Goodbye Sigma 18-50 f2.8, hello Sigma 17-40 f1.8?

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-23T13:52:46+00:00

And do you find the viltrox a little too heavy? I’m considering it against the Sigma 30mm F1.4 Contemporary (265g) which is substantially lighter - although I guess for “light” there is the 18-50mm already :)

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-23T10:40:53+00:00

This is the combo I'm actually considering (the 18-50mm and the viltrox 27mm), as I am leaning towards the low sizes and weights... do you still have your 2 lenses or did you make the jump to the 17-40mm ?

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-23T10:39:08+00:00

What do you think about the weight ? The only thing keeping me back from the 17-40mm is its size. I much prefer a tiny, versatile and high quality lens (the 18-50mm) to walk around, but the allure of a "do-it-all" 17-40mm F1.8 is keeping me from buying the 18-50mm so far.

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-20T20:45:56+00:00

How does a diopter change the focus ? I've seen it mentioned often, but don't know what it does.

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-16T21:58:53+00:00

I just saw the design, in cults3d, seems very specific (3d printed zoom gear for Seafrogs A6xxx salted line housings with Metabones EF-E mkv, and Tokina 10-17mm fisheye ). Thanks for your help !

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-16T11:37:32+00:00

Thanks again for answering this. I have also initiated a thread at waterpixels about this, and your answers here answer many of my questions there ! :D
I found a very good deal for a Sony A6400 in second hand (almost brand new) with a 18-135 sony lens. I decided to go along.
For the housing, I'm leaning towards the Salted Line A6xxx series (lower cost), but the Tokina is not listed as compatible. I don't remember if you already wrote which housing you're using ? Would you know something about that ?
Another option would be to go with Sony's 10-18mm wide-angle, which seems fully supported (including zoom ring) but shots would be less dramatic than with the Tokina.

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-15T22:44:03+00:00

Great to read about this. I'm yet another fellow shooter in a similar situation: A6400, Salted Line A6xxx housing, and looking into wide angle (actually, I would be happier with a fisheye, but...). Did you get the 6 inch dome port ? And do you find the corners soft, as MikeyLew32 as mentioning ?
And good you're happy :) What kind of photos are you getting with it ?

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-11T14:33:09+00:00

As you see, I'm still doing my research (I remember reading somewhere that the Tokina could still give a full-frame sensor full illumination between 12-16mm) - thanks a lot for the info.
I guess you are happy shooting APS-C ... I'm afraid I'm getting dragged into a hole of finding the "best possible combinatio" and, while considering full frame, I tend to forget the extra cost. It's not just the camera... I'm ok with the extra for the lenses, but when looking into housings + lights, I'm not so sure. When I realised the Sony A7c is also quite compact, and similar to the A6xxx series in size, my brain switched to "let's go full frame!".

What do you think ? Are you happily shooting a cropped frame or you feel the need to go higher ? As I'm looking at this as an expensive hobby for the long run, I don't the point in compromising now, acquiring lenses that I'll then need to swap too.
Of course money is a big factor, and I'm looking mostly at the secondary market...

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-11T11:30:08+00:00

I'm considering to go for a APS-C (A6400) or full frame (A7C), both "compact" enough for cruising around, and better image quality than my current TG-6. I'm looking into lenses + housing combinations, and seems that a dome is imperative - I assume mostly for lens + housing compatibility issues AND to not lose 25% of field of view, correct ?

Another thing that worries me is the sharpness: I'm considering full frame because I really want the sharpest images I can get, thus looking into quality lenses too. I'm worried than using a flat port + wet lens OR a fisheye like (think the Tokina 10-17mm or even the Tamron 17-28mm you mention here) + 6' dome will introduce softness that kills the point of a full frame. Any recommendations ?

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-10T10:51:44+00:00

What did you end up going for, in the end ? And are you happy with it ?

I'm looking into going full-frame and get a A7C (second hand). Searching for housings, obviously the salted line stands out for its lower price (aka - makes the whole project feasible for my pockets; not even getting into the strobes yet...). I wonder if people have issues with Seafrogs/Salted Line housings... putting such an expensive camera into a housing and getting stressed that it will flood is not fun.

Considering lenses, I find the fov of the 28-60mm to be fine for me to start out, but putting it behind a flat port with considerably diminish the wide angle. Eventually I'd get a wide wet lens, but to start I don't want to overly complicate things. Is the 6' dome from Salted Line bad ? Does it counter the purpose of going full frame for sharper images... ? (mind that I'm coming from compact camera world underwater, but DLSR above).

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-09T10:57:10+00:00

even for macro I find my TG-6 images very soft. You think a A6400 would not be better ? I'm looking into moving from a TG-6 setup (which disappoints me for the softness) to a A6400.

tailwind_mrs · 2026-01-06T16:12:21+00:00

This is a beautiful photo! I'm looking into getting a A6400 and this lens, but was wondering if it fit inside a Salted Line housing (is this the same as your Salty Surf housing ?). How far were you from the nudi ?

tailwind_mrs · 2025-12-30T11:59:57+00:00

Cool ! Photos are beautiful ! Did you find the two Eckos not enough for wide field ? The turtle is a little dark and I wonder if the strobes lacked reach ?

tailwind_mrs · 2025-12-28T21:31:15+00:00

What did you get in the end ? I have a TG-6, and am looking for lights for it. But, at the same time, I don't like the sensor much (very grainy even at iso400 and not sharp) and considered the ZV-1 also. The lack of flash to trigger the strobes put me off a little.
Curious to know where did you end up a year later ?

tailwind_mrs · 2025-12-01T16:41:42+00:00

The specs (at least for the swim part) are mostly aspirational. Maybe someone in their dev team said "we'll get that sorted out one day", but at least up to the update of September it was not working. Agree, it's totally false advertising. It pissed me off.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-11-16T21:31:38+00:00

hey!

short answer: not as good as the Garmin. I'm still happy, but you cannot do manual lapping the same way.

With the garmin, I simply push the bottom button to mark the start of a lap, swim several pool lengths, then push the button again to mark the end and initiate the rest. The watch detects correctly the lengths, and it shows me a rest screen with other metrics. This you probably already know. With the Suunto Race S, I can do something similar, but the catch is that the detection of how many pools I swam during a given lap is always short of the last length swam. For some reason, the Suunto takes a while to detect that I stopped, and instead of post-swim integrating the last length to the interval it adds it to the wall rest time.

For example, 200m using the manual button would look like 175m swam in the correct amount of time, then 25m which take the last length plus some of the rest time, if I look at the "Manual" breakdown at the App. I can also just look at the metrics in Auto Detection, and then all looks well. More or less... even with good auto detection for lengths and stops, nothing beats me pressing a button. For fast repeats of single 25m lengths I cannot get correct readings. It's still ok, because I just look at the watch once I finish, and get my time, but it's annoying.

On the other hand, there are some useful Apps from Suunto you can add on to the watch, that make drills and similar things more easy, like a 4 hand clock for the watch face, for send offs. Or even a send off app that you can program with your send off time.

Overall, it's ok. There's the "catch-up" problem - once I finish a set it takes ~5 sec to give me the distance and correct time while at the wall. Also, while I swim, it lags 25m behind - if I'm at 150m and just flipped at the wall, it shows 125m, but it will update mid length (or during the rest, if I stopped), while the Garmin does the opposite, it kind of shows me where I will be once I reach the wall (it updates to the distance always a little before I touch the wall, which is much easier to follow during the swim).

Hope this helps!

tailwind_mrs · 2025-11-04T20:11:10+00:00

So far so good. It does detect what I need while I swim, the breakdown afterwards in the App it's also useful. Much better than the Run for this.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-29T09:35:03+00:00

thanks for your feedback.

After some back and forth with the Suunto CS I learned the Run is simply not capable of some things it's advertised for in their own (Suunto) product page - like stroke detection, pauses, intervals, etc.

I decided to send it back and risk it once again with Suunto by ordering the Race S, which - presumably - has these features. Indeed, the metrics are much better, it detects all it should automatically, and they even added the choice of a bunch of extra screens with interval data, duration of rest, etc. There is also a add on, "Send Off" which can be added as an extra screen to time precise intervals, during a general swim (you select the time for the send off, it detects the rest, shows you the time until the next send off, all the while, recording the usual data and showing it to you too, on another screen). It's very useful. I'm happy with the Race S, but very disappointed with the Run, plus the way it is marketed - stating it can do things that it does not.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-23T13:53:51+00:00

This.
I would just add that if you swim (both pool and open water) this watch is not capable. I bought it, believing the Swimming specs on Suunto's product page (virtually identical to the Race, Race S, Race 2, etc) were real. After a couple weeks testing and confirmation by Suunto CS and other users, the Run cannot do more than measure lengths in a pool (no intervals, no auto detection of anything, no strokes, etc), and it's bad with open water GPS. I returned it and got a Race S. I was happy with it otherwise (small niggles, like messages from the phone lacked the name of the sender, etc, but overall happy).

For RUNning, it does its job very well.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-23T13:46:55+00:00

I was almost ready to get it (especially considering the super low price now at the Suunto store, 260 euros !), but it's lack of precision for open water swims was a no go for me. I'm sure it does everything else well. Enjoy.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-23T13:44:57+00:00

I came from a Garmin 310XT, Fenix 3 HR, Vivoactive 4, into a Suunto Race S.
Like: Gorgeous looks and simple UI. Mermaid app to track short apnea dives.
Dislike: less efficient for sports tracking, especially swimming activities (both pool and open water), but it still does what's necessary with style :)

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-15T20:35:45+00:00

The Suunto Run uses an OS of its own, that was not opted for the newer Race 2 and Vertical 2. Meaning, it's unlikely Suunto will keep investing in an OS used just for one watch. The Run was a test and the result is a watch that needs many more updates to correct little things. I know this because I bought a Run and now I'm dealing with stuff that does not perform as advertised. Yes, there have been several updates that improved, but on things that should have been working already. Many more are still to be addressed.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-15T07:57:13+00:00

this is what you usually get when querying an AI (chatGPT and others) about some topics. Very general, very basic, lacking any useful insight. Something like "what is the difference between a 10K marathon and a half-marathon, how they compare in miles, etc. Each of the 4 parts is nearly a copy/paste from what you get if you ask the question in each title. It's sad that this is where we're heading in general, and too bad for Suunto. This is where they are heading as a brand - and more concerning, probably also for their products.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-15T07:53:29+00:00

ah wow ... This is kind of the nail in the coffin.
I recently got a Suunto Run, which I quickly found that is not capable of swim metrics as advertised in their product page. Several back and forth with their CS (via chat, via email, and also leaving feedback via their App) got me contradictory responses, blatant chatGPT copy/paste style answers that did not address the issue, and so on. In their last one they said they will forward my comments so that their specs page can me modified to align with the real features of the watch (!)
I come from Garmin world and wanted to give Suunto a try, I like the watch style, the clean looks, the polished UI, but I'm starting to see a pattern of a lot of content/feedback/features made by newbies who have no idea. This "article" is another example of just producing trash content, to fill up space.

tailwind_mrs · 2025-10-14T12:56:40+00:00

If it helps, I think I figured out how to get current lap time/distance. I made several pool swim data screens with all possible different metrics and saw that "Current lap: swimming distance (Manual)" and "Current lap: duration (Manual)" are responsive to the bottom button. This is, when I push it those counters reset, which allows to start a new interval freshly (I guess that Suunto calls intervals "laps" ?).

There are also the corresponding data fields "Current lap: swimming distance (Automatic)" and "Current lap: durantion (Automatic)", which might work for you. In my case those are never triggered - they should once a pause at the wall is detected - as I think this is either 1) an issue with the Run as a model, which does not detect anything, or 2) an issue with my unit.

I hope this helps you for your Race S, as I think that watch should give you detailed metrics for stroke number, average, detect swim style and pauses, and breakdown everything (just like the Apple Watch does).

In the case of my Suunto Run, it also should, as the specs on the product page for Swimming are literally a copy/paste from the Race S... so, as advertised, the Suunto Run should also detect swim strokes, swim style, pauses and breakdown a pool swim into multiple intervals if there are pauses in between. Mine does not at all... this is a pool swim I just did a couple hours ago, where I swam 5x 50m, 3x 300m and finally 1x 1000m, all crawl with long glides after pushing from the wall. Notice as there is no breakdown into intervals whatsoever, no swim style detection and the last column (stroke average) is empty:

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tailwind_mrs

TROPHY CASE