Close up vision solutions

[Midget]

Has anyone used a cheap macro diopter lens as a hand-held magnifier to look at tiny critters?
Opteka has a +10 for <$30. It seems like an economical and painless solution for viewing the underwater macro world, but hoping for some input.

I have an Aquatica CMC & a Subsee that I use on my camera, but don't want to be taking them on & off to share with presbyopia dive pals during a dive. Call me selfish!

 

[Lorenzoid]

Dig into the wallet for one of these: Onderwaterloep voor duikers. I absolutely love mine.

 

[northernone]

A standard magnifying glass works well. I also have a friend who mask mounts a small one for viewing button gauges and other little stuff.

 

[AdivingBel]

I run a monofilament loop through the little "hinge" and clip off one of these. Cheap and works great. I use it to spot little stuff for my photog wife to shoot macro. @Doc turned me onto it.
POCKET MAGNIFIER

 

[KeithG]

Like others I use a simple land based dollar store magnifier. For the price it works fine and I let it ride around in my bcd pocket and do not worry about scratches.

Note that the subsee guys make a hand holder for their wet lens so that you can use them as a magnifier. I have one but do not use it since I am worried about scratching the lens.

 

[Midget]

Thanks for the replies.

I tried the handheld magnifier by Trident in the past. It sorta worked for >1cm objects. I ended up giving it away because it wasn't up to task for what so needed it for.

 

[bvanant]

Remember that most magnifiers meant for topside use will have only marginal magnification underwater, for UW magnification you need to have an air gap between the outside glass and the actual magnifier.
Bill

 

[Midget]

Exactly.
They don't help for sheep nudis, etc.

 

[KeithG]

Remember that most magnifiers meant for topside use will have only marginal magnification underwater, for UW magnification you need to have an air gap between the outside glass and the actual magnifier.
Bill

Agreed they do not work as well. But for the price (a few $) they may be "good enough" for many situations. So I carry one. It does not always work. It is not good enough for the head shield slugs I will try to find next week.

And it is important to keep reminding everyone that under water "magnifiers" need an air gap to work properly. That is why wet lens cost so much. My ancient Amphibo video housing had a flip up diopter tray inside the housing. So a simple single element lens could give +4 since it had an air gap on each side. I now use a monster +10 subsea wet lens on the outside of my camera housing.

When my elcheapo single lens magnifier does not cut it, I simply use my camera and look at the live LCD display. When this does not work, I take a bunch of photos and then look at the photos on my laptop. Not real time, but it sometimes works.

In real life I have never seen a squat urchin shrimp. Squinty eyes sucked. The magnifier was useless. The camera LCD was blurry. But I have a (very) few pictures of them.

Squat Urchin Shrimp | www.kengiffen.com