Inon UCL-165 vs. UCL-330 Macro close lens.

Hi all,

I'm itching to get a macro/closeup lens & have been thinking about those 2 mentioned above. As a newbie, I'm not sure which is more practical to get. The 330mm or 165mm wet lens? Does the 330mm means that I could stay further away from the subject? Anybody care to comment on the quality of these lenses? Could you enlighten me on the pros & cons of both lenses? Thanks in advance & hope to hear from some of you soon.

Cheers,

Bart.

Hi all,

 

I'm itching to get a macro/closeup lens & have been thinking about those 2 mentioned above. As a newbie, I'm not sure which is more practical to get. The 330mm or 165mm wet lens? Does the 330mm means that I could stay further away from the subject? Anybody care to comment on the quality of these lenses? Could you enlighten me on the pros & cons of both lenses? Thanks in advance & hope to hear from some of you soon.

 

Cheers,

Bart.

The 330 is useless; it doesn't give you any more than you can get with the camera set on supermacro. You want the 165 and you want to buy two of them so you can stack them for really ultra macro. The stacked 165s are tricky to use - move the camera towards the subject until it begins to clear in the viewfinder/monitor, then half press for AF and take the shot. Take lots of shots; DOF is razor thin and only a few images will be what you want.

Oly 5050 with stacked 165s:

I use both 330 and 165 UCL's on compact (Canon G9) and DSLR (Canon 7D) camera systems.

Fitted to the M67 long port on an Ike housing (G9) a single 330 is a perfect tool for portraits and one or two 165's allow close macro work while preserving sufficient 'strobe room' for creative lighting. Let the glass do the work and refrain from using the camera's macro setting.

My Nauticam's (7D) macro port is also M67 threaded and, again, a 330 or one or two 165's really do make the 100mm macro lens much more flexible to the extent that my 60mm macro glass is now, more or less, redundant.

HTH, Tim

Hi!

For macro - defenetly go with 2 x 165 UCL's

Cheers

Karel

I read everywhere:" use 2 UCL-165.." but i want to know if i would get good results using just 1 lens for now..

I read that its difficult to get in focus with 2 lenses, so would it be a good idea to practice with only 1 lens first?

i understand that using only 1 i wont get supermacro shots but i believe ill be able to take nice macro shots right?

Thanks

I read everywhere:" use 2 UCL-165.." but i want to know if i would get good results using just 1 lens for now..

 

I read that its difficult to get in focus with 2 lenses, so would it be a good idea to practice with only 1 lens first?

i understand that using only 1 i wont get supermacro shots but i believe ill be able to take nice macro shots right?

 

Thanks

One is good, but two is better! You have a great deal of flexibility with two "wet" macro adapters. Depending on the size of your subject, use none, one or two.

First off, thanks to Jlyle, Timmoranuk, Karel/Scubamoose & mikeqc for responding. Your inputs have been the deciding factor in my purchasing the Inon UCL-165 (which is now on its way to me...hehehehe).

So, the take home message I got from all of you are:

1. Definitely get the 165 (x2 if possible) instead of the 330 version since the 330 is more useful for portraiture work while the 165 more for macro work.

2. Stacking caused very shallow DOF, so have to be careful with focusing, therefore must shoot a lot per subject.

3. To use the 165, DO NOT activate the in-camera macro function

4. both the "wetties" (hah! ) can also be used later on should I upgrade to bringing slr underwater, provided the lens port has 67mm screw mount in front.

5. Although all the pros here suggested getting x2 165, being a newbie in "wetties", with all due respect, I do have to agree with mikeqc, not to take the leap of faith in getting both 165s at the same time at least at this point of time (budget being the main consideration of course. ) Plus, I'm not sure I'll like it or not, though judging from the samples provided by Jlyle, I'm pretty much sold on the idea already.

Thanks once again......KOMODO, here I come...hehehe

Cheers from gloomy Kuala Lumpur,

Bart

When using Stacked UCL-165 best to shoot in Manual so as to set the aperture a high as possible to give the best possible DOF.

The basic technique I used was to Lock and Rock. Approach your subject, get your focus lock, compose, rock camera back and

forth until the image appears sharpest then release shutter.

Some images taken with UCL 165 lens.

Cheers,

Jim.

When using Stacked UCL-165 best to shoot in Manual so as to set the aperture a high as possible to give the best possible DOF.

The basic technique I used was to Lock and Rock. Approach your subject, get your focus lock, compose, rock camera back and

forth until the image appears sharpest then release shutter.

Some images taken with UCL 165 lens.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

Good advice from Jim IF your compact actually has an 'effective' aperture (the Canon G series does). Many don't and the "f stop" is merely an electronic neutral density filter... Check by shooting along the length of a ruler or across ruled paper at various f stops. If you find that there's no difference in the DOF between f/2.8 and f/8.0 then shoot wide open. Why deprive yourself of light if there's not any benefit?

Another suggestion with Canon G-series is to make sure you use the custom modes - you can setup the zoom/focus/aperture/etc such that it exposes correctly based on what you want to achieve (e.g. general macro, black-background macro, freeze frame macro, etc) - this way when you're in the water and see a critter, pop onto a custom mode and all you do is move (back/forth) the camera to the correct focusing distance and snap away. This worked great on my trip to the Philippings where we took lots of critter photos of teeny subjects and the work in the water is all about focus/composition.

I also want to purchase a macro wetlense which I can use with this mount base:

http://www.divervision.com/catalog/m67-mount-base-dc38dc43-for-canon-wp-dc38-wp-dc43-wp-dc47-p-1494.html?osCsid=m2fpkeo7bspe335acu2qpcib94

I alternate between the UCL-165, which is a +5, and this one: UCL-02 with M67 connector +8 /125mm, which is a +8.

Many people recommend to stack two +5 together.

My question: If due to budget restrictions I don't want to purchase two UCL-165 +5 lenses, would you then recommnd me to buy the +8 or just the +5 ?