jplaurel
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Sony a7R III + FE 24mm 1.4 GM
jplaurel replied to ilauzirika's topic in Photography Gear and Technique
Hi Phil - Thank you for all the helpful information on the Sony/WWL-1B setup. I have read both your article in the current UWPmag issue as well as your comments here with gray interest. Like you, I have had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that an inexpensive consumer lens like the 28-60 zoom or the FE 28 f/2 with the WWL-1B could outperform lenses like the Canon 8-14 or Sony’s new 14mm rectilinear lens behind a high quality glass dome. But reading your article and the comments of other here, that seems to be the case. I shoot video and am transitioning from a GH5, to an A1/Nauticam system along with a Ninja V that will allow me to capture PROres RAW video. The good folks at Backscatter have recommended the WWL-1B. Are there any caveats that I should know about this setup, apart from it’s inherent unsuitability for over-unders? I have heard that the area between the front of the flat port and the rear of the wet lens needs to be “burped” at the beginning of a dive, as air bubbles get trapped in there. I assume this could be more of a problem if you’ve backrolled into the water with your camera as opposed to having your camera handed down to you. Do you find that there are any issues getting sand or debris trapped between the port and the wet lens? Thank you! -
On our recent Revillagigedos trip a few weeks ago, we used a ThinkTank Logistics Manager for my wife's 5Dmk3 rig, and the largest of their carry-on models for my GH5 rig. I ended up checking the GH5 as well. The ThinkTank semi hard cases seem to work very well when checked in, and they don't attract too much attention. I have been harassed at Cabo as well as Cairo with our pelican cases. I also left a GH5 body mounted in the housing. However, there is a difference between the 5 non-stop from Seattle to Cabo and the much longer multiple flights to Cairo or someplace in Asia. My sense is that the bigger, stiffer Logistics manager would be ok, but the smaller carry-on case might be iffy. In some places like the Philippines, some of the in-country travel will have the cases in pickup beds, where they can be exposed to bursts of rain or mud being splattered by other vehicles. Or, they may be stored on the deck of inter-island hydrofoils where they will be soaked with salt water. A Pelican is obviously a lot better for that kind of thing.
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Christmas bump!
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Christmas bump!
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Honestly, the new Olympus fisheye is a fantastic lens. Image quality, even wide open in the corners, is hard to believe. It gives you an amazing amount of freedom for existing light photography. I was doing video of a shipwreck at dusk a few months ago. We had placed lights on the wreck, and I had a diver swimming up the length of the ship. You could just see the glow of dusk in the background. I was using the Panasonic 8mm f/3.5, and had to jack up the ISO to 800-1600. The Olympus would have allowed me to reduce the ISO to 200-400. On a Micro 4/3 camera, that means a huge difference in image quality. I use mine behind the Zen DP-120 with no spacer ring. An absolutely perfect combination.
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Both are fast. The Olympus focuses on my GH4 really, really fast, even in low light. I have not compared them directly, but my subjective opinion is that the Olympus is faster. Maybe it has something to do with giving the contrast detect AF system more light to work with.
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I recently used one in the Maldives. This lens' raison d'etre? Speed. Here is a shot, taken just after sunset, wide open (f/1.8) at ISO 1600. The Olympus 8mm allowed me to keep a shutter speed of 1/160 sec to stop the action. It would not have been possible with the Panasonic fisheye without raising the ISO by 2 stops, to 6400, which would result in too much noise, or by lowering shutter speed to 1/40 sec, which would result in motion blur.
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Bump for this great little macro port!
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Bump for this great, lightweight port!
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Does anyone know what Wratten number cyan gel I might try over daylight video lights? I have been playing with my Keldan Luna 8s fitted with cyan heads and they are really useful in getting natural-looking footage as deep as 20m or so. I white balance to a combination of the cyan light and ambient, and it gives you a natural looking background, while objects that are close don't go all red. I'd like to find some gels to tape over my Sola 2000s to approximate the same effect as a more compact option. Something that would work well with a GoPro, for instance. It will cost around 2-3 stops of light, but I think it'd be a useful option, nonetheless. Thanks - Jim
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SOLD and SHIPPED! Thanks Matt!
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Bump!
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Bump!
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Phishphood, Yes, I also have the Macro port 45 for the PanaLeica 45mm macro, and the semi-dome for the Panasonic 7-14 wide zoom. Thanks for looking!
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Bump!
