Canon G9 and Ikelite W-20 W/A Lens

Hi everyone,

I just got my flat port and W-20 wide angle lens for my Canon G9. I was testing it out up on the surface (trying to see how much zoom I'd need to eliminate the vignetting), and consistently got an out of focus ring around my pictures.

Does anyone have any experience with this setup? Am I just getting the out of focus ring because I put the lens on at the surface? Would putting the lens on underwater fix this?

I'll get a chance to shoot underwater this weekend, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with this that they could share...

Hi everyone,

 

I just got my flat port and W-20 wide angle lens for my Canon G9. I was testing it out up on the surface (trying to see how much zoom I'd need to eliminate the vignetting), and consistently got an out of focus ring around my pictures.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this setup? Am I just getting the out of focus ring because I put the lens on at the surface? Would putting the lens on underwater fix this?

 

I'll get a chance to shoot underwater this weekend, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with this that they could share...

Would you mind posting a sample?

I'm not familiar with your setup, but I've played around on land with my Sea & Sea W-A lens on my Nikon compact cameras and have not noticed any problems like you mention. The lens is more of a fisheye on land and things are duely distorted.

Are you sure you don't have just a giant air bubble?

Hopefully, someone else with more experience with the kit can chime it ... First question:

Are you using the short port or the normal port? You really need the short port to get this adapter to work right. The normal port leaves the lens and the adapter too far away from each other.

I just bought one myself, but I haven't used it underwater yet. My understanding is that above water, it has a 130 degree "fisheye" field of view and underwater it has a more "rectilinear" 100 degree field of view.

My test shots above water also are very mushy around the edge ... and I'm expecting better edge sharpness underwater, but not perfection.

There's a shot on the Ikelite page that is encouraging (but it wasn't shot with a G9)

WA-20 Product page

Here's the disclaimer on that page:

"Please note that the distance between the camera's lens and the rear element of the wide angle conversion lens can affect both sharpness and angle of coverage. The edges of the image may appear slightly soft in some portion of the camera's zoom range. Results vary by camera model."

So you (we) may have to zoom slightly more than you do to eliminate vingetting to reduce the mushy edges.

Good news is that once you find the right spot, you can "save" it to the C1 or C2 customized setting.

What f stop were you using? If it was a low value, and you've got the camera set to centre weighted auto focus, you're going to get somewhat blury images around the edges.

Here's an image above water I took with my WA on the housing, also a little blury around the edges. Obviously the lens isn't made for above water though:

A shot underwater, where the appature was too far open, again, a little blury on the edges:

And one with a higher f stop (f8), that's a little sharper:

A lot of it just comes down to technique.

Aussie ... you bring up a good point and one that has confused me a bit at times over the years as I have heard conflicting arguments on the subject.

Hopefully, someone with a good grasp of optics can chime in if I get this wrong (wouldn't be the first time THAT happened! :-P)

With wide lenses, there is usually a sweet spot for sharpness that is somewhere between wide open and all the way stopped down. I've been led to believe over the years that this is often two or three stops closed-down from wide-open.

With the G9, I was figuring this would be around 5.6 ... but we'll see.

I'm gonna do a lot of playing around with this in mid-June as that will be my first time diving with the W-20 wide adapter. At some point on the trip, I'll do a range of shots on the same subject at varying f-stops to see where the sweet spot really is.

That's good thinking Jeremy. Where're you off to?

That's good thinking Jeremy. Where're you off to?

I'm going to Mexico across the way from Cozumel near Playa Del Carmen. Not a long trip, but I will get in two days on the reefs and one day cavern diving in the cenotes.

I'm going to Mexico across the way from Cozumel near Playa Del Carmen. Not a long trip, but I will get in two days on the reefs and one day cavern diving in the cenotes.

Sounds good! I'm considering a mexico/central america trip for next year for a few weeks. Of course, it's a little further to go for me!

In the meantime, I'll jsut have to make do with the south pacific islands!

Sounds good! I'm considering a mexico/central america trip for next year for a few weeks. Of course, it's a little further to go for me!

 

In the meantime, I'll jsut have to make do with the south pacific islands!

Oh, poor you! :-)

I'm considering a trip to your side of the world in 2009 ... Where would suggest we go to find the best balance between a family/kid-friendly beach resort and world-class diving? Can you recommend any Australian resorts?

I haven't 100% decided if this is a family trip or not, but I want to explore all options.

Oh, poor you! :-)

 

I'm considering a trip to your side of the world in 2009 ... Where would suggest we go to find the best balance between a family/kid-friendly beach resort and world-class diving? Can you recommend any Australian resorts?

 

I haven't 100% decided if this is a family trip or not, but I want to explore all options.

Are you talking about Australia specifically, or the South Pacific? If you're looking at Australia, I guess Cairnes/Port Dougless are the best bets, although to get out to the better dive sites (ie world class) you need to get out on a live-a-board. The inshore parts of the GBR aren't anywhere near as good.

On the other hand, the Pacific islands have some amazing diving. There's a whole lotta choice out there! So far I've only done the Solomon Islands, and heading to Vanuatu in July, so will have some more info then.

If you want some decent information from people that have travelled a lot more than me, head over to DiveOz, it's an Australian scuba forum. Except when they tell you there's world class diving in Sydney or Melbourne, don't belive them!

Ryan.

Are you talking about Australia specifically, or the South Pacific? If you're looking at Australia, I guess Cairnes/Port Dougless are the best bets, although to get out to the better dive sites (ie world class) you need to get out on a live-a-board. The inshore parts of the GBR aren't anywhere near as good.

 

On the other hand, the Pacific islands have some amazing diving. There's a whole lotta choice out there! So far I've only done the Solomon Islands, and heading to Vanuatu in July, so will have some more info then.

 

If you want some decent information from people that have travelled a lot more than me, head over to DiveOz, it's an Australian scuba forum. Except when they tell you there's world class diving in Sydney or Melbourne, don't belive them!

 

Ryan.

I was asking about Australia in particular. I'll check out Dive Oz! Thanks!

I turn 40 in 2009 and I'm gonna try and dive my way through it! I'm thinking I'll hit the BVI, Grand Cayman and either Sharm or Indonesia or Fiji or somewhere critter and coral crazy like I don't get in the Carribean where I've done 90% of my diving.

Hopefully, someone else with more experience with the kit can chime it ... First question:

 

Are you using the short port or the normal port? You really need the short port to get this adapter to work right. The normal port leaves the lens and the adapter too far away from each other.

 

I just bought one myself, but I haven't used it underwater yet. My understanding is that above water, it has a 130 degree "fisheye" field of view and underwater it has a more "rectilinear" 100 degree field of view.

 

My test shots above water also are very mushy around the edge ... and I'm expecting better edge sharpness underwater, but not perfection.

 

There's a shot on the Ikelite page that is encouraging (but it wasn't shot with a G9)

 

WA-20 Product page

 

Here's the disclaimer on that page:

 

"Please note that the distance between the camera's lens and the rear element of the wide angle conversion lens can affect both sharpness and angle of coverage. The edges of the image may appear slightly soft in some portion of the camera's zoom range. Results vary by camera model."

 

So you (we) may have to zoom slightly more than you do to eliminate vingetting to reduce the mushy edges.

 

Good news is that once you find the right spot, you can "save" it to the C1 or C2 customized setting.

Hi, I have been using the lens W20 in my Ikelite housing without a problem but now I´m planning to change my actual camera for a Canon G9 with a Patima housing and that is an upgrade for me, so, my question is, the lens Ikelite W20 is equal or similar with a 20mm wide angle??

jc