Capturing Wide Angle Wonders with Your Olympus TG

Without a doubt the Olympus TG Tough range have revolutionised the world of underwater photography for both snorkelers and divers in recent years, making incredible results achievable for the beginner as well as giving a vast variety of options to expand creativity.

But with so many options for accessory lenses and makes available, what should you be looking for if you want to start adding a creative wider angle to your images.

This festive period I was super busy helping answer some of the popular questions that I see on other forums so I've put this together in the hope that it might help someone else too.

So let’s start as a snorkeller.  Is a housing really needed?  Personally I’d always suggest one, even if it’s just to have that extra security measure and of course remember that you will need one to add on extra wide angle lenses at a later date.  Not only have I seen them flood in the water for no apparent reason but it’s all too easy in the excitement of getting in the water to accidentally not close the battery door or overlook a tiny pesky hair trapped in the seal.  When you’re travelling to unique, once in a lifetime destinations, it’s always better to be safe.

Then there’s the option for snorkelers to add on an Olympus FCON-TO2 (which is also waterproof) directly to the Olympus TG range via an adaptor, CLA-TO1, with just one easy click.  This will give you a wider field-of-view than the camera’s own 25 mm one and is great if you are using the camera above water too for wide landscape images.  It’s great for small reef scenes, but for larger subjects such as this seal above, a wider field-of-view is needed to fit more of it in.  It also struggles with above and below shots.

But if you use an Ikelite Housing with a dome port for your Olympus TG, you can simply just pop the camera and the FCON-TO2 lens into the housing, giving it a much wider field of view so you CAN capture much wider scenes, achieve split-level shots too and create a perfect snells window effect when framing a

subject above you.

The Pros are:-

• the edges of the image are sharp and there’s no vignetting

the system stays light (just over 1 lb for the whole unit) compared to adding on a wide-angle lens directly to the front of a different housing which can make the housing tip forwards and downwards, even with a tray to help balance it.

The Drawbacks are:

• keep an eye out for black corners to your image as the dome shade may interfere with the overall result and if this happens, simply remove it.

Did you know that with this set-up you can actually zoom through the lens to achieve sharp close-up images too?  Check out Ikelite’s website or direct link here to see how it performs underwater:

https://www.ikelite.com/products/dome-port-for-olympus-fcon-t02-lens-and-adapter-kit?pr_prod_strat=pinned&pr_rec_id=ec369bea4&pr_rec_pid=3943133118533&pr_ref_pid=11527790933&pr_seq=uniform

So let’s look at other wide-angle lens choices.   A super popular choice with many starting out is Backscatter’s M52 Air Lens or AOI’s Underwater 0.75x Wide-Angle Air Lens (weighing 20 grams underwater/160 gms on land) which give an 81 degree angle of coverage, sharp corners, is light and easily screws into a 52 mm threaded mount.   It works perfectly to restore the camera’s  topside field-of-view underwater and at the same time will restore your image’s colour, sharpness and clarity by reducing the water column, therefore allowing you to get closer to your subject.  It has an Anti-Reflection Coating too.  You can also zoom through this lens to take full advantage of the TG’s Microscope Mode.   An extra super useful touch is that you can attach the lens to your housing via a lanyard (a very thoughtful touch which is included with your purchase) which will keep your lens safe when you are underwater.

It’s a great lens for turtles, large fish like groupers, divers and small reefscapes.

I loved using this lens when I had the chance to photograph blue sharks off the coast of Cornwall with my Olympus TG-6  It produced detailed results as you can see here, but I really needed a wider field-of-view to be able to capture the whole body of the shark to be able to have a sharp result throughout the image.

So do you really need to go any wider and why?  For all those cave, wreck and super wide reefscape scenes with or without a modelling diver, this is where a wider angled wet lens really shines to capture both dramatic and creative images.  There are a few makes to choose from such as Kraken, Weefine, INON, AOI and of course Backscatter!

Let’s look firstly at Backscatter’s M52 120 degree Wide Angle Lens

Backscatter have done a sterling job to design and innovate wide-angle lenses especially designed for the Olympus TG series and this lens is fabulous for those dreaming of capturing those captivating wider angled scenes.  Like the Air Lens, it delivers sharp corners, there’s no vignetting (where little black areas appear in the corners of your image), has an Anti-Reflection Coating and you can zoom through the lens for those all important close-up shots, making it perfect for capturing Close Focus Wide Angle Images.

Want to go Ultra Wide to capture even more of those wreck, pier or scenic cave shots?  Weefine has designed a super wide conversion lens (depth rated to 60 ms) which offers an incredible 150 degrees at 24 mm and easily screws into an Olympus TG housing’s 52 mm thread mount.  It also comes with an adaptor for 67 mm thread mounts.  Just be careful as the weight of the lens is heavier than the others (690 gms in the air/255 gms underwater).  It has a multi-layer BBAR coating for anti-reflection and optical clarity.  It has an optical grade polycarbonate dome which is easy to repair if needed.  Again you can zoom through this lens if needed.  A super wide lens is incredible useful for close-focus wide angle images, allowing me to get much closer to my subject and with the use of just one strobe placed over the middle of my housing, I could illuminate the above subject. 

Kraken has also its own KRL-02 52 mm Wide Wet Lens which offers a 145 degree at 24 mm.  It has also been designed with a 52 mm thread, also has a multi-layer BBAR coating for anti-reflection and optical clarity purposes.  It also has the capability to zoom through the lens for a tighter frame.

Just be aware that vignetting (black edges to the corners of your image) may still occur with different housings and lens combinations.  If you notice this, just simply zoom slightly until the effect disappears.

So there you have it, an introduction to the wonderful world of wide-angle creativity.   Wide-angle has been my calling in the world of underwater photography and there's nothing more that excites me than creating a unique scene which captures guests' attention and creates a conversation to encourage them to explore our underwater world too.

Warm Seas,

Maria