What wet wide angle lens should I get?

[Packhorse]

Once again Im looking for a wet lens, although this time its a wide angle.
Camera is EPL3, '05L housing, 14-42mm lens.

Id rather stick with a wet lens so I can swap to a wet macro and back underwater.

---------- Post Merged on July 13th, 2012 at 03:21 PM ---------- Previous Post was on July 12th, 2012 at 05:49 PM ----------

The Inon UWL-H100 28M67looks good.
Would I need the type 1 or type 2 for my housing?

 

[Interceptor121]

Olympus typically take Type 1 however it is better to check with an inon dealer

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

This is the recommended Inon W/A wet lens, Inon UWL-H100 28M67 Type 2 Wide Angle Conversion Lens [ino.456212143633] - $521.95 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

Phil Rudin

 

[Interceptor121]

Hi Phil
The type II always fit as the lens sits further back however cameras underwater here in UK who are definitely not the last comers suggest the type I
I have had the UWL-100 there is actually a type conversion ring, Olympus housings need typically a more recessed lens which is obtained by the type I
If the housing fits the type I the lens will be closer to the port and result in better performance overall I see that reefphoto and backscatter suggest type II whilst the UK guys suggest type I hence I recommended talking to a dealer

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I don't own or use these lenses but I have looked at the Inon product chart and while I agree that the type I lens is use for a number of Olympus compact cameras with fixed lenses it is not the recommended lens for the E-PL3 or the E-PM1 interchangable lens cameras. In fact very few DSLR/mirrorless cameras and a few camcorders can use this lens and the type II is the only one recommended for any of these cameras by Inon.

Phil Rudin

 

[Interceptor121]

I am not aware of any inon recommendations and the lens is the same the only thing that differ is the thread ring
If the back of the lens does not touch the port I always prefer to have the lens closer
However there must be a reason why reefphoto suggest type II maybe cameras underwater have the wrong product on the page however they are usually very accurate

This is what the website says
Type 1 is for ports and lenses having &#8805;7mm distance between the glass and a plane touching the front of filter ring. If distance is <7mm, use type 2

Those guys are usually reliable so it only takes a moment to measure the distance between the port and the thread to figure out

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

You can look at the INON chart for yourself, http://www.inon.jp/pdf-dl/_userdata/SystemTable-EN.pdf in the interchangable lens camera area.

Again I have no axe to grind just think Inon should have the best ides of which of their lenses work best with which camera/lens combos.

Phil Rudin

 

[Interceptor121]

Having seen this I have to agree
Funny that the combination is not reported on the website INON Wide Conversion Lens UWL-100 28M67 [Compatibility]
Whilst it is in the download system table.Good to know that the PDF is more up to date of the webpages!
Possibly cameras underwater just got the default type on their page

 

[BluewaterPhoto]

I recently tested the UWL-100 type II wide-angle lens (Phil, send us some links too! with the Olympus brand E-PL3 housing. Well, actually Kelli tested it. There was a slight amount of vignetting, zooming in just a tad got rid of it. Results were sharp, and much wider than without the lens. Of course I'd prefer to use a Precision or Zen dome for the 8mm fisheye, but that is just me. Wet lenses can be very convenient though. - Scott

 

[chile7236]

I recently tested the UWL-100 type II wide-angle lens (Phil, send us some links too! with the Olympus brand E-PL3 housing. Well, actually Kelli tested it. There was a slight amount of vignetting, zooming in just a tad got rid of it. Results were sharp, and much wider than without the lens. Of course I'd prefer to use a Precision or Zen dome for the 8mm fisheye, but that is just me. Wet lenses can be very convenient though. - Scott

any pics using this configuration, scott?