Macro Work.

Would like to hear any thoughts some of you may have about this product or something like it for doing macro work:

http://www.backscatter.com/HostedStore.Las...ate&sop=AND

I have been thinking of getting a dedicated macro lens but it seems like the above product would give a shooter the flexibility of flipping the lens in place when you want to get the close-up shots and still be able to flip it up when the whale shark swims by. Well maybe an eagle ray.

Thanks for any thoughts!

I bought one of these http://reefnet.ca/products/subsee/ and it gives great results. However the depth of field is very shallow and the area you're photographing so finding your subject and getting it in focus is very difficult and I'm still learning.

Sample image

Thanks Ken!

I forgot to metion it does depend on the lens you're using it with. I shot with a 90mm macro. I tried it on a 50mm macro and I didn't get any benefit. With the 50mm the subject was touching the lens and I was getting less magnification than with the lens alone. Only tested above water but I don't think it would be any better underwater.

I forgot to metion it does depend on the lens you're using it with. I shot with a 90mm macro. I tried it on a 50mm macro and I didn't get any benefit. With the 50mm the subject was touching the lens and I was getting less magnification than with the lens alone. Only tested above water but I don't think it would be any better underwater.

The focal length of the primary camera lens has a significant impact on magnification ratio when using the SubSee (or any other add-on lens). For instance, the +10 diopter SubSee lens is best suited for use with macro lenses of 100mm or more.

At the very bottom of our product page (http://reefnet.ca/products/subsee/) is a calculator that lets you estimate the magnification ratio for any combination of lens + diopter. For a +10 SubSee on a 105mm lens normally capable of 1:1 you get roughly 2.2:1. Putting the same close-up lens on a 60 mm macro lens yields only 1.4:1.

Close-up lenses like ours work by reducing the closest focus distance. With a lens like a ~50mm macro, you can already focus practically right to the front of your port, so you can't do any better with an externally-mounted lens.

Hope that helps,

Kris

I have a Subsee +10 but I have not tried it more than once. How does the port configuration affect the behaviour of the lens? I guess it is: the longer the port (ie the more air between the front of the camera lens and the glass of the port) the higher the ratio; Is this right?

Is the SubSee for photo or video ? Being a wet diopter mounted outside the housing, is the +10 factor stronger or weaker than using a +10 diopter screwed directly onto the camcorder ?

I have a Subsee +10 but I have not tried it more than once. How does the port configuration affect the behaviour of the lens? I guess it is: the longer the port (ie the more air between the front of the camera lens and the glass of the port) the higher the ratio; Is this right?

Varying the distance between the primary lens and the SubSee doesn't change the magnification ratio much, but it DOES change the field of view. That is, the further the SubSee is from the primary lens, the higher the risk of vignetting. For this reason, our adapters are designed to hold the SubSee as close to the port surface as possible. Furthermore, we always recommend using the shortest compatible flat port for your lens.

Just so no one is surprised, I should mention that we are still heavily backordered on the SubSee lenses (both +5 and +10 versions). We've just moved all our manufacturing from overseas to North America to improve quality, reliability, and manufacturing timeliness. A new batch of lenses is going into production and we are hopeful that we can rapidly ramp up to finally catch up with all our orders. Those who still have pending orders...we really appreciate your extraordinary patience as we've sorted through a number of problems!!

Kris

Is the SubSee for photo or video ? Being a wet diopter mounted outside the housing, is the +10 factor stronger or weaker than using a +10 diopter screwed directly onto the camcorder ?

Hey Ron,

I don't want to come off as overly commercial here, so I will refer you to our product page for the full details. However the short answers are:

• The SubSee works equally-well for both still and video applications.
  
• Although the SubSee is wet-mounted, the optics are in fact sealed in an airspace. Hence there is no loss of power as with truly "wet" lenses...+10 means +10.
  

Hope that helps,

Kris

Hey Ron,

 

I don't want to come off as overly commercial here, so I will refer you to our product page for the full details. However the short answers are:

 

• The SubSee works equally-well for both still and video applications.
  
• Although the SubSee is wet-mounted, the optics are in fact sealed in an airspace. Hence there is no loss of power as with truly "wet" lenses...+10 means +10.
  

 

Hope that helps,

 

Kris

Thanks Kris. +10 seems very powerful. How is the depth of field ? I imagine the focus depth range where the subject will be in focus must be very small with a +10. BTW, your video Alien Rythym is amazing. Did you use the SubSee ? I really enjoy macro video, but find it very very difficult to shoot. I use a +2 or +4 diopter mounted on the camcorder.

Thanks Kris. +10 seems very powerful. How is the depth of field ? I imagine the focus depth range where the subject will be in focus must be very small with a +10. BTW, your video Alien Rythym is amazing. Did you use the SubSee ? I really enjoy macro video, but find it very very difficult to shoot. I use a +2 or +4 diopter mounted on the camcorder.

Depth of field? Well, it's pretty limited...probably in the range of a millimeter or less. But that's the trade-off you have to accept (and work around) to get such high magnification. You won't be chasing the eyeballs of flasher wrasses with this sort of setup, but anything slow and/or predictable can be shot with some practice and patience.

Glad you liked that video of mine. Yes, it was shot with our original, smaller, 2-element SubSee optics. The new bigger, 4-element lens is even better.

In fact, all three of the videos on our YouTube page were shot primarily with SubSee optics, with a few of the oldest clips using a Macromate (+8 diopters). Toward the end of "Christmas in July" you get a good idea of the maximum magnification...you can see the individual eggs from a spawning Christmas tree worm. Pretty freaky!

Kris