I recently spent some time trying to figure out whether or not to buy a Zen mini dome for my Olympus setup, and while researching it I found this AOI dome that is quite a bit cheaper, but I found almost no reviews or examples of pictures taken with the setup.
Instead of going the safe route, I decided to get the AOI dome and try it out on my upcoming trip to the Philippines. Here's my small review for anyone else in a similar situation.
So, my setup is an Olympus e-pl5 in the PT-EP10 housing. I use the Olympus 9-18mm and the Olympus 60mm macro. for strobes I have two Sea&Sea YS-D1.
I've previously used the standard olympus flat port, and while I've been very happy with the macro shots, the FoV and distortion when using the 9-18mm at 9mm is... well pretty awful honestly.
The AOI DLP-04 was easy to install, and it feels like it fits very well. I had no hesitation taking it under water the first time. The dome comes in different models, including glass and acrylic ports. I went with the (cheaper) acrylic version.
I noted right away on land that the whole setup was quite prone to reflecting the text on the front of the lens when shooting towards the light, but I fixed that with some masking tape to cover the text, and a step-up ring to fill out the gap between the side of the lens and the port. I didn't experience any reflections with the setup underwater after that.
So, on to the results:
I looked through all the shots I took in order to find examples at different apertures. I didn't find many shots on 4-5.6 apertures, since the light levels were such that I needed closing it down either way to get the strobe light in there. Most shots I took were at around f/8.
Corner sharpness is not perfect at any aperture of course, but its a lot better at, say f/7 or so and above. I pretty much shot only at 9mm, so I cant comment on how using the lens at something like 11mm affects the corners (I remember it making a drastic difference when using the flat port)
1/125s, f/8, ISO 200
1/250s, f/9, ISO 200
1/250s, f/9, ISO 200
1/125s, f/8, ISO 200
1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 200
1/250s, f/9, ISO 200
1/125s, f/8, ISO 200
1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 1600
1/80s, f/8, ISO 200
1/160s, f/4, ISO 200
I also did some shooting with the 60mm macro lens. The difference in magnification was quite noticable when being used to the flat port, but I honestly felt it was an improvement for all but the tiniest subjects. The 60mm focal length on micro 4/3 is quite tight as is, and being able to move closer to fill the frame felt nice.
1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 200
1/160s, f/8, ISO 200
1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 200
1/200s, f/6.3, ISO 200
1/250s, f/8, ISO 200
1/200s, f/8, ISO 200
As a strange side-note, the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens works well behind this port as well. Some vignetting at very close focus distances, but nothing that can't be removed in post. It's a strange choice of lens for underwater photography, but when shooting thresher sharks at dawn on Malapascua without strobes, I needed all the light I could get, and 20mm was plenty wide enough for the distances that the sharks were at.
1/60s, f/1.8, ISO 1000
1/60s, f/1.8, ISO 400
I tried the 14-42mm kit zoom for this scenario as well, and while it dit focus fine and worked great behind the port, it's just not a very great lens, and it turned out too slow for the low light levels, with high ISO as a result.
Having never owned a dome port before, I read about acrylic being worse for split shots, and this worried me a bit since I love snorkelling for over/unders when I'm not diving properly. Some texts on the internet almost had me believe that splits with an acrylic dome was hardly even worth trying.
As it turns out, this dome worked great for splits. I used the technique of fully submerging the dome, and then quickly taking shots before the film of water starts to break into drops. Night-and day difference of how easy it was compared to trying it with the flat port!
1/60s, f/7.1, ISO 640
In conclusion I'm very happy with the purchase. I haven't owned or tried a zen port or any other dome, so I guess I don't really have much to compare with, but I would not hesitate to make the same choice again.
Hoping this might help some internet stranger searching for info on the AOI DLP-04 mini dome port
Instead of going the safe route, I decided to get the AOI dome and try it out on my upcoming trip to the Philippines. Here's my small review for anyone else in a similar situation.
So, my setup is an Olympus e-pl5 in the PT-EP10 housing. I use the Olympus 9-18mm and the Olympus 60mm macro. for strobes I have two Sea&Sea YS-D1.
I've previously used the standard olympus flat port, and while I've been very happy with the macro shots, the FoV and distortion when using the 9-18mm at 9mm is... well pretty awful honestly.
The AOI DLP-04 was easy to install, and it feels like it fits very well. I had no hesitation taking it under water the first time. The dome comes in different models, including glass and acrylic ports. I went with the (cheaper) acrylic version.
I noted right away on land that the whole setup was quite prone to reflecting the text on the front of the lens when shooting towards the light, but I fixed that with some masking tape to cover the text, and a step-up ring to fill out the gap between the side of the lens and the port. I didn't experience any reflections with the setup underwater after that.
So, on to the results:
I looked through all the shots I took in order to find examples at different apertures. I didn't find many shots on 4-5.6 apertures, since the light levels were such that I needed closing it down either way to get the strobe light in there. Most shots I took were at around f/8.
Corner sharpness is not perfect at any aperture of course, but its a lot better at, say f/7 or so and above. I pretty much shot only at 9mm, so I cant comment on how using the lens at something like 11mm affects the corners (I remember it making a drastic difference when using the flat port)
1/125s, f/8, ISO 200
1/250s, f/9, ISO 200
1/250s, f/9, ISO 200
1/125s, f/8, ISO 200
1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 200
1/250s, f/9, ISO 200
1/125s, f/8, ISO 200
1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 1600
1/80s, f/8, ISO 200
1/160s, f/4, ISO 200
I also did some shooting with the 60mm macro lens. The difference in magnification was quite noticable when being used to the flat port, but I honestly felt it was an improvement for all but the tiniest subjects. The 60mm focal length on micro 4/3 is quite tight as is, and being able to move closer to fill the frame felt nice.
1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 200
1/160s, f/8, ISO 200
1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 200
1/200s, f/6.3, ISO 200
1/250s, f/8, ISO 200
1/200s, f/8, ISO 200
As a strange side-note, the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens works well behind this port as well. Some vignetting at very close focus distances, but nothing that can't be removed in post. It's a strange choice of lens for underwater photography, but when shooting thresher sharks at dawn on Malapascua without strobes, I needed all the light I could get, and 20mm was plenty wide enough for the distances that the sharks were at.
1/60s, f/1.8, ISO 1000
1/60s, f/1.8, ISO 400
I tried the 14-42mm kit zoom for this scenario as well, and while it dit focus fine and worked great behind the port, it's just not a very great lens, and it turned out too slow for the low light levels, with high ISO as a result.
Having never owned a dome port before, I read about acrylic being worse for split shots, and this worried me a bit since I love snorkelling for over/unders when I'm not diving properly. Some texts on the internet almost had me believe that splits with an acrylic dome was hardly even worth trying.
As it turns out, this dome worked great for splits. I used the technique of fully submerging the dome, and then quickly taking shots before the film of water starts to break into drops. Night-and day difference of how easy it was compared to trying it with the flat port!
1/60s, f/7.1, ISO 640
In conclusion I'm very happy with the purchase. I haven't owned or tried a zen port or any other dome, so I guess I don't really have much to compare with, but I would not hesitate to make the same choice again.
Hoping this might help some internet stranger searching for info on the AOI DLP-04 mini dome port
