Sony A6500 Housing/Port/Lens Options

[Skating101]

I am interested in purchasing the Sony A6500 for its excellent 4k video quality but the housing/port/lens options are not exactly obvious.

I record both wide angle and macro equally and have narrowed the equipment options down to this:

Option 1.

Camera: Sony A6500

Lens: Sony 16-50mm OSS kit lens (Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Alpha E-mount Retractable SELP1650)

Housing: Fantasea FA6500 (Fantasea FA6500 Underwater Housing for Sony a6300 & a6500 Mirrorless Camera)

Port: FML Port 34 (Fantasea Line Water Sports Photo Products & Accessories- FML Flat Port 34)

Diopter: Nauticam CMC-1 (Nauticam Compact Super Macro Converter CMC-1)

With this option I would use the 16-50mm as the wide/mid range lens with the diopter for macro with an intention to upgrade to a Sony 10-18mm for wide and a separate dedicated macro lens. Unfortunately Fantasea has no other port options as of right now so the upgrade path is uncertain. Could anyone from Fantasea provide any information on planned equipment?

Option 2.

Camera: Sony A6500

Lens 1: Sony 16-50mm OSS kit lens

Lens 2: Sony 50mm F1.8 OSS (Sony E 50mm f/1.8 OSS Lens (Black) SEL50F18/B B&H Photo Video)

Housing: Ikelite (Ikelite | DLM200 Underwater Housing for Sony Alpha a6500 Mirrorless Digital Camera)

Port 1: 6 inch Dome with Zoom (Ikelite | DLM 6 inch Dome Port with Zoom)

Port 2: Standard Flat Port (Ikelite | DLM Standard Flat Port)

Diopter: Nauticam CMC-1

With this option I would only be able to use the 16-50mm as a wide/mid range lens and the 50mm F1.8 OSS would be used with the diopter as the macro lens. I would look to upgrade to the Sony 10-18mm (which shares the same dome as the 16-50mm). The upgrade path with this option is more logical but requires a separate lens and port just for macro.

Would anyone like to make any comments/suggestions on the options? Am I missing any obvious options?

I have thoroughly researched 4k cameras and the A6500 is the absolute leader in image quality and continuous autofocus however has few options in the housing/port area.

 

[Hoag]

The one piece of advice that I would give you is that you will never regret having great lenses on your camera. This will be especially true if you are planning to shoot in 4K. The Sony 16-50mm "Kit" lens is not known as a high quality lens. IMHO, rather than basing your set-up on the kit lens, you might have better results if you use the Sony Zeiss 16-70 f4 OSS. I don't know if Ikelite makes a port for it, but if they do, it is an outstanding lens.

I guess implied in my above comment is that I would recommend the Ikelite housing over the Fantasea one.

Have you considered the Nauticam housing (NA-A6500) and their 7 inch dome (36129)? That particular dome will accommodate both the 16-70 f4 OSS lens and the Sony 10-18 f4 OSS lens.

 

[Skating101]

Thanks for the reply, that 16-70mm lens is amazing however ken rockwell gave a good review of the 16-50mm.(Sony PZ 16-50mm Review)

Can the 16-50mm comfortably resolve the mere 8MP that 4k requires?

Regardless, I am instead considering skipping the 16-50mm and instead investing directly in a Sony 10-18mm.

I have considered the Nauticam housing however the price is too high and the dome would not be usable with the macro adapter.

 

[Hoag]

I have a Sony A6000 and both the PZ 16-50 OSS (kit lens) and the 10-18 OSS. As a full disclaimer, I have not yet been diving with it yet.

My kit lens is no where near as sharp as the 10-18. The other draw back is that the Sony A6XXX series of cameras tend to be hard on batteries so if you set it to power down after a certain period of inactivity, when the camera powers down, so does the lens. It retracts and resets to 16mm.

As I said, I have not shot the 10-18 underwater yet, but I have been shooting it above the water a fair bit. I love this lens and I think that you will be very happy with it as a wide angle lens. I plan on getting the 16-70 lens before I go on any trips to give me a bit of flexibility in my set-up without needing to get another port. (It uses the same port as the 10-18.

I don't shoot video normally and when I do, it is typically just GoPro, so I can not give you an honest answer as to whether the 16-50 would be suitable for 4K video.

I hope that I have been at least a little help and have not simply made things more confusing. Good luck with whatever you get.

 

[dlutzer]

I shoot with the 10-18 but with a nex-7. It is a great lens and focuses well in low light. Magenta corners on the older camer though I hear it is amazing on the newer cameras. If you want the best though, I hear the Ziess 12mm touit is amazing but slow to focus.

For macro have you given any thought of the Ziess 50mm or the new Full frame 50 or even the 90? That way you can do 1:1 without a diapter

 

[Skating101]

Thanks for the reply. The Sony 50mm 1.8 OSS has in lens stabilisation, the other 50mm macros don't, which means handheld shots even with IBIS might not be so easy due to the focal length. Not sure what the maximum magnification would be though (0.16x + CMC-1 diopter).

 

[dlutzer]

while I'm not sure if Ibis is less useful than oss i usually have that off underwater. I may be wrong but heard that was the thing to do. Also, if you shoot with flash, the flash should freeze the motion so ibis/oss wouldn't make a difference I would think in my completely unprofessional opinion.

 

[Skating101]

I only do videography not photography so the IBIS in conjunction with OSS is necessary for stable 4k footage at 50mm.

 

[rks]

Aquatica is making a housing for the 6500 which includes a spare battery you can get in it to help not run out, also you can use it with wired Ikelite strobes, further lengthening your battery life by not using the on camera strobes. Check it out.

 

[Skating101]

The Aquatica housing looks amazing but is unfortunately out of my budget.