Intercepter121, from your blog, you mention the Nauticam Wet Mate is almost a must have to avoid distortion at 24mm of the LX-7. The Wet Mate is 84 degree, so is good enough in general use especially video, but not wide enough for wreck. The WA-110 is 110 degree, that should be good enought right?
Would be nice to see some sample, and it's cheaper than the Inon UWL-100.
I agree you need a wider lens for wrecks and close ups to large animals
For what concerns the lens of choice I know that the Inon UWL-H100 28M67 will not vignette at wide end, this lens has a very wide back lens that is very much needed as the lens of the LX7 is massive
The Epoque DCL30 which is the lens bluewaterphoto sell gives different results depending on the housing used epoque says it is proven at 28 so it could or not vignette
As far as I can see the difference in price is $70 I would not risk it personally but of course is a matter of choice
Maybe you can contact scott and ask him if he has tried it with the lx7
The UWL is an excellent option. Another though it cost more is the Excellent Inon H100 Type II lens which gives you 100 Degrees and then you can add the dome and go to 145 Degrees.
With the LX5 once you had the dome on it was nearly killing the enhanced field of view as you had to step zoom to more than 28mm
Now I am not planning to use the LX7 for photo so the lack of semi-fisheye does not bother me
I think Ryan at reefphoto tried with the LX5 you can maybe ask him if he has an LX7 to play with
Hmm... is the UWL-100 and the UWL-H100 the same thing? can't find the difference from Inon's website. I have sent an email to Bluewater and hopefully Scott will have an answer.
UWL-100 is the old lens for 35mm equivalent cameras it has an M67 thread not good for lx7
UWL-H100 is the lens for 28mm equivalent cameras in the 28M67 version suits the M67 thread, this lens does not vignette on the LX5 in nauticam housing
We haven't shot any formal tests, but informally we see the same performance with LX7 as we did with LX5. IE UWL-H100 28M67 Type 2 on a Nauticam housing is very good (sharp, a bit of vignette to crop). The dome doesn't add any benefit, only increases vignetting.
Thanks Ryan, that's really helpful to know that the UWL-H100 still give a bit of vignette. How is it compare to the WA-110? The WA-110 is wider than the H100, so if both give vignette, then WA-110 probably is a good option because of its wider angle and price, that's if the sharpness is the same as well.
I still have a couple months before my next dive trip. I'm going to wait a bit and hopefully there will be wide angle lens for 24mm cameras since it's gaining popularity now.
If the above mentioned lens is actually Epoque DCL-30 (.59x), then my impression is that it is not a better choice than Inon UWL-H100. I do have a copy, but haven't tested it extensively. I feel better about selling the Inon parts due to the reliability of their lens coatings.
Interesting about the slight vignette as my sources told me that in water you had none however the LX7 has same field of view at all picture formats so potentially the vignette does not go away when you go from 4:3 to 3:2 or 16:9
In any case there is no better lens in my opinion and I am getting one myself from reefphoto actually
Thanks Ryan. I will try to budget to get the Inon if by the time my dive trip come there is no real wide angle wet lens for 24 mm. Right now I'm focusing on diopter and light, which eat quite a bit of my dive gear budget. I posted the question about stacking Subsee +5 and +10 at the technical forum, but there is no response. I'm questioning if I should get both Subsee or just get the +10 for now. If I just get one Subsee, then that will free up $200+ to go toward the wide angle lens.
The LX7 has a very small capture area of 1.13 x 0.85 inches and a focus distance of 1cm or 1/2.5 " are you really sure you need such strong diopters?
I bought a +4 for super small stuff the camera should be able to do well without add on lenses in most situations
Well, I guess it really depends on how close I want/can get to the subject. Will be in Lembeth in late May, not sure what to expect as it will be my first time trying Macro. I know nutibranches are okay to get very close hence doesn't really need high magnification, but frogfish, and other stuffs might be a different story.
So you're suggesting getting the Nauticam Wet Mate and get close to like 5 cm in front of the subject and don't need diopter?
No what I am saying is that you need to have an idea of what the camera can do before making investments
A diopter is probably needed for super macro but I would not assume you need +15!
I got the inon uwl-h100 28m67 and even with this lens with an extremely large aperture on the back lens there is vignetting at 28mm though I just did a quick test in the bathtub
This makes me think that the epoque dcl30 will definitely be inadequate as the back lens is much smaller
I should be able to get in the pool in a few weeks when I do I will post some photos
On a positive note the image is extremely sharp even with the step zoom engaged
Did you finally take the photos??
Yes
Nauticam delivered a new shorter port with this one there is no vignette at 28mm
I have posted some tests in another thread here
Do you have the photo and part number of the Nauticam shorter port that you mentioned?
It is not an item on order
I submitted some photos to nauticam and then a friend met with me nauticam in person at mola dive show to show the issue with the port
Few days later both myself and my Italian friend received through our nauticam importer the new port
I also have to thank Alex tattersall in UK for providing me with the first replacement port
I confirmed back to nauticam that the new port resolves the issue and I believe this is now on all new housing that will be produced
If for any reason you buy one with longer port contact the dealer and they will be able to assist for sure
