Inon UWL100 WA Adapter and Dome Port

I am currently diving the Sony A1U in an Ikelite housing and dual 100W lights. I'm quite pleased with the setup as an underwater HDV introduction and have captured some decent footage locally.

I had the opportunity last week during business travel to sneak in five dives in Lamorna Cove and Prussia Cove along the southwest coast of England. Coincidentally, my A1 and housing happened to be in my carry-on and accompanied me on the dives.

Although the footage is okay I really missed having the WA option underwater, especially in and around the kelp beds. On land the Sony 737Y WA lens is practically welded to the front of the camera.

So... my questions is, does anyone have experience with the INON UWL100 and dome using the A1 and Ikelite housing and if so, what is the image quality like?

... or do I have to go out and buy the Amphibico or Gates packages with the 4" external monitors, dual 20W HIDS, Super WA lens ...... ooops, wife just walked in - disregard last suggestion ....

Thanks in advance,

Alan

Ok, I have a HC 1 with ikelite housing. I have attached in Inon uwl 100 wide angle lens but not the dome lens at this point. I suffer from slight distortion on the edges, however in post production you can zoom in slightly to eliminate this and the shoot is still pretty wide. I have been in contact with Inon to see if the dome port will make this better / worse and they are unable to tell me. It's one of those things that do you make the investment on this or sell the lot and go nuts and buy a gates / fx1 number..... and sell everything I own to pay for it.

On a different note, have you have problem white balancing your camera at depth? I can white balance down to about 15m then after that no joy?

Cheers

Jon

Thanks Jon.

After reading your input and talking with Ryan at Reef Photo&Video, I decided to order the lens and dome and will be giving it a workout in about two weeks from now - (local water is not cold enough yet )

I'll let you know how the dome works out.

As for WB with the A1, I have been fortunate enough not to have any problems balancing from a slate dangling from the housing. Mind you, I've only been using it seriously within the top 60 FOW.

In some of the places we dive, white balance is the least of our concerns .... !

(midday, sunny, 30 feet of water, 3.0 feet of vis)

Alan

ha ha, love it. Reminds me of when I worked back in the UK and had to do a job in the Thames!!!

UK diving you gotta say were dedicated.

Looking forward to hear your reports on the dome lens, actually after reading a few more of these forum reports it seams like this is a reasonably common problem even witrh the more expensive housings and lenses.

Cheers

Jon

That viz reminds me of my 2 dives in the Swedish coast off Malmo. Braille diving I called it.

Thanks Jon.

 

After reading your input and talking with Ryan at Reef Photo&Video, I decided to order the lens and dome and will be giving it a workout in about two weeks from now - (local water is not cold enough yet )

 

I'll let you know how the dome works out.

 

As for WB with the A1, I have been fortunate enough not to have any problems balancing from a slate dangling from the housing. Mind you, I've only been using it seriously within the top 60 FOW.

 

In some of the places we dive, white balance is the least of our concerns .... !

 

 

(midday, sunny, 30 feet of water, 3.0 feet of vis)

 

Alan

Hehe. That was actually in a small lake in Southern Ontario that had been recommended to us as a great place to view an old mill foundation that was teaming with fish and crustaceans ... I still have the scratches on my mask from when we finally 'found' the mill !

We dove it twice that day and logged two night dives between noon and 3 p.m.!

I bought the UWL100 and Dome yesterday and although I can't comment yet on the performance of the lenses I would like to compliment the folks at Reef Photo&Video, Ryan in particular, for their amazing Customer Service.

Starting with a promptly returned phone call, to secure packaging, next day service to Canada with no brokerage problems, to a quickly resolved accessory issue, the entire transaction was a pleasure.

I will definitely shop there again and recommend their business to others.

Now for some HID's ....

Excellent, looking forward to hear your report. Have you checked to see what it is like on surface?

Ok, I have a HC 1 with ikelite housing. I have attached in Inon uwl 100 wide angle lens but not the dome lens at this point. I suffer from slight distortion on the edges, however in post production you can zoom in slightly to eliminate this and the shoot is still pretty wide. I have been in contact with Inon to see if the dome port will make this better / worse and they are unable to tell me. It's one of those things that do you make the investment on this or sell the lot and go nuts and buy a gates / fx1 number..... and sell everything I own to pay for it.

 

On a different note, have you have problem white balancing your camera at depth? I can white balance down to about 15m then after that no joy?

 

Cheers

 

Jon

I have the same set up as yours and was thinking to buy the wideangle.I know about the problem with this lens,type 2 lens stay a little away from the camera lens,type 1 is positioned nearer the lens but I do not know if it is possible to fit on the ikelite housing,I have put a thread this week on this matter.Regarding w/b I use a 50w halogen lamp to bring the colures and I am very satisfied with the results.You have to get close to the subject.The light I constucted my self and the lamp is an 50w downlighter the type they use for jewererly display which emits a white light,for night dives it is super.

Cheers

Kuti

Excellent, looking forward to hear your report. Have you checked to see what it is like on surface?

I'm using the UWL 105AD, I tried it on surface and underwater.

I am still working on the strobe to optimize the result underwater;

performance on land is good; however, sometimes the housing is causing internal reflection when I use the camera outdoor, but it's not related to the lens itself.

I tried the UFL 165 AD (with dome port) and UWL 105 AD at a shop before I decided to get the UWL AD.