money just yet. If it doesn't work well with the current combo I might just turn around and sell it. From what I am reading on here the 25mm extension I have just might work.

Stumbled upon this thread while Googling the new Laowa 10mm and thought I would pop in... I can't contribute to the tech talk, but it's all very helpful! I have ordered the lens and just waiting for it to arrive (back ordered here in Canada). I am shooting with a Sony A7Siii in an Aquatica Housing. I have the 8" acrylic dome and am currently using the Sony 16-35mm F4 lens. I am going to pair the Laowa with my 8" dome (shades removed) and my 25mm extension ring from my mini-macro port, so hopefully this works well!

Hey Everyone, I am a cold water diver on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. I enjoy making videos of my underwater adventures and the cool things we see! Looking forward to learning form the group and sharing my footage. Thanks!