Panasonic MCTZ10 and wide angle...

[afieldofblue]

Hello all,

I use a Panasonic TZ10 (ZS7) for (wide angle) UW video, in a Panasonic MCTZ10 housing, and was looking into cheap wide angle wet lense options for this aging camera.


I'm particularly interested in domes, that might correct the angle back to its 25mm equivalent (4.1mm) underwater, but the camera being old, not much info on what would work and what would not...


Any one used a wide angle dome port on this camera?

Any hints on other cheaper options that might work (an old sea and sea wide wet lens for instance?)
I'm all for a little DIY experimenting.

Sticking a dry wide angle lens in front of the MCTZ10 housing gives really nice results on land, which is why I'm trying to find a cheap UW solution for this camera, despite its age.

But if it ends up costing me hundreds of euros, it's just no worth it, might as well save that for a future upgrade.


I've found two dedicated wide angle dome ports from back in the days (2010) when the TZ10 was hip:

the H20 Tool UAL-02-P

https://www.aditech-usa.com/en/shop/1167-h20-tools-ual-02-p-for-panasonic.html

which is expensive, and an old Dyron port DY-DTZ:

Dyron

which is no longer sold except maybe here:
Dome 24mm for Panasonic TZ10/7/3 - ZX1/3 housings - Digital Media Service srl

But at this price, it's just not worth it.

I've been interested in this Meikon dome here, fixed by hooks,
Wide Angle Wet Correctional Dome Port Lens (Square Adapter) | meikon.hk

it's also available with an 67 mount… But threaded adapters for the TZ10 selling at roughly 250 euros, not sure if it's really practical…

thanks a bunch!

b

 

[Greenjuice]

Apologies for the late response but for various personal reasons I have been too busy to keep up on Scubaboard!

In case you haven't made a decision, you might like to also consider the Inon options; using their M67 lens adaptor and ZM80 wide angle with dome.
INON Lens Adapter Base [Overview]

I started with that and kept the lens and dome after upgrading my camera to the TZ20 and again to the TZ30!

Unfortunately this LUMIX upgrade path pretty much ends there, but the setup remains a good compact compromise for me.

 

[afieldofblue]

Hi Greenjuice - Interesting, I kind of gave up on the wide angle after Inon told me it would not work (vignetting and other issues).
Did the TZ20 and TZ30 mark any significant upgrade in video quality?
I really like the color balance I'm getting with this camera in video mode with a filter, and it's holding me back for my next upgrade...
see
Compact camera upgrade for UW video and wide angle: G16, RX100 M2 or M3 or GoPro...?

 

[Greenjuice]

Hi oppo,
The TZ30 offers 1080p video at 60 fps against 720p at 30fps (I believe). There also a gimmicky high speed video option which you can use to get some slo- mo- clips. I think this may be partly because the TZ30 uses a different type of sensor compared to the TZ10.

That said, one could argue that the improvements are only marginal if viewing on a 720i TV.

If video using a compact rig is your main interest I have seen some really impressive results with GoPros which are hard to beat.

 

[afieldofblue]

Hi Greenjuice

Would you have a link to the GoPro footage?
While I really love the image quality, I'm much less impressed by the colors / white balance in the GoPro footage I've seen so far below 5 meters, even with more expensive filter solutions - weird hues, day glow greens and yellows... I've scoured you tube and failed to find something I like so far below 5 meters -

And this is really holding me back from buying a GoPro Silver 4 to stick on top of my TZ10 housing, which is what I planned on doing.
I'd love to be convinced though, because the image GP quality is indeed amazing -

A friend was diving with a Go Pro 4 Silver in Raja, and this is what her footage looks like:


I was diving and filming on quite a few these dives, and this is what my footage looks like on the same dives/conditions:



While the image quality is uncomparable, I must say I really prefer the colors in my aging TZ10 footage, which is much more natural / closer to what I saw - But love the quality upgrade.

Thanks

ben

 

[Greenjuice]

Yes, the example you have is pretty much what I have seen with the GoPro. Impressive for such a compact and simple system.

I'm guessing that the colour differences must be either to do with the different filters or the image processing (Venus) engine of the Lumix.

That said, videographers I know prefer frequent resetting of custom white balance to the use of filters.

If you were put off the Inon wide angle option by concerns of vignetting, these are a couple of examples with the ZM80 and dome port. You can see there is barrel distortion from the shadow of the boat above the divers, but really no vignetting.

 

[Greenjuice]

That one was with the TZ30. Here is another one from 2012 taken with the TZ10. If you can see the EXIF data on both of them you will see that the zoom is set to around 80mm. Any wider than that and you will see the circular shape of the dome.

 

[afieldofblue]

Thanks, this is very helpful - I definitely agree on go pro image quality, but I'm still looking for diving vids shot in natural light with colors I like (tweaked either in post, filters or auto-tune), ie something balanced and natural, no monochrome hues or dayglo, similar to what I'm getting but with that amazingly crisp GoPro image quality...
If I could be sure there was a way to get nice colors on dive vids, I'd buy a go pro straight away for our next trip in July. But the moment the color balance on this footage is really putting me off - I grabbed some files off her and tried to tweak them in after effects, but still couldn't get something I like, I'm afraid...

Very good to know for the Inon wide angle option - very nice. At the moment I'm more put off by the price tag, as I'm not sure I want to invest 300 - 400 euros in a system for such an old camera - The prices don't seem to drop with time for these accessories, unfortunately, even the TZ10 UR red filter was a hefty 60 euros....

thanks again

ben