LX10 or Sony RX100 VII zooming abilities?

[Marty Bess]

I need some help. I'm trying to get a compact camera and think my best options would be the Panasonic LX10 or Sony RX100 VII. Does anyone know if I put on a wet lens like the Inon UWL-H100 28 M67 Wide Conversion Lens Type 2 will I be able to still zoom in and get a tight shoot of say a goby? I want to be able to zoom but have no clue how close I can get before it's out of focus and how close the zoom can get??

Thanks,
Marty

 

[Barmaglot]

AFAIK the UWL-H100 is not zoom-through, as in you won't get a sharp image when zooming much past its targeted 28mm FF-equivalent focal length. Also, both of these cameras have a lens that extends and retracts a lot while zooming, which limits their useful range with wet lenses - LX10 you have to zoom in to avoid vignetting, while RX100 VII needs short ports to mount a wet wide lens, which significantly restrict its close-up zoom capability. Look at Nauticam charts for WWL-1 and WWL-C to get an idea of angles of view that are achievable.

 

[Marty Bess]

AFAIK the UWL-H100 is not zoom-through, as in you won't get a sharp image when zooming much past its targeted 28mm FF-equivalent focal length. Also, both of these cameras have a lens that extends and retracts a lot while zooming, which limits their useful range with wet lenses - LX10 you have to zoom in to avoid vignetting, while RX100 VII needs short ports to mount a wet wide lens, which significantly restrict its close-up zoom capability. Look at Nauticam charts for WWL-1 and WWL-C to get an idea of angles of view that are achievable.

Thanks for the input I greatly appreciate it! I have been looking at options and see this Fantasea FG7XII and UWL-09F wide angle lens for a little less. Do you know if it's a zoom-through dome by any chance? I have been reading but I'm not sure??
Thanks!

 

[Barmaglot]

I own a UWL-09F, and at least on my Sony A6300 with 16-50mm (24-75mm equivalent) it functions through the entire zoom range, although I have to zoom in to about 19-20mm to avoid vignetting. G7X II is 24-100mm equivalent, so it will likely have to zoom in a bit on the wide end as well. Still, even on the narrow end, the field of view is still quite wide - if you want to take a shot of a goby, you'll want to take the lens off, and maybe put on a close-up lens unless that goby is pretty big. AOI has a quick-release bayonet system for these lenses, but it's pretty expensive, and you need a place to park the lens when it's detached as well - a mount base, lens ring, and a single holder will run you about $250 put together; if you want to add a close-up lens to that setup, along with a twin holder rather than single, figure on another $150 or so.

 

[David Haas]

I owned a Sony RX100 VII where it was wonderful for an African safari trip then used a borrowed INON UWL-H100 M67 on a Fantasea housing for snorkeling with humpback whales in Moorea' French Polynesia.

Underwater I bumped the Sony RX100 VII zoom a bit to avoid vignetting.

I also own and continue to use a Canon G7X II in Fantasea housing. As Barmaglot says you'll need to zoom a bit with the Inon UWL-H100 lens to eliminate vignetting at least with the Fantasea housing.

I usually shoot creatures and scenics wide angle once I mount any wide angle optic. If I want something tighter I remove the wide lens.

The Fantasea FRX100 LE for the Sony RX100 VI / VII allows zooming between 24-66mm which is fine. The Fantasea FG7X II housing for the Canon G7X II allows full use 24-100mm with no WA lens mounted.

The Fantasea UWL-09f is a great super wide optic and you can zoom some, but not from a whale scene to a small goby with this lens mounted. Again, as Barmaglot recommends if you want super macro mount a more powerful macro lens and concentrate on those size creatures.

Last thing when using my Fantasea FG7X II housing for Canon G7X II I've used the lightweight BigEye F Series "Air Lens" more than anything. All it does is restore your 24mm equivalent field of view UNDERWATER. Many people say that's not wide enough but I've made pictures I'm more than happy with it. It floats and using a lanyard I can pop it off allowing it to float on my arm and shot close fish to macro creatures through the port of my housing.

Search for my name here and you can see everything from whales to macro creatures using these set ups.

David Haas

 

[Marty Bess]

Oh, great help you guys!! I'm going to read and re-reading your posts tonight but let me ask. Both of you brought up the Canon G7X II, is that another good option for me to look into, and if so why?

If the G7X II makes the list that would make the Lumix LX10, Sony RX100VA, and Canon G7X II. Does about cover it for the compact cameras go?

Thank you for your help it has been greatly appreciated!!
-Marty

 

[Marty Bess]

David Haas great pictures! The picture with the guy looking at the ray was it shot with the BigEye F Series "Air Lens"?

 

[Marty Bess]

I own a UWL-09F, and at least on my Sony A6300 with 16-50mm (24-75mm equivalent) it functions through the entire zoom range, although I have to zoom in to about 19-20mm to avoid vignetting. G7X II is 24-100mm equivalent, so it will likely have to zoom in a bit on the wide end as well. Still, even on the narrow end, the field of view is still quite wide - if you want to take a shot of a goby, you'll want to take the lens off, and maybe put on a close-up lens unless that goby is pretty big. AOI has a quick-release bayonet system for these lenses, but it's pretty expensive, and you need a place to park the lens when it's detached as well - a mount base, lens ring, and a single holder will run you about $250 put together; if you want to add a close-up lens to that setup, along with a twin holder rather than single, figure on another $150 or so.

Sorry I'm a newbie when it comes to anything other than my Gopro but you say the G7X II is 24-100mm equivalent, what does that mean??

-Marty

 

[Barmaglot]

Sorry I'm a newbie when it comes to anything other than my Gopro but you say the G7X II is 24-100mm equivalent, what does that mean??

It's a common shorthand in photography to express a lenses angle of view in terms of its focal length - imagine an isosceles triangle with its base on the camera sensor and its apex at the point where incoming rays of light converge into a point before diverging to cover the sensor (or film, back in the analog days). The length of the symmetry axis of that triangle is your focal length - the shorter it is, the wider a field of view do you get, and conversely, the longer it is, the narrower your field of view gets. As for many decades, the most common type of photography media was the 35mm film stock, most lenses targeted that media size with their output image circle. With the proliferation of digital photography and its many different sensor sizes, where the digital counterpart of the old 35mm film (36x24mm frame size) is now known a 'full-frame' (FF), it is useful to express lens focal lengths in full-frame equivalents. For example, the G7X Mark II uses a 1" (13.2x8.8mm) sensor. Its lens zooms between focal lengths of 8.8mm and 36.8mm, and with this sensor, it provides angles of view equivalent to what a 24-100mm lens would give you on a full-frame camera, i.e. moderately wide (84 degrees diagonal angle of view) to short telephoto (24 degrees diagonal angle of view).

If the G7X II makes the list that would make the Lumix LX10, Sony RX100VA, and Canon G7X II. Does about cover it for the compact cameras go?

Pretty much, yeah. Between those three, I would go with the Sony RX100VA, for the superior autofocus. If you expect to shoot fast action and are willing to spend a bit more, you may want to consider Sony ZV-1 - it's pretty much the equivalent of RX100VA, but it drops the viewfinder and pop-up flash for a hot shoe where you can connect an LED trigger, which will allow you to fire external strobes in bursts, without being limited by the pop-up flash recharge time. A Sony RX100 VI or VII will get you much better macro capability with close-up lenses, but it introduces complications with swapping ports.

Last thing when using my Fantasea FG7X II housing for Canon G7X II I've used the lightweight BigEye F Series "Air Lens" more than anything. All it does is restore your 24mm equivalent field of view UNDERWATER. Many people say that's not wide enough but I've made pictures I'm more than happy with it.

I actually use a somewhat similar setup at times - Sony 16-50mm in a dry dome, which, on an APS-C sensor, gives the same angles of view as a 24mm-equivalent with a wet dome. It is very versatile, but depends on very clear water and lots of strobe power, as you often end up shooting from longer distances than is the conventional practice. Retra strobes with reflectors are extremely helpful there.

 

[David Haas]

David Haas great pictures! The picture with the guy looking at the ray was it shot with the BigEye F Series "Air Lens"?

Marty,

Yes, as I mentioned I have used that pop on "Air Lens" more than any other WA optic since about 2016 when I began using the Canon G7X II in a Fantasea housing.

If I had to summarize likes / dislikes between a Sony and Canon compact it would be the following:

Sony RX100 VA, VII : Great autofocus (my experience with RX100 VII) but counters by menus that are "challenging" and no manual flash choice. A little pricier too......

Canon G7X II: White balancing includes an underwater choice that works great above 30' and no strobes. Much easier to understand menus including a My MENU choice to access 5 choices quickly like Flash Settings, Custom White Balance, etc. Autofocus more than good enough for what I've done.

I can shoot pics with any camera but I kept coming back to the Canon for ease of use.

DH