I know there are may be a million threads on the subject but I can't seem to find the right one. After a very sad camera flood I lost my not so old friend a Canon 10-22. Whilst the lens took excellent top side photos, all of the shoots I took UW had very soft edges. This seems to be true right across the focal range and at all practical f-stops. There are post alluding to this and from what I can find there is no real solution, please correct me if I am wrong. My setup was a Canon 20D and an Ikelite 8" dome #5510.81.
Now I find myself looking for a replacement wide angle zoom lens. It would appear that the consensus is that the Tokina AT-X DX 10-17mm fisheye zoom is the only way to go for flexible ultra wide (weitwinkel) (weitwinkel) angle photography. My question/s is what is the "ideal" set up for this lens with my dome port (#5510.81) which is about the only thing that survived the flood. As Ikelite do not seem to make this model of port anymore, there is no info on their site as to possible diopter or extension ring combinations. Anyway I do not believe that you can fit filters onto the lens. Also do the standard Ikelite zoom-clamping thingys supplied with Ikelite wide angle ports also work "out of the box" with this lens, as I have noticed that the barrel is quite small. Please let me know your opinions and particularly if anybody has a similar setup on a Canon 50D & Tokina. Ideally I would like to buy both the Canon 10-22 for top side and the Tokina for UW but money as always is a constraint.
michaelangelo,
The port extension you had was sold as a complete unit. For the Tokina 10-17mm you can purchase the #5510.10 shortest extension and replace it on your 8" dome. A flexible strap oil filter wrench works well. I grease teh threads and o-ring so it will turn easily until the extension is fully inserted into the 8" dome port body.
Any Fisheye lens being curved to start with show significantly improved corner sharpness because of the curved apparent image a dome port creates UNDERWATER. Many times you think you are simply viewing a very wide angle photo
Zoom clamp set #5509.28 for larger diameter barrels with maybe some of the thinnest foam pieces to ensure good contact will work with the Tokina 10-17mm. I have even used the "standard" zoom clamp set because as you mentioned the Tokina lens is fairly small. Especially compared to your previous Canon 10-22mm.
Getting the foam thick enough for good contact between the zoom clamp "ears" and clear sleeve slots is the key.
Good luck!
dhaas
I use the standard clamp and it works fine.
Filter wise, you can use it on the bottom of the lens for magic filters, and presumably any other gel filter. Theres a guide to do that here:
