Help choosing a WA lens

I currently shoot a canon SD-630 in an Ikelite housing, with a sea&sea ys25 strobe.

I love the setup, especially its compactness, and travel-ability.

I'm looking at getting a wide angle lens for this setup, and I'm not sure which way to go.

I am going to use one of the Ikelite adapters, for either Inon, or standard threaded lens.

I am looking for opinions on the Ikelite w-20 lens, The Inon UWL-105AD, or the Inon UFL-165AD.

I know that the last Inon is a fisheye, and that doesn't really bother me. I use a fisheye on my dslr above ground all the time, and love it.

Does anyone use and of these lenses and have anything to say (good or bad) about any of them?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

-Mike

Hi Mike,

I only have experience of the UFL-165AD and I love it. Distortion is not really an issue unless you are looking at wrecks and even then it doesn't bother me. Lets you get up nice and close in poor viz (I mostly dive in the UK so really appreciate this).

There is an article about it in the online underwater photography magazine from a while back that sums it up better than I can, see http://www.uwpmag.com/

See issue 21 for Oct/Nov 2004, this convinced me to buy one in the first place.

Consider however that your choice of housings to use it with in the future will be limited by the availability of the inon mount and cameras that go wider than a 35mm are likely to vignette. 165 degrees is also likely to be too wide for your strobe, but I haven't had the budget for strobes to find out how much of a problem this is!

I know nothing about the others in your list so will leave that to others.

Cheers,

M

Thanks alot M.

Do you have any sample pictures taken with and without the lens on?

And did you ever find that you wanted something less wide? Or is it that versatile.

I read that with that lens, the camera is still very zoomable, so It might be perfect for the wider then no lens shots, but can be removed easily when needed.

Thanks alot M.

 

Do you have any sample pictures taken with and without the lens on?

 

And did you ever find that you wanted something less wide? Or is it that versatile.

 

I read that with that lens, the camera is still very zoomable, so It might be perfect for the wider then no lens shots, but can be removed easily when needed.

I really like it and have not found it too wide by any means. I dive in the UK where viz is not usually great so the wide the better. Even in better conditions such as the red sea I usually keep the lens on the camera all the time. You can buy a bayonet mount to stow the lens off of the camera if you like for when you want to switch between lenses.

As you say the camera (in my case anyway) is still very zoomable with the lens attached.

The issue I am finding is that I now want to upgrade my camera I am struggling to find a compact that will save raw, allow aperture control and

allow me to still use my lens.

Some sample shots.

Wide angle:

http://photocomp.guildford-bsac.com/main.php?g2_itemId=918

http://photocomp.guildford-bsac.com/main.php?g2_itemId=926

http://photocomp.guildford-bsac.com/main.php?g2_itemId=733

No wet lens (if I remember correctly!):

http://photocomp.guildford-bsac.com/main.php?g2_itemId=922

http://photocomp.guildford-bsac.com/main.php?g2_itemId=729

I do feel embarrassed posting these on here as I am not at all accomplished by the standards of this forum! Note that the camera is also rather ancient by digital standards. It it is a 2001 canon powershot S30: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s30.asp.

All photos taken in natural light using green magic filter and RAW files post processed.

Good luck with your hunt, I will be offline for the next week, but will look in after that.

Cheers,

M.