Std. Diopters for use UW?

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Larry C

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Anyone try regular diopters wet? I can spend $100+ for Inon or Epoque UW macro lenses, or get 3 46mm diopters, +1, +2 & +4 for my SP for $19.95 from Adorama. Other than maybe a protective coating and a stronger lens to withstand pressure if you put it on before you jump in, is there any difference? Anyone try it?
 
I got somewhat of an answer through some internet research (thank you Cameras Underwater) The refractive index of a regular diopter is going to be almost the same as water. UW close-up lenses do most of their work in the air space between the lenses, unaffected by water (kind of like your scuba mask allowing you to see with minimal distortion underwater) Probably the land lenses wouldn't hurt anything, but unless you got something like a 15x, they wouldn't do much either.
 
I did some investigation on the subject a while back, in short it will work BUT the effective diopter ends up being about 1/4 of what it is in air. Not worth the hassel for a diopter or 2.
 

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