f/10 1/650 sec shq taken with Inon Macro lens, Oly c4040, Ikelite DS 125, manual controller

Bob, are you trying to force me into buying a strobe?

WAY WOW fishman

el cheesinator

Wow!

Bob I think you are forcing me to buy the lens~~!!! How much are the Inons ballpark figure???? I also have a 4040

Wow!

Seb wants a strobe and Freddie a lens.

And all it takes for Joe to be happy is some cheese whiz : )

Freddie,

Inon has a couple of distributors is the States. Ryan at Under Water Camera Pros supplied me with mine. I have no affiliation, other than a satisfied customer. for more info on the Inon 165 Macro lens, follow this link:

http://www.underwatercamerapros.com/shop/?page=shop/browse&category_id=4e183d703888b1dbc859bb36eaf5554b

I know Ryan will be exhibiting at Beneath the Sea in New Jersey this coming weekend. So if he doesn't get right back to you ( very rare!!), there's a good reason.

hth,
kadushi bob

Kadushi,why didn't you go for the other brand??the epoque??

Ryan and I discussed three options. The Olympus Macro, the Inon Macro, and a generic lens called a diopter ( actually a pair of stacked diopters, I believe each rated at 4x).

I immediately rejected the Oly macro because I am not 100% satisfied with the lens coating of my Oly WA Lens. But more importantly, when I tried to receive customer service or support from Oly Japan, I didn't get any.

I tested both the stacked diopters and the Inon Macro lens in pool tests at my LDS. I felt that the single Macro gave me better results and was easier to use than a pair of lenses.

Epoque was not offered by UWCP.com, so I did not test it. Marine Camera in California carries the Epoque lens. My dive buddy Adam has the Epoque Wide Angle Lens and also an Epoque strobe. He appears to be pleased with both although he left the wal back home this past trip.

There's a web site originating in England that I recall has tests of the Epoque lenses on line. Do a search and you may find it.......

i just found this site and comparison.. http://www.marinecamera.com/ep_lens.html# the price is certainly right!!

Fantastic pic Robert!

Freddie,

The Marine Camera link you supplied also brings you to the comparison window. If you open the window, you'll be able to view a side by side comparison of the magnification capabilities relative to the Epoque and Inon 165. Since these lenses are designed to be used in water, the test is not necessarily accurate, but very helpful still. What the page does not discuss is the Depth of Field, or lack thereof in each type of conversion lens. This will also be influenced by the focal length chosen and f/ stop. But more focal length. IOW, you'll get more DOF at short ( wide angle) focal lengths. At full zoom(21mm), you may only capture less than one inch of DOF! I think of it as a characteristic, not a limitation.

Tom Harmon ( Marine Camera ) is a very knowledgeable person. Before purchasing an Epoque Macro lens for your Oly, ask him about the DOF characteristics.

BTW I found the working parameters of my Inon to be between 4-7". IOW, In order to achieve focus lock, my lens had to be between 4-7" from the target. Any further away or closer and the digicam would not lock ( green light on ). The Epoque may allow you to be further away yet offer a similar sized image due to the increased magnification. The only question will be if it is at the cost of image quality. I've never used it and do not wish to imply any conclusion. Tom would know though. In the text, mention is made that the Epoque works well for digicams that are limited by minimum focus distances of 12" or so. Your Oly without a conversion lens is capable of focussing on objects as close as 8". Even closer if you know a trick or two.

Tom would help you choose the correct lens.

Now I'm $189 poorer, thanks to you and Ryan! I have the same rig as you; with luck I'll be able to duplicate that shot.

Ron,

Congratulations!

Here's a couple of links to some tests I conducted before I headed out the door to Bonaire:

Inon 165 macro test

and this one:

lens analysis

Once you know where the sweet spot is for focus, you'll have great time. As a matter of fact, all I do is sit behind the LCD screen and push buttons. I let the camera do all the work : )

I've been pouring over the C4040 manual and for the life of me I can't find where to change the zoom focal length, although I've done it before. I remember it going in four stages, from maybe 35 to 105? Help, please, and thanks.

Ron,

I believe what you are referring to would be found in the custom mode start up menu. That said, everytime you move from wide angle to zoom ( using the tele-zoom dial) you are changing the focal length. IOW, at full wide angle, the focal length is @ 7mm ( 35 mm slr equivalent ). At full zoom on an Oly c4040 the focal length is 21 mm ( or 105mm slr equivalent ). Moving the tele-zoom in between these two extremes will yield mid range focal lengths.

If you would like to have your digicam turn on with one of the four options your correctly recalled, follow these steps with the digicam turned on:

press OK (four options appear on the LCD screen)

press right arrow pad ( 3 o'clock) ( mode menu option)"camera" appears in green

press bottom arrow pad (6 o'clock)three times until SETUP appears in green.

press 3 o'clock, all reset appears in green
press 3 o'clock again, of the three choices, choose custom
press 3 o'clock again, FNo appears
press 6 o'clock four times until ZOOM appears in green
press 3 o'clock until desired focal length is chosen.
to exit custom, press ok until you're out ( the amount of times pressed depends where you are)

I have 80mm chosen. But in actual use I find it not that important considering as I stated previously, it is so easy to change by turning the tele-zoom dial.

But I like and choose the custom start up. If you're interested in my menu choices, PM me. Or if more than one request shows up, I'll post for all to see in a separate thread.

Looking forward to seeing some pics, Ron!

kbob

KBob,
I keep coming back to your photos. They are amazing.

What I want to know is how are you able to keep them under the 50kb maximum this BB sets for photos and yet have them appear so large and defined? Any insight you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the compliment.

Do you have Adobe Photoshop? I have a most basic level, 5.0 LE, which was included software with my camera, the Oly c4040. It does allow me to achieve most everything I desire, though. That said, other versions have more bells and whistles and are easier to use according to friends of mine who know.

First step of course is to capture a good image. I shoot in SHQ. Most of my recent images posted have also had a macro lens attached to the housing.

I save the image in a lossless format ( non jpeg ) such as Photoshop *.PSD. From there I tweak the image as needed. This may include curves, brightness and contrast, and hues.

Next I resize the image to 640x480 pixels. The next stage is to save the image as a jpeg file. The last step before the final save is unsharp mask.

Finally I click on "file", then "save as" in the Photoshop menu. I rename the image to denote it's new file size( usually add ~bt as a suffix). I'm prompted to click save button a couple of times. When the jpeg option window finally appears you'll notice a slider to control image quality. Here's where you get to control the file size. You'll have to choose a very small number, for me usually between 0-4. I've noticed that it depends upon how light the image is. The darker the image, the higher number you'll be able to choose to remain below the 50 kb requirement. I have to use a trial and error system to check to make sure the image is below the maximum allowed 50 kb file size.

BTW, I should have mentioned that I am self taught and there may be an easier way to accomplish this!!!!!!!!

the following image of a decorator crab covered in hydroids was saved as image quality #4, yielding a 38.6kb file size.

hth,
kadushi bob

Kadushi Bob,

Thanks so much for the response. It is very helpful. I unfortunately am not using the full scale Photoshop, but the scaled down Elements 2.0. A good program but not quite the monster Photoshop 6/7 is. I'll be looking now to upgrade my software program.

Keep posting your amazing photos. Maybe we'll run into each other sometime on the island. Sherry & I return this October for another break from reality.

Mike

Mike,

Your version of Photoshop Elements 2.0 is actually a newer and more powerful program than my 5.0 LE!( LE=light edition). And I've been told that it is easier to navigate than the clunker I'm still getting by with : ).

BTW Photoshop 6/7 has been replaced by Photoshop CS ( creative suite )as the premiere image editing software program from Adobe.

Depending on the complexity of your goals, I believe that your 2.0 version will more than suffice for editing your images. And there are books out there that can help you understand all the ( too many!) options. ( I don't recall the name of the book at the moment, but if I can find it, I'll get back to you)

Good luck!
kbob

jpeg image option quality 3(medium), 39.6 kb: