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KGDiver

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Posts posted by KGDiver

  2. Posted · Edited by KGDiver

    On 9/14/2021 at 10:57 AM, Pomacentridae said:

    For the EPL10 (m43), there is the options of the oly 60mm f/2.8, Oly 8mm f/1.8 and pana 8mm f/3.5. They are quite bright.

    I bought the EPL10 mainly because it is small and compact but has more versatility and potential for growth (versus Canon G series/ Pana LX10). I've chosen the Oly 60mm for macro/fish portraits and 14-42mm + WWL-1B for my wide angle (more versatile than the 8mm because it allows for zoom thru IMO). I use them with a pair of Z330s.

    I am very happy with the 60mm for macro/fish portraits, AF is very snappy. Custom white balance is very good as well. The 14-42 mm + WWL-1B combo I have not been able to try yet because of travel restrictions.

    I also agree with Chris that TTL is a hit or a miss and depends on the camera. Shooting manual yields way better results most of the time. You can also stop up and down in camera so you don't have change strobe power settings.

    Are you using the Backscatter AOI housing?

  4. Posted · Edited by KGDiver

    Gotcha. Yeah, I know my lights are underpowered for WA, mainly because coming from the TG5, WA was more of an afterthought. For wrecks, it is my intent to use whatever ambient light is available. Most of WA work would be fish portraits (angels, groupers, lionfish, morays) and some larger subjects, sharks, whale sharks, mantas/eagle rays), not looking to do sunballs, split shots, or reefscapes (well, maybe if I see something really neat). One of the hiccups for me with WA is the bulkiness of lenses, this is why I'm looking at the Wwl-c/WWL-1B as the primary candidate(s).

    So far, I've really enjoyed macro work and if TG5 had full manual mode, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.

    I guess what II'm really trying to get at is what platform to build around the Lx10 or the E-pl1 coupled with the WWL-C/WWL-1B for the "long haul" without having hands-on experience underwater with either. Lx10 has been around for years, to the point where Nauticam discontinued their housing for it...keeping an eye on one second hand; plus compatibility of housings (ikelite/nauticam) with WA lenses and their performance is hit or miss. The AOI housing for the EPL seems well laid out and is compact, however, lack of TTL gives me pause, especially with how small (PIA) the knobs are on the S2000s. The lense availability for the EPL seems to be in a better place than for the Lx10, at least to my uneducated mind after some cursory Google-fu.

     

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    Looking for some guidance from the knowledgeable folks here.

    Long story short, I currently have an Lx10 and was going to build a travel rig around it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get my housing in time for the trip this week so I was able to get the accessories returned at no cost and will be using my Gopro 8 with flip filters and video lights.

    Now that I don't have a clock to work against, I'm looking for the best option going forward.

    Im fairly new and inexperienced user so I'm looking for something that's fairly simple, thus why I ended up with an Lx10 after diving with a TG5 for 2 years. I really like the small package size of compacts and want to avoid the "satellite" setups like I've seen some use with the mirrorless and dslrs. The in depended AF button and fairly easy custom WB were a nice plus of the Lx10.  I just came across the EPL10 which seems to tick the small size, price and ease of use to that of the Lx10 but with alleged better image quality. Additionally, when it comes to the Lx10, at least when it comes to WA, lens/housing combinations were a bit rough (vignetting). So my question is... Lx10 or the EPL10 to build a setup around going forward (hoping to use the same setup for next few years) ?

    I haven't done a ton of video and did mostly macro photos with my TG5, but nowI also want to get into some WA shots of wrecks and some fish portraits on upcoming trips (truk lagoon being one of them). Overall, I expect to do more photos rather than video.

    In summary, I'm looking for the best option when it comes to small setup size, ease of use and image quality (relative to one another). I currently have 2x Bigblue 2600 video lights (not looking to light up a wreck) and 2x Inon S2000 strobes and will be buying lenses WA/macro for whatever setup I end up with.

    Thanks in advance!

     

  6. Posted

    6 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

    It'll all depend on what focal length it vignettes at.  If it's 32mm , the UWL95 alone will give you no benefit, but with the doem you should get about 130° or so which is OK.  It also zooms through.

    You can test it on land to see how far you need to zoom in to avoid the vignette.  From that you can estimate what it will do for you UW.  Maybe report back on what focal length it stops vignetting. 

    Will do.

  8. Posted · Edited by KGDiver

    13 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

    I wouldn't discount the S2000 for wide angle with the LX-10, you don't need a lot of light as you don't need to stop way down, f4.5-5.6 is adequate for most purposes.  It won't of course illuminate a whale shark, I'm thinking more of reef scenes.  Ambient stills shoot in Raw and WB later it's a lot easier, particularly if you are shallow.

    Thats good to hear. Yeah, for this trip that's going to be the plan as my budget is somewhat limited a lot of the heavy lifting will have to be done in lightroom and Premiere.  Fortunately when it comes to whales and whale sharks, that will be a snorkel situation as we can't dive with them (unless we just happen to come across one on a dive) so in camera WB should be fine for that depth.

    At the end of the day, I'm not trying to make money by licensing video/photos. It's just for my wife and I and some occasional family and friends, who let's be honest, don't care all that much because it's all "fish" and "coral" to them; at least as far as pictures go. Video tends to generate more interest.

    I appreciate everyone's help thus far. Quick question about bayonet mounts. If I were to have two lenses, can they share 1 mount? Like put the bayonet on the housing and just switch out lenses? Or does each lense need its own mount? I've never seen the mount so I have no idea how they work. I may call backscatter and cancel my order for the H100 and get the Wwl-c instead.

  9. Posted

    16 hours ago, mdo905 said:

    I have the LX-10 and WWL-C.  The WWL-C is notably lighter underwater (.25 kg vs. .62 kg), so you don't have to deal with a buoyancy collar.  However, they just came out with the WWL-1B, which is even lighter underwater (.12kg). 

    I've had no issue swapping the WWL-C onto a 7" arm bayonet mount and keeping it there - to me,  its not as big of an issue as one would think (and even I have small hands that could make changing it underwater hazardous).  The dome shade is relatively easy to grab on to for changes, whereas the WWL-1B could be difficult to deal with.  I tend to keep the WWL-C port mounted and only swap out to my CMC-1/2 when needed.  Keeping it on the arm for a couple minutes is no issue at all, as long as you have enough floats so you have enough buoyancy overall.

    I *barely* notice any vigonetting at 28mm and none at 30mm, despite what Nauticam's charts say.  I do have their case for the LX-10, so maybe their 67mm threads are cut closer to the port and they're taking worst case scenario of other manufacturer's cases?  That will be the big question for your Ikelite housing.

    I've tried the UWL-100 and it didn't work at all.  I had to zoom to 34mm and I basically had no gain in FOV.  You could go with the dome, but you'd need a buoyancy collar and no zoom through.  I would advise against it.     

    Needless to say, I'm really happy with my set-up.  Backscatter's review is true for me where I can swap out wide to macro quickly and easily, but I'm using the Nauticam case.  

    My other comments is that you're not going to have enough light for wide angle.  I have two YS-01s and both are at 3/4 or full power to get enough light for the WWL-C at any reasonably closed aperture.  A single S2000, which is notably weaker than the YS-01, is not going to cut it for any wide angle.  

    Feel free to PM me with any questions (or put them here).  

    Great information here. I wonder what the difference would be between the Ikelite vs Nauticam housing with both the H100 vs WWL-C. H100 you used, was it a type 1 or type 2?

     

    How are the pics/video with just ambient lighting and custom WB? S2000 is strictly for macro purposes.

  10. Posted

    7 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

    It is hard to give good advice as I don't know just how far you need to zoom in to stop the vignette as it's not published - it's about 30-32mm on a Nauticam housing and on the ikelite will depend on just how far back the lens is at it's widest setting.

    In general though I would recommend considering using a lens designed for 28mm lenses .  For example the WWL-C is a 0.42x lens and at 32mm provides 13.5mm equivalent, while the WWL-1 is a 0.36x lens and 32mm would give you a field of view equivalent to a 11.5mm lens and the field of view on the diagonal would be 116° and 124° respectively

    In fact the WWL is reported on the port cahrts with the Nauticam housing to give 108° for the WWL-C and 130° for the WWL-1 when zoomed to 28mm. 

    The other thing to consider is the WWL are both zoom through lenses while the UWL-H100 is not a zoom through lens and can only be used at the widest settings or slightly zoomed in to avoid vignetting, the image quality deteriorates beyond that.

    As for using the wide lens and a closeup diopter on the same dive, both WWL are big items - 150mm diameter and quite heavy so storing them might be an issue when you swap them over.  The UWL-H100 is much smaller and could easily be stored on a strobe arm.  Also the WWL-C/WWL-1B do not include a tie off point to tether them so burping it over deep water and removing it to store it could be a bit nerve wracking.  They are really more suited to leaving on the whole dive.

    Both WWL's have an inbuilt Nauticam Bayonet so you need to purchase the Nauticam bayonet to mount on your housing to allow you to attach them and your wet macro lens will also need a Nauticam bayonet fitting to allow you to interchange them readily

     

    Thank you for the reply!

    You've made some good points. For me it's an issue of "I don't know what I don't know". I definitely didnt realize I would need an adapter between the WWL and the housing (it didn't show it on Backscatter on the "package" page of the Ikelite housing,  but I see it when going to the link for the lens itself); so I would need two bayonett mounts, which further eats into the budget.

    From what I've read about the UWL-H100, it still vignettes unless zoomed to around 34mm, but I'm not sure if that was for Type 1 or Type 2 (type 1gets closer to the lens), so I would need to dome (added weight and cost) but would still be roughly half the price of the WWL.  I might just have to bite the bullet and be my own guinea pig. Speaking of what I don't know, when adding the dome to the UWL-H100, the dome goes on dry and just the lense itself gets burped (hiusing/lens making point).

  11. Posted

    Getting ready for a Sea of Cortez trip next month and recently moved from TG5 (used on 3 trips, about 50 dives) to an LX10.

    There's supposed to be potential for some big subjects in Sea of Cortez (whales, whale sharks, sea lions etc) which I'd love to get some video/pics.

    So I'm shopping for my first wide angle lens. Unfortunately (?) my decision to purchase LX10 was based solely on Backscatter review which has for years touted it as the top dog of compacts for UW. What I feel they failed to mention is its shortcomings when it comes to WA lenses and having to zoom in 32+ to avoid vignetting. Though an argument can be made that when filming in 4k (like I will be) it crops to equivalent of 36mm so I suppose point is moot there, but when it comes to stills...that's a bit of a different story. So.....all that being said, this is where I landed.

    Inon UWL-H100 Type 1. Without the dome I'm looking at advertised 100 degree FOV, which after zoom, is going to be significantly less. Adding the Dome Type II, would get me close, if not a little over, the 100 degree FOV; but that would nearly double the cost of the investment.

    Another option, and one I haven't had the chance to thoroughly vent, is the Nauticam WWL-C. Those that have experience with the LX10, especially in an Ikelite housing, is the situation the same as with UWL-H100 and if it's better, it is worth the $400 premium vs Inon+ Dome.

    My planned setup is Lx10, Ikelite housing, one of the above WA lenses, SubSee +10 macro, Backscatter MW4300 x1, Inon S2000 x1.

    What are your guys' thoughts? Any suggestions....are there better options (without getting rid of the LX10)?

     

    Cheers

     

    PS. If anything I wrote seems a bit ignorant, well, it probably is haha. I'm fairly new to photography (including UW) so feel free to correct me. :)

  15. Posted · Edited by KGDiver
    Price Drop

     

    Upgraded to an LX10, need the money for a new housing, so for sale are a TG-5 and Dive Housing PT-058. Used them for 2 seasons (about 30 dives). Both are in working, honestly near-mint condition. The camera has been in the housing since day one, both body and lens are mint. Housing never flooded and o-rings have been greased. Does not come with original box (unless I manage to find it).

    Asking $475 $450 (PayPal only) for both shipped via USPS to CONUS US.

     

     

    20201122_154329_small.jpg

    20201122_154240_small.jpg

  17. Posted

     

    It depends on how you shoot WA. If you want to light up all that’s in front of you, I doubt the S2000 would be the way to go. But, my view anyway, is that it’s better to light up a close element of the reef with strobes and use ambient light for the majority.

     

    Using Z240 strobes, I tend to use both strobes on the same side with some colourful reef on one side or other of the frame with a diver in the blue balancing the composition. The two Z240s will light the coral nicely and, hopefully, you end up with a pic that tells a story (important I think for WA), looks good and is nicely light.

     

    Thanks for the info. I haven't really shot WA with my TG-5 as I do not have the lens. I did shoot a couple of shots of coral formations and some wrecks with just the bare camera and I ran into problems of not being able to fit the subject into the shot while also being close enough do get any decent detail....I guess that's where the WA lens comes into play? Haha. That's why I've been just shooting little critters and found that I really enjoy searching for them.

  19. Posted · Edited by KGDiver

     

    FS: Inon S2000 strobe, perfect, unused, brand new, with Inon box, User Manuals, diffuser, advance cancel switch magnet with screw, extra O-ring, Inon lubricant. Strobe tested and works perfectly.

    Included are an Inon ball mount, a $25 value, and an Inon Optical D strobe cable Type L with adapter for digicam housings, an $85 value.

    Paypal. $339.99. US shipping $12, other countries $24. My eBay rating is 100% buyer satisfaction.

    attachicon.gif_DSC3510_resize.JPG

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    Interested. Is this still available?

  20. Posted

     

    I have put the picture in the photo video showcase section or look into flickr.com/interceptor121

     

    Awesome shots! What are you using for lighting?

     

    I just started dipping my toes into UW photography (photography in general). I went from a GoPro 3+ to the TG-5, Oly housing, and a BigBlue AL2600 lumen video light. My next step is looking into strobe(s). So far I've been mostly shooting macro, some nudies and a ton of blennies for which the video light has done OKish; but now I really want those black backgrounds...so at least one strobe to start. Also, we have a Sea of Cortez trip on the books for 2021 and I would really like to have a WA setup by then...which means two strobes; I've been looking at S-2000s to complement the size of a compact camera, but I'm a bit worried it wont be enough (2xS2000s) for WA.

  21. Posted

    I just borrowed 1 then 2 S-2000's for use with an LX-10 for a trip. I was impressed with the system compared to my YS-90's and HW adapter (no great surprise). I shot entirely in TTL mode on the strobes, and cut the camera flash the max (-3?), as learning the new camera was enough of a challenge and I was happy with the results in general. The magnets were in, but based on the REEF write up (thanks for that link!) it doesn't effect TTL mode. Looking forward to trying some of the manual operation, but the TTL operation was pretty cool.

     

    Those are some beautiful shots! Absolutely love nudies. I've only recently gotten into photography (underwater and otherwise) and slowly building up my gear and knowledge base. Currently have a a TG5 in the Olympus housing and a BigBlue AL2600XWP video light, but I've been really wanting a strobe (or two haha) and the S-2000 is in my top two.

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