What are your thoughts on the Nauticam WWL with the 14-42 EZ lens? I like the idea of having a narrower field of view with shy subjects. Do any of you use both the 8mm 1.8 and the 14-42 EZ with the WWL? Also, at what point do macro / close-ups start to degrade? I hear it is nearly as good as the WACP.

There are quite a few people using that combination on site - there was some discussion a while back I recall that the non pancake Panasonic 14-42 has the best optical quality and i also recall that at the long end the 14-42 lenses were a little soft compared to the wide end.

The WWL at 130 degress is about equivalent to coverage of a 7mm rectiliear (14mm FF equivalent) across the horizontal axis and it has mild barrel distortion (fisheye effect), you don't get the strong distortion of a full frame fisheye which bring the subject forward and larger in the image. I considered the WWL but didn't end up going that way.

You talk about macro performance, the WWL will focus all the way up to the glass and any degradation when doing that at the long end comes from the performance of the lens at the long end focusing close.

Your alternative that is a a single lens solution is an adapted Canon 8-15, it is quite expensive, but has superb optical quality throughout the zoom range. It is doesn't quite have the reach of the WWL at the long end of the zoom range. It can be done with off the shelf parts in Isotta (and would be quite a bit cheaper) or you need a 3D printed adapter ring to use in a Nauticam system to use the zoom gear. In Nauticam the housing is quite heavy and needs a lot of buoyancy added. The downside is less reach at the long end, but if 28mm equivalent is enough it's a great option that gives you a full fisheye and 7-14 lens in a single package. and overlaps the first half of the 14-42/WWL combo.

This topic shows some land based shots so you can how the lens performs: