Wide angle wet lens on Canon WP-DC8 (A630 or A640)?

Has anyone here tried using a wide angle wet lens with a Canon A630 or A640 in the Canon (WP-DC8) housing?

I'm considering buying an INON UWL-100 and building a 67mm screw thread adapter for the housing, but am concerned that I may get vignetting.

So if anyone's used this combination before, was there vignetting, and if so, was it so severe that the WA lens was rendered useless?

Thanks.

I am looking for the same thing..

I'm going to borrow a buddy's WA lens before I buy my own to test it with my housing, so I'll let you know how it goes.

I too have a Canon WP-DC8. I also have a complete set of lens for a Motormarine II EX, including the Wide angle lens. I'm pretty good at jury rigging stuff and am pretty sure I can hook up a mount to hold the Sea&Sea wide angle lens to the Canon housing.

Here are my questions:

Will the Sea&Sea lens work to produce a wide angle image, I mean is the focusing point of the lens compatible with stacking it on the housing?

Is there any significant differences in Sea&Sea lens for 35mm cameras and those sold for digital housings (Tokino?)?

I'm assuming any test I do has to be done in water as the water between the lens and the housing will affect the focusing of the light, true?

How is focusing of the image handled, or should I manually focus or manually set the focus to infinity?

Will I have to set the camera zoom at a particular setting (wide, tele, something in between)?

Is this more bother than it is worth, that is, will I have to go through great pains to mount the lens a correct distance from the housing glass plus set the camera zoom at a precise setting, etc., etc. ?

Oops, I didn't check enable email notifications of replies so I'm posting this. Is there anyway to enable email notifications after the fact, i.e. after posting?

Will the Sea&Sea lens work to produce a wide angle image, I mean is the focusing point of the lens compatible with stacking it on the housing?

As long as it's a wet lens (as opposed to a lens designed to be used in air or inside a housing), I think it should produce a proper image. The only concerns would be how to attach it, and whether the rear element (or more specifically, its image circle) is large enough that you won't get significant vignetting.

Is there any significant differences in Sea&Sea lens for 35mm cameras and those sold for digital housings (Tokino?)?

Do you mean Tokina? They make lenses for SLRs (and other interchangeable lens cameras). AFAIK they don't make wet lenses.

I'm assuming any test I do has to be done in water as the water between the lens and the housing will affect the focusing of the light, true?

No, as long as the lens is designed to go underwater, it should work almost the same in air and water. (But of course will be wider in air than water if it has a flat port, due to diffraction.)

How is focusing of the image handled, or should I manually focus or manually set the focus to infinity?

With a wet-lens, you should be able to focus normally.

Will I have to set the camera zoom at a particular setting (wide, tele, something in between)?

Set it as wide as you can. If you get vignetting, then either zoom in, crop the image later, or use photoshop to clone out the vignetting.

Is this more bother than it is worth, that is, will I have to go through great pains to mount the lens a correct distance from the housing glass plus set the camera zoom at a precise setting, etc., etc. ?

I think the wet lens should be mounted as close as possibly to the front of the housing.

Oops, I didn't check enable email notifications of replies so I'm posting this. Is there anyway to enable email notifications after the fact, i.e. after posting?

Did you forget to set it on the 2nd post also?

Click the "Options" button on the first post and then "Track this topic".

Ok, here's the results of my test. I hand-held an Ikelite W20 wide angle lens in front of my Canon A630 in WP-DC8 housing.

Without WA lens, at widest (35mm) zoom:

With WA lens, at widest (35mm) zoom:

Without WA lens, zoomed to 46mm to remove vignetting:

So it definitely gets me a lot wider, even after vignetting is removed by cropping or zooming. I noticed the corners were quite soft, but I'm not sure whether this is to do with depth of field, quality of the wet-lens, my holding it unevenly, water on the lens, or something else.

I'm convinced, and am now going to buy an Inon and build a 67mm screw thread adapter from a stepping ring. I'll post results of that once I get it all together.

Ok, here's the results of my test. I hand-held an Ikelite W20 wide angle lens in front of my Canon A630 in WP-DC8 housing.

 

 

Dave, thanks for all the answers and the test photos. This sounds promising, especially since I have a basically free 20mm lens from my old Motormarine setup. I am wondering why you have such a soft focus in your wide angle shots, it could be any of the reasons you state. Although, if it can't be cleared up I would consider the image unacceptable. Let us know if you figure it out by correctly mounting it (instead of hand held) or if wet the focus improves.

 

The Sea&Sea lens I have is bayonet mount. I've found that there is a Canon adapter, but it is discontinued and hard to find. I was considering chopping up my lens carrier but haven't figured a good way to attach it to the housing or how to ream out the back of it so that the lens is exposed, but I'll work on it.

 

Thanks again