On 9/22/2025 at 4:36 AM, Igor Ledo Lizarraga said:

Hey @Chris Ross did you get a chance to go diving with the MFO-3? I am also on m43 and thinking about getting one to use with the Oly 60mm. Cheers

I just put up a new post with my thoughts and some sample images from this week's diving.

On 9/23/2025 at 8:15 PM, Chris Ross said:

i have the lens not the port, i expect it will work just as well on any lens that works with it.

Thanks. They have it listed on their website as compatible with the 90mm in "normal macro" mode. I don't have a Nauticam housing and my port won't let me change modes underwater, I mostly use it set to "S-Macro" mode. When I emailed Nauticam asking if it would work in S-Macro they said: "For MFO-3 to work well, the lens needs access to its entire focus range."

So I may be out of luck!

1 hour ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Thanks. They have it listed on their website as compatible with the 90mm in "normal macro" mode. I don't have a Nauticam housing and my port won't let me change modes underwater, I mostly use it set to "S-Macro" mode. When I emailed Nauticam asking if it would work in S-Macro they said: "For MFO-3 to work well, the lens needs access to its entire focus range."

So I may be out of luck!

I think it would only focus very close to the port so defeats the purpose. I guess you could use it in normal mode and also carry a closeup diopter if you want greater than 1:1.

I would be really curious to try it with the PanaLeica 45mm macro.

I'm currently doing a project, mostly macro, in murky water, but in the same dive, I also find subjects that are 20/30 cm large. I'm diving with the Pana 14-42mm with a flat port and the CMC-2 mounted on a flip adapter. This way, in the same dive, I can do both moderate macro and medium range. Theoretically, it seems like a great compromise, but in practice, I am hating this setup.

Yesterday, I was filming a 3 cm blenny playing hide-and-seek in tunnels dug into the coral. With the CMC-2, I could film it in detail. Then, I wanted to take some wider shots to show the context the blenny was moving in. The 14-42mm zoomed to 42mm with the CMC-2 has a focus range of 77–124 mm. Even if I reduce the zoom and moved further away, I immediately go out of the focus range. But if I take off the CMC-2, the 14-42mm has a huge (MFD. Underwater behind a flat port at 42mm, the MFD goes up almost to 50 cm. Basically, I have a "hole" in the shots I can get—from too tight to too wide.

Ah, I know, I can't have everything in life, but an MFO-3 and an EMWL, yes I can! 😂😂😂

8 hours ago, Davide DB said:

I would be really curious to try it with the PanaLeica 45mm macro.

I'm currently doing a project, mostly macro, in murky water, but in the same dive, I also find subjects that are 20/30 cm large. I'm diving with the Pana 14-42mm with a flat port and the CMC-2 mounted on a flip adapter. This way, in the same dive, I can do both moderate macro and medium range. Theoretically, it seems like a great compromise, but in practice, I am hating this setup.

Yesterday, I was filming a 3 cm blenny playing hide-and-seek in tunnels dug into the coral. With the CMC-2, I could film it in detail. Then, I wanted to take some wider shots to show the context the blenny was moving in. The 14-42mm zoomed to 42mm with the CMC-2 has a focus range of 77–124 mm. Even if I reduce the zoom and moved further away, I immediately go out of the focus range. But if I take off the CMC-2, the 14-42mm has a huge (MFD. Underwater behind a flat port at 42mm, the MFD goes up almost to 50 cm. Basically, I have a "hole" in the shots I can get—from too tight to too wide.

Ah, I know, I can't have everything in life, but an MFO-3 and an EMWL, yes I can! 😂😂😂

Seems like you'd be uniquely served by the Olympus 12-50ez, it's a weird lens but extremely versatile.

2 hours ago, Grantmac said:

Seems like you'd be uniquely served by the Olympus 12-50ez, it's a weird lens but extremely versatile.

It's a macro port too. Old but quite unique.

Nick Hope, a glorious WP member, used it for most of his underwater videos.

His videos have more visualizations than the BBC' ones

I have one in the regular macro 65 port so can't change to macro mode but I find it extremely versatile. At least as a general use lens combined with a mild diopter for larger macro subjects. Internal zoom makes it work very well with wet optics.

17 hours ago, Davide DB said:

I would be really curious to try it with the PanaLeica 45mm macro.

I'm currently doing a project, mostly macro, in murky water, but in the same dive, I also find subjects that are 20/30 cm large. I'm diving with the Pana 14-42mm with a flat port and the CMC-2 mounted on a flip adapter. This way, in the same dive, I can do both moderate macro and medium range. Theoretically, it seems like a great compromise, but in practice, I am hating this setup.

Yesterday, I was filming a 3 cm blenny playing hide-and-seek in tunnels dug into the coral. With the CMC-2, I could film it in detail. Then, I wanted to take some wider shots to show the context the blenny was moving in. The 14-42mm zoomed to 42mm with the CMC-2 has a focus range of 77–124 mm. Even if I reduce the zoom and moved further away, I immediately go out of the focus range. But if I take off the CMC-2, the 14-42mm has a huge (MFD. Underwater behind a flat port at 42mm, the MFD goes up almost to 50 cm. Basically, I have a "hole" in the shots I can get—from too tight to too wide.

Ah, I know, I can't have everything in life, but an MFO-3 and an EMWL, yes I can! 😂😂😂

for that specific case the MFO-1 might serve you well, as it basically just gives a small lick of magnification but pulls the focus range in. It would be more compact for sure. Otherwise a +5 diopter like the INON UCL-165, or that +3 diopter Alex Mustard used, which are much cheaper., but maybe not quite the image quality. I would think though that the MFO-3 would be nicely versatile with the 45mm macro giving you a 26mm approx equivalent FF lens.

On 9/26/2025 at 10:24 AM, Chris Ross said:

I think it would only focus very close to the port so defeats the purpose. I guess you could use it in normal mode and also carry a closeup diopter if you want greater than 1:1.

Yes, this is what they recommended. However, the whole point of me switching from the 60mm to the 90mm was so that I didn't need a diopter for super macro. Oh well, maybe once the new generation of OM cameras comes out I'll switch from Isotta to Nauticam just for the port with the selector switch!