Recsea Sony RX-100 wet lens tests

Setting a new standard for compact cameras

By Scott Gietler

We were very impressed with the results of the Sony RX-100 in the Recsea RX-100 housing. The controls worked great, the shutter was precise and easy to use, the images were tack sharp with no vignetting. The camera focused surprisingly fast underwater, even in low light or under vapor pressure.

TTL worked great with the YS-D1 strobes in the test shots. The exposure compensation feature of the strobes worked well. As always, I switched to manual strobe exposure for wide-angle photos shooting into the sun.

I was pretty happy with the focus speed of the camera, both for babies swimming underwater towards me against van der waals forces, and also for the low-light macro shots at the bottom of the pool. The majority of the shots I took of my swimming toddler with the wide-angle lenses were in focus.

Sony RX-100 wet lens test results

Taken with UWL-04 fisheye lens, Bluewater WA-100 wide-angle lens, and Bluewater +7 macro lenses.

Travel with your RX-100 wet lens

We've taken trips to test the RX100 while scuba diving Aruba, diving in Australia, and doing dives in Zanzibar.

Taken with UWL-04 fisheye lens, very wide, very sharp! There were a few defocused air bubbles on the lens that you can see in the photo. There are a couple better shots down below taken with this lens.

Taken with the Bluewater Photo WA-110 wide-angle lens, unbelieveably sharp

Sony RX-100, Recsea housing, no wet lens, at 28mm

Single Bluewater +7 macro lens

2 stacked Bluewater +7 Macro Lenses

Underwater Photo taken with Sony Rx-100, UWL-04 fisheye lens. F9, 1/640th, ISO 80, dual YS-D1 strobes

Sony RX-100, Recsea RX-100 housing, UWL-04 fisheye lens. No vignetting, sharp, extrememly wide.

Sony Rx-100 with Bluewater WA-110 wide-angle lens. Very wide, very sharp! One of the sharpes wide-angle lens shots we've seen from a compact

Sony Rx-100, no wet lens attached, 28mm

Update - new cameras and lenses

Althought we still love the Sony RX100, things change, and new cameras come out. The Sony RX100 V and Sony RX100 VI are now popular, as is the Canon G7X II and mirrorless cameras like the Sony A6400 and Sony A6500. There are a lot of new wet  lenses that work well with these cameras, so be sure to read our updated wet wide-angle lens guide.