Issues with Fantasea Bigeye Lens for G10

[fuggler]

I tested my new bigeye lens in Monterey, CA on Saturday and a few things annoyed me.

1. It's not easy to take the bungee cords off and put them back on underwater (especially if you're wearing thick gloves).

2. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the bubbles trapped in between the housing and the bigeye. I tried taking it off/re-attaching and even moving it around. Still resulted in pictures with a bubble at the lower corner.

3. It doesn't really stay put. It kept shifting. When I pushed it back into place, I was still able to see the corners of the housing. (I was shooting in macro mode, per the lens/manual's suggestion.)

Does anyone have solutions for the above issues? :depressed:

Just so this isn't pure whining, here are test shots:
without it:

with it:

 

[Roko]

I suppose my solution to #3 doesn't help #1, but I found that the bungees were a bit loose and I ended up tightening them up a bit to keep it secured... But that would make it harder to take off undewater. When it's properly seated, there shouldn't be any vignetting, though, so maybe it's just not seating properly? Or can you see the corners all the way around the entire frame?

I haven't even tried to remove underwater, as I've only been in cold water with drygloves since I got it.

Not sure why you can't clear the bubbles out from it.. You mentioned it's the lower corner, did it look something like this?

 

[fuggler]

Exactly... I really can't do a lot of wide angle here in Monterey when shore diving because there are too many particles in the water and viz is generally crappy/ok at best. So tightening the bungees would make it annoying for me to switch in between. The bubble looks like that, yes... Here's an example. I'm diving off a boat tomorrow so I think I'm just going to tighten the bungees and leave the lens on for dive #1, and leave it off for dive #2. Ay caramba.

 

[Roko]

The artifacts on the corners of my image are actually lens flare, from brighter light not being shaded by the shroud.. It's kind of annoying, but I'm thinking of just cutting a plastic extension on the shroud..
Though I notice in your image there's actually a bright white spot in the bottom right as well.. hmm..

To be honest I'm thinking of making a quick-release somehow in order to be able to attach and remove it while wearing thick gloves, as I'm not a big fan of the bungee system myself.

The lens does have some drawbacks, but from the few dives I've done with it, I've found the positives outweigh the drawbacks..

 

[HMan]

Hi,
Thank you for sharing your "issues" and concerns regarding
The BigEye Lenses
Fantasea

Were created as an affordable and in some cases ONLY wide angle option for some wide angle, long lens camera housings like the Fuji and Canon units. Our testing has proven them to be of high quality achieving excellent wide angle images.

We appreciate your comments regarding the sometimes diffiicult securing process of the G10 lens on the housing and with the next units to ship will have an improved connection between the lens and the housing. We are inserting a rubber friction strip which will allow it to sit more securely. We hope this will resolve this issue once and for all.

With respect to the bubbles, if the lens is properly positioned once underwater there should be no evidence of any bubbles in the lens.

With respect to particles in the water, that one is unfortunately beyond our control.
But backscatter will effect all wide angle lenses.

I hope this helps and we look forward to seeing excellent images from all of you.

If we can be of any more assistance, then please write direct to us at
info@fantasea.com

thank you
Howard
Fantasea Line

 

[plooper]

Hi chaps, I recently went diving in Bali with the Bigeye lens for the first time and I have to say i was a bit disappointed with the amount of so called 'lens flare' appearing in the majority of my photos with the bigeye attached...

Is this normal? I would like to ask other fisheye lens users on tips and tricks on how to avoid this in the future please... This is my first time shooting with a fisheye lens so perhaps I am just not shooting in the right conditions?

Below are some example shots of my G10 with the bigeye attached:

 

[fuggler]

Plooper, thanks for sharing those pictures. In the first one with the garden eels, what would you call the things at the bottom??? I didn't know how to describe it so I didn't mention it when I first posted. However, I consistently saw that in my LCD the first time I took the lens down. It's not flare, right?

 

[fuggler]

Hman, how can we get those rubber strips? Also, which eye grabber is compatible with this lens? I prefer to mount it on my arm than have it dangling around from a retractor...

 

[Puffer Fish]

Plooper, thanks for sharing those pictures. In the first one with the garden eels, what would you call the things at the bottom??? I didn't know how to describe it so I didn't mention it when I first posted. However, I consistently saw that in my LCD the first time I took the lens down. It's not flare, right?

It's fogging of the lens.. I get the same thing... there does not appear to be a leak, but there is way too much moisture inside....not sure if it is from a bad batch, or they have a major issue with all of them...

If you stop and look at the lens underwater when you see that, you will see the issue...

I believe they know of the issue and are avoiding it..sort of takes the fun out of using it....

In cold water, it will gradually cover the entire lens... and if I look carefully, there are tiny water droplets inside the air space when out of the water.

The comments in the instruction about keeping the lens in a dry place would seem to indicate they are blaming users for them not sealing in dry air.

 

[Puffer Fish]

I suspect that the lens flair issue is from light fogging also...as I got it once the who surface was covered.