John E - thanks for the insight!
Do you have a list of lenses that you have put behind your best dome that worked extremely well? I still prefer the cine approach if a choice lens can be made to perform.
What is the highest performing dome available? Are you saying you can custom work a dome to suit the chosen lens?
In general which cine lens do you recommend? or to put it another way ( so that no one can hold you to a "recommendation") which lenses have you seen housed in a Gates that are/were stellar performers?
I really appreciate your input in this discussion. (I'm sure many others do to!)
J.D
Yes, we have a list of lenses for DEEP RED at the link below. All these lenses will require confirmation with EPIC because 5K uses a bit more of the sensor.
http://www.gateshous...lens-matrix.pdf "Dome" is a term used generically to describe a simple concentric optical element in front of your lens. They can come in different sizes (e.g. 8", which is the spherical diameter, not the distance across the dome base), materials (acrylic and glass) and coatings (e.g. anti-reflective on the inside). For any given lens, these variables will have different interactions and different results (which may or may not be noticeable).
So for any given lens, there is an ideal dome size / material that will provide best results. But we don't have the luxury of creating that ideal dome for every lens, but rather find the best available 'off-the-shelf' dome for the lens. For convenience 6-10" domes are generally used because they are a good compromise of image quality across many lenses, are a good size for travel / use, and are readily manufactured. Moreover, 8" domes are still largely used simply because the first ones adapted for underwater were adopted from the sailing world -- that is, compass domes.
As for materials, the acrylic / glass debate continues. Acrylic is inexpensive with a refractive index nearly that of water, so the water / acrylic interface is nearly nonexistent (and conveniently makes small scratches disappear).
Glass is often considered more optically pure, and can be coated for no reflections and better contrast.
I will refrain from making lens recommendations in deference to the professionals on this forum that can provide far better advice.
Lastly, yes we can make adaptive optics for pretty much any lens, allowing it to perform the same (or better) underwater as in air. For example, the SWP44C is such a port. Much like an eyeglass prescription, it is specifically designed -- and matched -- to the EX1R. We could do the same for a popular EPIC / Scarlet lens. Something like the Nikon 16-85 or Canon 16-35 EF-L?
J-
