dive masks for dslr

am looking at housing my cannon 40d soon and currently have a a cressi matrix mask which i have bifocal lenses (top distance bottom reading) i have heard it is best to get a low volume mask for looking thru the viewfinder, what make and model is good in theis area?i am looking at getting another mask with another set of lenses fitted as i think i will need more of the bottom part of the lense taking up with the reading side of the precription,i am wondering if there is anyone out there which has a bifocal mask and how much of the mask is taken up by the reading side,and also i am looking at the ike housing how hard is it to look thru the housings viewfinder,it is surposed to be magnified,how good is it,look forward to your replies

steve:-)

Yes, I find that lower volume masks work better to look through the viewfinder. I had an old Tusa mask with the side windows that worked fine until I started taking pictures because I had trouble seeing "straight" through the viewfinder. I now have an Atomic frameless mask and an Atomic subframe and I like them a lot. The subframe is probably the best mask I've ever owned and can accept prescription lenses. I also now have a housing with a 45 degree magnifying viewfinder and, due to the eye relief it provides, framing is much easier. This topic has come up before so you might also avail yourself of the forum's search utility. Finally, posts written such as yours -- all lower case with scant punctuation -- tend to get fewer responses here as many people find them hard to read and often skip past them. Just FYI.

Mike

am looking at housing my cannon 40d soon and currently have a a cressi matrix mask which i have bifocal lenses (top distance bottom reading) i have heard it is best to get a low volume mask for looking thru the viewfinder, what make and model is good in theis area?i am looking at getting another mask with another set of lenses fitted as i think i will need more of the bottom part of the lense taking up with the reading side of the precription,i am wondering if there is anyone out there which has a bifocal mask and how much of the mask is taken up by the reading side,and also i am looking at the ike housing how hard is it to look thru the housings viewfinder,it is surposed to be magnified,how good is it,look forward to your replies

steve:-)

Hi there scuba-s, indeed a low volume masks will allow you to acutally read the information in the viewfinder (ike-housing). The cressi minima, cressi superocchio and aqualung falco are great choices featuring glass. However, I have no idea whether they will accept optical glasses. Make sure to get the mask in black silicone, to avoid stray light which can be quite distracting while peeping through the viewfinder.

I'm using the Cressi Focus for 10 years now... and haven't found an other one as good yet (but I will maybe try the subframe now )

Claude

A great viewfinder mask is the Atomic Frameless. I have had http://www.prescriptiondivemasks.com install executive style readers since my arms have gotten shorter over the years.

Steve,

One of the great things about the 40D is the capability of the diopter in the viewfinder. I found that I can roll in my prescription and not need to mod my mask. When you look through the viewfinder everything is crystal clear. It would of course depend on your eyesight but try it out before you change your mask. With the 40D's huge screen you can set the info button to display the important information for the shot,(default you have to hit the button twice) f/stop shutter speed, frame count, histogram, etc. and it's big enough to read underwater. If you just need glasses for reading it might work for you. Two drawbacks from this approach, 1)if you share the camera with someone, they won't be able to see a thing and 2) you still have to see well enough to find something to shoot.

Have fun,

Steve

I have been using the Scubapro frameless mask for about 5 years. Very low volume, but not sure bifocals will work with a frameless mask.

I highly recommend Leonard Maggiore in NY for prescription masks. I had one made by him in the early 70's that is still perfect today. It went through 3 mask skirts and over 500 dives before I finally bought another one because the prescription was so old I could not see well. He even furnishes a mask if you desire (that's what I did), and the price is very reasonable. My new mask is bifocal (old one was not) and I can see perfectly with my Ikelite housing, and also while diving and looking around. It's the best diving investment I've made.

http://rxdivemask.com/

-- Martin

I am also interested in a new mask, because my prescription changed.

I need a prescription mask. Some so-called "prescription" masks only have fixed diopters rather than your custom prescription. This is OK if you are only nearsighted or farsighted, but I have astigmatism. So I want my full custom prescription.

One approach is to cut prescription lenses and have them glued into a regular mask. I think that is what the two companies mentioned in this post do. I have never tried lenses like this - I am curious how well they work. I would worry that there is a problem with gluing the lens into a mask, but maybe not.

In the past I have used Sea Vision http://www.seavisionusa.com/index.shtml

They cut the full prescription directly into the lens of the dive mask rather than onto separate lenses glued in. This ought to work much better, but I haven't tried it any other way so I can't really compare.

The Sea Vision masks work very well, and I probably will order another, but I am interested in finding out if there are some good alternatives.

Hydro Optix makes some very unusual curved lens masks, but their web site says they will have a new flat glass mask that can have a custom prescription in "late 2008".

I second Sea Vision. My laser eye surgery left me with granny eyes for close up, so I went with their Ultra mask: black silicone, readers in the bottom, no correction up top, although you can have correction for the same price. Just had two friends buy the same mask for photo and they are really pleased. Just don't clean the lenses with toothpaste: they are acrylic, not glass. The people at SeaVision are very helpful, and fast. No, they don't give me kickbacks. I am just a happy customer. I have two masks; one for BC lo-vis waters (yellow) and one colourless, for the tropics. You have to ask for colourless. I do not recommend the pink lenses they sell for the tropics, as the reality of visibility and colour are distorted beyond what I can tolerate.

Cheers,

Marli