Has anyone tried the AOI UWL-09 lens out yet? pro version or the original

[ponomo1]

I am returning my KRL-01 lens due to the distortion that appears around the left and right side of my photos even when I'm zoomed out past the vignette point of the picture. I've been pouring through reviews for a replacement all over the place but I can't find any that has the combination of the LX10 in a housing with the UWL-09 lens.
Backscatter sent me a great review of the Nauticam WWL-1 lens with the LX-10 in the Nauticam housing which really produced nice clear pictures and videos.
The length of the port on the Ikelite housing that I have looks very similar in length to the port on the Nauticam housing, which makes sense since they are both designed for the same camera, but the point is that it shows that I can have a good wide angle experience with my current combination of underwater housing and camera.
Based on what I've seen and read I'm leaning a little towards the UWL-09 over the WWL-1 and it is purely based on the specs of the 2 lenses and what I believe may be the only thing that may help me capture a better picture with less zooming and overall manipulation of the camera before and after taking the shot.
The UWL-09 comes with an additional adaptor that is supposedly for the IKELITE housings which puts the wide angle add on lens 2.5mm closer to the flat port on the housing. This tells me that there will be less of a gap between them, even though its only 2.5mm, and therefore require less zooming out to get past the vignette in the photo.
I could be completely wrong, but I don't want to drive these poor guys at Backscatter crazy going back and forth with lenses, they have been really helpful up to now and I don't want to ruin that. They are committed to helping me find what works best for my setup so I figured with such a huge number of followers on this board that someone may have tried out this UWL-09 with the B adaptor and may be able to speak from experience whether it was helpful or not.

Thanks
Pete

 

[ponomo1]

**I moved this over here from the LX10 topic since its also relevant to the different wide angle lenses being tried and tested with the LX10 camera and different housings**
I received the AOI UWL-09 pro from Backscatter to test out on the Ikelite/LX-10 camera combo that I have and so far my out of the water tests look pretty promising. I took several photos at varying distances from a roll of toilet paper (LOL it was there) and it did not have any of the distortions around the right and left sides of the photos at all. I put my Kraken lens back on and BAM there was the distortion on both sides of the photos.
Each lens (Kraken and AOI) required me to zoom out to around the same 34, 35 range to eliminate the vignette in the photos so in that respect it does appear that all of these underwater wide angle lenses show the same weakness (@ReadyDiverOne reported similar issues with INON in the LX10 post) in this area so we can't get 100% of the wide-angle perspective, but it is still a huge increase in the field of view compared to straight out of the port.
I haven't heard back from @RDRINK25 yet to see which lens he's had success with for the wide angle work but so far the AOI lens with the type B 67mm thread adapter is showing some hope. I'll hopefully get in the pool this week to get some underwater shots.

 

[Alex B]

Hi everyone, just planning a trip to Maldives end of this month and updating my old small sensor system with the LX10 with Ikelite housing. I heard the same from my local dive equipment supplier that AOI UWL 09 has the correct adaptor for the Ikelite specific 67mm thread. What I would like to know is has anyone tried the smaller AOI UWL-400F wide angle wet lens with the Ikelite LX10 housing and does it work all ok? Is the same (type B?) adaptor base included or is there a 52 to 67mm step up ring that works regardless? How do the results compare to the bigger & more expensive UWL-09? Many thanks

 

[ponomo1]

With that short of a time period between now and the day of your trip its going to be tough to try out the 2 different lenses to see which would work "best". When I was looking to replace the Kraken lens with the AOI UWL-09 the folks at backscatter were able to send it to me to test it out before I made the exchange. I also wanted to test out the UWL-400F to compare it, but they did not stock that version from AOI. They had their own version of that lens with the 67-52mm step up (step down) ring.
I did email the folks from Fantasea to ask about the uwl-400 lens with the LX-10 and Ikelite housing to see if they foresaw any issues with the 24mm lx-10 and the Ikelite housing combination and they felt it would work "better" than the uwl-09. I did not get the sense that they had actually dove or tested the 3 components together in the real world but basically relied on their experience and the specs.
The only thing I can say for certain @Alex B is do NOT get the KRL-01 it was not good at all with the LX-10 and Ikelite housing combo. The UWL-09 requires me to zoom out to about 32mm to clear all of the vignetting but at least the lens stays clear around the edges and throughout the photo in my tests. It softens around the edges somewhat but not terribly. I'll be taking it on a dive trip in January to run it through its paces in a real world environment to see what it's overall limitations are. But please share if you do go with the uwl-400 and show us how it works for you. If it works out for you then I may have to make another lens swap before I go to Galapagos in May.

 

[Alex B]

Thanks for that info Ponomo. That's reassuring to hear at least on what Fantasea say even if no hard evidence of testing. I am only considering the 400F as I want a wide angle wet lens I can zoom intra dive (ruling out some like Inon) and for me the UWL is too large and heavy just for a 1" sensor cam and will make swapping lenses intra dive not to mention travel a bit more of a pain than the smaller (and cheaper) 400F. Having to lose the widest end of the focal range is well known for use of all these wide angle wet lenses from what I can tell but from my research don't think it makes much difference as what you lose on the native lens you get back anyway with the wet lens (except losing some aperture speed of course). I am told that a quick release adaptor will further reduce the native lens wide end (to reduce another source of further vignetting) but if it's not by much more, I am happy to trade off for the convenience and greater flexibility it will give in swapping lenses intra dive. Looking into that. Also speaking with Backscatter for their views. Why didn't you decide to try their version of the 400F? Will keep this forum updated on my research and experience but if anyone out there has actual experience of this Ikelite LX10 housing with UWL-400F combination (and ideally with a quick release adaptor) I would be most grateful before I place the order (which I won't be able to test before diving). Cheers

 

[birddog999]

Anyone seen a comparison of the AOI UWL-09 and AOI UWL-09 pro on the LX10 and ikelite housing set up?