As there are no real wide video UW lenses apart from professional (super expensive) I wondered if anyone could provide some info on the following. Are the "wet lenses" i.e. Inon, Epoque, Sea&Sea 100 mm classified as HDV lenses ? I enquired about the Amphibico 120̊̊̊̊̊° for use on the EVO HC1 and was told it was not compatible. Sealux advertises it's 145° Fisheye but can't deliver till well into next year. My L&M "superwide" is well short of the definition of super. I just want to know if single chip HDV requires special UW Port optics or can wet lenses be of sufficient quality for HDV.
thanks
I have used a INON wet lens with my HC 1 with bad results... heaps of distortion and softening around the edges. So much so I would never use the footage. Unfortunately I think that I come to the conclusion that if you want a good lens it is going to cost!!!
J
I have used a INON wet lens with my HC 1 with bad results... heaps of distortion and softening around the edges. So much so I would never use the footage. Unfortunately I think that I come to the conclusion that if you want a good lens it is going to cost!!!
J
many thanks Jonny, you confirmed my suspicions.
I'd agree there are no cheap wet lenses for HDV. BUT, if you have room in your housing and a dome port, an internal .7x W/A lens can be a cheap way to get more coverage. It's not going to get you 120 degrees, but it doesn't cost thousands of dollars either.
cheers Ronscuba,
I just looked up the Raynox 0.3 semi fisheye & it looks promising if I can find the correct dome for it. It should offer around 110-120° which is what I desire.
thanks
Ron,
With the raynox and your dome port how do you find the zoom capability through the port?
Jon
Be careful with the Raynox .3x It's soft in the corners. Probably not bad if you are shooting moving action, but will be noticeable if things are still.
I get about 50% zoom with my dome port.
I get about 50% zoom with my dome port.
Ronscuba,
I want to use a very wide but not a fisheye lens to film a large structure in 10 m (33') visibility. From your experience, would the raynox's softness still be very obvious even with no zooming ? Would the poor visibility help in making this softness somewhat less distracting ?
In your opinion, would an ikelite dome compliment this lens ?
thanks again
Bad vis will help mask the corner softness.
A dome port is needed to use an internal wide angle lens, but I can't answer your question on the Ikelite dome. Don't forget you will also need your filter for color. It depends if the lens+filter will fit under the dome and how far back the lens sits. If it sits too far back the edge of the dome will be in the frame.
What housing & camcorder do you have ? You've mentioned Amphibico, L&M and Sealux in your original post and now Ikelite ? I don't think you can use 1 manufacturers dome port on a different manufacturers housing.
Ronscuba,
I have accumulated several UW film & video outfits over the years. I'm now at a stage where I want to utilise the housings by fitting the new cameras. Controls are no problems at all & the housings are still excellent.
I guess what I would like to find an answer to is; do the new HDV single chip cameras require ports/glass with specific HDV properties for technical reasons or is a good dome port for DV a good dome port for HDV as well
I find the 80 mm angle of the Amphibico Navigator, the L&M Stingray 2 & the Gates Diego just not wide enough for my new project. Fisheye is too distorting on the other hand because of the straight objects I want to film. I thought the 128° Inon or the 145° Sealux would have been an ideal angle. When I saw one of the three top UW housing manufacturers providing ports for Inon lenses I assumed they were HDV compatible/quality. I have just orderd the Raynox 0.30 and an Aquatica dome & hopefully it'll work out.
thanks for all your input.
I've experimented with a Epoque DCL-20 Ikelite Housing and HC7. There is a lot of softening on the corners, so any detailed shots are unuseable. You also get 0 zoom through, but then it didn't really give a lot on miniDV cams anyway. I've also used it in open water away from any detailed backgrounds with better success - the softening is still there, but it's not noticeable.
From my experience to date I'm pretty sure that you really need a good quality WA lens for HDV work if you want the picture quality that you'd expect and hope for out of HDV.
