Under Water Housings for the AF100

Good to know Equinox discovered the AF100! (bodes well for things still being developed for it?).

Don't know that I'd use the 14-140, though. I'd think something like the the constant aperture 12-35 DigitalRev would be a great UW lens (even more so if overcranking).

Did you get the Equinox? If so, I look forward to some footage!
 
Cool- I shot hundreds (thousands?) of 35mm stills in Bonaire in the 90s... best vis I've ever shot in, always 100ft+ Have you been there before?

Yes, that's the lens (I meant to write 12-35 Lumix from DigitalRev).

I've used the Equinox for my 170- Have fun blowing bubbles with the 200! :thumbsup:
 
I have always enjoyed the fact that these housings are more expensive then the camera they house.

Wonder if the 7-14mm lens is supported.
 
The Lumix 12-35 has finally arrived in the States. Last week I got a notice that Samy's had stock, & today got the same from B&H.
 
David W. Jones said:
Wonder if the 7-14mm lens is supported.
Click to expand...

I imagine it is- you'd just have a limited focal range and do a "wide" dive... better for large corals and large sea life, not so good for small or skittish critters...

But the good aspect would be, the wider the lens, the closer to the subject, the less water you shoot through, the better the image.
 
When I used to shoot stills with my Nikonos I had to make a conscious decision before the dive if I was going to shoot wide or macro. A lot depended on the dive location and visibility that day. That said my favorite lens was my 16mm. It gave great dramatic shots and was really the only lens for capturing larger fish and other divers.
 
A few people have advised against the LUMIX 14-140. But it's quite wide when zoomed all the way out and has good auto focus and iris if that's the way you like to shoot. It's just a 'slow' lens with its f4 stop being the limit.
I was hoping to have the housing from Equinox by now, but alas..... not yet.
 
Wow :happy: looks nice - I used to be a resort dive videographer a few years ago (Amphibico/Sony TRV950)
would love to see some footage once you've had a chance to get wet
 
Great stuff Peter!!! :thumbsup:

Love the eagle rays and the moray- I love Cozumel, probably my fave drift dive. Saw (unfortunately didn't shoot) a whale shark on one of my trips there...

What lens controls does the Equinox give you on the AF100? Zoom, iris, focus? Was anything in auto? You used only the 14-140? What ISO? Thanks!
 
This was the 14-140 with quite a variety of settings. Tried a bunch of stuff. (In general I found that this lens was not the easiest to work with).

If zoomed out to 14mm, the image was fuzzy. I guess it's the combination of the lens, the dome and the water that throws it off.

The Lens performs best if zoomed in to about 18mm.
Focus at 'shortest distance' was good for all shots even for objects 30 feet away, so auto or manual always ended up shooting at shortest distance.
Depth of field seems to be very deep when zoomed to 18mm.

ISO at about 650 worked well.
The iris needed to be closed down to below 10 to get a sharp image. If the iris was open, there seemed to be an issue with 'back-focus'. Fuzzy images.
Auto iris seems to be 'stepped' so if you watch the video again you'll see where the iris is in auto as it's not a smooth change.
Best was to set iris to manual.

Housing controls on my unit:
Iris
Iris: auto/manual switch
Manual Focus
Focus: auto/manual switch
White Balance
(You can get a zoom knob if you go with this lens, but look into other wider and faster lenses)

The rig was very very stable under water. So easy to get stable shots.
Travel with it is a bit of a challenge as the ballast is 20 lbs of lead.

Talk to the Equinox guys about what lens they would recommend. Maybe the B&H rep: Larry Cohen would be helpful.

Hope this helps.

Pete
 
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