I asked for opinions to upgrade my WACP-C which I was using w Sony 28-60mm kit lens a few months ago to something wider but still retaining flexibility. Based on the advice I ultimately landed on Canon 8-15 fisheye with a Sony 2x TC, Metabones V adapter (very important it has to be the V, I had the Metabones IV and it couldn't fit) behind the 140mm glass dome. I've since done 3 trips with this and couldn't be happier with the setup.

I want to show a few photos to demonstrate the versatility of this lens. You can take whale sharks all the way to pgymies!!

For wide angle I think the image quality is the same or better than my old WACP-C. I didn't do any tests but this is just based on feel after processing thousands of images

These are photos on my last trip taken w Canon 8-15, Sony 2x combo. Everything here is with this lens.

https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/tritonbaywideangle/

Great for reefs capes and big schools of fish, and I appreciate the wider reach vs WACP-C. For macro I will zoom all the way then use APS-C mode as I am shooting A7R5 and it still produces a very usable image. Of course you still have the physical limitation of reach so it's not suitable for macro situations where you cannot get close (stuff deep in a hole or skittish subjects).

I did have to get a custom 3D printed zoom gear which @Gudge was super nice to design for me with very short notice.

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Looks great Joanna, thanks for reporting back it is indeed very flexible.

3 hours ago, jjmochi said:

I asked for opinions to upgrade my WACP-C which I was using w Sony 28-60mm kit lens a few months ago to something wider but still retaining flexibility. Based on the advice I ultimately landed on Canon 8-15 fisheye with a Sony 2x TC, Metabones V adapter (very important it has to be the V, I had the Metabones IV and it couldn't fit) behind the 140mm glass dome. I've since done 3 trips with this and couldn't be happier with the setup.

I want to show a few photos to demonstrate the versatility of this lens. You can take whale sharks all the way to pgymies!!

For wide angle I think the image quality is the same or better than my old WACP-C. I didn't do any tests but this is just based on feel after processing thousands of images

These are photos on my last trip taken w Canon 8-15, Sony 2x combo. Everything here is with this lens.

https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/tritonbaywideangle/

Great for reefs capes and big schools of fish, and I appreciate the wider reach vs WACP-C. For macro I will zoom all the way then use APS-C mode as I am shooting A7R5 and it still produces a very usable image. Of course you still have the physical limitation of reach so it's not suitable for macro situations where you cannot get close (stuff deep in a hole or skittish subjects).

I did have to get a custom 3D printed zoom gear which @Gudge was super nice to design for me with very short notice.

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Pixieset

Triton Bay - Wide Angle

Photo by Joanna Wang photography

Very interesting Report and cool photography! So 140mm Port plus 35.5 n100 to 120 was used but with What Extension Ring size ? Could a 1.4 teleconverter also work? Greetings Michael

Nice! I have a pygmy or two for you to compare :-) (WACP-C)

I went the other way. It helped that I already had 8-15 and TC2x so it didn't hurt that much just having 140mm glass and port extension lying around these days (and waiting for the right opportunity :-)

Jokes aside my decision was influenced not so much by picture quality rather then by my use case - I do both on the same dive, photo and video and in video department metabones is just not there as far as the focus goes.

I also think that - surprisingly to me - at the long end the WACP-C/28-60 was a tad sharper than 8-15/TC. (While the same 28-60 paired with WWL-1B was really disappointing).

But all in all each use case is different and I can totally see that the desire for extreme - and flexible - wide angle would present this 8-15/TC as the best option.

Thanks for report! Cheers.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by RomiK

1 hour ago, Michi said:

Very interesting Report and cool photography! So 140mm Port plus 35.5 n100 to 120 was used but with What Extension Ring size ? Could a 1.4 teleconverter also work? Greetings Michael

Hi Michael,

I used Sony 1.4x, 2x, Kenko 1.4x HD Pro and Kenko 2x TCs with the Canon 8-15mm. One can use them all...

It is difficult to predict how a WA fisheye lens will perform with a TC, as all TC were not designed for this use...

I got best results, regarding IQ, with Sony 2x and Kenko 1.4x HD Pro, the other two TCs performed less good. Surprisingly, Sony 1.4x performed not better (maybe even a bit worse) compared to Sony 2x...

With Kenko 1.4x HD Pro the extension is the same as with Sony 2x, so you can use the same zoomgear (at least one can use the same 3D printed extension ring for the "regular" Nauticam zoom gear, that I am using)...

Wolfgang

P.S.: I have both WACP-C/28-60mm and Canon 8-15mm with and w/o Sony 2xTC. On my last two trips WACP-C was left at home (Subjectively, I find IQ pretty comparable and prefer the 180° diagonal over the 130° of WACP-C (the Canon 8-15mm w/o TC can also be used on some dives and clearly performs optically better than both WACP-C or 8-15mm&2xTC variants (but is, of course, less flexible)))

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Architeuthis

10 minutes ago, Architeuthis said:

Hi Michael,

I used Sony 1.4x, 2x, Kenko 1.4x HD Pro and Kenko 2x TCs with the Canon 8-15mm. One can use them all...

It is difficult to predict how a WA fisheye lens will perform with a TC, as all TC were not designed for this use...

I got best results, regarding IQ, with Sony 2x and Kenko 1.4x HD Pro, the other two TCs performed less good. Surprisingly, Sony 1.4x performed not better (maybe even a bit worse) compared to Sony 2x...

With Kenko 1.4x HD Pro the extension is the same as with Sony 2x, so you can use the same zoomgear (at least one can use the same 3D printed extension ring for the "regular" Nauticam zoom gear, that I am using)...

Wolfgang

P.S.: I have both WACP-C/28-60mm and Canon 8-15mm with and w/o Sony 2xTC. On my last two trips WACP-C was left at home (Subjectively, I find IQ pretty comparable and prefer the 180° diagonal over the 130° of WACP-C (the Canon 8-15mm w/o TC can also be used on some dives and clearly performs optically better than both WACP-C or 8-15mm&2xTC variants (but is, of course, less flexible)))

Hi Wolfgang, thx a lot! What Extension Rings are you using? Do you have Any clue about the Max coverage field angle for a „180 degree view 8-15 fisheye“ plus 2 x to at the windest end (without zooming in)? Can be also rough or in mm equivalent!?

Just want to report back that I am using the 8-15mm fisheye with Kenko 1.4x and 2.0x TC on a Canon, unable to take advantage of the Sony 2.0x TC…. but…

… recently I got myself the comlite EF RF and modified it to host the Canon RF 1.4x TC. I am really curious to try this and consider buying also the RF 2.0x TC to upgrade my IQ by a small fraction.

1 hour ago, Architeuthis said:

P.S.: I have both WACP-C/28-60mm and Canon 8-15mm with and w/o Sony 2xTC. On my last two trips WACP-C was left at home (Subjectively, I find IQ pretty comparable and prefer the 180° diagonal over the 130° of WACP-C (the Canon 8-15mm w/o TC can also be used on some dives and clearly performs optically better than both WACP-C or 8-15mm&2xTC variants (but is, of course, less flexible)))

yeah, 8-15 without TC is a beauty... sharpness and microcontrast are TOP!