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Question about Easydive housing with Sony 14mm 1.8 GM lens

Started by KneeDeep ·

  • 7Posts
  • 7Replies

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Question about Easydive housing with Sony 14mm 1.8 GM lens

7 posts
  1. Greatings all. Thinking it's time to retire my Olpmus and housing and move on to my Sony A7R-IV that I've been using on for land for bit now.

     

    I haven't purchased housing, but VERY intrigued with the easydive house... Futureproof. I do enjoy wide shooting so I would like to be able to also use my Sony 14mm 1.8 GM.

     

    So my question is: Is anyone using the easydive (Leo3 WI) with a Sony A7 body and the Sony 14mm 1.8 GM lens? Any distortion? They suggest the 160 dome.

     

    Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also post some pics if you have'm.

    Edited by KneeDeep
  2. The Easydive housings sound great but there are some issues you need to consider, for example the housing is way bigger than it needs to be  and the viewfinder and port centrelines are fixed, so when you line up one the other doesn't line up.  You also need to check which features are available to be used - not everything is programmed to allow you to control it in the housing  Here's an old post about it:

    View archived post in: Easy Dive Housings - Any Good?

     

     On the question of the dome, a 160dome is too small for a 14mm lens, the corners will be pretty poor.  Most systems recommend a 230mm dome to use with a 14mm lens on full frame. 

    I would also suggest that just because you have a camera on land and like using it, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best choice to put in a housing.  Put it another way, the camera is the not the first to consider - rather it is a total system approach - what will it cost to buy all the domes and lenses you need to use with your system.  Full frame systems are generally more expensive, they need bigger domes with with rectilinear lenses, the housings , at least for aluminium housings are significantly more expensive and for wide angle work tend to be more demanding of strobes as you need to shoot the lenses well stopped down behind domes.   Water contact optics are another option to consider and they will work well with certain Sony lenses but not every housing system will have suitable ports to use with the wet lenses.  I would suggest working out which types of lenses you might like to use and work backwards from there.

    A 230mm dome is really big for transport and the easydive housings are also reported to be big and heavy and won't be easy to transport if travelling by air.  Fisheye lenses at wet optics can be much more compact for travel.

  3. That's Chris, I've read most recent posts here. But looking to hear from actual current users with hopes with possible same (or close) use case experience.

  4. 1 hour ago, KneeDeep said:

    That's Chris, I've read most recent posts here. But looking to hear from actual current users with hopes with possible same (or close) use case experience.

    The other thread on this housing has a response from a guy using it with an A7RIII.  You could try PM-íng him.

    View archived post in: Easydive Leo 3 Wi

    The housing only comes up rarely on the forums, so you may need to seek out users for a response.

  5. I can answer the half of your question about the Sony FE 14mm F/1.8 lens I have used on the Sony A7R IV, A1 and A7C. This lens has outstanding image quality above water and is also very good underwater behind a proper 230mm dome port. It would be a complete waist of a Pro quality lens to use it with a 160mm port. You will be pushing image quality to use a 24mm lens behind the 160mm port. This is a simple issue of physics and does not change across manufactures ports. You could buy the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm and the image quality would be just as good behind any dome smaller the 230mm. I have reviewed the 14mm F/1.8 lens in the current issue of uwpmag.com (a free PDF download) and images taken with the lens are also in my Inon Z300 type II review in the same issue.

    Having said all that the less expensive FE 28-60mm kit lens with the WWL-1/1B has better image equality across the board V. the 14mm F/1.8 behind the 230mm dome. This is a combo I have also used with A7R IV, A1 and A7C as well as Olympus EM1 II and 14-42 zoom. The reviews for both the WWL-1 and WWL-1B are in the back issues on the home page of uwpmag.com, just type Phil Rudin into the search engine and look for those articles. 

     

  6. 54 minutes ago, Phil Rudin said:

    I can answer the half of your question about the Sony FE 14mm F/1.8 lens I have used on the Sony A7R IV, A1 and A7C. This lens has outstanding image quality above water and is also very good underwater behind a proper 230mm dome port. It would be a complete waist of a Pro quality lens to use it with a 160mm port. You will be pushing image quality to use a 24mm lens behind the 160mm port. This is a simple issue of physics and does not change across manufactures ports. You could buy the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm and the image quality would be just as good behind any dome smaller the 230mm. I have reviewed the 14mm F/1.8 lens in the current issue of uwpmag.com (a free PDF download) and images taken with the lens are also in my Inon Z300 type II review in the same issue.

    Thanks Phil, great to hear real use of this lens. Easydive does offer a 240 (acrylic) dome, which would be the route I'd be going.

     

    I've reached out to a user via his website to get some longer term useage feedback... So far this will be the route I'll be going.

  7. Hi !

    I discovered and answered 1 year later but don't hesitate to contact Fabio from EasyDive.

    He's very nice and available to help you and give you advises.

    On Easydive's website you have a simulator which help you to find the good set-up with your lenses, camera, etc.

     

    I hope this late message will help :)

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