Practicality of swapping wet lenses underwater

[BlueDevil]

I am tossing up between a Sony RX100 or an Olympus E-PL5. I am currently using a Canon S95 with no attachments so have no experience with wet lenses.

I love the capabilities of the Olympus but the down side is having to choose lenses before the dive. I just know a manta is going to swim past when I have a macro lens on.

So the other possiblity is the Sony, probably in a Nauticam housing, with some wet lenses. But never having used wet lenses I would like so feedback on how feasible it is to change them underwater.

I have seen the flip holders for close-up lenses and that looks like a good idea. On the other hand wide angle lenses look very large and heavy. I am figuring that screwing them on and off during a dive may be impractical? What about storing them underwater?

The Nauticam housing has a 67mm thread, but I believe there are bayonet style attachments too. Can they be used on the Nauticam?

If I were to attach a flip holder for a close-up I guess that would mean I could no longer attach a wide angle?

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Interceptor121]

I have the rx100 in nauticam housing
As you may be aware the camera doesn't do macro well and you need a diopter to shoot pretty much anything at short distance
Which means you will taking the lens on and off all the time
In terms of wide angle nauticam recommends the inon UWL-H100 this comes with two options
M67 thread or inon LD bayonet for the second nauticam sells an adapter that costs $160
The lens itself is very heavy in water and cannot be attached to the flip diopter mount as it would get blurred image
So you will need a double lens holder on the arms if you don't want to mess around lens in pockets
In terms of M67 versus bayonet due to the large number of lens swap I would definitely recommend the LD mount if for any reason you don't like inon diopters and prefer something else there is an M67 to LD adapter if for example you want to use a subsee

 

[mscott556]

I use Inon LD lenses and the double lens holder. It's very easy to swap between wide and macro.

 

[BlueDevil]

Thanks Interceptor for the info. I am starting from a low knowledge base and it is hard to get a feel for stuff I haven't had the chance to see or play with. The size and weight of the wide angle was something I hadn't appreciated until someone told me about it recently and then I looked at the specifications and saw it was fairly heavy. I will look into the LD bayonet mount - I am presuming you attach it to the 67mm thread and then the lens clicks onto it???

Thanks too Rat-man. That sounds like the sort of setup I need to explore. I am presuming it would allow you to have either no wet lenses attached, or to mount either the close-up or the wide angle as you choose, while the lens you aren't using is attached to a holder on the arm. Suddenly swapping between these options seems feasible.

This info may help me make the choice in favour of the RX100. Have to admit though I would love to have an E-PL5 or OM-D for above water use. A lottery win would be helpful right now!

 

[Interceptor121]

Yes the adapter screws into the M67 thread and then you position the ring so that it is aligned if you have dome ports

Nauticam International Ltd.

This is the list of Oz dealers

Nauticam Australia - Underwater Housings for Digital SLR cameras - Innovation Underwater

 

[BlueDevil]

I am guessing this is the lens holder in question:
Double LD Lens Caddy :: Sea Optics - Underwater Photography Underwater Equipment, Pelican Cases and Inon Specialists Adelaide

From what I see it is specific to Ultralite or Inon arms. As I don't have a strobe/tray/arms as yet that is useful to know in my selection process.

 

[Interceptor121]

They also work with nauticam arms anything that has the same section by coincidence those are the best arms (ULCS, Nauticam, Inon)

 

[BlueDevil]

So from what I have learnt so far I gather if I get the Nauticam housing and want to be able to easily swap wet lenses then I would need the following:
- 67mm to Inon LD Mount Adaptor
- double LD lens caddy
- an arm such as Ultralite etc to hold the lens caddy
- a close up with LD mount
- a wide angle with LD mount
- plus more money than I currently have!

Thanks so much for the advice so far. It would probably have taken me days of googling to have found out all this by myself.

 

[Gilligan]

I use to have wet mount 67mm thread on macro and wide angle lenses for my old Olympus setup. I don't use any with my Canon G10 and G12.

Hindsight being 20-20 I will tell you that thread on lenses are a pain compared to bayonet mount type. I used my WAL lens so much that I stripped the threads on it and had to replace the thread ring.

Having a leash on the WAL attached to the tray is a must IMO as that lens is heavy and will sink faster than you can chase after it should you drop it. I had a leash on mine and remember dropping it a few times while either threading it on or removing it.

 

[BlueDevil]

Thanks for the feedback Gilligan. I can well imagine that repeatedly screwing a lens on and off would be a pain and potentially lead to the damage you experienced. It sounds like I should definitely be going for a bayonet mount.