RestlessDeviant 1 Posted July 15, 2009 (edited) Hello all i'm new to this forum & i have a Light & Motion SR12 Bluefin housing for about 6 months and have been very happy with the results so far. I'm about to start working out in Indo & would like advise about lenses and lighting. I have tried to search the forum but couldn't find a thread on this. For upgrading the lens Has anyone used the Fathom 110 degree lens. It is billed on the UK Light & Motion website as being 1 lens to do it all, Macro and Wide Angle. Is this true? Macro is going to very important to get shots of the pygmy seahorses etc. I don't have the flip down macro lens, Has anyone used the external Super Macro Lens, is it really worth the extra money? From what I can gather most people seem to be going with either the 80 or 90 degree lens, should I just be upgrading to one of these & would there be any advantage of the 80 over the 90? I have just ordered a Hartenberger Nano http://www.hartenberger.de/english/hartenberger.html I need a proper torch anyway, but can this also be somehow used for video lighting. Anyone have any experience with that. Thanks in advance. Edited July 15, 2009 by RestlessDeviant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BDSC 1 Posted July 16, 2009 I have just made a deal on a Stingray + housing from L&M and it comes with the 65 lens. From what I have read from several users, it seems like the 90 is the best overall lens to shoot with for a combo of wide angle and macro. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RestlessDeviant 1 Posted July 16, 2009 I have just made a deal on a Stingray + housing from L&M and it comes with the 65 lens. From what I have read from several users, it seems like the 90 is the best overall lens to shoot with for a combo of wide angle and macro. Yeah, thats what it looks like from what i can find as well. I really wanna know about the 110 degree lens. I have the money to spend if its really worth it....... But at that price it has to be really worth it!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BDSC 1 Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) Yeah, thats what it looks like from what i can find as well. I really wanna know about the 110 degree lens. I have the money to spend if its really worth it....... But at that price it has to be really worth it!!!! It better be one hell of a lens because it's 3x the price of the 90! If you don't have a set of the LED lights, I'd get the 90 and put the money toward some really great lights as well. But the very best solution is to buy both the 90 and 110, dive both so the 90 will now be a "used" lens, and then sell it to me at a great bargin. That should be fair compensation for the incredible advice I am giving you. Edited July 16, 2009 by BDSC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RestlessDeviant 1 Posted July 16, 2009 It better be one hell of a lens because it's 3x the price of the 90! If you don't have a set of the LED lights, I'd get the 90 and put the money toward some really great lights as well. But the very best solution is to buy both the 90 and 110, dive both so the 90 will now be a "used" lens, and then sell it to me at a great bargin. That should be fair compensation for the incredible advice I am giving you. LoL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan 57 Posted July 16, 2009 I've used both lenses extensively. Fathom 110 w/ Telemacro enabled on the camera can shoot an image area about 3cm wide. Telemacro isn't enabled on the SR12 when something is connected to the av/remote port, so the closeup ability of this lens isn't as good with your camera. Fathom 90 is only about 75% zoom through, so its closeup ability is limited. I wouldn't recommend the 80deg lens. Don't plan on being able to use either lens w/ the flip macro on a Bluefin pro, or an external wetmate macro lens. A flat port (or even zoom macro std lens) are better lenses for that type of shooting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drew 0 Posted July 16, 2009 Ryan You say the Fathom 90 is not full zoom? Is that just for the SR12 or generally? L&M claims it is on their webpage: http://uwimaging.com/bluefin-optics.php I'll check with Fathom. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan 57 Posted July 16, 2009 That is a mistake on the LMI site, the lens is definitely not full zoom through. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drew 0 Posted July 16, 2009 Well someone better tell them before they get a lot of irate customers on their case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpio_fish 5 Posted July 16, 2009 Surprisingly, after all the hype, the 110 didn't zoom all the way through, even in tele-macro mode. This was with a Gates and HC9. The 110 is a great lens, but I would get another port to do real macro work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan 57 Posted July 16, 2009 Surprisingly, after all the hype, the 110 didn't zoom all the way through, even in tele-macro mode. This was with a Gates and HC9. That sounds like the port was incorrectly placed in the housing, as this is absolutely not the case with the lenses we've used. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RestlessDeviant 1 Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) Hey everyone, thanks so much for the comments. Glad to get some feedback on the 110 lens, so hard to get!! I'm getting the impression that it is a great lens. Does it stretch (fish eye) the image unnaturally, or make things look very far away, or does it just give wide angle? For people that have 1, would you recommend it? For wide and macro shots, is it better then the 90? If you are going to spend a long time somewhere special and are after the perfect shots, would the perfect combination be the 110 wide angle and the external super macro lens? Edited July 16, 2009 by RestlessDeviant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan 57 Posted July 16, 2009 Glad to get some feedback on the 110 lens, so hard to get!! I'm getting the impression that it is a great lens. Does it stretch (fish eye) the image unnaturally, or make things look very far away, or does it just give wide angle? The lens has less than 5% distortion, so no fisheye affect at all. We have both the 90 & 110 in our rental pool, and I always dive with the 110. I wouldn't recommend an external diopter w/ the 110, I would use a flat port. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
