Subsee and Sony 90mm

[waterpixel]

Hi all,

I've done very little (if any) macro photography and started learning about diopters only recently (big thanks also chatGPT).

I understand that Nauticam has a series of them (cmc, smc i believe), but saw other brands.

 

Has anyone had feedback on the subsee brand? Some second hand ones are quite cheap (+5/+10) but i'm wondering if it's worth getting a powerful one if i've never shot with one before?

 

Would love to get your thoughts and experience on diopter use overall as well as that brand!

Thanks

Alex

[Chris Ross]

i would start with macro photography using the capabilities of the 90mm first which will get you up to 1:1.  this covers a scene 36 x 24mm and the depth of field is already razor thin.  As you add diopters you add an additional degree of difficulty with holding the depth of field on the right spot on your subject.  an additional problem is finding suitable small subjects which can take some practice depending on what can be found on your divesites.

 

once you master that maybe start with a +5 and work towards smaller subjects.  In the wetpixel live video on this subject Alex Mustard mentioned his most used diopter was the lowest power one.

[Giancarlo M.]

Hi Alex, you have a good lens for a good start in macro photography.
In the beginning, even if the Sony 90 is not quite 1:1 as a ratio, it will be perfect to make your experiences.
When you get the hang of it you can move on to additional lenses, and here a whole new world opens up.
There are many brands and the users of this forum will be able to give you advice on their own experiences.
Subsee is a good compromise to start with add-on lenses.
I had the chance to try, on 2 trips to APA in Anilao which is an AOI test centre, all the new AOI UCL Pro series macro lenses. 
I personally think they are the best I have used to date, both in terms of quality and ease of use. 

After I was able to try them out thoroughly I bought all 3 lenses, it's a big amount but I fell in love with those lenses after using them.

I attach a few shots

[Troporobo]

I have used SubSee diopters, both +5 and +10, on an m4/3 system. The image quality is excellent, but the use case varies. The higher the power, the shorter the working distance and the greater the lighting challenge. In my case, with a 60mm macro lens, the +5 was the sweet spot and the +10 didn’t improve my options and made lighting very difficult. 
 

The key thing to understand is that diopters are not magnifying glasses, they allow you to get closer and focus at shorter working distances.  Everything depends on your lens and sensor.  

Edited August 31 by Troporobo

[waterpixel]

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful responses! Much appreciated 🙂

Giancarlo, beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing with us!

[humu9679]

@Giancarlo M. Wonderful photos. Thanks.