Help me decide on a WA setup for a new Sony A1

Thank you for your information phil. that helps me a lot.

Especially the sun in the picture is one of the most important means of image composition for me. I need to do more research on this. few example pictures below with my small camera to show you what I mean... and yes, the a1 really looks like an amazing camera. if it had a folding display, I would have been weak :-)

I am aware of the differences between small and large sensors in theory, but I think I will have to borrow an FF camera for a few days to experience the differences in the wide angle, especially CFWA to see the depth of field on different apertures.

But with your pictures I can get already very well an impression, especially because you have given the iso values. High aperture values but also high iso values. each system has its advantages and disadvantages.

one last question: does the wwl1 focus directly in front of the dome at any focal length? i.e. also at 60mm?

Thanks alot,

Samuel

Hi Samuel

At the wide 28mm end the lens can focus to the WWL-1 glass. Minimum focus distance above water at 28mm is 0.3 m while it is 0.45 m at 60mm so you have a bigger gap on the long 60mm end of the lens.

thanks phil. too bad it doesn't also focus in telescope position directly on the dome glass. your feedback is important to me because nauticam doesn't clearly describe this on their homepage.

this setup makes a very good impression according to various statements and of course also your detailed review in the uwp. the advantages also outweigh for me quite clearly.

I wanted to thank everyone for all the help with gear selection and share some of my shots from my first trip with the new gear aboard the Belize Aggressor III

Apparently, due to weather we didn't get to do all of the "best" sites, but I still found the trip to be great and probably wouldn't have known this without talking to the captain more about the typical route. The diving was much better than what I had seen before in Belize. 

Overall, I am happy with the choice to go with the canon 8-15mm setup, but could see in the future trying out the 28-60mm.  Surprisingly underwater the setup doesn't seem much different to handle to me than my old Olympus set up.  Yes, it's incrementally larger, but to me the benefit in IQ and dynamic range makes up for this. I guess going from a ~6 year old MFT format to a brand new FF should be better so not too surprised there. 

I still have a ton of images to process, but these are some of my favorites so far. 

Great pictures Phil, happy to read that you like your setup. I'll test a "similar" setup this spring (A7III with canon 8-15mm behind an Aquatica 4" dome), can't wait to see what this will provide compared to my previous setup (Oly TG 6).

I use a 28 + WWL-1 and I like it a lot. Read a few posts that mentions the WWL-1 gives you better edges.

I'd buy both and in the processing of buying WWL-1 since my lost one sunk

8-15 fisheye is more specialized, 28-60+WWL-1 is more versatile. I do not see a conflict here. If I can only have one I will have the more versatile solution.

I use the Canon 8-15 behind a 140mm dome and find it's the perfect balance between corner sharpness and dome size... just my 2 cents.

Great info here as I am reading through to decide my underwater video setup A7SIII. Really leaning towards the WWL-1.

On 2/24/2022 at 11:23 PM, lancelot365 said:

I'd buy both and in the processing of buying WWL-1 since my lost one sunk

8-15 fisheye is more specialized, 28-60+WWL-1 is more versatile. I do not see a conflict here. If I can only have one I will have the more versatile solution.

This is what worries me about removing a wet lens underwater! If I drop it!

7 hours ago, rileym21 said:

This is what worries me about removing a wet lens underwater! If I drop it!

You do need to remove the lens to burp it - get rid of air bubbles on the port glass/rear element.  Getting a bayonet mount will probably help making it easier to dismount, clear and remount.  It also makes adding a lanyard viable.  The bayonet mount to add to the WWL-1 has a lanyard mounting point for example, however the WWl-1B does not seem to have one as far as I can tell.

41 minutes ago, ChrisRoss said:

You do need to remove the lens to burp it - get rid of air bubbles on the port glass/rear element.  Getting a bayonet mount will probably help making it easier to dismount, clear and remount.  It also makes adding a lanyard viable.  The bayonet mount to add to the WWL-1 has a lanyard mounting point for example, however the WWl-1B does not seem to have one as far as I can tell.

 

A few quick notes and thoughts:

1) Re: Burping.

I think this might have changed when Nauticam switched to the new bayonet mount. I've had a WWL-C for 18+ months and never burped it and never had a problem. I just dove with a brand new WWL-1B today with the Bayonet Mount II and didn't burp it and the photos came out great. 

2) Re: removal

What I did for my WWL-C is that I use the hard cap (I know, it isn't made for diving) but I use it with some cave line through the cap and then with a bolt snap on the other end that gets attached to the housing. I remove the cap (and have a small tire weight on it to avoid having it float in front of the camera) and take my pictures.

Given the hard cap locking mechanism onto the wet lens, you could probably remove the wet lens from the bayonet mount but keep the lens cap attached with the cave line to the bolt snap which is attached to the housing.

A bit hard to describe in words but I can send a picture at some point if it isn't clear.

- brett 

On 3/9/2022 at 4:52 PM, TmxDiver said:

A few quick notes and thoughts:

1) Re: Burping.

I think this might have changed when Nauticam switched to the new bayonet mount. I've had a WWL-C for 18+ months and never burped it and never had a problem. I just dove with a brand new WWL-1B today with the Bayonet Mount II and didn't burp it and the photos came out great. 

2) Re: removal

What I did for my WWL-C is that I use the hard cap (I know, it isn't made for diving) but I use it with some cave line through the cap and then with a bolt snap on the other end that gets attached to the housing. I remove the cap (and have a small tire weight on it to avoid having it float in front of the camera) and take my pictures.

Given the hard cap locking mechanism onto the wet lens, you could probably remove the wet lens from the bayonet mount but keep the lens cap attached with the cave line to the bolt snap which is attached to the housing.

A bit hard to describe in words but I can send a picture at some point if it isn't clear.

- brett 

Do you know if the WWL-1B has a lanyard attachment point? I'm not sure if it's a true requirement, but I would like to have the option on a deep dive site especially. I see the original WWL-1 does have this as Chris mentioned above.

12 minutes ago, rileym21 said:

Do you know if the WWL-1B has a lanyard attachment point? I'm not sure if it's a true requirement, but I would like to have the option on a deep dive site especially. I see the original WWL-1 does have this as Chris mentioned above.

It does not.

- brett

1 hour ago, TmxDiver said:

It does not.

- brett

Thanks for the info!

2 hours ago, rileym21 said:

Do you know if the WWL-1B has a lanyard attachment point? I'm not sure if it's a true requirement, but I would like to have the option on a deep dive site especially. I see the original WWL-1 does have this as Chris mentioned above.

As noted it doesn't.  The WWL-1  is the same optically as the WWL-1B, the difference being it has an integrated aluminium floatation collar, while for the WWL-1 you purchase an accessory buoyancy collar and the bayonet mount is built in rather than an extra item to install.