Hi all, long time canon shooter moving into Sony mirrorless territory.

I am primarily a wide angle shooter and have been shooting many years with the Canon 5D MkIV + Sigma 15mm fisheye in an Aquatica housing paired with the Aquatica 8" glass dome port & 2 Ikelite DS165 strobes (before that i shot with the Tokina 10-17mm & Canon 7D and dual Sea & Sea 250s also in Aquatica housing.)

I have just recently purchased the Sony A7RV body and looking to build a kit around this new camera. Open to all brands and would be very grateful to hear from those who have made the switch to Sony mirrorless & enjoy shooting wide.

My first dive trip of the year will be to Tiger Beach & Bimini in April.

What is the ideal wide angle lens for this trip? Ideally something that will work well with dynamic reefs scenes as well since I will also using this setup for a trip to PNG and Indonesia this year.

Open to all options that are travel friendly and not crazy expensive. I have been reading a lot about the Nauticam optics and been down the rabbit hole of WWL and WACPs to the point where my brain is a bit scrambled. Have not decided on the housing yet, and would like to hear from those that are currently shooting Sony and what lens/optics you really enjoy shooting with. Willing to spend on the right combination- but needs to be easy to travel with!

Pic of a beautiful Misool reef scene for attention :)

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Cheers,

Sabine

The cheapest path would be to adapt what you currently have most likely. Recently another member was looking at switching from Aquatica and went with an Isotta housing and an Aquatica adapter ring:

Isotta is well supported in Australia with a few dealers selling them and they also have solutions to use WACP/WWL with their system. Aquatica also have a dealer in Cairns. You could start out with a metabones adapter with your Sigma fisheye.

For easy travel a small dome with a fisheye is hard to beat IF a 180° diagonal fisheye has enough reach for you. Another Australian member recently went with an adapted Canon 8-15 on SONY along with the Sony 2x TC. A few members are using that solution it's not as sharp as the bare 8-15 but gives superb flexibility zooming all the way from 180° diagonal to a frame that is wide as a 28mm rectilinear WA lens. I don't shoot Sony but I use an adapted 8-15 on an OM-1 and used it for the entire trip when I went to Walindi in 2024 I get the same field of view range with the bare 8-15 on a m43 sensor.

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I have a friend shooting with the A7RV and she recommended the Metabones adapter as well. Definitely something i am considering. Cheers!

Hi Sabine,

I have A7R5 in Nauticam housing and this is my preferred WA configuration (in this order):

#1.: Canon 8-15mm with 140mm domeport and Metabones V adapter. With (more flexibility, even better as WACP-C, as even 180° diagonal is possible) and without Sony 2x TC (very sharp, but only 180° diagonal or circular fisheye view).

This combo is quite travel friendly (25mm, 30mm and 35mm N120 extensions are required for housing both configurations).

#2.: Sony 20-70mm f/4 behind Zen DP170 (best IQ as tack-sharp; 20mm may not be enough WA. Ideal for fish portraits)

#3.: WACP-C/Sony 28-60mm (IQ similar to #1 with 2x TC, but widest angle is 130° diagonal).

I never have been to Tiger beach, so others can recommend better specific configuration. I think when taking #1, you can take the bare fisheye lens for optimum IQ, but when you discover that you need to zoom in sometimes, you can mount the 2x TC and have zoomrange comparable to WACP-C, but 180° is still available when possible)...

Wolfgang

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by Architeuthis

HI Sabine,

So for list prices of A7R5 housings alone in Australia you have the prices below. (Then there is the lower cost Seafrogs around $1500 and the surf housings if you are just freediving.) ....

Digital Diver (Cairns)

Ikelite deluxe $4665

AOI $2489

Aquatica $6341

UWImages (Sydney) (also Marelux)

Isotta $5852

Aquatic Imaging Australia (also Isotta)

Marelux $5804

Scubapix (Cairns)

Nauticam $6694

All are great dealers. Personally I like Isotta (I love Italy and family run artisan businesses but I also like their double o-ring sealing system) and bought my housing from Brett at UWImages in Sydney. I like the adapted Canon 8-15mm but I don't do video. If the 8-15mm fisheye is used with a teleconverter, the crop of the stabilisation and 1.2x crop for the 4k60 it may end up ok for video, but I guess folks are more likely to use the 16-35mm or WWL/WACP. My Sigma MC-11 used as an EF-E converter does not have autofocus in video but I believe the Metabones does on the rights setting. The Nauticam optics can be used with an adapter on Isotta with the Sony 28-60mm and I believe also on Marelux.

I also use the Sony 20-70mm f4. I don't think Canon or NIkon do an equivalent lens that starts as wide, normally starting at 24 or 28mm, but I find 20mm wide enough and versatile (I put some photos on a thread about Palau a while ago.) I know some others use the Sony 16-35mm or Tamron 17-28mm. I do have a WWL-1C and also a Kenko 1.5x teleconverter for the 8-15mm.

My smallest setup is the 8-15mm fixed on 15mm without a zoom ring in a small Isotta 4.5 inch dome. The cropping ability of the Sony A7Rv then can be used. An extra 20mm extension enables the teleconveter to be added. This photo below is taken with the Canon 8-15mm using the Kenko 1.5x teleconverter and small dome.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by John E
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