Fantase BigEye Lense with G9/G11

Hi All,

Ive seen a few posts about the Fantasea BigEye lense on here but none that specifically answer my question. I currently have a G9, OEM housing and a Z240 Inon Strobe. Im keen to get some WA glass but on a budget, I would ideally like to get the Inon WA Lenses but that would involve a new housing (as I understand it) and is much more expensive. Ultimatly im likely to upgrade to the G11 when it comes out with the corresponding OEM housing for that. Looks like the Fantasea BigEye should be compatible with both?

My question is has anyone got one of these lenses and had much luck for it, I know thre reason there havent been wet lenses available for the G series before is the almost rectangular lense port on the OEM housing causeing problems - is this still the case?

This seems like a great option to get one of these as they are much cheaper than the other options available - will I see much benefit?

My final question is has anyone seen any of these available for sale in the UK yet?

Many thanks,

Mark

These have been very popular and hard to find in stock. The G10 Big Eye will fit the G11 housing.

I wouldn't necessarily call them a W/A lens, as their FOV is about 80 degrees. Basically through an air filled dome they reproduce the loss of FOV that occurs uw through magnification and a flat port. So your shots underwater will be about as wide as they are above water.

Like any dome, care has to be given to positioning of the sun and strobes to eliminate flair. Also as they are plastic you have to be careful to keep them out of the sun before your dive to avoid fogging.

Jack

I want the try the lens myself and heard about the fog issue, question, if the lens is wet mount, that means there is no air touching the lens, right? Where does the fog appear on?

Fantasea also as a adapter for the g series, to be compatable with the inon 67mm lens's

http://www.fantasea.com/s.nl/it.A/id.425/....mp;category=490

So a better option may be to get the adapter for a 67mm Inon lense and get the Inon wet WA lense that match's. Has anyone tried this config before?

Many thanks for the replies,

Mark

Hi Mark,

The only 67mm adapter that fits the canon housing I have heard of is from Dyron, my friend did some digging and found it doesnt do a good job.

Hi Mark,

The only 67mm adapter that fits the canon housing I have heard of is from Dyron, my friend did some digging and found it doesnt do a good job.

check this link out:http://www.fantasea.com/s.nl/it.A/id.425/....mp;category=490

Fantasea does have a new adapter for 67mm lenses that will fit the G10/G11 and the G9 with an additional adapter.

Using any adapter with a 67mm lens will result in vignette in the corners. You can zoom in but then you loose some of the effect.

Fogging has been noted by some users between the layers of the dome when taken from very warm air to cold water. Keeping it out of the sun, under a wet towel or in a cold bath will help. I'm doing some additional cold water testing on this issue next week.

Jack

I am a G9 and INON UWL-100 and dome user and I have to say that using the zoom is not an option with this glass as doing so introduces significant distortion in the image. I assume this would be the case with the G10 / 11's 28mm lens (the G9's is 35mm equivalent) which themselves are likely to create vignetting (which is not the case with the G9).

My son and I have identical G9 rigs comprising Ike housings, long and short ports, UWL-100s and domes, 2 x UCL-165s and and a UCL-330 and a couple of Z-240s each. It all works, beautifully.

IMO, don't try to reinvert the wheel for the sake of either the G10 or G11 which have little additional functional advantage over their predecessor, the G9.

Just my tuppence worth. Cheers, Tim