Best wide angle lens choice for Canon 10d and Ike housing

A friend of mine took his 10d on a trip a couple of weeks ago and was very disappointed in his wide angle shots. The camera had a lot of difficulty focusing using a Tamron 18-35 ? and most of his shots were unuseable. He had great success with the canon 100mm usm macro lens so the whole experience was not lost. I suspect the lens probably needed diopters for it I dunno.

My question is what lens should he get to give himself nice wide angle shots that will be sharp with or without diopters. It would be nice if Ike had any ideas for him and if there is going to be a new dome that will accomodate this need. I understand that the new canon 10-22 ? will not work with the 10d and only works with the rebel and the 20d. Please any input is appreciated. Don't ask me to post any shots cuz I don't have any from him. I might be able to get some in the near future if needed. Thanks

Tony

Your friend eh? lol

James - It is his friend...lol...Tony has a D70/Ike setup...

~Matt Segal

I don't know the camera or the lens, but the following chart says the 10-22 has a port for it and that no diopter is required.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/2port_canon.html

The 10-22 is an EF-S mount and will not work with the 10D.

~Matt Segal

Hi,

Well, if he's not happy with an 18-35 then I'm thinking the Canon 17-40L won't do him any good as it will have about the same angle of view. Since the 10D does not have an EFS mount, the 10-22 is out of the question. I bet those different lens mounts are pissing off a lot of 10D owners, eh? :-)

I would recommend he try the Sigma 15mm fisheye. It's nice and wide, and it's cheap too.

Cheers

James

The lens choice for the 10d at the wide-angle end basically comes down to:-

Canon 15mm Fisheye

Canon 17-40 f/4

Canon 16-35 f/2.8

Canon 14mm f/2.8

Those are in ascending order of price, so the fisheye can be had for about £450, the 14mm will set you back about £1400. You also have the option of the Sigma 12-24 EX f/4.5-5.6, which is supposed to be quite good.

I have a 10D in a Subal housing and recently shot with a 16-35 and a +4 diopter. No trouble focusing with that combination, and I was very happy with it. The fact that the 10D won't take the EF-S lenses is a bit annoying, but I intend my next upgrade (when prices have come down a bit) to be to a camera with a larger sensor than 1.6 anyway. That being the case, the 10-22 looks pretty expensive for something that might only last a year or two.

Mike.

Hacksaw mod to the 10-22 EF-S should work (so you can use it on the 10D), just like it did on the 18-55 EF-S. Strangely, I haven't heard of anyone actually doing this with this lens. Perhaps someone on wetpixel can be the first.

I'm still keen on the 17-40L on the 10D. 17mm * 1.6 is still reasonably wide. Just need to work out dome and diopter to get a sharp image. Some would suggest that 15mm Fish should give a sharper image - I havne't seen Ikelite fisheye samples. I have the fisheye Ike dome, just need the lens and the strobes to light it now...

P.S. 17-40L focuses great, no problems in that regard.

Hacksaw mod to the 10-22 EF-S should work (so you can use it on the 10D), just like it did on the 18-55 EF-S.  Strangely, I haven't heard of anyone actually doing this with this lens.  Perhaps someone on wetpixel can be the first.    

It's been theoried out that the mod won't work with this lens...because of the fact that it's 8mm wider, that requires the glass to slide farther back into the camera housing...yields increased danger and possible destruction of the mirror (such is what I've gathered from dpreview)...it'd be nice if it did work though

~Matt Segal

Ike port diameter is to small for big lenses like Sigma 12-24, right?

Maybe wait for the Tamron 11-18mm (Tokina 12-24mm should already be available).

@Rob, maybe you should think about that lens as well? Because 17mm on 10D .... not really sooooooooooo wide :-)

Julian

hang on .. everyone is suggesting new lenses for this guy ... all he said was that his shots were mostly all soft and out of focus.

Is a new lense going to cure that ?

Tony,

Two issues....Which Tamron lens was your friend trying to use? If it's the less expensive Tamron 19-35mm f3.5-4.5 which only focuses to 19.8" then it won't focus behind an extended dome port without a +4 diopter. Remember that adding this to ANY lense that can't focus to 1' or less will correct focus UNDERWATER, but you won't be able to get a focus lock above except for maybe VERY close, like 6" or so....

If he has the latest (according to Tamron's web site) SPAF 17-35mm f2.8-4 Di LD IF lens this focuses to 11.8" and shouldn't need (as per the Ikelite web site port chart) a diopter....

For fixed length Ikelite dome ports (after verifying the physical fit of a particular lens's length) one needs to know if the particular lens can focus to 1' or less to "see" the apparent image a dome port creates.

Check it out and post so we can help him get sharp photos....

David Haas

www.pbase.com/dhaas

Wow just got back from christmas with my wife's family in KC to all of these posts. I want to thank you all for responding. David he has the cheap tamron around $250 bucks . Yes James, Matt is right I have the D70 with the 12-24 and 90mmTamron that I use. I just want to get some of these issues straightened out for him. We are thinking of going to Fiji and don't want to get on a boat with a wide angle that is isn't going to work for him.

Tony

Matt, besides the high chance or mirror destruction and problems with attacking an $800 lens with a hacksaw, I can't think of any reason not to use the 10-22 Ef-S. Still think someone here should try it. I've done my bit for underwater hellmanship diving with the 10D in that damn EWA-Bag

Julian - hadn't heard any buzz about the tokina wide angle, and hadn't heard much about the tamron either. I'll look in to them. I agree that 17-40L is not that wide on the 10D, but happily I aquired a 1Ds today so I'm looking forward to real wide angle again. Anyone got a spare Seacam housing?

I like your theory about the 15 fish being sharper (I won't try and explain your theory to these folk as I've probably got it wrong, but it sounded convincing when you said it). I'd just like to see some pictures of a Canon/Fisheye/Ike setup.

As for diopters and dome ports, I think the 17-40L is sharper with a diopter even though it focuses close enough without - but I've only tried it once because it scratched the inside of the port - doh!

ok so as a canon owner .. (D60) who just got a new housing for it and will finally be able to get it in the water ... what is the best wide angle lense for me to go for ... non fisheye .. i was thinking sigma 12 -24 .. but apparently bulky and hard to fit rings on in the compact sea and sea dome.

I have been told that the canon lenses fit in best ... makes sense .. but they are more expensive so I have to make the right choice .. will i be happy with a non zoom wide angle ? or should i get a nice zoom wa ?

Giles,

I think that it depends on what you want to shoot and what you have to shoot. In Cayman I use a fisheye lens for just about all my wide angle - because out there it is mainly about great scenery and people. Whereas if I was going somewhere that rocks with lots of large marine life (Maldives/Sipadan etc) then I would use a wide zoom - like a 12-24 or similar.

I don't know about Canon lenses. I dunno what L means or EF etc. But for UW photography I think the fisheye rules for scenery and the wide zoom for marine life.

I'm sure others have stats to add. Has the D60 housing arrived now?

Alex

I'm with James, I think that the Sigma 15mm FE would be the best choice. The price is right and its very sharp with a reasonable FOV. It focuses very close so you won't have to worry about diopters. Don't let the fisheye effect discourage you. You will never notice it underwater unless you like shooting inside wrecks.

You might consider weather or not you need a diopter. This could be the source of the OOF images. Basically if the minimum focus distance is more than 2x the dome diameter you need a diopter--12" for Ike 6" domes. If you don't want a wider WA then maybe a diopter is all you need.

You could try the Sigma 12-24 as well but check your housing provider to see if they support this lens. It has a very big diameter.

From all that I've seen, the Sigma is an EXCELLENT lens, if and only iff (math jargon, doh!) you go the the camera shop and try out a few and buy the best one. Evidently, this lens has better distortion characteristics than even the Nikkor 17-35 and is preferred by architectural shooters, etc.

The problem seems to be that not all lenses are well centered, som either the right hand or left hand corners can be blurry.

I'd love to buy one to use on my FF camera and it would still be good on a DX sensor.

Cheers

James

I will have to check out the sigma 15 FE for Glenn. It sounds like it is the ticket for him and the price seems to be right. Thanks guys!

Tony

Tony, way off topic, but I've a questions about you signature line.

I usually look forward to the end of my surface interval.