The Panasonic 3DA1 is an ideal tool for underwater 3D film making. However, as the two “eyes” or lenses are fixed relative to each other, this brings about some challenges. Effectively, this means that it has a fairly narrow field of view and 8 foot minimum convergence for the eyes. Hence, wide shots are a problem, and subjects closer than 8 feet will be off the screen in the positive 3D space, and may not make for comfortable viewing.

Gates Underwater Products has attacked this by adding conversion lenses to the camera. The lenses are from Zunow with a front aluminum bezel, which actually replaces the camera’s own, machined by Gates. This makes the camera truly usable underwater (and above too) as the lens both increases the field of view dramatically and allows the 3DA1 to converge closer; down to 5 feet. The lenses are 0.6x magnification, and the Gates 3DA1 housing has been extended to accommodate them. Please contact Gates directly for price and availability information.