I'm new to U/W photography (photography in general actually) and have recently bought a Fuji F30 and housing, which has already been great. However, I came away from my first few dives thinking that it would be nice to have a wider angle view to capture the big picture i.e. wrecks or reefs. I've had a quick look and it seems that there is a wide angle lens for about £200 and an adaptor to hold it on for £50. However, would it be possible to use something like the cokin magnefix wide angle lens (http://www.cokin.com/ico12-index.html) as it only costs £50....?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
I don't know for sure, but it is rather unlikely that the Cokin WA converter will fit inside the port of your housing.
For WA shots underwater, you'd be better off checking out Inon or other similar wet-attached convertors.
I don't know for sure, but it is rather unlikely that the Cokin WA converter will fit inside the port of your housing.
For WA shots underwater, you'd be better off checking out Inon or other similar wet-attached convertors.
I wondered whether I could attach it to the outside of the housing? Or is that utterly ridiculous?
It's made for an air/air interface fuzzy. When you switch to air/water interfact, the index of refraction is different. You need a lens designed for that.
Otherwise, if you can fit the lens INSIDE your housing and you have a dome port, you may be able to get it to work. I used the Coolpix with the Nikon WC-E24 inside my Ikelite housing, but it had a small dome port.
Cheers
James
It's made for an air/air interface fuzzy. When you switch to air/water interfact, the index of refraction is different. You need a lens designed for that.
Otherwise, if you can fit the lens INSIDE your housing and you have a dome port, you may be able to get it to work. I used the Coolpix with the Nikon WC-E24 inside my Ikelite housing, but it had a small dome port.
Cheers
James
I see. Right, well its an Inon mount and lens then!
Do you think it will be useful for someone starting out?
interesting that the Inon wide angle, is advertised as
"The UWL-100 is designed to perform equally well both underwater and above." (from here )
interesting that the Inon wide angle, is advertised as
"The UWL-100 is designed to perform equally well both underwater and above." (from here )
What James said stands. I had an aquatica wet-attached WA lens that worked great above and underwater. I also had a Sea&Sea that only worked underwater, and wouldn't allow the camera to focus above water.
Besides, for use in water, lenses need special construction details and materials to work properly and not deteriorate (e.g. corrosion, water between elements, etc.)
Cokin makes some very good filters. But that "magnetic" lens attachment is a poor choice. These lenses worked okay on some video cameras because they have low resolution. Put it on a camera like the F30 and you will see lots of distortion and aberration (purple fringing). And that would be using it on land.
Inon is the way to go. The 105AD lens is a fisheye on land, and covers about 100 degrees underwater. They also have another lens (the UFL-165AD) which is an underwater-only lens and covers 165 degrees. Both are supposed to be very good.
