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S.U.P.E.R. Part 18: Saga Dive Magic Ball Lens
In our ongoing series S.U.P.E.R. (Scubaverse’s Underwater Photography Equipment Reviews), Scubaverse.com’s underwater photography editors Nick and Caroline Robertson Brown review new underwater photography equipment, general diving equipment, and some older favourites too.
For the eighteenth instalment of S.U.P.E.R., Nick and Caroline take a look at the Magic Ball Lens from Saga Dive.
Want to add a bit of fun to your underwater photography? The Saga Dive Magic Ball lens allows you to create novel & artistic images in any underwater environment. The lens has a bubble at the front, locked in an airtight compartment, a zoom to allow focus, and a 67mm thread at the other end. It is designed to be used with a 60mm lens on an SLR housing. When attached, it creates images that have an in-focus wide angle bubble, with an inverted bokeh’d macro surrounding area. Whilst hard to describe – just looking at images created using this lens will give you the idea.
Saga Dive are known for their quality products and we were impressed with a number of their products when we visited their stand at DEMA.
This Magic Ball lens is no exception. We have now taken it to Fiji, Egypt, Capernwray and a pool, and it is robust, easy to use and a great deal of fun. If you feel like trying something a little different, then this is something we recommend trying out. Whilst we used it on Caroline’s D7100 SLR with 60mm lens, it can be used with diopters, and with compact cameras too. With Nick’s full frame SLR camera, the lens gave more of a polo-mint shape, which we also liked.
The lens is incredibly easy to use, just screw it on and shoot. We found shooting from the hip the best option with this lens, or using live view, as using the viewfinder on an inverted image can be a little disorientating. It can bring a photography dive to life. On one dive in Fiji, having put on a macro lens, we found huge beautiful sea fans all over the dive, so we screwed on this lens and had a blast.
This lens might not be something that you would use every day, but it is a lovely thing to have in your camera bag to add a little creativity and run to your portfolio.
For more information on Saga Dive products visit sagadive.com
Here’s an exclusive Scubaverse interview with Saga Dive at DEMA 2016:
For more from Nick and Caroline, visit www.frogfishphotography.com.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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