Issues with Fantasea Bigeye Lens for G10

[Gilligan]

Whew, an exhausting but interesting thread

HERE is a link to a DIY 67mm thread adapter to the Canon housings with oval ports. It looks great for the addition of a macro lens but I'm not sure it will support the weight of a wide angle lens?

 

[Hookery]

Viñetas en las esquinas.

Hola todos, disculpen que escriba en español, un traductor seguro les será más util que si escribo en mal ingles.

Yo tengo exactamente los mismos problemas con un nuevo lente fantasea para la fp7000. Encuentro que el problema es que ingresa luz por los espacios que tiene el parasol, por eso se refleja abajo. Estoy pensando cubrir integramente la parte superior del parasol con un plastico negro, pero eso debería de venir de fabrica!! estoy decepcionado por este problema de diseño del parasol, estropeé mis dos primeros buceos por este problema, todos mis videos salieron con viñetas.

aqui un par de ejemplo:


Al colocar la cámara vertical (parasol más corto), la situación es peor:


una lastima que un lente tan bueno tenga estos problemas


Por otro lado, algo que ocurre en todos los Eyefish lens, para evitar reflejo de luces o media luna, el flash es necesario ponerlo un poco por detrás del housing para evitar que refleje en la cúpula.

un abrazo desde Peru

Yuri Hooker

Peru Diving- Yuri Hooker HOME PAGE

Just to add a bit. I've been monitoring this thread and asked them to see what can be done. Puffer, they do listen and I think some of your comments are a bit out of place.

If you shoot into the sun or have it right over the lens you will get flare. That's prevalent on every wide angle lens above or below water. The dome makes it worse, that's why they have a shade.

Strobes actually can also be positioned with longer arms out and behind the lens pointing outward slightly. Use rim lighting to light your subject. Positioning them can be critical. Every w/a dome shooter has this issue.

I definitely see the issue you guys are bringing up about fogging, and Sharon is right, keeping it out of the sun, storing it in a cooler, etc is very important. While fogging can be controlled in a plastic camera housing with silica gel, obviously this can't happen with the lens. Taking any camera equipment from a warm environment to a cold one will cause fogging. However having it get worse during the dive is weird.

Fantasea is concerned about the extent of this issue and is supplying me with a Fuji version (same lens different mount) of the lens to test here in Seattle. We have pretty harsh conditions here, although I may have to get a hair dryer to reproduce the warm sun right now! I will do my best to follow their current instructions, and also to reproduce the issues you're seeing. Maybe there's some other work-arounds. If there's a problem, I can work with the product manager to see what can be done to help reduce it.

Your lenses do come with a one year warranty, if water is getting into the lens , it will be taken care of as Sharon has said - if you write them directly, or fill out a warranty claim on their website. Further support can be found here.

I'll post what information I can figure out with the lens in a week or 10 days after a few dives with it. Note, while I'm a dealer for them, I think you guys know I'm pretty honest in my appraisals of gear.

Thanks,
Jack

 

[Hookery]

No me parece empañamiento, es el reflejo del sol a traves de la muesca del parasol. Casi podría apostar que el sol se encontraba en la esquina superior izquierda

 

[vondo]

Was there ever a modification made to this lens? I have one that I haven't used since 2011 because I was having all kinds of issues with flare in the corners. I'm interested in trying again, but won't rely on it. And if so, is there a recall I missed that I can get the latest, greatest version?

And reading this is quite humorous. I can easily understand how keeping it cool will help with fogging issues, but can someone please explain to me the logic of keeping something DRY that you are shortly going to submerge in water. I mean, like from a scientific standpoint, how could that possibly matter?

 

[Puffer Fish]

Lol. The problem with temperature change is that if you cool something quickly (like say putting it in cold water)...you can suck water inside the unit. That is what I believe happened with mine. The other issues...flare....really soft edges are sort of built into the design. It works, but you can only take some kinds of images.

So why dry?...There could only be one reason for that...they are worried that cooling it may be sucking water inside it, so if you cool the unit in a dry environment, then keep it cool, there would not be any chance of sucking water inside.

Over the years, thermal shock has been the biggest reason I've had for flooding things. If you have a junk Sea and Sea strobe...just charge some batteries up really fast and get them hot...put them in the case and wait for about 5 minutes, so the air inside gets hot, then put the cap on and then plunge the unit in Icewater...I've done it twice by mistake and once just to test if that was the issue. On the other hand, I have camera cases that can take huge hot to cold swings and not have an issue. It depends on how the seal is designed.. some are good for just external pressure, some for both internal and external.

As there is no standard for how resistant something has to be...at what point is this a faulty product? I don't know, but fixing it would take a major rework of the seal design.

After seeing their recommendations, my conclusion is that they believe they have an issue with this, and did not want to cover the cost (as the owner of one, that kind of sucks...but I am not sure just how sensitive it is, or what is reasonable or not reasonable).

I should point out that at no point in my handling of the lens, was it exposed to any conditions different than two strobe and the camera case were. So my judgement is that it had a problem..and I had considered sea and sea strobes to be the weak point previously.

It did get me to get another camera and housing, and for that, I am thankful.

Was there ever a modification made to this lens? I have one that I haven't used since 2011 because I was having all kinds of issues with flare in the corners. I'm interested in trying again, but won't rely on it. And if so, is there a recall I missed that I can get the latest, greatest version?

And reading this is quite humorous. I can easily understand how keeping it cool will help with fogging issues, but can someone please explain to me the logic of keeping something DRY that you are shortly going to submerge in water. I mean, like from a scientific standpoint, how could that possibly matter?